Ajita Wilson (1944-1987)

 Throughout her career, Ajita Wilson spun various stories to friends and the European press in order to bury her past. However, digging deep into various records and archives, her story began in 1940s Michigan.

During the spring of 1943, 18-year old Florine Wilson from Mount Dora, Florida began a brief fling with Chester Cogman, a married 27- year old man from the nearby town of Sanford. Upon discovering her pregnancy, Florine was sent to live with her Aunt Mary Frances Shumpert in Flint, Michigan. On January 12th, 1944, Glenwood Cogman was born. Three months later, on April 8th, after returning home to Florida, Florine married 27-year old Jesse Scott, a relationship that produced five children. Young Glenwood was placed in the care of her grandparents Corine (née Coker) and Frank Wilson who resided at 1627 Grandview Street, a few blocks away from her mother and stepfather's home. Occasionally Glenwood accompanied his great-grandmother Susan Jones on trips to Flint. After divorcing Jesse Scott, Florine married James A. White in July 1956, producing four sons during this marriage before separating during the 1970s. From 1958-1960, Glenwood attended Mount Dora Academy and from 1960-1963, Eustis Vocational High School, where she was a member of the Drama club.

Eustis High School (1962)

There's no record of Glenwood's life from 1964-1973, however at some point she left home and transitioned into Ajita Victoria Wilson. 

Possibly Ajita w/ Crystal Labeija (February 1967)

At some point in the 1960s, Ajita relocated to New York City, settling in Brooklyn as a female impersonator and sex worker. She was soon followed by her sisters, Scarlett and Forestine, who relocated to New York in 1968, before they eventually settled in Rochester. Throughout the years, she began hormone treatment and eventually got smaller cosmetic procedures such as breast augmentation and possibly liquid silicone injections.

Possibly Ajita in Paris (1970s)

Model Comp Card (1975)

By the mid-1970s, Ajita was discovered by the American fashion photographer, Bill King. After a few shoots at his studio located at 100 5th Avenue, Ajita was found herself booked overseas, working in London and Paris making  appearances in Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and various other magazines. The statuesque dark-skinned 5'11 model quickly became highly sought after. 

Photo by Peo Armellino (1975)

Early 1975, while contemplating enrollment at Cambridge University, she became acquainted with a Danish businessman who funded a trip to Copenhagen, where she underwent sexual reassignment surgery. After recovering from surgery, she resumed her modeling career.

Hamburg Address Book (1975)

Around June 1975, she was living in Hamburg, as she was listed in the German Address books as residing at 13 Grindelhof 45. 

Photo by Peo Armellino (1975)

By July 1975, Ajita had moved to Milan for a series of modeling gigs with photographers such as Peo Armellino and stylists such as Jean Gabrell di Warner under the Askew Girls International, the European branch of the Askew Modeling Agency. During the summer, she became acquainted with director Cesare Canevari who made her the principal actress in his upcoming exploitation film, “The Naked Princess”, loosely based on the life of Ugandan princess, Elizabeth of Tooro. Filming began in August at Milan's Hilton Hotel and wrapped up by the following month. Released February 1976, the film was a huge success and suddenly her modeling career was over as she began focusing on a more lucrative career in acting. 

The Nude Princess (1975)

The following year, she traveled to Paris and Athens to appear in two soft-core pornographic films, “Gola profonda nera” and “Mavri Afroditi”. 

From 1976-1986, she appeared in 46 films of various genres. From soft-core, hard-core pornographic films to sexploitation and spaghetti westerns. As she only spoke English and broken Italian, her voice was dubbed in every film. Constantly booked, she made nearly 5-6 films a year. Her work as an actress took her all over Europe, as she frequently traveled to France, Spain, Austria, Greece and Cyprus. 

Ajita with Fellini (November 1982)

During the summer of 1978, she ran into famed Italian filmmaker, Federico Fellini in Rome's Piazza di Spagna. Fellini offered her a role in his upcoming fantasy comedy-drama film, “La città delle donne” (City of Women), unfortunately the production of the film was temporarily suspended and she took on other commitments. He stayed in contact and in 1982, Fellini approached her again to join the cast of “E la nave va” (And the Ship Sails On), but she could not because as she was busy filming, “Detenute violente”.

Rome's Club Jackie'O (July 1978)

Ajita w/ Klaus Kinski (April 1980)

As early as the late-1970s, rumors circulated around Italy that Ajita was a transsexual. Although she would confirm the rumor amongst her friends, she denied the allegations when speaking with reporters. Occasionally, directors would disclose her gender to her fellow co-stars during filming, however this doesn't seem to have affected her career. 

JET Magazine (August 1981)

La Stampa (June 1985)

In 1985, after making five films in Greece, Ajita retired from her pornographic career at age 41. Settling in Rome, she began studying music and dance for her upcoming Italian tour as a singer, “The Ajita Wilson Show” with dancer Arturo Michisanti. She also became a popular fixture on the racy Saturday night television program, “Buonanotte Con Emanuelle”. 

Turin - Discoteca Pontechino (March 1986)

However by mid-1986, she changed careers again, working at a brothel in Florence before escaping through the streets stark naked after a police raid. Returning to Rome, she moved into an apartment on Via Giuseppe Palumbo near the Piazza dei Prati degli Strozzi with her latest boyfriend, Piergiorgio Graziosi. She also returned to the porn industry, making her final film appearance in Arduino Sacco's hard-core pornographic film, “Bocca bianca, bocca nera”. 

The Orlando Sentinel Obituary (1987)

On the morning of May 25th, 1987, after awakening to make coffee, 43-year old Ajita collapsed on the floor in pain. Her boyfriend rushed her to the hospital where she died of a cerebral stroke, likely caused from a recent car accident. She was cremated in accordance with her wishes and her ashes were sent home to her mother in Mount Dora, Florida.

Carol King: Nègresse Blonde of French Radio

Carol King was born Charlotte Cheeks-Lewis on December 27th, 1907 in Detroit, Michigan to housewife Evelyn May Cheeks and musician Robert Burns Lewis. She was the second of five children. Due to the family's fairly light skin, the Lewis family frequently passed as white in US Census records.

Birth Certificate

By 1920, the family had relocated to New York City, where Charlotte completed her education in 1925. For the next few years, she studied to become a designer but abandoned to move into another career as an entertainer. 

Baltimore (1930)

By 1929, Charlotte taught herself to dance, sing and play the piano. That summer, she was a chorus girl in Leonard Harper's musical revue “Hot Chocolates”, which featured a musical score by Thomas “Fats” Waller and Harry Brooks. The revue opened at Broadway's Hudson Theater on June 20th and ran for 219 performances before closing on December 14th. The show ran for another four months, touring across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland before returning to Harlem's Lafayette Theater in late-April 1930.

Sails to Europe (June 1930)

In June 1930, 22-year old Charlotte announced suddenly that she was engaged to a British subject. Boarding the SS Rochambeau for France, the couple had plans to marry on the continent and settle in London. Unfortunately the marriage doesn't seem to have materialized. 

Nine months later, During the spring of 1931, she was touring Spain as singer with Harry Flemming's “Follies of 1931” revue. Returning to Paris in May, she appeared in various cabarets around the French capital such as the Marine Club, Artists Club, Johnny's Bar and Chez Les Clochards. She dyed her hair blonde and was billed as the “Nègresse Blonde”.

From 1932-1933, she toured the French Riviera, appearing in cabarets and restaurants around Cannes, Nîce and Juan-Les-Pins. 

Only known recording (1934)

In January 1934, under the pseudonym Carol King, she signed a two-year contract with Radio Poste-Parisien, one of France's most powerful radio stations that broadcast across Europe and North Africa. She arrived daily at the Poste-Parisien headquarters on 116 bis Avenue des Champs-Élysées to appear alongside Alain Roman's Jazz Orchestra on the 8:00pm slot. On January 30th, she recorded “La-Da-Da” accompanied by the Jazz du Poste-Parisien orchestra for French Pathé Records. The song came from the 1933-1934 Casino de Paris revue, “Vive Paris!”, which featured Afro-Americans acts such as Alberta Hunter and Kent & Maxya. 

Afro-American Newspaper (1934)

Carol appeared on the covers of various French magazines and American newspapers such as the Bulletin de la Radio and the Chicago Defender, which celebrated her success as France's Joséphine Baker of Radio. After her radio performances, she would sing at Suzy Solidor's La Vie Parisienne nightclub and the Les Enfants de la Chance restaurant. 

Appearing in French film (1936)

She later appeared in a minor role in an unknown 1936 French film according to a January 1936 article. 

From 1936-1939, she appeared in various nightclubs such as Chiquito 37, Caprice Viennois, Chapeau Rouge before headlining at the Coliseum Theatre for six months in 1938. In December 1938, she appeared at former boxer Al Panama Brown's new Kit Kat nightclub in Toulouse. 

Chiquito Bar (1937)

On April 1st, 1939, after nine years abroad boarded the SS Gerolstein in Antwerp and sailed home to New York, where she settled back at the Lewis household on Jefferson Avenue in Brooklyn. According to the 1940 US Census, she was listed as an unemployed singer. 

On December 24th, 1941, she married 35-year old Swinton Seymour Lord and retired from the stage completely. 

Mrs. Charlotte Lord died on September 30th, 1980 in New York City, three years after the death of her husband. 

Hester Harvey (1896-1979)

Berlin (1928)

Hester Frederika Marguerite Watt was born February 22, 1896 in the Brown Mine neighborhood of Johannesburg, Transvaal Republic. According to later interviews, she claimed her father was German and her mother was a local native woman. It's possible her European father migrated to Johannesburg around 1886 during the Witwatersrand Gold Rush to seek his fortune. In pre-Apartheid South Africa, laws were very relaxed, allowing for interracial marriages to be permitted. 

As a young child, Hester would've witnessed the chaos of the Second Boer War and the British seizing control over the Transvaal from the Boers. By the time she had begun school in 1902, the war was over and South Africa was on its way to becoming unified, which it did in 1910 as the Union of South Africa. Despite the unification, the Transvaal continued to be extremely Dutch. Although German was spoken in the Watt household, English, Dutch and Afrikaans were spoken in public. Although she had slightly more freedom as a young Coloured woman compared to native women like her mother, her life was still restricted as a woman of color. 

Marriage certificate (1916)

By 1915, the Watt household relocated to the Fairland neighborhood in the nearby town of Roodepoort. It was here that 19-year old Hester had been introduced to 37-year old Swedish businessman, Bror Arvid Thunberg. Originally from Gothenburg, Bror had been traveling to South Africa since as early as 1900 accompanied by his younger brother Viktor. The circumstances of which the couple met is known, however on March 29th, 1915, the couple announced their engagement. The news had reached Swedish newspapers a month later. After a two year engagement, the couple married in Johannesburg on December 23rd, 1916. Hester's parents had given consent and her father was listed as a witness on the marriage certificate. Shortly after the wedding, the new Mrs. Thunberg accompanied her husband back to his homeland in Sweden. 

1930 Swedish Census

Suddenly, after settling into a villa in the wooded suburb of Storegården, located in the northern part of Gothenburg's Askim district, Hester was in Germany, performing under the pseudonym “Hester Harvey”. From July 1917 until January 1918, she was dancing and singing in cabarets around Berlin and Munich with great success. 

Her new career was cut short suddenly when she discovered she was pregnant. The Thunbergs returned to South Africa for the birth of their son, Yngve Andreas Thunberg in Johannesburg on November 11th, 1918 upon the end of World War I. As soon as she was able, Hester was back in Europe by May 1919, performing at Berlin's Reichs-Café. Soon she was with child again and on July 17th, 1920, Ingrid Linnea Thunberg was born in Gothenburg. 

Hester returned to work instantly, as she returned to Berlin the following month to film “Das Floß der Toten” (The Fleet of the Dead). Set in German South West Africa (now Namibia), Hester played a local native woman who triggers an uprising against the German authorities. The film was released in Germany on March 7th, 1921. She appeared in another film, “Söhne der Hölle” (Sons of Hell) which was released on October 18th, 1921. However little information is known about this film. Shortly after filming, she returned home to Sweden for the birth of her third child, Astrid Viola Thunberg on December 10th, 1921.

Die Rache der Mulattin (1923)

In May 1923, Hester returned to Berlin as the star of Leo Heller and Fritz Lemmen's one act play, “Die Rache der Mulattin” (The Revenge of the Mulatto). The production was staged at the illustrious Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, which was under the direction of the legendary Max Reinhardt. Hester and her co-star, Georg Burghardt received considerable applause from German audiences. 

The following year, she starred in Erik Charell's revue “An Alle…!” at the Großes Schauspielhaus. Opening October 18th, 1924, the revue was considered the first revue to be introduced to German stages. The show was composed of two acts and 21 sketches and featured the John Tiller Girls, Josefine Dora, Reeves & Reeves, Elvira Ronné and Diane Belli & Mars performing to the songs of Dr. Ralph Benatzky, Rudolph Nelson and Irving Berlin. The revue ran for six months, closing April 1925. 

Zurück zu Methusalem (1925)

In November 1925, she appeared in George Bernard Shaw's play “Zurück zu Methusalem” (Back to Methuselah) at the Theater in der Königgrätzer Straße. The cast was also composed of a young Marlene Dietrich as Eve. The play also appeared at the Theater Tribüne in January 1926.

In July 1926, Hester appeared in Hans H. Zerlett's operetta, “Die Leichte Isabell” (The Light Isabell) at the Schiller Theater. Directed by Robert Gilbert and starring Erika Nymgau and Greta Mosholm, the operetta was a huge success and after two months, moved over to the Theater am Nollandorfplatz in September. During this time, she also made a few appearances on German radio. 

From 1927-1930, Hester went on a tour of Germany and Austria, appearing in Hamburg, Dortmund, Bonn, Vienna and Graz. In-between touring, she frequently appeared in Berlin at the Haus Vaterland's Wild West Bar, singing and dancing before a set of chorus girls known as the Arizona Girls. Frequently the Arizona Girls accompanied her on her tour. In the background, a band composed of clarinetist Sidney Bechet and Afro-German drummer William MacAllen blasted the latest jazz numbers.

In mid-1931, Hester joined Professor William Curt Doorlay's “Brazilian Kaleidoscope Revue”. Professor Doorlay's revue had been touring across the world since the early 1920s and was extremely popular in Germany. Joining around the summer of 1931, Hester toured with the revue for nearly eight months, appearing around Germany, Lithuania, Sweden, Italy and Switzerland. The heavily pregnant Hester abandoned the revue promptly after the Swiss tour to give birth to her fourth child, Arvid Erling Thunberg on May 31, 1932. 

Dollar (1938 film)

After Arvid's birth, Hester's career in Germany slowed down to a halt. In January 1933, Adolf Hitler had been elected as the new Chancellor of Germany and racist laws were being quickly put in place, restricting Black entertainers from working in Germany. Instead, she became a popular singer at Stockholm's popular Gröna Lund amusement park and toured the folk parks across the country. 

Between 1937-1938, she appeared in two films, “John Ericsson - segraren vid Hampton Roads” and “Dollar” with Ingrid Bergman. Unfortunately she was casted in the minor role of maid in both films. After an appearance in Hamburg in March 1938, Hester disappeared from the stage for a while. 

1940 Swedish Census

By 1940, the Thunberg household had relocated to a villa at 13 kv Krokodilen 29 in the Örgryte neighborhood. Hester leaves her occupation blank in the 1940 Swedish Census. 

Pinguin Negerbar (1950)

Berlin (1949)

She reappears from 1949-1950, in Germany at the Pinguin Negerbar, the only Black nightclub in Berlin. There she appeared with many of her old colleagues from before the war, including William MacAllen and his Orchestra. After the club closed down in August 1950, she disappeared from the limelight again. 

On April 4th, 1954, 75-year old Bror Arvid Thunberg died and 58-year old Hester became a widow after 17 years of marriage. She lived quietly amongst her children and their families in Gothenburg until her death on November 19th, 1976.

Didi Fortunia

The fascinating Haitian-Polish singer, dancer, sculptor and actress, Didi Fortunia was born Louie Marguerite Verna on January 27th, 1928 in the Prussian port city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia) to a Polish mother and Haitian father Felix Auguste Verna (April 17, 1896-after 1952).

Berlin (1932)

Her father, Felix, originating from Port-au-Prince, had migrated to Brooklyn in 1917 and married his first wife, Catherine Clarke before fleeing to England three years later after being drafted at the outbreak of WWI. From 1919-1922, he studied music in London and traveled with an African-American Jazz band throughout Europe and the British Isles. In 1923, while engaged in Vienna, he began appearing in several unknown Austrian films.

Berlin 1936

Eventually his travels brought him to Lwów, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine), where he met and married a local ballet dancer. Late-1928, shortly after the birth of their daughter, the family settled in Berlin, where Felix appeared at Johnny's Nightclub and starred in three German films. In December 1931, Felix partnered with Jacques Perroux, opening the Rio Rita Restaurant at 12 Kaiserstrasse, where Felix's orchestra appeared nightly. Around May 1936, after the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Germany's chancellor and the rise of antisemitic and racist sentiments across the country, the Verna household relocated to Warsaw. During her time in Poland, young Louise was enrolled in a dance academy attached to the Warsaw Opera. 

After the German invasion and occupation of Poland in September 1939, Felix Verna was listed as a Belgian citizen and deported to Antwerp, where he remained until August 1947, when he returned home to Haiti. Around 1941, Louise and her mother were arrested and deported to Germany, where they were held at infamous Buchenwald Concentration Camp until September 1944, when they were separated and Louise was transferred to the Jena sub-camp, performing forced labor for the Reich Railways Repair Works. There she repaired railways and performed other factory tasks.

Aunt Fortuna la Créole

After the camp was liberated in April 1945, Louise traveled to Paris under the name Anita Verna (or Anita Averna) where she reunited with a family friend (sometimes referred to as her aunt) Fortuna la Créole. Born Emilia Falaye (June 2, 1906-after 1960) in French Guiana, Fortuna had traveled to Paris during the 1920s to study medicine but decided instead to become a cabaret artist, touring across Europe before settling back in Paris in 1942, where she opened her own cabaret, La Pergola behind the Moulin Rouge. In the summer of 1945, the Pergola was renamed the Arizona and 18-year-old Louise debuted as Didi Fortunia.

During her engagement at the Arizona, Fortunia was spotted by Hungarian director and costume designer, Michel Gyarmathy and given a leading role at Folies Bergère's latest revue, “C'est de la Folie”. Opening March 1946, the show ran for three years before closing February 1949. During her engagement at the Folies Bergère, she became an overnight sensation. Seen as the new Joséphine Baker, she appeared in American and French magazines and newspapers. During the summer of 1948, she appeared as a dancer in the film, Une Femme Par Jour (released February 1949).  

In February 1949, after “C'est de la Folie” closed, Fortunia appeared as a chorus girl in the Casino de Paris’ revue, “Exciting Paris”. During its run, she became acquainted with French restaurant owner, Auguste Paul Bénazet (June 13, 1907-December 6, 1971). The couple married in Paris on December 15th, 1949 and settled at Bénazet’s villa in Fontainebleau, where he also ran the Table de la Ravine Hotel-Restaurant. 

May 1951

In March 1950, Fortunia departed for London, where she performed for nine months in the London Casino revue, “Latin Quarter” as a replacement for the Afro-Brazilian entertainer, Miss Bartira. By the time she had returned home to France that December, she was three months pregnant. Retiring briefly from the stage, she gave birth to her son, Jean-Paul Bénazet in June 1951. A month after his birth, she was a contestant in the Miss Automobile of 1951 contest, winning first place. In December, she returned to the stage, performing in the “Nuit du Far West” revue at the Crazy Horse Saloon, appearing there for four months.  

March 1952

During her run at the Crazy Horse, in March 1952, she was reunited with her father who read an article about her success in an American magazine. The following month, she appeared for a few weeks in the A.B.C. musichall’s “Autre chose…!” revue. By May, Paul Bénazet had pressured his wife to refrain from performing semi-nude onstage. Thus, the following month she appeared more subdued in the play, “Paris Galant” at the Théâtre des Capucines, which ran for 16 months. In the meantime, she had another minor film role in, Plaisirs de Paris (released November 1952). During the winter of 1953, she performed at the Ba-Ta-Clan cabaret in Geneva, Switzerland.

May 1955

In October 1954, she replaced Yvonne Ménard, in the last seven months of the Folies Bergère revue, “Une Vraie Folie”. Following her husband's wishes, she remained mostly covered onstage. In March 1955, Paul Bénazet filed for divorce from Fortunia, claiming she committed adultery with a member of Italian nobility. After being fined $28.56 for adultery, Fortunia married her Italian lover the following month. In May 1955, she returned once again to the Folies Bergère, as the star of the “Ah! Quelle Folie!” revue, which ran for nearly three years.  

Milan (1959)

After the revue closed in February 1958, Fortunia relocated to Milan with her new spouse. In September, she debuted at the Teatro Odeon in the musical, “Sayonara Butterfly” (based on the play, Madame Butterfly). After a month's run in Milan, the show toured Italy for the next six months. During this tour, she made her last film appearance in “Pensione Edelweiss” an French-Italian production (released February 1959). Sometime between 1959-1960, she gave birth to a second child. On April 4th, 1961, she signed with Remigio Paone's company. That July, she debuted in the musical, “Il Ragazzo con la Valigia” at the Teatro Nuovo, which ran for two months. After another month touring various Italian cities, the show traveled to Venezuela. 

February 1962

In December, she appeared in the revue, “L'Astoria del Balordi” at the Teatro Alla Maschere alongside African-American musicians, George Joyner and Buster Smith. The revue ran for a month before closing in early February 1962.

Ponte Nizza (1992)

From 1962-1963, Fortunia made several television appearances before disappearing entirely from the limelight. She eventually studied ceramics at the Centro Addestramento Professionale Scuola d'Arte Cova and participated in the 1967 International Art Ceramics Competition in Faenza. By 1990, she had relocated to the village of Pizzocorno, near the town of Ponte Nizza. In February 1990, she created a terracotta station of the cross for the nearby monastery, Eremo di Sant'Alberto di Butrio. On May 28, 1992, she was a witness to a deadly car accident on the highway near Ponte Nizza. Afterwards she disappears completely.