Berta Beeson

Berta Beeson (1899–1969) was the stage name of Herbert “Slats” Beeson, a cross-dressing circus performer known as “The Julian Eltinge of the Wire.”

Beeson was stage struck at an early age. According to several sensational anecdotes, he learned to dance upon the wire by imitating the routine of a young girl in the circus. Upon her sudden injury, he stepped in to take her place; in one version, the young woman for whom he inadvertently understudied became his wife. The truth probably was not as good a story. As a teenage grocery clerk in Summitville, Indiana, Beeson moonlighted at the local vaudeville house. Though he was working behind the scenes, he was one step closer to realizing his dream of performing upon the wire.

In 1917, the Sells Floto Circus billed him as “Mademoiselle Beeson, Marvelous High Wire Venus.” During his performance in the center ring, the side rings were clear. In 1925, following Bird Millman’s retirement from circus life, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus featured Beeson as “The Mad-Cap Whirlwind of the Mid-Air”. He retired from performance in 1936, but later reemerged as an advance man, traveling ahead of the show to make necessary arrangements.

There is no clear evidence of Beeson’s true sexuality, though one circus acquaintance points to his being captain of the circus baseball team as testament to his masculinity. Beeson died in California at the age of seventy, survived by his wife Margaret.