John Rothermel & Friend

PAGE 20 BERKELEY BARB JAN. 18-24,1974 by Clay Geerdes revue or variety show. There was That there are people tripping a script, but it was more of an around the Bay Area these days Outline than a finished manuscript, who have to ask who The Cockettes and it served as a framework for. were testifies to the migratory series of acts of numbers in nature of the times. As one who which each of the Cockettes did photographed the midnight shows his/her specialty. The shows COCKETTES at the Palace Theatre in North varied. PEARLS OVER SHAN­ Beach for a couple of years, I GHAI was a staple, and it was would be the first to say that any performed more often than any collective definition of the enor­ other show. TINSEL TARTS IN A mous number of people involved HOT COMA was known as the in that scene is impossible. It is "Depression" show. Earlier as logical to ask what a Cockette shows were HOLLYWOOD BABY­ CREATIVE LON and HELL'S ANGELS. was as who, perhaps more so,be­ cause the end product of those All of the Cockette revues fea­ hours of make-up and rehearsal tured song and dance routines, a was usually something beyond sex lot of outrageously colorful role, a work of art with a human scenery and . costumes, and a bare core. minimum of spoken "'lines. In TH6' CONFLICTS I was not there at the beginning, troupe were gay people and some not in the Place the night Hibiscus of those people were drag queens and a few friends danced on stage who got off on their transvestism, and improvised the first Cockette others were costume freaks who John Rothermel & Friend show, and what I know of those transcended sex roles entirely, initial shows came to me from in­ young men like Hibiscus and terviews with many different peo­ Wally who were human icono­ ple. Film-maker Steven Arnold, graphy; still others were not gay who created LUMINOUS PRO­ at all, just lovers of freaky thea­ CURESS, initiated a series of tre. There were women in the nostalgic movie screenings at the Cockettes Dusty Dawn, Mar- Place called the Nocturnal Dream quel, Fayetta, Sweet Pam, Liz, Shows. and there was a child, Ocean The night people came to these Whatever happened to the Cock­ films in huge crowds, and one ettes became a part of their night Hibiscus and a few of his shows and the houses they lived in friends arrived with large bunches looked a lot like their dressing of red roses. All were in costumes. rooms at the Palace, incredible- There were colorful, interesting museums of artifacts from the people so Arnold let them in free. past. They recycled what they Hibiscus made a grand entrance found in the second hand stores down the aisle and created his own and built their most elaborate show in the audience. costumes from Halloween and Out of that scene came the Christmas materials bought in Cockettes, who first went onstage the basement sales held by dime- one evening at the invitatiqn of stores and department stores Arnold. He suggested they dance along Market Street. Drag queens and do their thing. The music was like John Rothermel wore the that of the Rolling Stones, not the forties gowns and dresses once nostalgic thirties andforties sound worn by women his mother's age; that typified those Cockettes who- indeed, most of the queens had remained performing after Hibis­ what they called a "street drag" cus left to form the Angels of for public wear. Light. There- are conflicting Wally, whose headdresses were stories about just what night this often two feet high, once told me occurred, but it was either on his street drags were so hot that Halloween or New Year's Eve of he couldn't even get into local 1969. San Francisco gay bars. Wally The early shows were improvi- and Hibiscus used to compete in sational theatre, a mockery of the early shows, each trying to established Broadway and Holly­ outdo the other via headdress and wood theatre-along with an ex­ costume. tended parody of institutionalized In the long run, the public will entertainment. Hibiscus enjoyed probably remember the Cockettes mocking television talk-shows, as freaky drag queens, because and doing anything that popped into the queens put on the most visi­ his head while he was in the foot­ ble and outrageous show, but lights. It was his desire to do free those who were involved with the shows and to keep them in an im- scene will think of it as a time of provisational stage that caused a .personal freedom and good feel­ shift in the group about mid-1970. ings. The Palace in those days Hibiscus had named the group was a place where you could drop after The Rockettes, but many your sexual and social roles when believed that the name derived you walked into the lobby.and just from the penchant of many of the trip on all of the images moving drag queens for performing in around you. costumes which left their geni- The Cockettes may still be seen talia exposed. The early shows in several films: LUMINOUS were very orgiastic, and, it was PROCURESS by Steven Arnold; only after Hibiscus left that they TRICIA'S WEDDING; ELEVATOR began to become more slick, GIRLS IN BONDAGE by Michael moving toward drag versions of Kalman; THE RISE AND FALL Broadway musicals. OF THE WORLD AS SEEN FROM This was the schism. Hibiscus A SEXUAL POSITION by Arthur and his friends maintained the at­ Meyer; ALABAMA'S GHOST by titude prevalent during the acid Fred Hobbs; and in a recent docu­ days of Haight-Ashbury that peo­ mentary by Gregory Pickup. ple should have everything free Photographs of them appeared in a and money should never be a fac­ number of books including my own tor. He wanted to do free shows COCKETTE PAPER DOLL BOOK, in the parks and to give away food Most of The Cockettes are still at the performances; he also in theatre. John Rothermel has a wanted to. do shows oriented to­ thirties night club act. Martin ward children. When Sebastian Worman works with the Gallery took over management of the re­ Theatre Club. Goldie Glitters re­ maining Cockettes who wanted to cently starred in a version of do more -\!ex musicals, the "Cinderella" at. the Palace. Dusty emphaf - .. ed away from free Dawn has formed her own Fan­ theatre :o a rnoretraditionalljox tasy Theatre in Cotati, California. ofr;ce orientation. Wally has been working with Dr. The form taken by most of the John, the Night Tripper. . photo;. Clay Geerdes Cocker shows was that of the "Is there anymore glitter?" LEAPS OVER BALCONY by Len Lyons themselves as .Kins oi th; Moun-- through the streets and then speak vals home movies for simplicity. cit­ divested of their uniforms they Jean Genet's "The Balcony," tain. A' milkman becomes »decor­ from the balcony to throngs of a new leaf and become Although this film-in-the-rough who accept their empty pro­ turn over in a satiric filmed version shown ated general, a gas man becomes izens the be_st of enemies. direction makes for the kind of last Monday at the Pacific Film a mitre-wielding bishop, and an­ nouncements as readily as the slow pacing which cripples most Archive, draws a nearly flawless other flunky dons the robes and girls in the brothel. If the illusions ot military,cler­ films, forcing them to hobble along analogy between the self-glorify­ wig of a chief justice. After the masquerade is over ical, and political authority can be to their end, "The Balcony's" ing fantasies of obsessive compul­ having discovered that clothes' seen in the disappearance of a poetic language along with some sive personalities and the mega­ Outside the brothel, a bloody really do make the man, they re­ uniform, then the authenticity of throw-away one-liners that would lomania of the men of Church and revolution is being waged, and the fuse to give up their costumes. the film itself is revealed by the do credit to Groucho Marx over­ State. real General, Bishop, and Chief absence of a slickly dressed up comes this visual handicap. Justice are assassinated. This Ironically, the revolutionary cinema. In the scenes which take Madame Irma warns us in the The story takes place in a bro­ . prompts the Chief of Police (Peter leader (Leonard Nimoy) ultimately platfr jutside the brothel, the ac­ final scene that we must go home thel, operated by Madame Irma Falk),who is Madamelrma'slover confronts the Chief of Police in tors' images are superimposed where we can be sure that every­ (Shelley Winters), in which men of manque, to restore confidence in the brothel, as the revolutionary onto a backdrop without the slight­ thing is even more false than it no account pay for the pleasure the Queen by persuading the trio impersonates the Chief himself. est attempt to cover up the illusion is in her house of illusion. No film of playing the role of celebrated from the brothel (who were al­ The two men fling themselves into that is being created. Joseph has ever proved more clearly that demi-gods, squashing their adver­ ready dressed for the parts any­ a death-struggle in the midst of Strick's direction shows illusions so-called "real" authority exists mankind by their saries, benefiting way) to impersonate the murdered which they are stripped naked as on the screen as illusions with a only by our willingness to accept wisdom, and generally depicting dignitaries. The imposters ride Adam at Irma's command and straight-on camera work that ri­ the fantasies of "powerful" men.