Zelma Rawlston

Zelma Rawlston, born Zelma Stuchenholz in Germany, was an American singer, comedian, and vaudeville performer who died on October 30, 1915. She relocated to the United States as a child, though one account places her birth in New York City in 1873 and describes her training as a singer under Eugenie Pappenheim and Adelina Murio Celli, followed by attendance at the National Conservatory of Music of America on a scholarship. Her Broadway career spanned from 1900 to 1914.

Rawlston began her professional life as a soprano with the Charles F. Higgins Concert Company, which was formed in 1888. She subsequently led her own touring company, presenting operatic, soubrette, and male roles on the same bill. Her specialty was male impersonation, and she became widely known by the billing "the American Vesta Tilley" for her practice of performing in men's clothing. The New York Times noted in 1915 that for the first several years of her stage career she appeared exclusively in trousers, and at certain engagements she changed from female to male attire onstage. In 1904 she disclosed that she had cut her own hair short to sharpen the effect of her impersonations. By 1905 she was touring with George Lederer's "Smiling Island" company.

On Broadway, Rawlston originated the role of Willie Van Astorbilt in the musical The Burgomaster during its 1900–1901 run. A New York paper credited her performance of "The Kangaroo Girl" with setting audiences to whistling the tune and earning her a wide following. She subsequently appeared in Arms and the Girl, and in The Earl and the Girl during its 1905–1906 run alongside Eddie Foy. Her final Broadway credit was the musical Chin Chin in 1914.

Beyond the stage, Rawlston's name, likeness, and testimonials were used in advertisements for Pe-Ru-Na, a patent medicine marketed to women, and for Dr. Bull's Cough Syrup. Her photograph appeared on sheet music for her most popular numbers, and she contributed lyrics to at least one published song, "We'll Take De Trip Dey Calls De Honeymoon," issued in 1899. Rawlston died in New York in 1915, most likely in her forties.