This weekend, I am mostly dressing casual...

...like the original "Little Girl from Little Rock", The Incomparable Mr Harvey Lee!

Born Harvey Wilson Lee Goodwin in 1912, she's described by by Kaye Lundgren of CAHC (the Center for Arkansas History and Culture, where the grande dame's archive of papers, correspondence and articles is now curated) as "...the intrepid Arkansan who ventured forth into the bright lights and big cities of the United States’ East and West Coasts, as well as Europe, to pursue his passion and talent for the stage in the guises of singer, comedian, and female impersonator."

You can download Miss Lundgren's full article on the CAHC website, but here is an extract:

As a child, Harvey had a flair for singing and dancing and acting, performing shows, which [he] usually arranged and directed. Harvey's father, Ernest, supported his young son's theatrical interests by arranging canvasses and drapes for a makeshift stage in the family's backyard. Harvey enjoyed playing the parts of little girls in these amateur productions and he invariably received taunts and torments from his classmates.

At the age of fourteen, Goodwin witnessed the performance of a professional female impersonator, Mr. Jean Barrios, on a local Little Rock stage. Enthralled by Barrios' performance, Goodwin wrote to the performer regarding entrée into the world of female impersonation. Unfortunately, Goodwin did not receive a reply to his enquiry but this did not deter him. In fact, Goodwin diligently worked during his high school years to pay for dancing lessons which gave him dexterity of feet and hands.

After graduation from Little Rock High School in 1930, Goodwin attended business school and subsequently accepted a clerical position in Washington, D.C. There, he continued his dance lessons at the Hazel Richard Dance Studio. At this studio, he made his debut as a semi-professional female impersonator in 1933 performing a song and dance routine. Goodwin's youthful talents were noticed. In January 1934, Goodwin was asked to perform in costume at one of the first of the birthday balls of the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1934, Goodwin received his big break when Club Richman in New York City offered him a position with a salary equal to his government employment. He proved quite the success, as noted in a Walter Winchell column dated December 24, 1934: "One of the girls at the Richman Club, who is really a feller, left a job with the government to switch his petticoats." Harvey's good luck continued during his time at Club Richman when he secured the part of a female impersonator in Warner Brothers-Vitaphone musical comedy The City Slicker. One day, while Harvey was on the movie set on Long Island, the head of the studio made an appearance and commented that Goodwin resembled the movie star Jean Harlow, then at the height of her popularity...

...In 1947, Goodwin acquired his signature partner, "Nikki," a Borzoi (or Russian Wolfhound). Nikki was a notable addition to the act as Harvey commented that "we create quite a mild sensation wherever we appear both on the stage, on the sidewalks, and in the hotels and trains." Goodwin formed his own revue of five female impersonators in 1950 and noted that his group was well received during their various club tours on the East Coast... in New York during 1952, he competed as a female impersonator at the famous Beaux Arts Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel sponsored by the Art Students League. Once again, the public took note of his talent. Dorothy Kilgallen, a well-known columnist and panellist for the then popular television show What's My Line, commented on Harvey's talent by stating, "That can't be a boy with that body and legs!"...

...Harvey Goodwin's career spanned the bulk of the twentieth century. During that time he saw many societal reactions to the gay community, ranging from acceptance to outright hostility. Though an artist, not an activist, he followed the gay-rights struggle with interest as his collection of papers attest. Vincent Astor wrote in his article "The Incomparable Mr. Harvey Lee," that Goodwin "never mentioned hardships or prejudice because he was gay."

Goodwin was a performer above all else and was ever aware of his audience as noted by the following quotation:

A certain amount of decorum and restraint must be practised and adhered to when one is engaged in the profession of a female impersonator as the great American public is always alert to detect and criticize any slight fault or mannerism that is out of the ordinary.

"A Certain Amount of Decorum" is a fitting epitaph for Harvey Goodwin, a man of letters, style, and talent.

Harvey Lee Goodwin suffered all his life from bouts of tuberculosis. He still lived a very full and eventful life, however - he gave his farewell performance in San Francisco in 1984 after fifty years in frocks, and died on 4th July 1992.

More Mr Harvey Lee at the incomparable Queer Music Heritage site.