Last week, dear blog friend Christina mentioned in a post she had been years ago to a drag show. She recalled it was at Foo Foo's Palace. She has no idea how lucky she was, and it got me to thinking back on the fabulous, Foo Foo Lamarr. First of all, that's a great drag name. I sometimes think those old, fun, campy drag names are the best. The old formula of the name of your first pet and the name of your first street your lived would be your drag name. In that case I'd been Poochie Kensington. But I digress. So this post was inspired by Christina.
It's been almost 17 years ago that one of the North of England’s most popular female impersonator, Frank Pearson appeared in the guise of the brassy Foo Foo Lamarr in Manchester nightclubs and cabaret venues passed away . Appearing on stage in huge blonde bouffant wigs and expensive sequined gowns, he was known for his very caustic wit and repartee with tough northern audiences, and was riding high as one of Manchester's most flamboyant life and soul of the parties there.
Off stage he was a shrewd businessman, and by most show business standards he was astonishingly successful. In a career that spanned three decades he amassed a personal fortune of more than $5 million, but his own wealth was eclipsed by the amount he raised for charities. He opened his own Manchester nightclub, Foo Foo’s, which became a favorite for hen and stag parties, and had a financial interest in a string of clubs, bars and restaurants in the city.Pearson was born in Ancoats, the son of a rag-and-bone merchant, and left school at 15 with a fierce ambition to go into showbusiness. He took a job at a paper-recycling plant but in the evenings began appearing in drag in pubs under the name of Foo Foo Lamarr, Heddy Lamarr being his favorite screen actress, and can you blame him?. When his father first saw his son’s act, he was so incensed he threw a bar stool at him across a crowded pub. Someone told his dad that he was singing in the Ancoats Arms, but what they did not tell him was that he was stretched across the piano in a frock!
Off stage he became almost as big a celebrity as he was in drag, a familiar sight in his native city dressed in shiny suits and dripping in gaudy jewelry. He owned a succession of Rolls-Royces, he could be seen driving, with the registration plate FOO 1, and he delighted in giving lifts to local people in the neighborhood. One described him as being as essential a part of Manchester as the town clock.
He was devoted to his mother, Leah, and took her shopping every day. The pair would often drive to a local fish and chip shop in his Rolls-Royce before returning to the bungalow that he had bought her in Moston.During the 1990s, Canal Street in Manchester — the city center area in which the successful television drama series Queer as Folk was set — had become popular with the gay community. At the same time Pearson bought a number of clubs and pubs in the area, including Napoleon’s and Cruz 101.He lived lavishly but spent most of his spare time raising money for local charities, and his appearances at charity auctions guaranteed large donations from the public.A regular on TV chat shows, Pearson also recorded an LP, My Life at the Palace, and a single, Around the Old Camp Fire. He is survived by his partner of 29 years, Billy Hughes. Foo Foo Lamarr was born in 1938. He died of cancer on November 7, 2003, aged 65.
Heaven is getting a fabulous show these days with standing room only!
The chic and campy, Jon over at Delores Delargo Towers gave a nice tip of the hat last week to the great female impersonator Jim Bailey who passed away on May 30th.
Jim Bailey, a self-proclaimed “character actor” who did spot-on re-creations of such iconic female entertainers as Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Peggy Lee, Madonna, Mae West and others has died. He was 77, and died of cardiac arrest from pneumonia complications at Pacifica Hospital of the Valley in Sun Valley, CA. His Barbara, Judy And Phyllis have to be seen to believe!!!!!!!
A native of West Philadelphia, Bailey performed in nightclubs around the world and in such celebrated venues as the Palladium in London, Carnegie Hall in New York and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. He was a regular in Las Vegas for years, did a Streisand tribute at halftime of the 1978 Super Bowl and put out three albums.At age 11, Bailey entered and won his school’s talent contest, singing “You Made Me Love You,” one of the first songs Garland sang when she was a child star. He later attended the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music and studied opera, then headed to New York City.
“I did jazz clubs in Greenwich Village, went on the Playboy circuit, that sort of thing. I wasn’t doing badly, but I needed that gimmick, something to make me different, unique,” he told the Philadelphia Inquirer in a 1995 interview. His first impression was of comedienne Phyllis Diller, to whom he was introduced in the late 1960s, and he hit pay dirt after he heard Garland on the radio and decided to impersonate her. When Garland came to see Bailey's show, she jumped on the stage and asked him to sing a song with her: "Bye, Bye Blackbird." In 1973, Bailey teamed with Garland's daughterLiza Minnelli at The Flamingo in Las Vegas to re-create performances by her and her late mother in London. He and Minnelli became great friends.Three hours of preparation were required for each of his full-length concerts, so he could only do one impersonation for each show.
“It’s my job to make people believe they’re seeing and hearing Judy Garland,” he said in the Inquirer interview. “Convince them that I’m Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, take the audience on a magical trip.” Just watching this talent gives me chills and tears.
