#drag queen history

[the-sappho-of-lesbos]

Source: Sydney Star Observer: The Gay And Lesbian Communities’ Newspaper ( No. 220 Friday October 15, 1993)

Photos by: Jamie Dunbar Mazz

[a-gay-a-day]

Drag Balls

The ballroom scene was a Latino, African-American, and queer subculture that emerged in the late 1800s. These balls were typically a response to drag pageants, which had judge panels consisting of mostly white people. Though there is a significant amount to be said about the rules in drag balls, and the way drag balls were run, I would like to talk about the impact that these drag balls had on history and culture. 

However, houses were an important part of drag balls. These houses would consist of a found family, usually between black queer people, typically transgender who were in need of support. These houses would win prizes and participate in drag balls. People would typically forgo their own last name and take upon them the name of their house. 

The first known drag ball was at the Hamilton lodge, and it was held during a time where segregation was still upheld in the USA. The ball itself was integrated, but racism was still present, and all of the judges were white. Therefore, only white people won these competitions. This racism spurred the non-white community to hold balls of their own, which quickly became more prominent than the white-run drag balls. 

[officerofmonkeyproblems]

4 Drag Queens pose at the Granville Hotel in Pittsburgh, PA, c. 1955. photo by Charles "Teenie" Harris.

Click the above title to visit the archive of Charles "Teenie" Harris images at The Carnegie Museum of Art. What an astonishing record. Harris made in-frame compositions of really outstanding quality. Candid but loaded with information. His nickname was "One Shot".

Included in this grouping: Boxer Michael “Bronze Adonis” Phelan (Fields) farthest left, and possibly “Beulah” -Maurice Taylor (Wheeler) on right.

from Wikipedia:

"Charles "Teenie" Harris (July 2, 1908–June 12, 1998) was an American photographer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Harris was known for his photographs of residents and prominent visitors to Pittsburgh, including musicians and baseball players, which often appeared in the Pittsburgh Courier, an African-American weekly newspaper. His work is preserved in the permanent collection of the Carnegie Museum as a chronicle of mid-20th century life in Pittsburgh's African American communities."

[briannabug]

[oleandro-drag]

saint sebastian tended by saint irene but they're both drag artists

felt like this might be something this site would enjoy

on stage: oleandro & delfi oraakel, photographer: peroksiid (on ig as oleandro_drag, delfi_oraakel and peroksiid)

[iridessence]

Lloyd Yearwood, Photograph of a drag club in Harlem, 1960s

[justdavina]

Such a HOT transgender girl!

[lavieopulent]

New Orleans Drag Queens on Bourbon St,

1975

[physiqueandfantasy]

The Physique & Fantasy Tarot Deck

by Oscar Zamora Graves, (me!)

This queer collage art deck consists of 81 original cards, including 4 variations of "The Lovers" card. The models all come from vintage bodybuilding magazines like Physique Pictorial, The Young Physique, and Muscleboy. The four minor arcana queens, along with The Empress and The High Priestess, are real drag queens taken from 1960s drag magazines. You can see the whole deck, uncensored by buying it on my website, along with prints, postcards, and merch.

[omgthatdress]

The Queen is a 1968 documentary film that follows the drag queen Flawless Sabrina as she struggles to put on a drag pageant. It is a unique film that captures a moment in time: the sixties. The sexual revolution has planted the seeds of what will become the gay rights movement, but before Stonewall.

The Queen actually captures a pivotal moment in drag history. After losing to a waifish blonde girl, Crystal LaBeija throws an epic temper tantrum.

What looks like a moment of pure bitchiness was actually years of pent-up frustration over losing to pretty, skinny, young, and WHITE contestants. In pageants, she was regularly expected to lighten her skin, and was criticized for not masking her "negroid" features.

After losing, Crystal would go on to form the immensely influential House of LaBeija, which is still active today, and then, more importantly, to start organizing balls and pageants that were exclusively for Black and Latinx drag queens. This is the birth of the ballrooms that would create modern drag culture.

[sagradofemenin0]

“Some loser brought a ladder and ripped the pride flag off my local church”, 2023

[a-gay-a-day]

Club 82

As most queer clubs were, Club 82 was run by the mafia. Specifically, it was run by the Genovese crime family. The club was extravagant and the shows were often filled with over-the-top outfits and performances.(The source I provided there is super cool, I would recommend taking a look).

The night club was shut down in 1953 along with other queer nightclubs in Greenwich village, due to the rumors of it being run by the mafia, which rumors were, in fact, started by the wife of the owner of the club. It faced license loss because of this. Mrs. Genovese also filed for divorce after making these accusations. (The source for this information is also terribly interesting. It's a newspaper clipping, I would recommend checking it out.)

Though the nightclub employed primarily queer performers, it was patronized by many heterosexuals, looking for novelty in their nightlives. A program of the club is provided here.

(The Wikipedia page for Club 82 could use some additional information. Putting that out there for anyone here who enjoys editing Wikipedia, as I don't currently have time.)

[animentality]

[numnum-num]

David Bowie in the Lützower Lampe, a Berlin Drag Bar, in 1977.

[troutreznor]

Backstage at Drag Aid at Palladium, NYC, 1986.

photo & caption by Mariette Pathy Allen [website] [instagram]

[bargainoriley]

Omg guys… look at this cool photo I just found on Pinterest/the Internet…

It’s Brian in a witch costume! With the hat and makeup and dress and everything! He’s even wearing fishnets! The green witch fingers are funny too. And Freddie’s expression is just priceless 😆 It’s as if he was jokingly saying: “He makes a good witch, doesn’t he darling?” Btw this photo is from his 39th birthday party in Munich, which was a drag party where attendees had to dress in black and white drag. I must say Brian definitely hit the nail on the head!