re: fagin /drag Barry + Molly

[R.A.S. <richards...>]

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 15/03/2003 at 19:55 SICULAR (at) aol(dot)com wrote:

>actually to say someone's a drag queen does not mean that they are gay in 
>terms of sexuality (many crossdressers identify as heterosexual; 

Ah, looks like another case of "by a common language divided" then.. :-) In
standard colloquial UK usage, drag queen has, stupidly IMO, taken on the
automatic implication of gay sexuality. (In which case, something like
better than 70% of British males would have to be considered gay, given the
male Brit. obsession with crossdressing!)

>transvestites, whether performers or not, are not the same as transsexuals


Indeed not. (Though try and explain it to John Doe....)

>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.  

Though much less camp than almost any other female impersonator I've ever
seen or heard. At the risk of making it sound like a contradiction in
terms, I'd say his campness is a lot more toned down, even subtle almost.
(In the early days of "Dame Edna", he even used to play her virtually
"straight", barely a hint of camp.)

>now to bring this back to Jewish music (and sorta Purim):
>
>
>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.

Some fascinating insights there. Not sure about the pinky ring, but I
suspect you may have hit it on the nail there, her generation would more
likely than not have had completely different interpretations...

Having gone back to look at it on your site confirmed my feeling I'd seen
it before - on your site, of course! 

>thanks (still avoiding finishing the taxes),

There I'm sure we all can sympathise! :-)


Richard
(Renaissance Man)


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