In the book Drag, Baker says cross-dressing remained a pervasive part of theater culture until the late 19th century, when it began to take a new form. Female impersonators developed their own vaudeville acts, wherein they created caricatures of women. Some of the first queen were the likes of Julian Eltinge, Barbette and Marcel Dunchamp, who started their own highly entertaining shows and became popular acts in the numerous vaudeville theatres across America from the turn of the 19th Century until the late 1930s.
This moment in time birthed such mocking personas as the "wench" and the "primadonna." But in order to find the first iterations of the "drag queen" as we know her today, we have to pinpoint the moment drag culture became inextricably linked with the gay community, which some believe didn't really happen until the 1930s. Before then, the scientific field of sexology was forming and began to talk about the 'third sex, The third sex was discussed as a feminine man or a masculine woman who desires members of the same sex. By the 1930s this scientific conversation had worked its way into the popular culture and linked drag with homosexuality. This connection marked the switch: drag culture no longer belonged to straight, white men. Can you believe that??? In this moment, we witness the emergence of the first true drag queens. It was then in the mid 30's that different kinds of drag queens occurred at the time. While other female impersonators existed, the drag queens were integral to the new, gay-friendly spaces that began to pop up. Queens like Jackie Jackson, Gilda, April Stevens, Jose Sarria and the girls of the infamous Jewel Box Revue, were among the first to start all drag revues and shows in little hidden clubs and taking drag in a new direction.
The modern iteration of the drag queen developed in these underground clubs over the next handful of decades. Meanwhile, in the public eye, female impersonation was given a comedic edge; cross-dressing was portrayed in film and TV as a punchline, or an object of strangeness. One classic example is Some Like It Hot, which follows a farcical, almost Shakespearean story of two men posing as women. In Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, Norman Bates is a deranged man who dresses as his mother before killing people. Who could forget the eerie shrieks of the score as the shower curtain pulls back to reveal the poorly styled wig on Norman Bates's head?
Now venturing into the late 20th century, we can see how drag queens finally began to become a more visible part of arts and culture. Drag was a powerful movement in NYC during the 1980s and 1990s, due in large part to the explosively experimental East Village performance scene, and its products such as the Pyramid Club and the annual Wigstock drag festival. At this point, drag queens were amassing large followings. Some of the first drag icons emerged: Divine was a legend out of Baltimore who frequently worked with director John Waters.
There was something striking about a 300-pound drag queen who gave no fucks — Divine's incredible presence even served as inspiration for Ursula the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid. According to the story, none of the character designs for Ursula worked, until an animator named drew a vampy overweight matron who everyone agreed looked a lot like Divine. And speaking of Wigstock, Lady Bunny is the founder and creator of the event.
Lady Bunny once told the story of her first performance in NYC, which speaks to a drag queen's complete willingness to make a fool of herself. A drag queen challenges you to laugh with her, and laugh at her. That's what makes queens so alluring and captivating. Lady Bunny and Wigstock were what got me inspired into drag... as they captured the fierce, unyielding spirit of someone who is so sure of who they are and what they're doing that nothing can drag them down. RuPaul, who also came from Atlanta with Lady Bunny, both swung open the doors of drag in New York in a big way.
There are many more historic queens: Australia's Dame Edna, Pepper LaBeija ,often referred to as the Queen of Harlem Drag Balls), and Flawless Sabrina. And of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't also say that Pepper La Beija and the ball culture didn't also bring about some new style of queens and performance style.
Paris Is Burning, chronicled the aforementioned Harlem drag balls, where Pepper LeBeija reigned supreme. As we descend into this unfamiliar world, we witnessed the true artistry of a drag ball, which was like a sporting event for the LGBTQ+ community. It is also where the term reading, shade, and spilling the t came from. These balls marked a safe space for individuals to express themselves and find escape, I also firmly believe indirectly it also helped slur the "club kid" where the like of the legendary Leigh Bowery, Richie Rich and Amanda Lepore were bore.
