MAKE AMERICA....

 ...Divine Again!!!!!!

I 've said one can be parotitic and have respect for your country...but the government must earn it. Away since Saturday enjoying some sand and sea, but hope everyone is having a fun and 

Happy Independence Day!

🎆🧨🎇

DIVINE CHRISTMAS

 

CATEGORY IS...

Hot Thanksgiving Couture... 

Manila Luzon

Tiana Daze

Glitta Gal & Amelia Bearhardt

Marina Summers

Trixie Mattel & Katya

Divine & Edith Massey

PAM'S NEW GIG

I enjoyed Sex and the City when it was on...but the idea of it having to keep going in lousy movies is old. The ship has sailed honey. And how do you carry on without Samantha Jones played by the fabulous Kim Catrall? Well, a couple solutions were submitted, but the studio realized two of the replacements were dead, which still,  even dead, would make this shite on a cold skillet, even better.

Divine...would be Divine!

Alas...Bunny had just to busy a schedule and upcoming trips to Iceland and Europe on the books so they settled on....

That's right, Pam Demic!

 But I had a clause built in to have leave time since the pandemic seems to be rekindling. I also made it mandatory in my contract to have a all out cat fight scene with Sarah Jessica Parker of Dynasty proportions, where I get a few good slaps in on her horse face, before shoving a ball gag in her trap to shut her the hell up. I'm not worried about the other two...as I said to Anita Moorecock, this is a one woman show!

ELFIN MAGIC

Poor Buster Bolfig Borghese. I mean, the lights are cute...but can you believe what my ex did to poor Buster next???

Oh the humiliation. If I was Buster, I'd sue.

On another front, he's not the only one cranky. I had a pow wow in the restroom today with the girls. As I told Chicket, if I don't get my cha cha heels this year, someone is gonna be real sore.

DRAG NOSTALGIA IIII

Lady Bunny, Mistress Formica, Sweetie, Anna Conda, Tabooo

In the spring of 1969, the modern gay rights movement was emerging in the United States after all the Stonewall Riots were done. With any drag revues shuttering and the after math of the riots drag was getting near extinct with exemption to major gay clubs...and even then was falling out of vogue. A few queens in the 70's early eighties got things started up again, with exemption to the few well known female impersonators, like Jim Bailey and Charles Pierce.

  Divine was one of the first on the scene and was one of the first queens to break into huge mainstream culture, notably in the films of director John Water. Her fearless and uncompromising manner influenced others to be a badass bitch like herself. Tragically, she died of heart failure in 1988 at the age of 42. Meanwhile on the West Coast we had the like of Pristine Condition

and May Doll,

Jean Hardlows

bringing drag slowly back into the light.

Meanwhile in New York, Mother Flawless Sabrina was out and proud. The flawless one challenged LGBT issues  all along  the east coast and led in rallies against New York businesses that refused to serve gay Americans. She was arrested more than 100 times during her fight to normalize cross-dressing.

Sarria A.K.A. The Widow Norton, Absolute Empress I de San Francisco, was the first openly gay candidate to run for public office in the United States, paving the way for other gay politicians to follow. From the west coast, she was an activist for gay rights during the 1960 and 70's. Sarria also founded the International Court System of the United States which helps aid LGBT issues. Sadly Sarria died in 2013 at age 90.

Pepper LaBeija who was known as “the last remaining queen of the Harlem drag balls”, LaBeija had a successful career as a fashion designer. She ruled the drag scene of the ’70s and early ’80s with her wild persona alongside queens Angie Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey and Avis Pendavis. She passed away in 2003 at the age of 53.

But then in the late 80's there was a drag explosion! I myself firmly believe, in part it was the NYC club kids and Leigh Bowery and the arrival of a yet to be known Rupaul, Lady Bunny and Lahomma Van Zant who arrived from Atlanta with their looks and shtick to get things jump started.

Lady Bunny with Leigh Bowery

Lady Bunny and Rupaul

LaHomma Van Zandt

The club kids with Amanda Lepore

It was glamorous, glitter-drenched nights that crept into mornings. From notorious East Village spots like the Pyramid Club to mega venues like the Palladium, Roxy, the Limelight and The Tunnel, it seemed more and more people were taking notice of drag again....and soon a evolution and eventual explosion of drag into a widely-acknowledged subculture. But in my mind, it wasn't until the 90's that drag really went nuts. I remember living in Harrisburg and started going out in the mid 90's right out of college. I became enthralled by drag when I first met Lady Bunny in New York and that was that. But outside of the big cities it was still risky. It was to the true God Mother of drag, Rupaul, who got to big for New York and went mainstream.

After that, drag came out of the closet and never did go back in. All of a sudden , even in Harrisburg and other little cities drag queens went from 2 to like 20 over night it seemed. Rupaul was everywhere, radio, tv, a talk show and it seemed hard to find anyone who disliked him. RuPaul,to me, really altered history more then anyone. I know people who watch Rupaul's Drag Race, who I never thought would.....and they can't get enough. These queens of the 90's really did bring drag out, and into everybody's face, like Lady Bunny who put on the wildly popular Wigstock every year, and drag shows at clubs would be packed...even still to date. I knew drag was here to stay when one New Year's Eve, yours truly in 2000, went to a party. I was decked in a white floor length,  skin tight gown, that was  lace, beaded and pearled, huge hair with white plumes and doves in it and jewelry. I was informed the party was going downtown right before midnight to watch the ball drop in the center of Harrisburg. Well, I had never been in drag outside a gay club, in a huge crowd before. The friends I went with had rented a limo, which we drove down in. Once there, we got out. I was shocked by the reception. People were enamored by me. people talking to me, and commenting my look. There was even a huge fraternity there from Penn State and they had a group picture taken with me. It was quite something. And this was a time when Harrisburg was not as gay friendly as it is currently.  I swear it was because of Rupaul!!! Everybody loved her and was all curious about drag. I firmly believe because her him, drag was more accepted and more mainstream then ever before. Now we have drag queens on web shows, recording their own tracks and completion shows. And we have all our fore Queens to thank for that and Rupaul. We must always remember our roots and history.

IN THREE WORDS

         In this weekly feature, I'll share a weekly guest with you, and you tell me in only three words what come to mind.

      In three words......

Divine

THEY HAVE STYLE, THEY HAVE GRACE

And probably even painted good face!!! One can't really have a proper drag history without noting some of the pioneering queens who lead the way. Continuing from the queens from Stonewall on, these are some of the talents that were going to burst open the closet doors and push drag and glamour for all to see.

Charles Pierce

One of the most famous drag queens of the 20th century has got to be the late Charles Pierce. His impersonations of Bette Davis, Mae West, Joan Collins and other famous stars brought drag to the forefront of theatre and radio. He performed sell out concerts in theatres across America, his whit and humor being the main draw to his work. He described himself as a male actress rather than a drag queen – the ‘original, over-the-hill, valley girl’ The 1960s and 70s saw the development of a number of drag stars. Jim Bailey performed on over seventy television shows, performed a series of concerts with Liza Minnelli, had several runs in Las Vegas and even performed to the Royal Family.

Divine who was featured in the original John Waters film Hairspray and grew to notoriety after eating a real dog turd in another of Water’s films, Pink Flamingos.

                                                                       Candy Darling

 Candy Darling was one of Andy Warhol’s Superstars, and a muse for The Velvet Underground. In the 1980s, Lypsinka rose to fame performing long, show length soundtracks featuring edited snippets from old Hollywood films. Her meticulously precise lip syncing amazed audiences across America, landing her slots on The Joan Rivers Show, amongst others. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the rise of the club kid. Particularly in New York we saw a 90s version of Studio 54 emerge with Michael Alig and James St James at the helm. The club kid era saw the rise of model and muse Amanda Lepore and the fabulous performance artist Leigh Bowery. The club kids were known for going out in elaborate and controversial costumes.

                                                                    Leigh Bowery

One of these clubkids, who rose to international fame, was RuPaul – arguably the world’s most famous drag queen. With a career that spans several decades, RuPaul is the undisputed queen of drag queens.

In the 1990s RuPaul was to drag what Naomi Campbell was to modelling – RuPaul was the world’s first drag superstar. His career has included a string of dance singles, a duet with Elton John, and a presenting slot at The Brits. He also modelled worldwide, including a campaign for MAC, and landed his own TV chat show in 1996. In 2009 RuPaul created RuPaul’s Drag Race, which was a fusion of America’s Next Top Model and Project Runway. The drag queen with the most Creativity, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent too the crown. The show was a hit success, with a sixth season  getting ready to start. Drag queens have often been featured in films, in a variety of different roles. The most noted of these are Priscilla: Queen of The Desert, Hairspray, The Birdcage, Rocky Horror, and Hedwig and The Angry Inch. These films often showed the beautiful, glamorous side of drag mirrored with the difficult lives of their male counterparts suffered. The internet allowed more drag queens to find fame.  Jeffree Star rose to fame on MySpace for his cult following from emo kids and his offensive rap lyrics. He recently signed a record deal with Akon’s record label.

Lily Savage, Danny LaRue and Dame Edna Everage make the trio of famous British drag household names adding to the cause. Combined they have over 100 years of drag experience.

                                                                        Lily Savage

 Lily Savage was one of Britain’s most successful queens, most noted for her show Blankety Blank. Previous to that Lily performed for eight years at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London.

                                                                      Danny LaRue

The late Danny LaRue,  was quite the talent, and rose to fame in the West End, performing in seven major shows, and a string of Royal Variety performances. Dame Edna, whilst not British, has received wide success and admiration with British audiences.These three queens are a small handful of drag queens who have hit the big time in Britain – there hasn’t been a drag star that’s matched their fame in recent times.

There are, however, a number of queens working in and around London who are making a name for themselves, and have been for a number of years. DJ Jodie Harsh’s fame, whose music I have featured several time here, has long outlasted that of her biological namesake. Tasty Tim is another favourite on the gay clubbing scene and Lady Lloyd has recently come off tour with Ke$ha, and is a model for Vivienne Westwood.

                                                                    Maria Millionaire

Leeds has a large number of exciting drag artists. To say it’s gay scene is relatively small, it’s number and popularity of drag queens in the city is immense. Anna Glypta was one of the first drag queens to perform and promote drag in the city, helping shape Pride events and much of the community. Another big name in Leeds is Miss Orry – famous for being one of the original Blackpool Funny Girls, and who has appeared on Deal or No Deal and Emmerdale. Other notable Leeds drag queens include Carla Jackson, Anja Bach, Roxxxy, Raven Mandela, Gisele Batrice, Bears Aloud, Cheryl Hole, Daisy DuPount, Pixie Monrue and Maria Millionaire. We will be looking at some of these girls up closer soon.

Drag History Diva- Divine

Harris Glenn Milstead was an American singer and actor best known by his drag persona Divine. He starred in many of John Waters' films, including Mondo Trasho, Multiple Maniacs, Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Polyester, and Hairspray, as part of Waters' regular troupe of actors known as Dreamlanders. The New York Times said of Milstead's films in the 1980s, "Those who could get past the unremitting weirdness of Divine's performance discovered that the actor/actress had genuine talent, including a natural sense of comic timing and an uncanny gift for slapstick." In the 1970s, Milstead starred as Divine in a number of New York City theater pieces, including Tom Eyen's classic camp women's prison drama, Women Behind Bars, which was a major off-Broadway hit in 1976, playing the lead role of the evil matron, Pauline.


Divine returned to the stage in another Tom Eyen off-Broadway play, The Neon Woman, where he played the role of Flash Storm, the owner of a sleazy strip club plagued by a series of murders. Milstead starred in a number of films and was part of the regular cast known as the Dreamlanders. The Dreamlanders appeared in many of John Waters' earlier works such as Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Polyester, and Hairspray. In 1985 Milstead appeared opposite Tab Hunter in their hit Lust in the Dust, repeating their successful pairing in Polyester.



Late in his career, Milstead also played male roles in his last three films: Trouble in Mind, Hairspray, and Out of the Dark. In Hairspray he played two roles, one male and one female. He was also the inspiration for the design of Ursula the Sea-Witch in the Disney classic The Little Mermaid. On the evening of March 7, 1988, a week after Hairspray was released, he was in Los Angeles staying in the Regency Hotel. The next day, he was due to audition for a part in the Fox network's television series Married... with Children. After dining with friends, Milstead returned to the hotel, and before entering his room he leaned over the balcony and sang Arrivederci Roma. Known for his punctuality when working, people became concerned when he did not appear on the set the next morning. His manager, Bernard Jay, went to the hotel at noon to check on him, and used his pass key for access. The autopsy found he had died in his sleep of an enlarged heart at the age of 42.The late great Divine is missed. It just doesn't seem like a Water's movie without her.