Ray Bourbon / Tessie / Fountain Of Youth / Hal Wadell / Ramon Icarez

$

54

Ray Bourbon

Fountain of Youth / Tessie

Imperial 104

78 RPM

10 Inch

Has Lots of Typical Surface Scratches

INCREDIBLY RARE...

Many details of his life are disputed, but it is thought that his birth name was either Hal Wadell (or Waddell),[1][2] or Ramón Ícarez,[3] and that he was born in Texas. He claimed to have been born on August 11, 1902, but FBI sources state that he admitted that his birth was in 1892.[4] In a 1937 application for a Social Security card, he gave his birth name as Hal Wadell, but at different times in his life claimed that he was the illegitimate son of a Texas congressman, and/or that he was the "last of the Hapsburg Bourbons" whose mother had traveled to the US shortly before giving birth. One friend stated: "Where Ray was concerned, we simply never knew what was real and what wasn't."[4]

He claimed to have attended school in London, and to have first performed on stage there in 1913.[4][5] He returned to the US around 1917 and, according to the FBI, married and had a son.[4] Bourbon claimed to have been a stunt double for movie actresses,[4] and an uncredited actor in several silent films,[6] notably Rudolph Valentino's Blood and Sand in 1922.[1] Using the name Ramón Ícarez, he may have appeared as a dancer at the opening of the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1923.[5] He also performed in vaudeville as one half of a double act with Bert Sherry, and toured the US and England.[4] In 1929 he worked in another double act, Scotch and Bourbon, and in 1931 (as Mr. Rae Bourbon) modeled women's dresses in a department store in Bakersfield, California.[2] After receiving a large inheritance, he then wrote a novel, Hookers, published under the pseudonym of Richard F. Mann.[2]

By 1932 he was working full-time as a female impersonator,[5] headlining "Frisco’s first pansy show", Boys Will Be Girls, in San Francisco in 1933.[4] He became noted for his outrageous material, and was later described as "a professional vulgarian, not to be confused with glamour drag."[3] In the 1930s and 1940s he appeared in hundreds of gay nightclubs across the US, notably in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Miami Beach.[3][6][2] He performed his own material, or songs specially written for him such as "Mr. Wong Has Got The Biggest Tong In China",[3] and occasionally issued recordings, such as Hilarity From Hollywood (c.1945).[5] His accompanists included Chet Forrest and Bart Howard.[4] He put on his show Don’t Call Me Madam: A Midnight Revue in Time at Carnegie Hall in New York to a sell-out audience.[4][5] In 1944, he was hired by Mae West to perform in her Broadway production of Catherine Was Great, and her show Diamond Lil which toured until 1950.[3][4]

By the early 1950s he increasingly faced prosecution, as well as declining sales, and his shows were too risqué for a mainstream audience.[4] He issued a series of spoken word albums on his UTC ("Under The Counter") label, which were available at his performances and by mail order.[5] In Los Angeles, he was arrested on a charge of "impersonating a woman", and the authorities closed down the club in which he was performing on the grounds that it was "presenting an indecent performance."[2] After an arrest in New Orleans in 1956 he claimed to have undertaken a "sex change" gender reassignment operation in Mexico. This was probably untrue, and a publicity stunt;[6] he may in fact have had an operation for cancer.[4] However, he used the claim in his material and publicity, releasing an album Take a Look at My Operation, and insisting thereafter on being billed as Rae (rather than Ray) Bourbon.[1]

In 1968 he was accused of being an accomplice to murder. He traveled between performances in an old car pulling a trailer containing some 70 pet dogs; after the car broke down, he entrusted their care to a kennel owner in Texas, A. D. Blount. When Bourbon failed to pay for their upkeep, Blount disposed of the dogs, probably to a research center. Bourbon became convinced that the dogs had been killed, and hired two men, Bobby Eugene Chrisco and Randall Crane­to, to beat Blount up. Blount died as a result, and Bourbon was arrested. He pleaded innocence, but was convicted with the two men and sentenced to a 99-year prison term. He died in hospital in Brownwood, Texas, while serving his prison sentence in 1971.[6][3][4]

In 1932, Ray (Rae) Bourbon was working full-time as a female impersonator at such clubs as Jimmy's Back Yard in Hollywood and Tait's in San Francisco. At the latter, in May 1933, police raided his "Boys Will Be Girls" review during a live radio broadcast. In the later 30s and early 40s he headlined at the Rendezvous in Los Angeles and starred in his own revue, "Don't Call Me Madam." Throughout the 50s and 60s Bourbon entertained at hundreds of clubs throughout the U.S. and released dozens of albums, certainly the most prolific female impersonator to have done the latter. His comedy was at once highbrow and lowbrow, overtly gay and covertly subversive. Despite his influence on gays, he remained vague about his own sexuality. He was married twice, and fathered at least one son. Bourbon excelled at generating numerous conflicting stories about himself.[4][5]

He claimed, at various times, to have been born Hal Wadell in Texarkana, TX in 1892, Ramon Icarez in or near Chihuahua, TX in 1898, and the son of Franz Joseph of Austria and Louisa Bourbon. Such is the elusive Ray Bourbon. Many "facts" regarding Bourbon's early life­his birth of Bourbon royalty, his education at Tulane Medical School in New Orleans, his claim to have been Pancho Villa's notorious "Señora Diablo"­are unsubstantiated and probably products of Bourbon's own active imagination. He claimed to have begun in the theatre in England in 1913, and this may well be true. He returned to the US by 1917 and, as Rae Bourbon, supposedly won a Photoplay contest and was awarded a studio contract as first prize. He would say later that he worked in several silent films, and it is reported that he appeared under the name Ramon Icarez as a fire dancer at the opening of the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1923. By the mid-20's he was working with Bert Sherry as the vaudeville team of "Bourbon and Sherry" and later toured with the Martin Sisters.

In 1932, he was working full-time as a female impersonator at such clubs as Jimmy's Back Yard in Hollywood and Tait's in San Francisco. (At this last club, in May 1933, his "Boys Will Be Girls" review was raided by police during a live radio broadcast.) In the later 30's and early 40's he headlined at the Rendezvous in Los Angeles and starred in his own revue, "Don't Call Me Madam."

His "Insults of 1944", which began at the Playtime Theatre in Los Angeles in January of that year, caught the attention of Mae West during its New York production in May, 1944 at La Vie Parisienne. She cast him in her 1944 production of 'Catherine Was Great" and in her 1948 production of "Diamond Lil".

Throughout the 50's and 60's Bourbon entertained at hundreds of clubs throughout the US and released dozens of albums, certainly the most prolific female impersonator to have done the latter. Despite his knack for publicity (such as faking a sex change in 1956), by the late 1960's Bourbon had fallen on hard times. In 1968 while traveling through Texas with trailer containing over 70 dogs, his car burst into flames and he was forced to lodge the animals with kennel keeper A. D. Blount. He eventually found work at the Jewel Box Revue in Kansas City, but by then Blount had sold the dogs to a research facility since Bourbon was unable to pay for their keep. Bourbon hired two young men­ Bobby Eugene Chrisco and Randall Crane­to work Blount over, but they panicked and killed the kennel-keeper. Chrisco, Crane and Bourbon were all convicted as murder conspirators; as the mastermind, the 78 year old Bourbon was given a 99 year sentence. He died a short time later, on January 19, 1971 in the Howard County Texas prison.

IMPERIAL

No relation to the red R&B label, most issues on the Imperial label are 1940's releases of Bourbon's material, mostly in all-new recordings. Made in Hollywood around 1941, some of this material appears related to Bourbon's early 1940's Hollywood revue "Don't Call Me Madam". The only non-Bourbon Imperial release yet reported is by comedienne Ava Williams, who worked with Bourbon at the Rendezvous in the late 30's/early 40's; Williams confirms that these recordings were done in the early 40's.

These discs were pressed on both coasts: Hollywood and Scranton, with the latter credited to the Novelty Record Company. West coast labels (the more common) are more elaborate, black with silver print and with more extensive credits; east coast labels are black with greenish-gold print. At least one 12" disc-number 111 A/B-is known.

There seem to be three distinct groupings. First are a series of discs in the 100-118 range. Bart Howard is credited on the first two of these; since it is known that Bourbon and Howard parted ways in 193X, it may be assumed that the first four of these recordings were done before that time. Thereupon follows several different accompanists: Joey Melbourne, George Kent, Forrest and Wright (whose contribution was advertised but which has yet to surface). Label data suggests there were at least two multiple record sets. in these 100 range releases.

Next is a single 300 number, which contains rereleases of earlier material including the problematic "Strip [Tease] Queen" (q.v.). Finally is a series of a red label discs: a single 5X and an album set 500 A-F, the latter with piano by the pseudonymous (one hopes) Brenda Ughakki.

Given the lapses in numbering, it is likely that there are some unaccounted for discs; some of these were probably later redubbed on the Party Record label (q.v.) as well as numerous blank labels (q.v.).

Take a Lay/Take a Lei (Imperial 105 A)

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