re: fagin /drag Barry + Molly

[SICULAR <SICULAR...>]

hi again,

actually to say someone's a drag queen does not mean that they are gay in 
terms of sexuality (many crossdressers identify as heterosexual; 
transvestites, whether performers or not, are not the same as transsexuals 
either).  since I've never seen Barry Humphries perform his Dame Edna 
character, I must say that at least on the radio sounded like a drag queen to 
me, in terms of the fact that he's doing a very campy female impersonation.  
now to bring this back to Jewish music (and sorta Purim):

in fact, Molly Picon, onstage and on screen, did lots of crossdressing: not 
just Yidl mitn fidl, that was actually pretty late in her drag career... her 
first big hit was her first big crossdressing role, Yankele, in the waning 
years of WWI; she toured it for years afterward worldwide.  she was married 
though, to her mentor and frequent co-star; and her boy-dressed roles at 
least the ones I'm familiar with [East & West, the 1923 silent film is 
another] always left plenty of room for the audience to perceive her straight 
persona.  and when she was younger, she passed better in those costumes.

I still wonder about how she chose that pinky ring she's wearing in the photo 
they took of her receiving the lifetime achievement award from YIVO in 1981 
though; the tuxedo looks great and fits in with her mischievous attitude over 
the years — but it's pretty queer telegraphy with the pinky ring; maybe 
there's a different meaning from her generation (she does have in-jokes about 
queer Greenwich Village bars in her "Busy, Busy" lyrics English version that 
are quite clear; typescript in YIVO archives). 

you can see the tux picture and a 1937 post-Yiddle drag photo of Molly from a 
NYC stage production of "Bublitchki" at our site; click on the lecture 
description link from the home page.  any interpretations most welcome.

thanks (still avoiding finishing the taxes),
Eve

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