The NY Police* Glee Club and Female Impersonators
aND A LITTLE BRONX CULTURAL HISTORY
One hundred years ago today … The News reported that the New York City Police Department had held its annual Police Glee Club show in the Bronx, with visual documentation.
Daily News, 6 April, 1920, p. 24. Newspapers.com.
It seems about half of the officers appeared as “female impersonators” (a performance style we cover in our March 7 post, linked here).
Daily News, 6 April, 1920, p. 24. Newspapers.com.
The show was held at the Hunt’s Point Palace, 963 Southern Boulevard in the Bronx. The venue, which held over 2,500 people, in later decades became a central location in the development of Latin music and thus in the development of Latinx New York culture. (See “A South Bronx Latin Music Tale” by Roberta L. Singer and Elena Martínez.) In the 1980s it hosted hip-hop shows featuring some of the seminal names of that genre. (See flier for June 6, 1981 show by Phase Three.)
Southern Boulevard, from a Southwesterly view, 1919. Keystone View Company. The New York Public Library. IRMA AND PAUL MILSTEIN DIVISION OF UNITED STATES HISTORY, LOCAL HISTORY AND GENEALOGY. The Hunt’s Point Theater is in the background, to the right (north) of the semicircular building on the corner. (See OldNYC.org.)
The Police Glee Club was founded in 1912 and held its annual event until 1954. (See “Police Glee Club Sings Swan Song.” The New York Times 5 February, 1954.)
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, APRIL 6, 2020
Tags: Police, NYPD, Bronx, Hunt’s Point Palace, female impersonators, glee club, music, Latin, hip-hop
*It was not yet referred to as the “NYPD”