Early Drag Queens pt. 2

American Hysteria

W!ZARD Studios

Society & Culture

4.4 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2023

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For part two of our series, we are starting in the anti-gay moral panic of the 50s and 60s to see how the drag scene continued to transform underground, with female impressionists dazzling the starlets they tried to copy as closely as possible. We'll be introduced to a nationwide pageant circuit which allowed drag queens the opportunity to compete just like Miss America contestants, leading to a popular and well-reviewed documentary that revealed the controversial personal lives of these performers. Then we'll drop right into the Gay Liberation Movement where rifts between gay men, lesbian feminists, and drag queens led to a harsh animosity. Next we'll look at the southern tradition of Womanless Weddings that stretches back to the 1800s, where well-to-do men acted out every part of ceremony as a community wide ritual of hilarity. Finally, we'll travel all the way back to 16th century London where a moral panic around the theater's evil influence very much included the boys and men who dressed in woman's costumes to play their roles. Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Tell us your teenage tale on our Urban Legends Hotline! American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Sound design by Clear Commo Studios Research Assistant: Riley Swedelius-Smith Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler Voice Acting by Will Rogers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Audio player

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello dear listeners! I'm happy to let you know that you can now support American hysteria
0:06.0	by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. For less than $3 a month, you can show your love and
0:12.7	access exclusive episodes of our subscriber-only podcast, hysteria home companion.
0:19.5	You can also listen to every episode of American hysteria from 2023 onward,
0:25.6	add free without any annoying ads like this one. Just search American hysteria on Apple Podcasts
0:33.1	and subscribe today.
0:38.7	On this podcast, we explore fantastical thinking, moral panics, urban legends, conspiracy theories,
0:46.4	hoaxes, and crazes examine the forces that shape our culture and tell the stories that create
0:54.4	the realities we share and sometimes the realities we don't. I'm your host, Chelsea Weber-Smith
1:02.9	and this is American hysteria.
1:07.3	In the vernacular, it's called a drag ball. You see, each of our contestants is a man.
1:13.4	But we are a part of the exploitation of women by men for entertainment or profit.
1:19.2	I have been going in jail for gain liberation and you all treat me this way!
1:25.2	Out to you the truth is a changing world we living. Yeah, honey, it's here today and
1:30.4	gawnt my-
1:43.8	We return now to our place in the national audience, looking up at the towering American archetype
1:53.0	of the drag queen, who has been both beloved and despised, treated as a national
2:00.0	darling, a sickening degenerate, a goofy joke, and even a harbinger of doom to come.
2:09.5	In part one of our series, we looked at the elaborate balls thrown by William Dorsey Swan,
2:16.6	a formerly enslaved man who created a vibrant secret drag scene that was eventually found out
2:23.7	and raided over and over again by police. Then we saw how the Baudville scene produced
2:31.4	Julian Eltinge, a well-respected female impersonator, famous enough to end up on Broadway
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from W!ZARD Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of W!ZARD Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.