FROM THE LOVE BALL TO RUPAUL: THE MAINSTREAMING OF DRAG IN THE 1990S by JEREMIAH DAVENPORT Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Music CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY August, 2017 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the dissertation of Jeremiah Davenport candidate for the degree of PhD, Musicology. Committee Chair Daniel Goldmark Committee Member Georgia Cowart Committee Member Francesca Brittan Committee Member Robert Spadoni Date of Defense April 26, 2017 *We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. 2 Acknowledgements Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who helped this dissertation come to fruition. I want to thank my advisor Dr. Daniel Goldmark, the Gandalf to my Frodo, who has guided me through the deepest quandaries and quagmires of my research as well as some of the darkest times of my life. I believe no one understands the way my mind works as well as Daniel and I owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for helping me find the language and tools to write about my community and the art form I love. I also want to thank Dr. Georgia Cowart for helping me find my voice and for her constant encouragement. I am grateful to Dr. Francesca Brittan for her insights that allowed me to see the musicologist in myself more clearly and her unwavering support of this project. I also would like to thank Dr. Robert Spadoni for expanding my analytical skills and for constantly allowing me to pick his brain about drag, movies, and life. Secondly, I want to thank my drag mothers who helped usher my drag persona, Lady J Martinez O’Neal, into the real world. You taught me more than any academic degree or institution ever could about the world of drag. To Christopher Hamblin, also known as Miss Hamblin, thank you for the late nights spent teaching me about Peaches Christ, The Cockettes, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the Club Kids, Leigh Bowery, Klaus Nomi, Kiki and Herb, Wigstock and a slew of others. I thank Christopher for being my Motherfathersisterbrother and helping me navigate my life as a queer person. I also want to thank Ashley O’Neal, my original drag mother, who taught me how to paint a drag face, how to sew, how to create hip pads, how to build elaborate costume structures and silhouettes, and every other skill needed to 3 become a professional drag queen. Ashley has fostered my entire drag career and I owe her more as my best friend and my drag mom than I could ever express for encouraging this project at every single step. I also want to thank Erica Martinez, my second drag mother, for allowing me to join her shows and asking me to become part of her drag family. The hours Erica has spent telling me stories of Cleveland’s drag past, competing in pageants all over the country, and show directing have been crucial to my drag research and my development as a drag queen. To my drag sister Veranda L’Ni for encouraging me at every turn since the day we met and for presenting me with the Drag Pride Flag for my work in promoting our art form and community. A special thank you goes out to the queens of The Carousel II who are the reason I fell head over heels in love with drag and never recovered—India Dupree, Champale Denise, Demitrya, and Ashley O’Neal. A tremendous thank you goes out to my friends who have had my back at every turn and who have reminded me that I am lucky enough to have my chosen family as well as my biological one: Devin Burke, Leah Branstetter, Carla Roth, Anthony Flores, Joshua Poling, Aaron Burnell, Hannah Snelling, and Angelique Collins. Mark and Jenny Ruscin, thank you for your support at the most difficult time in my life because it saved me from giving up on everything I worked for. I want to thank my dad Philip Clark for supporting me and encouraging me to follow my dreams. To my mom Vivian Clark, I owe a thank you larger than I can convey. She has inspired me my entire life and she has always taught me to stand up for myself and for all oppressed people. I count myself lucky to have a mother whose love has always proved unconditional, who always 4 encourages me to follow my passions, and who has always had my back. Without her none of this would have been possible. I reserve my final thank you for my boyfriend Trae Ruscin who is the most supportive partner and drag husband a queen could ask for and who is the reason I finally came out of the closet to my family. I never imagined when I started this project that I would find the Armand to my Albert, because I did not believe such a person could exist in my life. I am so thankful that you love drag as much as I do and for everything you have done to help me make this dream come true. You have altered the landscape of my entire life and I cannot imagine taking this journey without you. This dissertation is dedicated to those who helped me get here who are sadly no longer with us: Reanie Vachon, Kiarra Cartier Fontaine, John Napier, my cat Irving who always had his paws in this project, and my best friend Elizabeth Shell who passed many years before I became a drag queen, but who was the first to obsess over drag movies with me as we watched The Birdcage, Priscilla, and To Wong Foo on what seemed to be a never-ending loop. 5 Table of Contents Acknowledgements: 3 Table of Contents: 6 List of Figures: 7 Abstract: 9 FROM THE LOVE BALL TO RUPAUL: THE MAINSTREAMING OF DRAG IN THE 1990s Introduction: Expanding the Conversation on Drag 11 Chapter 1: Downtown New Wave Drag: Klaus Nomi, 26 Joey Arias and the Kooky Comminglings of Club 57 Chapter 2: Queens and Queers Come Together: 74 London, Harlem, and the Vogue Explosion Chapter 3: No RuPaulogies: How the Queen of Downtown 134 Became the Supermodel of the World Chapter 4: Sequins on the Silver Screen: 185 What Happens When Drag Goes Mainstream? Bibliography: 238 6 List of Figures Figure 1: Klaus Nomi’s Debut at New Wave Vaudeville, 1978 44 Figure 2: Klaus Nomi’s Logo, co-designed with Page Wood, 1980 54 Figure 3: Klaus Nomi, Joey Arias, and David Bowie, 62 “The Man Who Sold the World,” Saturday Night Live, December 15, 1979 Figure 4: Klaus Nomi, Joey Arias, and David Bowie, “TVC-15,” 65 Saturday Night Live, December 15,1979 Figure 5: Poodle Doll featuring live feed of Klaus Nomi, 66 Joey Arias, and David Bowie, “TVC-15,” December 15, 1979 Figure 6: Klaus Nomi, Joey Arias, and David Bowie, 69 “Boys Keep Swinging,” Saturday Night Live, December 15, 1979 Figure 7: Leigh Bowery and Trojan, “Pakis in Space” 83 Figure 8: Leigh Bowery, Session VII/ Look 38, 85 Photographed by Fergus Greer, 1994 Figure 9: Leigh Bowery, Session II/ Look 7, 86 Photographed by Fergus Greer, 1989 Figure 10: Leigh Bowery, “Birth,” Wigstock, 1994 96 Figure 11: Willi Ninja and three unnamed voguers forming a vogue pose position, “Deep in Vogue” music video, 1989 108 Figure 12: Willi Ninja and an unnamed voguer forming a 109 vogue pose position, “Deep in Vogue” music video, 1989 Figure 13: Dancer looking up Madonna’s skirt during “Vogue” 124 performance, MTV Video Music Awards, 1990 Figure 14: Dancer squeezing Madonna’s breasts during “Vogue” 125 performance, MTV Video Music Awards, 1990 Figure 15: RuPaul’s most iconic early genderfuck look, 141 Worn to the New Music Seminar, 1986 Figure 16: RuPaul’s post-genderfuck “black hooker drag,” 1989 161 7 Figure 17: RuPaul’s short-lived, androgynous image 167 taken on while working with the Pop Tarts, 1989 Figure 18: RuPaul’s “Supermodel” music video costume designed 169 by Zaldy, hair, make-up and photography by Mathu Andersen Figure 19: Daniel Hillard’s initial drag transformation, 196 Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) Figure 20: Daniel Hillard’s second transformation, Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) 197 Figure 21: Daniel Hillard’s first appearance as Mrs. Doubtfire 199 after the Transformations montage, Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) Figure 22: The queens’ tribute to the Sydney Opera House, Hugo Weaving 207 as Mitzi del Bra, Guy Pearce as Felicia Jollygoodfellow, and Terrence Stamp as Bernadette Bassinger, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) Figure 23: The queens perform in the desert, Weaving as Mitzi, Stamp 208 as Bernadette, and Pearce as Felicia, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) Figure 24: John Leguizamo as Chi Chi Rodriguez, Wesley Snipes 220 as Noxeema Jackson, and Patrick Swayze as Vida Boheme, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995) Figure 25: Nathan Lane as Albert Goldman in Republican drag, 226 pictured with Gene Hackman as Senator Keeley, The Birdcage (1996) 8 From the Love Ball to RuPaul: The Mainstreaming of Drag in the 1990s Abstract by JEREMIAH DAVENPORT In the first half of the 1990s, Western popular culture experienced an infusion of drag. The success of Jenny Livingston’s seminal but highly problematic documentary of the Harlem Ballroom drag scene, Paris is Burning (1991), signaled an intrigue from popular and critical circles alike. The dance form “voguing,” born of the same Harlem Ballroom scene, appeared before and after the film’s release in music videos for Liz Torres, Taylor Dayne, Malcolm McLaren, and Queen Latifah.