M ay 2 0 1 7 6 1 Icons queer music heritage One of the first professional female impersonators in America, Tom Martelle was a star of the 1920s stage and a regular sensation in Maine. By William David Barry & danielle Fazio W ho’s the fine-looking girl over there who just nodded to you? I wouldn’t mind know- ing her myself,” writes journalist Philip B. Sharpe for Sun-Up Magazine in May, 1925, a glossy publication in vogue from 1923 to 1932. The “girl” in question was in fact a Mr. Tom Martelle (alternately spelled Mar- tell), one of the most celebrated female im- personators of the era and a keen visitor to Vacationland. The story, tucked between articles about “Wet and Dry Fishing” and the Quoddy Hydro Project, and styled “A Case of Dual Personality–But No Jekyll and Material Girl Hyde,” may have come as a surprise to Sun- Up readers more used to the magazine’s usual modus operandi: “Resort features… Adventure, Romance, Beautiful Pictures– a magazine just chock full of good things.” More enticingly, the story captures female impersonation and vaudeville theater in New York, punctuated with two photo- graphs of Martelle, in and out of drag, cap- tioned “Tommy the Boy” and “Tommy the Girl.” Adventure, romance, and beautiful pictures: check, check, and checkmate. Although Martelle had been astonish- ing East Coast audiences since 1911 (his sheet music–words and music by Martelle– can still be found in flea markets, antique shops, and on eBay), information about the performer is scarce. Almost nothing can be read about him beyond the 1930s. The Sun- Up feature captures rare details about this forgotten figure. Sharpe writes that Martel- le was born in Los Angeles, “twenty-eight years ago this month,” placing his birth date in 1897. He often visited Maine to per- form at the Jefferson Theater on Free Street and enjoy the open roads. “Motoring has always had a strong appeal to Mr. Martel- le, and the State of Maine has been visited