ROUND ROCK, Texas — The countdown was brief.
“Three… two… one…” Then came the applause.
Pride Month ceremony in Round Rock honors Barbette with new Texas historical marker
On a warm June evening at Round Rock Cemetery, a crowd gathered around a pink-draped marker beneath a canopy of oak trees.
Family members, drag performers, historians, and community leaders watched as the pink sparkly cloth fell away, revealing Texas’ newest historical marker.
The name at the top read simply: Barbette.
Pride Month ceremony in Round Rock honors Barbette with new Texas historical marker
For decades, audiences from Broadway to Paris knew the performer well. In Round Rock, the story was less familiar.
Nearly a century after Barbette became an international sensation, Texas has officially recognized the groundbreaking aerialist and female impersonator with a state historical marker.
The new marker now stands at Round Rock Cemetery on Sam Bass Road, beside Barbette’s grave, transforming a quiet family plot into one of the newest sites recognized by the Texas Historical Commission.
Pride Month ceremony in Round Rock honors Barbette with new Texas historical marker
For Barbette’s family, the moment felt almost unreal.
“Our family is thrilled beyond belief that this is actually happening here today,” said Chris Cahill, Barbette’s great-niece.
And that this will be here for all the future generations of my family to come and see. It won’t be just the family plot, it’ll be the family plot with the historical marker.
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Pride Month ceremony in Round Rock honors Barbette with new Texas historical marker
Born Vander Clyde and raised in Round Rock, Barbette rose to international fame during the 1920s and 1930s.
The performer’s glamorous aerial act stunned audiences across Europe and the United States.
Artists including Jean Cocteau and Man Ray celebrated Barbette’s work, and historians today view the performer as an important figure in both performance art and LGBTQ history.
Vander Clyde as ‘Barbette.’ Photography by Man Ray
Yet for decades, the name was better known overseas than at home.
“It’s almost like a breakthrough for a community that was thought to be so ultra conservative for so many years,” said Richard Parson, founder of Round Rock Pride.
We are now recognizing one of the most famous people who is still so very much unknown to so many people in Round Rock but yet known around the globe.
The recognition is especially meaningful because Barbette eventually returned to Central Texas after a career spent abroad.
Barbette, from the August 1931 Program of the Wintergarten Theatre in Berlin, Germany
To relatives, the legendary performer was less an icon than a beloved family member.
“Oh, no, no, he was Uncle Vander in the United States of America,” Cahill recalled.
He was Uncle Vander.
Family stories paint a picture of someone who brought a touch of European sophistication back to Texas.
Pride Month ceremony in Round Rock honors Barbette with new Texas historical marker
“When he would take the younger ones, the nieces and nephews, he’d take them to a nice dinner in Austin and show them how to use all the proper forks and knives and how they do it in Europe,” Cahill said.
He was very elegant, glamorous.
Even after his performing career ended, Barbette’s influence continued.
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Following an injury that forced him from the trapeze, he remained active as a consultant in film and theater, contributing to productions including the classic film Some Like It Hot, according to family members.
For today’s performers, Barbette’s legacy extends beyond history.
Maxine LaQueene, a Central Texas drag artist, sees a direct connection between Barbette’s life and the visibility enjoyed by many LGBTQ performers today.
Pride Month ceremony in Round Rock honors Barbette with new Texas historical marker
“She followed her path through art and wasn’t afraid to not only live out loud but be visible,” LaQueene said.
With visibility comes being vocal, and I feel like I’m also very that.
The marker’s installation during Pride Month added another layer of significance.
Pride Month ceremony in Round Rock honors Barbette with new Texas historical marker
“A historical marker will kind of signify a safe space,” LaQueene said during the ceremony.
There’s permanence there.
That permanence matters because supporters view the marker not simply as a tribute to the past, but as a reminder to future generations.
The Barbette’s Legacy Foundation now awards scholarships to young performers, continuing a mission inspired by the performer’s own life story.
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“We’ve got another couple of kids that are just amazing,” Cahill said.
It’s to further his legacy of small-town kids making it big.
Standing beside the newly unveiled marker, Cahill reflected on what visitors might take away from the site.
“He would take us all out tonight, I guarantee it, and show us such a time,” Cahill said with a laugh.
Then, turning serious, he described what the recognition means for young people who may see themselves in Barbette’s story.
“For anyone to get to come out here, especially the younger people, especially queer people, to see that we’re recognized and that small-town queer boy went and made it big,” he said. “There’s hardly any words for that.”
Pride Month ceremony in Round Rock honors Barbette with new Texas historical marker
That story has been reaching new audiences in recent years.
In 2024, CBS Austin reporter John-Carlos Estrada’s award-winning Turning Back Time: Barbette feature introduced many Texans to the performer’s remarkable life and legacy.
MORE | Round Rock to unveil Texas historical marker honoring trailblazing performer Barbette
The story later inspired the documentary Barbette + Fontaine, starring Texas drag performer and RuPaul’s Drag Race star Cynthia Lee Fontaine. The film, which tells Barbette’s story through the lens of a modern Texas drag artist, has screened at festivals internationally and is now streaming free on REVRY.
A CapMetro bus honoring Barbette debuted during Pride Month 2025. The public art project was one of several recent efforts to reintroduce the pioneering performer to Texas audiences.
Barbette’s growing visibility has extended beyond film.
During Pride Month 2025, CapMetro unveiled a specially wrapped Barbette bus in Austin, bringing the performer’s image and story into daily life across Central Texas.
Nearly a century after captivating audiences from Broadway to Paris, Barbette’s image rolled through Austin on a specially wrapped CapMetro bus unveiled during Pride Month 2025.
Estrada is also writing a forthcoming book on Barbette’s life and legacy, scheduled for publication by the University of Texas Press in 2027.
For decades, the world knew Barbette.
Now Texas does, too.