Toddy, who is played by Robert Preston (“The Music Man”), sells the singer on charading as a “male female impersonator” named Victor, who goes by the stage name Victoria. In the film, Julie Andrews, who was married to Edwards for more than four decades, plays an out-of-work singer who’s struggling to find employment in Depression-era Europe when she meets Toddy, an aging, gay cabaret performer. ‘Victor/Victoria’ (1982)įilmmaker Blake Edwards’ remake of the 1933 German film “Viktor und Viktoria” imagines a glitzy Parisian world in which male impersonators reign supreme. When it was released, the rollicking parody of early sci-fi B-movies inspired flocks of fans to attend midnight screenings armed with costumes and props and mime the over-the-top scenes as they played onscreen - creating a tradition that survives to this day. From there, the evening only gets even weirder as the monstrous and oversexed attendees perform bizarre rituals, like a choreographed “Time Warp” routine, and hop from bed to bed, leaving Brad and Janet with little choice but to let their WASP-y hair down and join in the festivities. Frank-N-Furter - the role he originated for the stage - an intergalactic “sweet transvestite, from Transexual, Transylvania.” As the film opens, two stranded newlyweds, Brad and Janet (Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon), come knocking at Frank-N-Furter’s gothic mansion, right as he’s hosting the annual Transylvanian Convention and readying to unveil his newest creation: a muscled take on Frankenstein’s monster named Rocky. ![]() In the film adaptation of Richard O’Brien’s musical “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Tim Curry plays Dr. In the film’s most infamous scene, the shapely, pistol-wielding queen appears in a red mermaid dress, with a shaved-back hairline, teased ponytail and extreme, arched brows that accentuate the homicidal glint in her eye. ‘Pink Flamingos’ (1972)įollowing his premature death in 1988, the legendary drag queen Divine has lived on in the works of fringe artists and mainstream creators, including as the inspiration for the buxom sea witch Ursula, who first appeared in 1989’s “The Little Mermaid.” But he’s perhaps best remembered by cinema fans for his starring role in John Waters’ disturbing, trash cinema classic “Pink Flamingos.” In the film, Divine plays the matriarch of a deranged group of outcasts who commit more and more depraved acts to earn the title of “the filthiest person alive.” And in addition to shocking audiences and angering censors - for, among other things, Divine eating dog feces onscreen - it debuted what would become its leading lady’s signature look, developed with the help of costume designer and makeup artist Van Ness. The moment marked a shift in ball culture and foreshadowed the rise of the legendary Harlem queens of the ‘70s and ‘80s. LaBeija, who is credited with starting the house system, which provides young LGBTQ people with chosen families, accuses Sabrina of fixing the contest, repeating another queen’s warning that Black contestants never stood a chance. ![]() While there are many memorable moments in the film, the most significant is drag performer Crystal LaBeija’s onscreen reaction to the announcement of the winner: a young, white queen from Philadelphia who exemplifies the Eurocentric ideals reportedly prized in the early years of pageants. At the center of the documentary is Flawless Sabrina, the organizer of the pageant and a prominent figure in the early ball scene, an underground subculture of pageant-style competitions started by queer people of color. More than two decades before Jennie Livingston’s “Paris Is Burning” brought New York City drag balls to the masses, director Frank Simon profiled contestants in the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Pageant, which attracted the likes of Andy Warhol as a judge. ![]() Somehow, the cat-and-mouse romance makes for the film’s most progressive moment, when the noticeably unladylike Daphne - likely a result of Lemmon’s resistance to being coached onset by the high-wire performer and drag artist Barbette - contemplates whether the much older suitor may just be her prince charming. ![]() Jerry (Lemmon) then ends up with millionaire problems of his own, as one of the seaside resort’s male audience members begins courting the double bass player’s female persona, Daphne. Their plan starts to get more complicated when Joe (Curtis), or Josephine in drag, falls for the troupe’s glamorous lead singer, Sugar Kane (Monroe), and begins moonlighting as a fictional, emotionally stunted millionaire to win her heart. In Billy Wilder’s “Some Like It Hot,” Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon play opposite Marilyn Monroe as musicians who don drag to elude the mob and join an all-female band headed to Miami.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |