20 SEPTEMBER 1968, Page 19

Drag: A History of Female Impersonation on the Stage Roger

Baker (Triton Press 45s)

Travesty of truth

NED SHERRIN

`Though he welcomed his guests wearing a smartly cut red dress, a blonde wig—fashion- ably back combed and lacquered—and gold, high heeled shoes, he made no pretence of being a real girl. Vivacious, outgoing, ready with an amusing flip phrase, be seemed an ex- cellent party giver.'

This early passage sets the style of Roger Baker's book, which is solemn without being authoritative, in the style of a People investi- gator. The connection between Kings Road plumage and drag, between increasing sexual ambivalence and a flood of female impersona- tors, has been explored recently at length if not in depth. Mr Baker's- book does not pro- vide a suitable premise for a more serious study. I doubt if such an exercise would be worth while. Drag is a frivolity—apart from being hard work for the performer. I have always marvelled at the way in which Danny La Rue • is able to assume the responsibilities of lead- ing man and leading lady as well as principal comedian and impresario; but even if the artist must take the form seriously, 'it seems to me a pity that the audience should be encouraged to do so.

Mr Baker makes one good point. It is often said that Danny La Rue has made female im- personation respectable. Mr Baker points out that all he has done is to make himself respect- able. Too many of his colleagues' recall Casanova's encounter with a castrato singer,' 'The impudent creature, looking ffitedfy at me', • told me that if I liked him he would prove that I was right or I was wrong.'

However, since Mr Baker has very little to say which is worth saying, he !night 'perhaps have done his homework and provided an authoritative list of drag acts in a 'book which purports to be a history of the art.''It is only necessary to look at his chapter bn American drag to see the way he has skimped the task. Not a mention of George-"Honey 'BoV' Evans; or Harry le Clair, 'The Sarah 'Bernhardt. of Vaudeville,' who weighed 'over 150 pounds;'Of 'Miss Smith' and Arico whb were 'top ballerinas and also men% of Charlie Harris who 'did an eccentric wornan% of Hat,ry Ley- bourne who 'did a pianolOgue and 'changed dresses very fast'; of J. C. Mack-L-the German housewife; of the Male Melba and the Male Patti; of Alvora and The Great Richards, lady toe-dancers to a man; of Thora and Lydia Dreams . . . 'fine ventrilOquists';'of Havania who did quick changes; of Bothwell Brown

who did Cleopatra; of Divine Dodson; of Love and Haight.

There is no prudent reminder to budding Queens of Travesty that Bert Savoy was struck dead by lightning while walking at Long Beach : no mention of the inventiveness of Ray Monde who came on as a woman, took off his wig at the end of his act to show he was a man and then, for an encore, took off another wig to show long hair just like a woman's. No comment on Fagg and White, not even on the name of the act; or of the Mosconi Brothers who started their dancing careers with Charley partnering his brother Louis in a waltz. No account of the publicity stunt with which Julian Eltinge is reputed to have started his career. He is said to have arranged to walk into a rough bar on the corner of Forty-Second Street and Ninth Avenue, taken exception to a remark about female impersonators being `nances' . and cleaned the place out. As one of his contem- poraries remarked, people were so used to female impersonators scratching that the idea of one of them hitting made the front page.

No mention of Mr Eltinge's Licence dance either, performed by this substantial artist in a woman's bathing-gown.

Mr Baker is able to tell us that Chris Shaw is an ex-male nurse who has a trained voice, impersonates Shirley Bassey and Gracie Fields and often finishes his act with 'Bless this House' or 'Oh for the Wings of a Dove'; and. that Terry Durham has had glandular injections, frequently finishes his fan-dance off with tassels and plays an accordion 'which has often stood him in good stead'; but it seems a little early for this to be history. Travesty should not be taken too seriously unless it is performed as relentlessly well as it is by Douglas Byng or Danny La Rue or Alan Haynes, by some of the robust North Country dames, or by Mrs Shufllewick who has a unique ability to evoke the gin-sodden cockney lady. Apart from such splendours, it is better sought out by people who have a taste for it and not between hard covers.