Now when I talk about legendary queens, old school drag, and over the top ensembles, hair and performance...Dena Cass is what I'm talking about. This is the type of drag I was used to seeing when I came into drag. Dena Cass is the pageant legend, winning various acclaimed titles ever since the early 90's. However, it is not her crowns that put Dena in the drag hall of fame, but rather her creativeness and talent with her rather impressive lip-syncs and performances. She was the first to have the routine of "transforming" herself right before our eyes with her well-known number in which she gets in full drag in under 5 minutes all while lip syncing to Dame Shirley Bassey's This is My Life. This routine alone has garnered national and international fame for decades, and probably most drag queens are familiar with the performance. And henny, Dena doesn't need all the time like Ru girls in the dressing room getting ready. Dena Cass is what drag was originally all about, and she still is fierce and stunning looking. To this day, her performance of this still gives me chills.
Oh, YES!
ReplyDeleteThis is classic Drag (well, it's Mrs. Gay Continental after all!) and I love it.
How she puts on those lashes!!! And the earrings! And the perfume!
And she painted for the back of the room.
Fabulous.
XOXO
Shit like this is what made me fall in love with drag and start it.
DeletePretty damn incredible. All in 0:5:57.
ReplyDeleteThose lashes could kill. LOL.
Amazing!
ReplyDeleteThat was fascinating. Watched twice, got chills at the end both times. At some point in applying makeup, to me she began to look like Janet Jackson.
ReplyDeleteI can see that too Shirley. Dena is a legend in the world of drag. She had brought houses down all over.
DeleteWOW, I've never seen anyone transform themselves that fast! How she does it with those glamour-length nails is beyond me too as I always thought the nails were the last things to go on, LOL!
ReplyDeleteI never could have applied my make up when I did drag. For me they were always the last thing to go on.
DeleteFabulous!
ReplyDeleteHow!? All I wear is lipstick and it takes longer than that to apply since I'm toothless! When I had a neck, I could probably rock those fabulous earrings.
ReplyDeleteShoot, honey, it takes ME longer AS A GUY to get ready then her getting in drag!!!!!!
DeleteAnd I too love those earrings. When I did drag, I was always fond of wearing huge jewelry. Like my men, the bigger the better!!!!
This was and still is AMAZING…. I’ve seen it redone, but not as good as Dena's !!! She OWNS THIS.
ReplyDeleteDena!!! DRAG ROYALITY. this routine is DRAG... this is ART.
ReplyDeleteWhat a brilliant show of talent and storytelling! She's clean up on Drag Race.
ReplyDeleteI don't think she has any wants to be on Drag Race. I dare say she might even out shine Ru herself. Some old school queens would rather die than go on Drag Race. They see it as to mainstream.
DeleteThis is my favorite drag performance ever! She told a story and took us all on a journey of her life in 6 mins!There were so many great nuances that pulled you in ever further!
ReplyDeleteI will never forget the first time she whipped out those earrings and the size of them!
DeleteAs Ms. Latrice Royale said, "High Drag At Its Finest"
ReplyDeleteShe timed that beautifully!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure she rehearsed the hell out of this. Dena is a perfectionist.
DeleteJust WOW!!! That performance was spectacular and mesmerizing. If only I could transform in Five Minutes to look that Hawt!!! The first Drag Show I saw was in 1979 in Las Vegas at the Silver Slipper, Kenny Kerr's 'Boylesque', which ran 11 Years from 1977-1988... it also ran at the Sahara and Plaza. I took my Welsh Uncle who didn't think he would like or enjoy a Drag Show and he couldn't tell that the Cast were transformed at all, it was so funny too, and becoz he was the biggest Guy there Kenny came up and flirted with him as part of the Comedy Act, my Uncle said it was so Memorable and we got an Autographed Book after the Show, which, I probably still have somewhere. Sadly Kenny passed in 2013, but every time I was in Vegas during the 70's and 80's I'd catch the Show.
ReplyDelete