Introducing Anita Franklin, writer of 'You're Somethin' Else, Gladys', episode 1 in our audio drama series.

ANITA FRANKLIN SHARES HER THOUGHTS ON WRITING YOU'RE SOMETHIN' ELSE, GLADYS

CLICK BELOW TO LISTEN TO ANITA'S THOUGHTS ON GLADYS

​We asked Dr Anita Franklin to share her thoughts about writing the first episode in our Persons of Interest series. Here is a transcription of what she said...

When Vanitas Arts approached me and asked me to write about the life of Gladys Bentley I was absolutely overjoyed, and I still am really pleased with the outcome of the work that we've all done.
 
I want to start by shouting out to the cast. I was really privileged to work with Kim Tatum, Karl Haynes, Cyril Blake, Yasmin Plews, David McClelland, Misha Malcolm, (astonishing voice Misha), and the amazing Rikki Beadle-Blair.
 
So I want to say that the thing about being a playwright is, although I wrote this, and yes, I was able to perform the role of Gladys, your work as a Playwright never comes alive until the Director and Producer and the cast give it three dimensions, or four dimensions even in this case. That's one of the things that I love the most about doing this kind of writing, it's never just what's in my head, it's also what I can convey to other people, so that they bring what's in their head to the table as well.
 
What caught my attention in writing about Gladys Bentley is that it really took me back to my own childhood and growing up in Philadelphia,  which is where she was from, and also for myself - I was born in Philly and grew up in New York. I was very used to queerness, queerness is nothing new for me in my family, in my community, and so what caught my attention around Gladys is that it did remind me of people that I knew from my past. It reminded me of entertainers - my father was a Photographer and so you know there would be people when I was very small who were entertainers who would come to the house or my father would go out to the studio and take their photos and I was aware of same-sex attraction as a part of the adult world.
 
With Gladys, I got a chance to see how, from the 1920s and 30s, how it became dangerous in the 1950s for her, that the whole kind of codification around morality and around same-sex attraction in places like California made it difficult for her to live and perform as a Drag King. And so that's one of the things I want to say about being a writer, is the endless opportunity to find new stories in the past. A cursory look at the history of Gladys Bentley will show you that not only was she a high earner, she was also within a community of other artists during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, and so the Harlem Renaissance was a time that had multiple Black creatives in Harlem in the 1920s and 30s, and which pretty much kind of came to an end with World War 2 starting.
 
So one of the things is looking at the whole business of never really being on your own as a creative, as an entertainer. There was a comedian when I was growing up who was my favourite, and she was called Moms Mabley. Moms Mabley actually was around in the 1920s and was a lesbian comedian, then of course, when I was growing up, her act had changed to being a comedian, a woman who is a grandmother figure and who is wearing a flowered dress and all of this kind of thing, there's nothing really lesbian about her act, but in the 1920s that's what she did and so it became interesting to see. 
 
A big part of what was going on for people who've been around in the 20s is that after World War 2 ended, their lives became much more restricted and they had to remake themselves over into something else. They had to find a way to reinvent themselves, and so I placed the work in the 50s because of the McCarthy era and the way in which the McCarthy era was not simply about restriction but it was about restriction so strong that you could end up in prison for having hung out around the so-called wrong people, people who were communists, and at that time, same-sex attraction was associated with communism and so-called anti American activity.
 
So the whole survival of Gladys Bentley through the 1950s was predicated on her trying to distance herself from the 1920s. You’re Somethin’ Else Gladys goes from the 50s, a time of hard times, but back to her heyday. We can see how certain things in the 1950s would get her to remember times past, at the same time we are also advised that to understand that memory alone is tricky.
 
I hope you enjoy the podcast. It was a delight to make. Thank you Vanitas Arts, Shirley Harris and Amanda Huxtable.
 
It was an amazing privilege of walking just a little while in the footsteps of Gladys Bentley.

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Listen to 'You're Somethin' Else, Gladys' Below