Drag has a storied history in the American entertainment industry. Divine shocked audiences in the 1970s in John Waters’ cult classics Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. RuPaul’s Drag Race has scored high ratings and a dozen Emmy Awards over 16 seasons on U.S. television, spawning spinoffs in more than 15 countries.

But drag has also found itself thrust into the middle of the American “culture wars” waged by social and religious conservatives in their bid for political advantage. Crossdressing is often cast as a villain on the national stage, threatening to pervert the minds and morals of innocent youngsters through performances of Drag Queen Story Hour in schools and libraries.

But Americans weren’t always scared of men in high heels and skirts. In fact, according to historian Andrew L. Erdman, drag was a popular pastime across the nation back in the day.

“From the end of the nineteenth century until at least the early 1930s, men all over America were skirting up together to put on shows, perform club and fraternal-society rituals, raise money for schools and churches, and sometimes just because they seemed to like doing so.”

So says Erdman in his new book, Beautiful: The Story of Julian Eltinge, America’s Greatest Female Impersonator. The book chronicles the life and artistry of drag pioneer Julian Eltinge, one of the most popular and highest-paid entertainers during the vaudeville era. And it takes us back to a time when drag shows were largely viewed as good, clean fun for the entire family.

I spoke with Erdman about Eltinge’s legacy for my podcast. An edited version aired on This Way Out: The International LGBTQ Radio Magazine.

“What I think he begins to make clear unintentionally is just how performed gender is,” Erdman says. “There’s this idea that women are constantly failing to be women as perfectly as he succeeds at being a woman. It’s pretty funny in a way.”

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