The Outrageous Rocky Twins

Norwegian twin brothers Leif and Paal Roschberg (born 1909 in Oslo) started their career as dancers on the Paris music hall scene in the late 1920s. From there they continued on as artists and drag performers on cabaret scenes all over Europe and America in the 1930s.

Gary Chapman has been fascinated by the twins' story and has collected items related to them for over 30 years. This autumn, his book about the outrageous twins will finally be published.

In May 2018 Gary visited us at Skeivt arkiv, after having contacted us earlier this year and obtained information about the Norwegian painter Ferdinand Finne’s meeting with the twins in France during the early 1930s. Gary's collection consists of an impressive amount of documents, photographs, written accounts and other information about the twins. He tells us the twins were sexually adventurous, quoting Mistinguett, "The Queen of Parisian Music Hall", who said that "they were so ravishing that each night after the show they would allow themselves to be kidnapped by beauty enthusiasts of both sexes".The Rocky Twins. Norway’s Outrageous Jazz Age Beauties is based on extensive research, and we look forward to read this important contribution to Norwegian and European queer history and to the history of popular culture – especially the cabaret scene and ‘camp’ culture. Read more about the Rocky Twins on Chapman's Blog.