Bobbie Kimber: An Amiable Misfit (hardback)

Bobbie Kimber: An Amiable Misfit

by Anthony Slide

6”x9” size

126­­ pages

ISBN 9798887714974

The Bobbie Kimber story is a fascinating one, involving the art of ventriloquism, female impersonation, and gender variance. It is the story of a man who became a prominent British Music Hall performer from the late 1930s onwards, displaying his skill as a ventriloquist with various dummies, most notably Augustus Peabody or “Gussie,” while all the time dressed as a woman. He never made a secret of his masculinity, but he never emphasized it, and, as a result, there were many in the audience and in the press who assumed he really was female. Gradually, he assumed the identify of a woman, dressing in female attire both on and off stage, and even claimed to have had a sex change operation, which was a complete lie. In the later years of his life, Bobbie Kimber always appeared as a woman, with long hair, make-up and high heels. His stage persona had become his real persona. Bobbie Kimber surely represents the strangest example of gender variance.

Here's what Lisa Sweasy, the Director/Curator of the Vent Haven Museum in Kentucky had to say about Bobbie Kimber: “You’ve pulled it all together and comprehensively told Bobbie’s story. I’m so glad to have this book for the Vent Haven Library.”