“So much happened in the 90’s that affects the kids today that they don’t even know,” Fischer says. He also made a huge splash in John Waters Pecker, which he was handpicked for by the king of camp himself. He started doing shows in November 1995, leading the scene in New York City, producing and hosting Club Casanova, the world’s first drag king weekly party, which he eventually took on the road as “The Men of Club Casanova”– the first ever Drag King tour of the US and Canada. Dick is recognized as one of the founding fathers of the modern day drag king movement. (Note: we use each subject’s preferred pronouns for their drag persona and out-of-drag personas throughout this story– and just as in the queen community, sometimes they’re one in the same, sometimes they’re not).įischer’s alter ego Mo B. ![]() So I was like, ‘okay, shame on us, we need to change that,” the legendary performer tells us during a fascinating Zoom interview about the site, which was archived by the U.S. ![]() “The older generation– we didn’t have social media, and we didn’t have an online presence. Dick) came up with the idea in January of 2018 after s/he noticed a lot of newcomers to drag and drag kings in particular, didn’t know their history, or about the ground-breakers who came before them. As the website explains, it was created “to showcase the extensive history of performers from breeches roles to en travesti, variety to vaudeville, male impersonation to drag kings, and drag kings to gender free.” Cis women, non-binary performers and trans men who dress up in what’s thought of as traditionally masculine, often theatrical or character-driven looks to perform and entertain on stage, provide the same level of sass and spectacle that their femme-inspired counterparts do with an added layer of satiric mojo and primal sensuality.ĭ is out to give the art form its due as an extensive, permanent and celebratory online chronicle, taking an academic archival approach that’s also designed to entertain, inform and empower. Sexual politics aside, kings are an important part of queer entertainment culture. There’s another form of drag (that’s just as old) still fighting for the same kind of recognition and respect, and it’s high time we bow to its no less valid, no less engaging fierceness and illusion. Watching men, nonbinary people and trans women dressed up in glamorous lady looks and copious, exquisitely applied cosmetics while singing, dancing, lip-synching, acting or telling jokes, has always been an exciting form of entertainment, but it wasn’t really taken seriously nor respected for the hard work involved or subversive genius it takes to do it well until recent years. It took decades for drag queens to earn the respect and love they have today, and the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise is, of course, largely responsible for the shift in how we view these multifaceted entertainers. ![]() Club Casanova, the world’s first weekly drag party circa 1995 (Lucien Samaha)
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