Leopoldo Fregoli, in drag, poses in several inset portraits. Process print, 1903.

Fregoli camaleonte

Part of James Gardiner Collection: photograph album labelled ‘Drag’.

Leopoldo Fregoli wears different costumes within five inset portraits, including one with a guitar and summer hat. Leopoldo Fregoli (Italian, 1867-1936) was the greatest 'protean' quick-change artist ever seen on the stage. This card shows him in just a few of his male and female disguises. He would play dozens of different characters in the course of his act, with total transformations being achieved in seconds. An international sensation, he appeared at the Palace Theatre London under the aegis of Alfred Moul in 1897. His name has been attached to 'Fregoli delusion' or 'Fregoli syndrome', a rare disorder whereby sufferers have a delusional paranoid belief that they are being persecuted by someone able to adopt different disguises (James Gardiner)

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Item Information:

Identifier: bg257f32c
Collection: James Gardiner 20th Century Drag Postcards
Institution: Wellcome Library
Date Issued: Jan. 1, 1903
Genre: Photographs
Prints
Topic(s): Entertainers
Female impersonators
Resource Type: Still Image
Analog Format: 1 print : process print ;
Rights: Copyright undetermined
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