A Salute To Drag Kings

Well now ,it wouldn't be Drag History Month without our drag kings! The Mistress has always thought that you hardly ever hear of drag kings. When was the last time you heard someone say they were going to a drag show to see a drag king? They work just as hard as the queens getting ready, manipulating their appearances and raising lots of the green stuff to benefit charities and the community. So I thought I would put together a little post to pay homage to some of them. While the term "drag king" was first cited in print in 1972, there is a longer history of female performers dressing in male attire. Drag kings are largely a phenomenon of lesbian culture and can most often be seen at lesbian bars or festivals. However, not all drag kings are lesbians, and some participants in the drag king subculture are not otherwise involved in lesbian culture, society, or politics. Faux queens (also called femme queens, femme performers) often perform alongside drag kings and may or may not be lesbian-identified. Unlike drag queens, who pride themselves on making individual names for themselves and creating a "lineage," drag kings tend to form troupes or performance groups. While they may join houses and maintain a solo persona, this is increasingly rare in the drag king community. Many troupes are created out of the desire to forge a cohesive unit in order to book shows and performances. Although, there are more and more drag kings now branching away from the troupe stereotypes, and performing individually. Drag king shows are becoming easier to find in this century and individual kings are getting bookings outside of the 'king shows' and finally sharing the stages with their male counterparts, the queens. And one of my favorite drag kings is the hilarity and comedy of the schtick slinger and crooner.....


Murray Hill.Murry is a well-known New York City comedian and entertainer. Hill is a drag king persona whose identity remains concealed even in private settings.

Hill started performing in 1995, when the East Village's cutting edge chic waned as the neighborhood gentrified.Famous impersonations by Hill include Elvis and John Travolta. Hill was part of a 1990's wave of comedians and performers whose talent stood out in the Lower East Side and East Village scene, emblematic of the neighborhood as portrayed in the musical Rent. The Seattle Weekly called him a "pioneer" of drag-kings. Hill, who has been performing since 1995 as the "hardest-working middle-aged man in show business," is a frequent emcee in Lower Manhattan of such events as the annual "Ms. Lez" competition, a bingo night with co-host drag queen Linda Simpson, and a variety of burlesque and theater performances


Fudgie Frottage is the stage name of American performer, producer and community activist Lu Read who is based in San Francisco. He is an exaggerated character in the tradition of drag. Frottage produces and co-emcees several different community events on an annual basis, such as the San Francisco Drag King Contest, the largest and oldest drag king contest in the world, which has helped raise the level of drag kinging and spread the art form beyond the Bay Area. As an underground fixture he has been a part of avante garde films and performances.


Elvis Herselvis identifies as a female Elvis impersonator and a drag king. In 1993 she toured Australia to sell-out gigs, yet unfortunately, has failed to return. In her home country, however, Elvis Herselvis, otherwise known as Leigh Crow, continues to make waves and draw an audience. Recently, she was banned from a high-profile Elvis Convention by conservative sponsors.


Mo B. Dick is the man behind New York City's legendary Club Casanova, the world's first weekly drag king party. In 1996, the Men of Club Casanova smooth talked every audience and soon were one of the city's favorite spectacles. Through their outstanding, irreverent performances, Mo and his boys soon stirred major international interest in drag kings. Six years later, Mo B. Dick has toured the world, has been the subject of countless articles and publications, and has been featured on the small and large screens, on Sex and the City, MTV, Maury Povich, and in John Waters' film Pecker as a wisecracking stripper and biker.


Stormé DeLarverie, was one of the first really well known drag kings on the scene. During the 1950’s and 60’s she toured the black theater circuit as a mistress of ceremonies, and the sole male impersonator of the legendary Jewel Box Revue, America’s first integrated female impersonation show and forerunner of La Cage aux Folles. The multiracial revue was a favorite act of the Black theater circuit and attracted mixed mainstream audiences from the 1940s through the 1960s, a time marked by the violence of segregation.