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Pape eventually owned a club, named "Voo-Doo." In the ''llustrated Guide to 'Depraved' Berlin'' (1931), Curt Moreck (a pseudonym of German author Konrad Haemmerling) described the club "Voo-Doo" as a good nightlife spot for "befriended couples" looking for an "exotic night."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Smith|first=C.|date=2013-06-01|title=Challenging Baedeker Through the Art of Sexual Science: an Exploration of Gay and Lesbian Subcultures in Curt Moreck's Guide to 'Depraved' Berlin (1931)|journal=Oxford Art Journal|volume=36|issue=2|pages=236|doi=10.1093/oxartj/kct018|issn=0142-6540|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=MacKay|first=Andy Stewart|date=2020-04-01|title=Democratic depravity: Curt Moreck's Berlin|url=https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/blog/democratic-depravity-curt-morecks-berlin/|access-date=2020-07-31|website=Peter Harrington Blog|language=en-GB}}</ref> [[Klaus Mann]] and [[Christopher Isherwood]] visited Pape's clubs.<ref name=":1" />
Pape eventually owned a club, named "Voo-Doo." In the ''llustrated Guide to 'Depraved' Berlin'' (1931), Curt Moreck (a pseudonym of German author Konrad Haemmerling) described the club "Voo-Doo" as a good nightlife spot for "befriended couples" looking for an "exotic night."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Smith|first=C.|date=2013-06-01|title=Challenging Baedeker Through the Art of Sexual Science: an Exploration of Gay and Lesbian Subcultures in Curt Moreck's Guide to 'Depraved' Berlin (1931)|journal=Oxford Art Journal|volume=36|issue=2|pages=236|doi=10.1093/oxartj/kct018|issn=0142-6540|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=MacKay|first=Andy Stewart|date=2020-04-01|title=Democratic depravity: Curt Moreck's Berlin|url=https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/blog/democratic-depravity-curt-morecks-berlin/|access-date=2020-07-31|website=Peter Harrington Blog|language=en-GB}}</ref> [[Klaus Mann]] and [[Christopher Isherwood]] visited Pape's clubs.<ref name=":1" />


Pape might also have been an artist, as drawings by "Voo-Doo," "a Lady dancer" survive.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gordon|first=Mel|url=https://legiochristi.com/enwiki/static/lit/Voluptuous_Panic.pdf|title=Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin|date=2008-08-01|publisher=Feral House|year=2008|isbn=978-1-932595-97-0|pages=125|language=en|edition=Expanded}}</ref>
Pape might also have been an artist, as drawings by "Voo-Doo," "a Lady dancer" survive.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gordon|first=Mel|url=https://legiochristi.com/enwiki/static/lit/Voluptuous_Panic.pdf|title=Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin|date=2008-08-01|publisher=Feral House|isbn=978-1-932595-97-0|pages=125|language=en|edition=Expanded}}</ref>


As a child, Pape preferred female clothing and wanted to work in a circus or on stage.<ref name=":1" /> Pape presented as female and signed into several hotels as Selma Bruegge, but after Pape's suicide attempt in 1910, this name was not used again.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Zagria|date=2018-10-22|title=Willi Pape/Voo Doo (1893–1967) performer|url=https://zagria.blogspot.com/2018/10/willi-papevoo-doo-1893-1967-performer.html|access-date=2020-07-31|website=A Gender Variance Who's Who}}</ref> When summoned for military service in 1914, Pape presented in female clothing.<ref name=":0" /> According to Hirschfeld, who used he/his pronouns for Pape, Pape did not find men attractive at the time of their first encounter; Pape had been engaged to a woman and later had a male lover.<ref name=":0" /> German scholar Jens Dobler, who has uncovered much of Pape's biography, writes of "Willi Pape, alias Voo-Doo," as a [[Homosexuality|homosexual]] "[[Drag queen|drag artist]]" (in German: Travestiekünstler) who was referred to by others as "he" and "she;" he also discusses how Pape's life challenged gender norms and that even the terms he has applied are fraught.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Publikationen von Jens Dobler (Auswahl) [Publications by Jens Dobler (Selection)]|url=https://magnus-hirschfeld.de/publikationen/publikationen-von-mitarbeiter_innen/jens-dobler/|access-date=2020-08-01|website=Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft|language=de}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> No known documents survive that describe Pape's gender or sexual identification in Pape's own words.
As a child, Pape preferred female clothing and wanted to work in a circus or on stage.<ref name=":1" /> Pape presented as female and signed into several hotels as Selma Bruegge, but after Pape's suicide attempt in 1910, this name was not used again.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Zagria|date=2018-10-22|title=Willi Pape/Voo Doo (1893–1967) performer|url=https://zagria.blogspot.com/2018/10/willi-papevoo-doo-1893-1967-performer.html|access-date=2020-07-31|website=A Gender Variance Who's Who}}</ref> When summoned for military service in 1914, Pape presented in female clothing.<ref name=":0" /> According to Hirschfeld, who used he/his pronouns for Pape, Pape did not find men attractive at the time of their first encounter; Pape had been engaged to a woman and later had a male lover.<ref name=":0" /> German scholar Jens Dobler, who has uncovered much of Pape's biography, writes of "Willi Pape, alias Voo-Doo," as a [[Homosexuality|homosexual]] "[[Drag queen|drag artist]]" (in German: Travestiekünstler) who was referred to by others as "he" and "she;" he also discusses how Pape's life challenged gender norms and that even the terms he has applied are fraught.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Publikationen von Jens Dobler (Auswahl) [Publications by Jens Dobler (Selection)]|url=https://magnus-hirschfeld.de/publikationen/publikationen-von-mitarbeiter_innen/jens-dobler/|access-date=2020-08-01|website=Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft|language=de}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> No known documents survive that describe Pape's gender or sexual identification in Pape's own words.
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* [https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth-oai:m326mv471 Photograph of "Voo-Doo Performing," {{circa|1918–1920}}.]
* [https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth-oai:m326mv471 Photograph of "Voo-Doo Performing," {{circa|1918–1920}}.]
* [https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth-oai:m326mv46r Photograph of "Voo-Doo Laying Down," {{circa|1918–1920}}, partially nude.]
* [https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth-oai:m326mv46r Photograph of "Voo-Doo Laying Down," {{circa|1918–1920}}, partially nude.]



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[[Category:Gender nonconformity]]
[[Category:Gender nonconformity]]
[[Category:Transgender drag performers]]
[[Category:Transgender drag performers]]
[[Category:20th-century LGBT people]]

Revision as of 04:17, 28 October 2021

Willi Pape (Willy Pape, Voo-Doo, Selma Bruegge; 1893–1967) was a celebrated German cabaret owner and performer in Weimar Berlin who was contemporarily referred to as a "transvestite."

Pape was a patient of German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, who wrote the following to accompany pictures of Pape in his 1912 book The Transvestites:

The young transvestite Willy Pape, whose propensity to dress in women's clothing became known during a suicide attempt [in 1910]. His parents were made aware of this peculiar condition by the author and then allowed him to go onto the Variété, where he has since then performed with great success as a snake dancer.[1]

Pape became a famous cabaret artist and variety-show dancer, usually performing under the name "Voo-Doo" or "Voo Doo" while wearing orientalized versions of female belly-dancing attire in acts such as "Opium Death" and "Elagabalus."[2][3] In 1927, the German lesbian magazine Die Freundin published photographs of Pape captioned: "The Transvestite Voo-Doo, One of the Most Prominent International Dance-stars."[4] Pape performed in Berlin, Zürich, Paris, Vienna, and other major European cities between 1917 and 1928.[3]

Pape eventually owned a club, named "Voo-Doo." In the llustrated Guide to 'Depraved' Berlin (1931), Curt Moreck (a pseudonym of German author Konrad Haemmerling) described the club "Voo-Doo" as a good nightlife spot for "befriended couples" looking for an "exotic night."[5][6] Klaus Mann and Christopher Isherwood visited Pape's clubs.[3]

Pape might also have been an artist, as drawings by "Voo-Doo," "a Lady dancer" survive.[7]

As a child, Pape preferred female clothing and wanted to work in a circus or on stage.[3] Pape presented as female and signed into several hotels as Selma Bruegge, but after Pape's suicide attempt in 1910, this name was not used again.[8] When summoned for military service in 1914, Pape presented in female clothing.[8] According to Hirschfeld, who used he/his pronouns for Pape, Pape did not find men attractive at the time of their first encounter; Pape had been engaged to a woman and later had a male lover.[8] German scholar Jens Dobler, who has uncovered much of Pape's biography, writes of "Willi Pape, alias Voo-Doo," as a homosexual "drag artist" (in German: Travestiekünstler) who was referred to by others as "he" and "she;" he also discusses how Pape's life challenged gender norms and that even the terms he has applied are fraught.[9][3] No known documents survive that describe Pape's gender or sexual identification in Pape's own words.

References

  1. ^ Hirschfeld, Magnus (1912). "Die Transvestiten: Die Transvestiten, [2], Der erotische Verkleidungstrieb". Humbold-Universität zu Berlin Universitätsbibliothek (in German). p. Tafel XVI [Table XVI]. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  2. ^ Prickett, D. J. (2006-01-01). "Locating El Dorado: Berlin's GBLT Topography, Revisited". GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. 12 (1): 159. doi:10.1215/10642684-12-1-158. ISSN 1064-2684. S2CID 145412247.
  3. ^ a b c d e Dobler, Jens (2004). "Der Travestiekünstler Willy Pape alias Vo-Doo". Invertito (in German). 6: 110–121.
  4. ^ Nero, Julie (2013). Hannah Höch, Til Brugman, Lesbianism, and Weimar Sexual Subculture [PhD Dissertation]. Case Western Reserve University. pp. 234–235, 409 (Image 5.16).
  5. ^ Smith, C. (2013-06-01). "Challenging Baedeker Through the Art of Sexual Science: an Exploration of Gay and Lesbian Subcultures in Curt Moreck's Guide to 'Depraved' Berlin (1931)". Oxford Art Journal. 36 (2): 236. doi:10.1093/oxartj/kct018. ISSN 0142-6540.
  6. ^ MacKay, Andy Stewart (2020-04-01). "Democratic depravity: Curt Moreck's Berlin". Peter Harrington Blog. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  7. ^ Gordon, Mel (2008-08-01). Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin (PDF) (Expanded ed.). Feral House. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-932595-97-0.
  8. ^ a b c Zagria (2018-10-22). "Willi Pape/Voo Doo (1893–1967) performer". A Gender Variance Who's Who. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  9. ^ "Publikationen von Jens Dobler (Auswahl) [Publications by Jens Dobler (Selection)]". Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft (in German). Retrieved 2020-08-01.
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