Jean Chandler 1962 from "Letters From Female Impersonators Vol 11" Upscaled, AI enhanced and Colourised

This is the famous female impersonator Jene Chandler pictured in 1962 aged 25. young female impersonator by the name appearing in the Nutrix publication, "Letters From Female Impersonators Vol 11" which is available for all in PDF form from The Digital Transgender Archive (www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/k3569438f).

By 1962 Jene was already quite established in the world of female impersonation and her letter describes her rise to fame from a manager in a ladies clothing section of a department store, all the way to starring in "The Jewel Box Revue" via "Club 82" in New York.

It seems Jene did indeed go on to further success as even with the briefest of searches finds her in various reviews including "Cherze La Femme" in Montreal in the late 60's early 70s (a program can be found here www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/m039k5161) and there is even a clip of her with fellow female mimics Vicky Lane and Guilda in a terrible movie entitled "When Drag Queens Attack" on YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_8IWh3Pr08)from 1976.

As always any further information I would be glad to hear from you....here is Jene, in her our words in 1962 as published in the magazine

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Dear Editor:
Here are a few pertinent facts about myself for the readers of your well-known female impersonator books.

My name is Jene Chandler (please spell my first name with a capital "J" and not "Gene" as some editors have done in the past by mistake). I was born in Brooklyn, New York, twenty-five years ago.
After graduating from High School in Brooklyn, I studied at Tulane University, where I majored in music and drama. After my first year studying drama in college, the "acting bug" bit me and I left college to take a part-time job in a large department store as a buyer of women s coats, dresses and suits, so that I could earn enough money to carry me over while seeking work in the theatre.
I managed the Women's s Department in the in the afternoons while working at an off-Broadway little theatre at nights in order to obtain acting experience I had to work days in the department store in order to eat well, as the little theatre group with which I became associated paid very small salaries, since their income was very little and they could not afford to pay much.
However, the valuable experience I gained at this little theatre group was worth much more to me than money, for it gave me the opportunity to gain much-needed experience and to learn how to apply make-up properly. My position as a buyer of feminine wearing apparel taught me how to distinguish good values in women's s fashions and did me in good stead later on, when I decided to become a female impersonator.
I became interested in female impersonation during my stay in Greenwich Village, New York, and realized that this profession was more lucrative than appearing in small parts in Broadway musical shows, waiting for my talents to become recognized.
While in Greenwich Village, I became acquainted with several female impersonators who wore stylish clothes of the latest fashions. They also seemed to have plenty of money to spend, while I was barely able to make ends meet, working at two jobs day and night !

This made me envious of them. As I was a fairly good dancer, I therefore decided to try my luck and audition for a traveling revue, which was scheduled to open in Washington, DC. This show had a chorus line of six females and six males in female attire.

I auditioned for this show as a male dancer and I was selected to work in the chorus. 1 worked for several months with the show and when the show opened in a Chicago night club, one of the showgirl exotic dance strippers left and I was asked if I would like to try and take her place.
This was my opportunity and I grabbed the chance. The pay was larger and it gave me a chance to work in a feature spot as a regular female impersonator.

I worked for a while as a stripper and singer in the show before joining another unit working in various cities, returning later to New York City. In New York I worked at the 82 Club as a showgirl and in several of the production numbers, all the time in female attire, which I was beginning to enjoy. I did my best to become as feminine-looking as possible in appearance and in my walking as I humanly could.

My crowning success came, when while working at the 82 Club, I entered a beauty con— test for women and - believe it or not was the runner up because of the judges t favoritism for another girl! I was tempted to tear off my wig and reveal myself as a man, but I thought better of the idea, as it would only mean forfeiting the runner up prize of a white silver fox stole, which I desired.

Later on I worked in Los Angeles, where I appeared on several nation-wide telecasts in a feminine role, with no one the wiser to the fact that I was actually a man! I worked as a female impersonator for five years and enjoyed it.

When "Doc" Benner offered me the job of working as a combination singer, stripper and Master of Ceremonies for the famed JEWEL BOX REVUE, I jumped at the chance and willingly accepted. It had long been my ambition to work in the Jewel Box Revue, which is considered to be the tops in the world of female impersonation.
The Jewel Box Revue to femme mimics is like the importance of Tiffany's to the jewelry world. Only the best and most talented female mimics are chosen to work in this revue, which is known all over the world. Since I am featured in the Jewel Box Revue, any of your readers can see me by watching the advertisements in the amusement pages of the newspapers.

Working in feminine attire is "nice work if you can get it," but it is also extremely hard work as well. I design my own hair styles and I create my own settings on my wigs, which are dyed to match my own natural hair coloring.Here is the way it is done.

I make a wig pattern of my head and snip off several locks of my real hair, which are given to the wig maker, so that he can match my hair with the right shade. I pay anywhere from $ 85 to $ 350 each for my wigs which, outside of my gowns, are the most expensive items in my feminine wardrobe.
I have to always have several wigs on hand, for while one is being cleaned, set and waved, I then can have one ready should one wig be delayed in being returned from the beauty parlor, as has happened on more than one occasion.

All I can say about my work as a female impersonator is that it has been a ball and I would die if for some reason I had to leave this wonderful profession.

I would not give up my work for all the money in this world. After many years of dancing on "high heels" and giving out with the impressions of the late Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis and other famous Hollywood stars, while in drag, I have learned to love my work. I only resent some of the insulting remarks that certain "at Liberty" actors have leveled at those of us in this unusual profession.

I still get a lick out of the way salespeople, especially young girls, look at me when I am purchasing new dresses or lingerie when I inform them that these articles of clothing are for my own personal use! Their eyes pop out and their jaws drop. I have to take some of my photos of myself in "drag costumes" out of my wallet before they will believe me. When I'm leaving, the salesgirl would go over to a fellow worker and whisper excitedly to her. When not working, I'm dressed as a male and my former fellow-workers do not recognize me i
n female attire. It is lots of fun fooling the public into thinking that I'm a girl and I enjoy it.
With best wishes to you and your readers.
Cordially yours,
JENE CHANDLER.

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TECHY STUFF:
The original screen grab was 422x697 pixels. The original required some cleaning to remove the logo in the bottom right hand corner and the hand written "GENE CHANDLER" in the bottom left. The handwritten inscription is something quite common to Nutrix publications and indicates that the photographer was Irvine Klaw. Regular readers of my feed may even start to recognise the flat in which this was taken, which was probably Irvine's. This was upscaled and enhanced by a factor of three resulting in an image 1266x1995. The upscaling was performed by the excellent open source software "Upscayl" (www.upscayl.org/), I then used the open source image editor GIMP (www.gimp.org/) to convert to greyscale and then back to RGB for colourisation. Further white balancing and contrast adjustments were also performed in GIMP before exporting the image you see here as a JPG.

Disclaimer: The digital enhancements to the original are all my own work, plus (in this case) use of AI enhancement. Any such unauthorised use (without prior permission) for that aspect of the work will be considered a violation of my partial copyright. Where the original item is shown, it is done so purely for comparative purposes only.

Taken on: March 25, 2024

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Female Impersonator

Female Impersonation

1960's

Nutrix

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The Jewel Box

Club 82 « less

Sets appears in: • AI Enhanced and Colourised • Colourised Pictures

Groups appears in: • Vintage Transgender Photos (pre-2000)

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