(Text and photos by Michail Takach, for an historical panel created by this project in 2019. The panel is on loan to the 'This Is It' bar in downtown Milwaukee.)

Francis Leon (born Francis Patrick Glassey in 1844) was billed as "The Famous Leon" or "The Only Leon." On June 7, 1884, he performed what is believed to be the first "drag" show in Milwaukee history, at Nunnemacher's Grand Opera Hall in City Hall Square.

Leon ran away and joined a traveling minstrel show as a teenager. As a boy soprano in church choirs, he was able to perfectly mimic female voices, which made him the perfect female impersonator. His wardrobe included over 300 dresses, some costing as much as $400.

"Leon is the best male female actor known to the stage. He does it with such dignity, modesty, and refinement that it is truly art." according to The New York Clipper.

In 1864, he formed his own troupe in New York City with his lover, Edwin Kelly. The couple experienced public harassment and discrimination, because the 97-pound, petite Leon was considered "effeminate and womanly" even out of costume. It was okay for Leon to be feminine for other people's amusement; it was not okay, in Civil War America, to be gender non-conforming for one's own affirmation.

In 1867, the two were nearly killed by a competing troupe owner, who fired at them outside their theater. Kelly fired back in self-defense, killing the gunman, and faced a sensational and scandalous trial. Newspapers snarked that Leon "wept like an auntie" and "buried her face in silk shawls" in the courtroom throughout the trial.

By 1874, every minstrel company in the country had a Leon impostor, so he changed his stage name to "The Only Leon." In 1878, he and Kelly set sail for Australia where Leon's drag act earned $11,000 a week. Sadly, the couple broke up at the peak of Leon's fame.

Leon was the highest paid minstrel performer in America by 1882, but nearly bankrupt a year later, when he joined the San Francisco Minstrels. Somehow, he wound up in Milwaukee by 1884 where he played opera houses, vaudeville theaters and the Shoot-The-Chutes amusement park at North & Cambridge.

In 1885, Leon and Kelly returned to Australia, where they operated the Nugget Theater. In 1890, they returned to Chicago to produce Babes in the Wood , with a budget-breaking cast of four hundred. Kelly and Leon split five years later after losing their fortune; Kelly failed to resurrect his career and died in 1899. Leon returned to Chicago, where he opened a Burlesque Opera Company that only lasted nine days.

Francis Leon retired from performing after a final show in 1900, and then seemed to disappear completely. He left show business, moved to Chicago, ventured into real estate, and purchased a large office building where he lived comfortably in his old age.

In 1902, the Chicago Tribune visited a rooftop garden at 144 N Kedzie Ave. to find Francis Leon living in quiet obscurity. "Chicago Man Satisfied on a Roof: Home of Leon, Once Famous Female Impersonator," read the headline. Leon was quoted in the article:

"I have nothing to regret, nothing to look forward to, nothing to do but enjoy my plants, my flowers, and my birds. Perhaps I am lazy-- but I want nothing better than to enjoy the luxuries of my garden. I have had enough activity. I worked hard for thirty years, and this is my reward and it is great enough to satisfy me. I got about little, and I am contented to live here just as you see me. I still cherish memories of the stage as you will observe.

These are the remains of my costumes... I should not want to part with any of them, although I never expect to use them again. They are just interesting as keepsakes. I always went on the theory that the public wanted the best, and I never failed to give them the best. What is more, I never wore stage jewelry. My jewelry was always the real thing."

Francis Leon died in August 1922 at age 77. He is buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.

Webmaster note: According to Wikipedia: Francis Leon (born Francis Patrick Glassey; 21 Nov 1844 - after 1891) was a blackface minstrel performer best known for his work as a female impersonator. He was largely responsible for making the prima donna a fixture of blackface minstrelsy.

Photo in white dress (date unknown) from Harvard Theatre Collection	Photo in black dress (date unknown) from Harvard Theatre Collection	Photo as a man (date unknown) from Harvard Theatre Collection