huffingtonpost.com – Chuck Gomez – Playwright, former Emmy Award-winning television news journalist
It’s doubtful that teens packing the escalators of 42nd Street’s AMC Empire Theater to see Marvel’s The Avengers or The Hunger Games have ever heard of Julian Eltinge. But in his day, he was an international star — much bigger than Jennifer Lawrence or Robert Downey Jr. And if the same movie patrons happened to glance towards the heavens on their ride up, they might be surprised to spot something quite unexpected. They’d see a handsome man in a lady’s wig and a diaphanous gown floating in the sky. Julian Eltinge is the focal point of a mural in delicate shades of pink and blue right above the box office. The celestial work of art graces the entire theater’s ceiling. Eltinge appears in three of his most famous roles — as a gal. Could it be that a drag queen was a huge international star in the early part of the 20th century? Absolutely.