Pepi Litman Male Impersonator Ukrainian City Born Online

With slicked-back hair, a painted-on mustache that became her trademark, and a three-piece suit tailored to hug her slender frame, Litman exuded a swagger that made real men jealous and women swoon. Critics of the day marveled that she was a better lover on stage than any male actor. She sang baritone love songs with a throaty, passionate growl. When she kissed her female co-stars (usually the famous prima donna Yetta Zwerling), the electricity was palpable.

The rise of talkies and the decline of Yiddish theater during the Great Depression hit Litman hard. By the 1930s, the roles dried up. The young, assimilated Jewish audience no longer wanted the Old World vaudeville; they wanted gangster films and jazz. pepi litman male impersonator ukrainian city born

Despite her "scandalous" stage presence, Litman was a complex figure who balanced her transgressive performances with personal religious observance. While on tour, she reportedly kept kosher and lit Shabbat candles, even as she traveled with her own theater troupe, which she directed herself. With slicked-back hair, a painted-on mustache that became