KILLER CORSETS: DEATH TO DRAG QUEENS
By Madeline Rose
Two actresses of the American stage, circa 1900, were Anna Held and Lillian Russell. These two were heralded as beautiful women, and indeed they were. They wore the most fashionable gowns of the era, keeping their hour-glass figures perfect with tight whale-bone corsets.
Rumor had it, that Held and Russell often went to their corset makers, accompanied by their friend Julian Eltinge, who advertised corsets which he used in his female impersonation act.
One advertisement showing Eltinge as a beautiful bride inquired,a If a Nemo corset will p 00004000 roduce this perfection of figure for a fully proportioned man, such as Mr. Julian Eltinge with a waist of thirty-eight inches - an no natural lines of womanly grace - what will it do for your figure, Madame, who have all the graceful womanly lines to assist? We are headquarters for Nemo Self-Reducing Corsets - complete lines of all new models, O'Connor, Moffat & Company.a
The advertisement for corsets, along with other products such as Eltinge's cold cream, were serious attempts to commercially exploit Eltinge's popularity. Such beauties as Anna Held and Lillian Russell were always beautiful women, so their secret beauty tips probably would not help the average woman. However, Eltinge could work wonders with his beauty secrets.
