"Mademoiselle Olympe Zabriski" is a short story, first published in 1873, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907), a noted poet, author, and magazine editor of the prestigious Atlantic Monthly, still being published today.
A one sentence synopsis: A New Yorker from an aristocratic family is captivated by a girl trapeze artist. The twist ending won't come as a surprise to readers on this site.
This turned up whiile I was researching some information about an equestrian circus performer circa 1875. He went by the name Omar Kingsley when performing and training horses as a male after 1870. Apparently that was his real name, at least after he was taken in by a circus family after leaving his home at age six, or so the story goes. But in the mid-1850s and 1860s, he performed in Europe and then the United States as Ella Zoyara, and seems to have lived the part, at least in the earlier years. Ella became something of a celebrity, at least among fans of circus acts.
He'd still perform occasional benefit events as Ella for large crowds at least into the mid-1870s, though his real identity was no secret then. From everything I've read, crossdressing stage performers were considered wholesome family entertainment during at least the last quarter of the 19th Century -- though crossdressing on the street could put you in jail.
Fwiw, It took me some time to appreciate the writing style. Parts of the introductory section that I found somewhat tedious on first reading were laugh-out-loud hilarious when I read the story again today, four months later.
The story: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/23362/23362-h/23362-h.htm
(I've given the information sources to Maryanne Peters. Anyone else who ants threm can cotact me.)
Eric
Apparently There's No Way to Edit...
...a Forum entry. That final sentence should read "Anyone else who wants them can contact me."
It's checked
The box is checked for logged-in members to edit their own topics. Not sure if or why it isn't working.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
As odd as all-get-out
I think it would help the reader to know that the brief story you've linked to is NOT about Omar / Ella, but is only related by topic. I'm sure I would have laughed more at the semi-literate ending if I wasn't trying to figure out when Olympe became known as Ella or vice-versa.
In any case, it is good to get a glimpse of a man in skirts in times gone by. Thanks for the notes.
- io
Sorry About That...
I should have made it clearer that Ella and later Omar were bareback riders, while "Olympe" in the story performed on trapeze. The real performer's existence presumably inspired the story -- a newspaper article at the time made the connection and alerted me to it -- but as you note there's probably little similarity between the character and the real performer, who by 1875 was the ringmaster, business partner and horse trainer for John Wilson's Circus, ths same one he'd/she'd performed with over the years.
Eric