It’s officially Pride month and like most people, I’m celebrating and enjoying the slew of rainbows decorated everywhere. Last year, I shared a list of vintage celebrities who were gay (out publicly or still hidden in secrecy), so this year, I wanted to share some incredible drag queens from the vintage era that should get a lot more credit than they do. Being a drag queen in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s wasn’t as fabulous and glamorous as it is today, on the contrary, it was a dangerous activity to partake in with sometimes, severe consequences. In order to celebrate today, we must remember those before us who helped pave the way for us today; without these queens, we wouldn’t have the incredible world of drag that we do today.

Due to the necessary secrecy that drag queens had to have during the 1950s and surrounding decades, not much is known about the lives of these individuals. Regardless, I still wanted to share their images, their names and hopefully give them some much needed recognition and thanks for paving the way for queer folk today. Without the actions of these individuals and many more, we could not have the drag scene we have today in many parts of the world.

Arthur Blake

John Herbert

Kitt Russell

Robbie Ross

If you’d like to read an interview with Robbie Ross, please go here.

Jan Britton

Michael “Daphne” Alogna

Niki Gordon

Kenneth Marlowe

Bobby DeCastro

Paris Todd

Read her story here: https://queermusicheritage.com/f-todd-paris.html

Francis Blair

Jimmy Tai

Chunga Ochoa

Tobi Marsh

Francis Renault

Although there are many more that have been lost in history I wanted to share as many as I could in this post. To compliment this list, I also want to share this wonderful video I found on Youtube as it depicts some fantastic footage of 1950’s drag queens. To further celebrate pride month, I’d also recommend the recently released documentary ‘Ps. Burn This Letter Please‘, ‘Paris is Burning’ and ‘The Queen’.

For more information go here:

http://www.david-de-alba.com/Ross.htm

https://www.thebody.com/article/documentary-1950s-new-york-city-drag-queens-burn-this-letter-please

http://www.david-de-alba.com/Ross.htm

https://queermusicheritage.com/female.html

Fascinating Vintage Photographs Uncover Glamorous History of Drag Queens

Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions and thoughts expressed are solely my own and not influenced in any way. There are no affiliate links and I do not benefit from any link clicks or purchases made.