Bert Savoy

Bert Savoy, born Everett McKenzie on January 7, 1876 or 1888, was an American entertainer who built his career around cross-dressing performance in vaudeville. His Broadway appearances spanned from 1917 to 1922, and he frequently worked alongside partner Jay Brennan.

Savoy and Brennan appeared together in the revue Miss 1917 and the Ziegfeld Follies of 1918. The duo continued performing through the early 1920s, with credits including The Greenwich Village Follies of 1920 and The Greenwich Village Follies of 1922. His comedic persona introduced phrases such as "You slay me" and "You don't know the half of it" into popular usage.

Among his contemporaries, Savoy was considered a rival to Julian Eltinge, a more prominent figure in female impersonation at the time. His drag queen mannerisms served as a direct inspiration for Mae West. His career was gaining momentum when he was struck and killed by lightning on June 26, 1923, on the beach at Long Beach, Long Island, New York. One widely reported account of his final words, spoken after a clap of thunder, was "Mercy, ain't Miss God cutting up something awful?" He is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.

Savoy was also the subject of a painting by Charles Demuth, titled Calla Lilies (Bert Savoy), part of a series of abstract poster portraits Demuth created of people in his circle. The most celebrated work in that series is I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold. The imagery in the Savoy portrait — including a wave, a seashell, and calla lilies — references both his death by the sea and aspects of his life, with the flowers carrying recognized symbolism associated with bisexuality and homosexuality.