www.dallasnews.com /news/politics/2022/10/28/a-brief-history-of-drag-queens-in-texas/

The history of drag queens in Texas

Lauren McGaughy 6-8 minutes 10/28/2022

Men have played women’s roles on stage since Ancient Greece.

But drag as a performance art as we know it, often linked to cakewalks, minstrel and vaudeville shows, began to come into its own in the 19th century. Historians and queer scholars believe the moniker “drag” likely referred to the swishing effect of early performers’ petticoats and skirts.

Drag has deep roots in the Lone Star State.

More than a century ago, female impersonators got top billing at the State Fair of Texas. “Prof. Stewart, the Great Female Impersonator, in His Vocal Specialties at 1 P.M.,” read the lead story in the Oct. 20, 1890, edition of The Dallas Morning News. That day at the fair was specially set aside for kids, the banner headline noted, with “all schools attending in a body with their teachers admitted free.”

In 1910, The News wrote a glowing story about Elliott Stuart, renowned as “best in world.” Stuart, who the article reported had been decorated for his talents by European royalty, got his start as a chili stand worker who happened across an amateur night at a local variety theater. The headline read, “Dallas man achieves fame.”

Drag’s popularity leaped during the so-called Pansy Craze of the 1920s and ‘30s, and the prohibition of alcohol drew more everyday folks to underground clubs where queer artists performed.

A News article from 1924 said the Pantages vaudeville program at the Melba Ball would showcase the performance and fashions of Francis Renault. “His gowns are marvelous creations by Zanel of Paris,” the story noted. “A copy of Marie Antoinette’s wedding gown and a kimona [sic] covered with roses of gold hand embroidery are two of the costumes.”

Men appearing in obvious drag for comedic purposes, including Milton Berle, Bob Hope and Jack Lemmon, were also featured in Hollywood movies, which were advertised in Dallas newspapers.

Despite their popularity for entertainment, drag shows were also targeted by police and other opponents. In the mid-1930s, a popular club in San Antonio was raided and seven performers arrested, according to clips of the San Antonio Express-News published on an LGBT history blog. Unable to find a crime with which to detain and charge them, the stories noted, the local prosecutor released the performers and they agreed to leave the city.

In 1938, a Houston drag show venue, the Wagon Wheel, was intentionally set ablaze, investigators determined, just after a grand jury decided to look into its “type of entertainment,” according to archives kept by Houston LGBT historian JD Doyle.

Drag continued to draw crowds at late night revues and supper clubs in the 1950s and ‘60s, with queens like T.C. Jones, Mario Costello and group performances visiting Dallas-area venues, according to News archives.

This advertisement for the "femme mimics" of the Jewel Box Revue appearing at the Oak Cliff...
This advertisement for the "femme mimics" of the Jewel Box Revue appearing at the Oak Cliff venue Pappy's Showland was printed in the February 20, 1954 edition of The Dallas Morning News.(The Dallas Morning News archives)

But the 1960s drag-related headlines in Texas were dominated by the case of Leslie Elaine Perez, a female impersonator who was convicted of murdering a Houston real estate broker. After her release from prison, Perez transitioned and became an activist for LGBTQ rights.

Drag performers have always been trailblazers for LGBTQ rights in Texas. In 1972, the earliest known record of two men receiving a license to wed in Texas occurred between a former football player and a female impersonator in Houston. The license was issued but never formally recorded, making the marriage invalid, after local officials realized the couple’s identities. But the story went viral for its time, appearing in newspapers across the country and world.

In the 1970s and ‘80s, the drag scene in Texas was graced by the talents of Donna Day, Tasha Kohl and Hot Chocolate, and the latter two continue to perform today.

Like most any form of entertainment, drag can be raunchy or PG, playful or political. Comedy routines, lip-syncing to songs and dancing is common. Many performers are also accomplished acrobats, pulling off splits and cartwheels in 6-inch heels.

Robert Emery, an historian who founded the extensive LGBTQ archive The Dallas Way, said Dallas has always been the “epicenter of drag in the South.” From gay clubs of yore like Bayou Landing and Villa Fontana to the Rose Room or Round-Up Saloon today, he said, Dallas drag queens have long pulled from the glamour of the city to inform their performances.

During the AIDS epidemic, Emery said drag queens helped raise money for friends and family with the virus.

“There’s a tradition of handing a drag queen a dollar bill or five. The transferring of a dollar bill to a drag queen was based on the idea that she was there to entertain you for a cause,” he said.

RuPaul’s ascension as the King of Queens in the early 1990s is a common touchstone for the movement of drag into mainstream American pop culture.

Add to this movies like 1995′s “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar,” featuring actors Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo as three hapless drag queens lost in small town America, and “The Bird Cage,” with Nathan Lane and Robin Williams, the next year.

From TV shows to TikTok, drag is as ubiquitous as sequins on a diva’s dress. The queens — and kings — of this performance art are as diverse as they come, with high glam, avant-garde and goth styles all exhibited on different stages across North Texas and the state. After the advent of Drag Queen Story Hour in 2015, drag performers have also become regular storytellers at public libraries, church bingos and some schools.

Drag queens across Texas, and the country, have experienced increasing protests and threats from a small group of vocal opponents and their political allies in recent months. But Emery said that, like a virus, this, too, shall pass.

“They’re going to be with us forever. So keep your strength up because there is no end,” he said, adding, “There is no erasing and removing gay people from the planet.”

Sasha Andrews performs as Selena during the Legendary Rose Room Drag Show on Saturday, Oct....
Sasha Andrews performs as Selena during the Legendary Rose Room Drag Show on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, at the Rose Room in Station 4 in Dallas.(Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer)