The story of Effie Fellows, a male impersonator from Subiaco in the early 1900's was first published on State Library of Western Australia's Facebook page in August 2021. The Facebook page publishes many wonderful stories about Western Australia's history, social and cultural life and people, in particular women and children.
Trove, the database of the National Library of Australia contains some wonderful articles and photographs about Effie Fellows and her family who lived in Coghlan Road, Subiaco. The newspapers record while Effie travelled the world performing she regularly returned to visit her parents and family in Subiaco.
I have copied the story from the State Library of Western Australia's Facebook page below with some photographs. No copyright infringement intended.
AN EXTRAORDINARY CAREER... AS A BOY (21 August, 2021).
Effie Fellows had an extraordinary and adventurous career... as a boy.
Born in 1893, she grew up in Subiaco the daughter of a well known local painter and decorator. Always the tomboy, Effie went by the nicknames of Tommy and Rumsty.
By age sixteen Effie decided not only that skirts were a nuisance but that she had to have "either freedom of speech or action". Having little regard to convention, she masterfully adopted men's attire and disguised herself as a boy.
Effie gained a job as a lift-boy at the Palace Hotel in St George's Terrace and after two days work was promoted to the dining-room, doing well out of tips. One day however she was recognised by a friend and knew it was time to "clear out". She then went on to work at a girls' college as a page boy, trimming the lawn, filling the ink bottles and doing odd jobs but was sacked when she became the object of the girls affection.
Effie went on to have many adventures. Going by the name of Freddie Manners she took a steamboat passage to Melbourne, sharing a male cabin with two men who later were reportedly astounded by the hoax.
She got a job in Melbourne driving a horse and cart for a Toorak newsagent and it was here that she first saw male impersonators on the stage. Later she travelled to Sydney where she got a lucky break and was contracted as an impersonator at Fullers Theatres.
Billed as Freddie Manners "Australia's Perfect Boy", Effie's successful career as a variety performer was launched in 1915. The novelty of her speciality and the cleverness of her characterisation, made her a hit in Australia and overseas. She toured the world, performed at the London Palladium and was described by a New York newspaper of the time, as "one of the greatest boy impersonators of her time".
Effie regularly returned home to Perth during the 1920s and her visits invariably saw her headline at such theatres as the Majestic, Regent and the Luxor.
Effie married twice, once to a London vaudeville gymnast whose stage name was Piquo and then to boxing promoter Sammy Chapman.
In the 1930s the effect of the depression and the "talkies" brought about the gradual decline of vaudeville entertainment and Effie settled back into life in Subiaco. Here she continued to perform in nursing homes and community centres, always in male costume, until her passing In 1977 age 84.
