impersonator 的詞源

1833年，“體現另一個人的人或角色”； 1840年，“使（某物）具有個性的人”； 1842年，“戲劇演員，扮演舞臺角色”的意思，來自 impersonate 與拉丁代理名詞後綴。娛樂目的的“模仿另一個人的舉止和言談”的意思（在1921年之前）可能源於早期戲劇用法，如 female impersonator（1876年）和 male impersonator（1874年），兩者都曾是受歡迎的舞臺表演； 後者的第一個例子可能是埃拉·韋斯納小姐，她在約1870年風靡一時：在英國，黑臉表演者被稱爲 negro impersonators（1906年）。作爲女性形式， impersonatrix，彷彿來自拉丁語，始於1847年； impersonatress，彷彿來自法語，始於1881年。

Her [Wesner's] impersonation were a genuine surprise and her success was so pronounced that in a short period a host of imitators made their appearance. Her most successful rivals were Bessie Bonehill, Millie Hilton and Vesta Tilley, all of London. [M.B Leavitt, "Fifty Years in Theatrical Management," New York, 1912]

她[韋斯納]的模仿是一個真正的驚喜，她的成功是如此顯著，以至於在短時間內，一大批模仿者出現了。她最成功的競爭對手是倫敦的貝西·邦希爾、米莉·希爾頓和維斯塔·蒂利。[M.B Leavitt，“Fifty Years in Theatrical Management”，紐約，1912]

There is no member of a minstrel company who gets a better salary than a good female impersonator, the line being considered a very delicate one, requiring a high style of art in its way to judge where fun stops and bad taste begins, with decision enough on the part of the performer to stop at the stopping place. ["The Ancestry of Brudder Bones," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, April 1879]

在黑人演員團隊中，沒有比一個優秀的女性模仿者獲得更高薪水的成員，這一行被認爲是非常微妙的，需要一種高水平的藝術來判斷何時停止娛樂，何時開始不良品味，並且演員必須有足夠的決心在停止的地方停下來。[“Brudder Bones 的祖先”，《哈珀新月刊》，1879年4月]

The most fascinating performer I knew in those days was a dame named Metcalfe who was a female female impersonator. To maintain the illusion and keep her job, she had to be a male impersonator when she wasn't on. Onstage she wore a wig, which she would remove at the finish, revealing her mannish haircut. "Fooled you!" she would boom at the audience in her husky baritone. Then she would stride off to her dressing room and change back into men's clothes. She fooled every audience she played to, and most of the managers she worked for, but her secret was hard to keep from the rest of the company. [Harpo Marx, "Harpo Speaks"]

我在那些日子裏認識的最迷人的表演者是一位名叫梅特卡夫的女士，她是一位 female 女性模仿者。爲了保持幻想並保住她的工作，她不在舞臺上時必須成爲一位男性模仿者。在舞臺上，她戴着假髮，表演結束時會摘下來，露出她的男子漢髮型。她會在沙啞的男中音中對觀衆大喊：“騙了你們！”然後她會大步走向她的化妝室，換上男裝。她騙過了她演出的每一個觀衆，也騙過了她工作的大多數經理，但她的祕密很難瞞過其他成員。[哈波·馬克思，“哈波說話了”]