A Pioneering Black Model, Beverly Johnson Relates the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Her Career in a New One-Woman Show
Early in the new one-woman show “Beverly Johnson: In Vogue,” the titular co-writer and star sits before us in a little black dress, long legs dangling gracefully, and admits she has six grandchildren. “Do you know how hard it is,” Ms. Johnson quips, “to get your 7-year-old granddaughter to lie about her age?”
For those who don’t recognize the name, Ms. Johnson was, 50 years ago, the first Black model to appear on the cover of the American edition of Vogue magazine (hence the title); she subsequently forged a career as an actress, businesswoman, and fashion expert. Now in her early 70s, she has joined forces with writer and director Josh Ravetch to craft this 75-minute piece.
“No nudity tonight,” Ms. Johnson jokes at the beginning, after referencing some “artistic” work she did as a fledgling model. “I don’t do naked anymore: Tonight is about a different kind of naked.”
What follows is an alternately sassy and sober journey through Ms. Johnson’s life, from her early teenage years — like many great beauties, she insists she went through an ugly-duckling period, though a photo belies that assertion — to her declaration, a decade ago, that she was among the women preyed on by Bill Cosby. By Ms. Johnson’s account, she was drugged by Mr. Cosby but escaped sexual assault by screaming profanities at him.
We learn that Ms. Johnson also struggled with cocaine use, and that she was, briefly and inadvertently, married to a mobster, and lost custody of their daughter. “Everything came crashing down,” she tells us.
Yet “In Vogue” is ultimately a survival story, a celebration of its subject and co-creator’s resilience. Ms. Johnson, who keeps a script handy and reads directly from it at times, avoids self-importance by keeping the vibe warm and conversational — and by reminding us, repeatedly and with self-effacing humor, that she has seldom lacked for confidence. “The model with the big mouth,” she calls herself, embracing a title bequeathed to her years ago, apparently, by a cab driver who had witnessed her feistiness during a TV interview.
“In Vogue” is framed by visual homages to a variety of Black female icons and pioneers, with a large screen behind Ms. Johnson flashing images of Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Oprah Winfrey, Condoleezza Rice, and Michelle Obama, among others. There are references to the civil rights movement, and to the lyrical wisdom of Maya Angelou, whose “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is cited as an enduring source of inspiration.
Predictably, though, Ms. Johnson is at her most entertaining and authoritative when offering a tour of her own wheelhouse. She takes us back to the 1970s and ’80s, when giants roamed the earth — extraordinarily photogenic creatures with names like Christie and Lauren and Iman, who paved the way for the “supermodels” that reigned over the following decade.
Ms. Johnson details her amicable rivalry with the mononymous Iman, evidence of the cutthroat nature of their shared profession and the racism that prevailed during their glory days, when high-profile Black models remained few and far between in our country. The projection design, by Mr. Ravetch, includes montages of magazine covers, several of which suggest Ms. Johnson’s skin was made to appear lighter, with rosy cheeks sometimes imposed to heighten this effect.
While #MeToo is mentioned in the context of her experience calling out Mr. Cosby, not much is said about the pressures Ms. Johnson and her peers likely faced in the bad old days, as very young women striving to succeed in an industry that made commodities of their sexuality. The prevalence of eating disorders is hinted at, but mostly with humor: “People always ask why runway models look so damned pissed-off,” Ms. Johnson muses. “I actually know the answer. They’re hungry.”
If none of this is revelatory, Ms. Johnson’s impossible elegance and surprising earthiness make a consistently endearing combination. She may still resemble a regal goddess more than a gutsy gal from Buffalo, but as anyone who’s been on a photo shoot knows, looks can be deceiving.