Xantużi had the run of red-light Malta in between the two world wars. Records survive of them performing here before 1914, but their activities really flourished with World War I. 

The term xantuża embraced miscellaneous talents, from genuinely gifted singers (French chanteuse) to equally gifted dispensers of horizontal charms, and much else in between.

Bobbie de Lys, a cross-dressing soprano, in a promotion postcard in Malta. Photo by Chretien Studio

They sang, danced and cracked jokes. Bobbie de Lys gave his act a twist – a xantuża in drag. Although all xantużi were suspect, it is unfair to believe that all retailed sex.

A Malta performer, not identified, 1920s

Invariably foreign, many French and Eastern Europeans, mostly Austrian and Hungarian girls, scored high. They performed in music halls in the Gut, Valletta, in Balzunetta, Floriana, and on the Senglea and Gżira waterfronts. When women started wearing make-up, provoking shivers of scandal and opulent gossip in the masses, conservatives dismissed them, rather contemptuously, as xantużi.

An unidentified performer. Postcard by the Vernon Studio, Malta

An unidentified performer in Malta, 1930

The craze created its own folklore. Stories did the rounds of Maltese gentlemen (as in today’s gentlemen’s clubs) falling heads over heels for these beauties of informal virtue, present in Malta with temporary working permits. With a small handout, the smitten lover would arrange a marriage of convenience to some derelict Maltese loser, to ensure his Circe’s permanent residence. The gentleman and his xantuża would then live, more or less happily, ever after.

An Eveline May Malta postcard

A number of these musically gifted paramours, mostly wearing cabaret outfits, had their photos taken in professional studios. The artiste herself or the importing music hall would then distribute them as promotional postcards. The present selection also includes xantużi.

Stage costume for a performance in Malta. Not identified

Exotic costumes worn on stage in Malta, 1920s.

The back of a postcard of the Victoria Hall in Strait Street, Valletta, promoting three xantużi.

I tried to follow up the career of a few named xantużi after their Malta stint. Except for Bobbie de Lys and the French singer Alice Durtal, none seem to have made it to wider European fame.

All postcards from the author’s collection.

Margit Kiss in Malta. Postcard by Hammet, 1920s