We Love Barbette

We Love Barbette Celebrating Barbette, the famous drag aerialist from Round Rock, Texas!

Barbette was from Round Rock, TX, and we could not be more proud to live in his hometown! Barbette moved from small-town Texas to the stages of the world performing his innovative aerialist act. In the height of his career as a performer, he lived in worked in Paris for years, and his contemporaries and friends included Josephine Baker, May Ray, and Jean Cocteau! This page is to share pictures of,

art and performances inspired by, and all that we can find on the internet about this wonderful man. We also want to exhibit local pride -- because we're so proud to live in the very city where Barbette grew up, Round Rock, TX!




This is very exciting news from CapMetro about Barbette!
08/22/2025

This is very exciting news from CapMetro about Barbette!

This year for Pride, we're honoring a ✨ local legend ✨

We've wrapped one of our CapMetro buses with a tribute to Barbette, a groundbreaking trapeze artist from Round Rock whose life challenged expectations and inspired generations.

From the Paris stage to the pages of Time magazine, Barbette defied boundaries of gender, identity and art.

We're proud to share this story with our city and to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community that makes Austin bold, brilliant and uniquely itself.

🚌 See the full bus reveal at the Austin Pride Parade on Aug. 23!

We can't wait to celebrate with y'all! 🏳️‍🌈



We Love Barbette Round Rock, Texas – City Government

These are some of the many beautiful portraits of Barbette by Gaston Paris, who was Vu magazine's photographer for three...
08/23/2024

These are some of the many beautiful portraits of Barbette by Gaston Paris, who was Vu magazine's photographer for three years covering all sorts of subject matter, including circus and backstage.

In 1990, Michel Frizot discovered a box of this photographer's works while at an old prints fair and helped to bring recognition to this 1930s era photographer's works. Gaston's photographs were presented at , and some 15,000 of his negatives are part of the Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris (BHVP).

Michel Frizot is Research Director at the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. He lives in France.

Vander Broadway, aka Barbette, in a 1940 Census listing. Occupation: InterpreterIndustry: Traveller's ClubCurrent Reside...
08/15/2024

Vander Broadway, aka Barbette, in a 1940 Census listing.

Occupation: Interpreter
Industry: Traveller's Club
Current Residence: France

Thank you, Bartee Haile, for sharing about Barbette in the Plainview Herald!
08/15/2024

Thank you, Bartee Haile, for sharing about Barbette in the Plainview Herald!

Bartee Haile writes a weekly column on subjects of significance to Texas history.

Barbette in the news...in the 1927 The New York Times!
08/15/2024

Barbette in the news...in the 1927 The New York Times!

Act at Palace Theatre, N Y City

Are you working on something about Barbette? We'd love to put the spotlight on you and share...and learn what you know t...
08/15/2024

Are you working on something about Barbette? We'd love to put the spotlight on you and share...and learn what you know too! Let's all share to grow more awareness about this inspiring and iconic performer! We Love Barbette!!!

BARBETTE Paul Marques DuarteFrance1937. Barbette, a trapeze artist and the world’s first drag queen, is about to fall. SYNOPSISOctober 1937. With his glory days behind him, Vander Clyde, a forty-year-old American trapeze artist, performs in a small travelling circus in France. Under the big top, h...

Jean Cocteau inscription to Barbette.
08/13/2024

Jean Cocteau inscription to Barbette.

Jean Cocteau to Judith Erebe.
08/13/2024

Jean Cocteau to Judith Erebe.

Barbette's childhood home is long gone, but this is the corner where he grew up in Round Rock, Texas, and a look up at t...
05/17/2024

Barbette's childhood home is long gone, but this is the corner where he grew up in Round Rock, Texas, and a look up at the trees in his former neighborhood. As a child, he would fashion a tightrope between trees for his imagined stage show.

Official proclamation for Pride Month in Round Rock!See you at the Round Rock Pride Festival  on Saturday, June 1st in D...
05/10/2024

Official proclamation for Pride Month in Round Rock!

See you at the Round Rock Pride Festival on Saturday, June 1st in Downtown Round Rock!

Address

Round Rock, TX
78664, 78665, 78680—78683

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