Cyrsti's Condo Vintage Female Impersonation

Wow! I hate to call vintage female impersonation -drag. Especially after I watch any of "Rude Paul's" Drag Race Shows. A case in point is Bobby DeCastro to the left.

Cyrsti's Condo Vintage Cartoon

Way, way way back in the day female impersonation cartoons such as this was something I looked for in every one of Dad's Playboy's:

Womanless Beauty Pageant "Amateurs?"

Amateur, by my definition means a person who does not seriously pursue a certain interest, job or hobby.  Ever sense Cyrsti's Condo hit the internet, the seemingly unlimited pictures we see at times of participants in womanless beauty pageants fall into a couple categories:  those guys who are truly cross dressing for fun  and those who just may have tried it before-or could again. 

Since rarely do we ever have an answer, sweet speculation adds a bit of spice to the process!

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl" of the Day

We are back with our Condo feature covers. Today check out beautiful drag artist Jem Stone

Vintage Female Impersonation

Much has been made recently about the "birth" of the internet (along with social media) and how we "more mature" individuals were able to even exist at all back then.  Truthfully, those days were exceedingly difficult times to communicate with others in the culture. Plus,  if you didn't know, the concept of a transgender woman or man was just beginning to develop and most all cross dressers in the media were up to no good. Early on, female impersonator Michael Andrews was undoubtedly one of the most popular entertainers of his era. Check out this YouTube clip on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:

Two Female Impersonation Classics

Any more, you have to be a "little more mature" to even remember the use of the "female impersonation" term.

Much of the time, it was even considered to be an art form.

This first picture is of William Reynolds (left) who is up to no good robbing a group of women in a theater powder room of their jewelry. William along with another impersonator got off of work in a club they worked in to do the heist in the 1951 movie "No Questions Asked".

Before you scramble to rent it, the drag scene is actually a small part of the movie.  Also it is shown every now and then on the Turner Classic Movie Channel. As you can see though, Reynolds is good.


The second featured female impersonator is Laverne Cummings (above right)  who as you can see was one of the classic performers of all times!

Cyrsti's Condo Featured "Lady of the Day"

Today we feature two of the classic female impersonators Holly White and Kicks Wilde!

Classic Female Impersonation

On the Cyrsti's Condo big screen, Danny La Rue:

College was a Drag for F Scott

With the release of The Great Gatsby,

I thought it would be time to post a picture of F Scott Fitzgerald (the subject of the movie) in college drag.
right...

Buzzfeed reported that the photo was snapped in 1916 when the future "Great Gatsby" scribe was in his third year at Princeton University. Fitzgerald was then performing a play called "The Evil Eye," which he also wrote the lyrics for, with a musical-comedy troupe known as the Princeton Triangle Club.

I have no idea if this movie version of Fitzgerald's life covers his college years or female impersonation days but star Leonard DiCaprio just still may be pretty enough to pull it off!

Classic NOLA Drag

Classic female impersonation and drag queen entertainment from New Orleans on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:

Thanks Liz!

Down Under Drag

Divanna Lorrette

I found this site by sheer accident "A Pictorial History of Melbourne Drag" by Jamie Lee Skye. Just for kicks and giggles I also threw in a classic picture of Barry Kay.

Barry Kay

Follow the link above for more classic female impersonation pictures!

Female Impersonator History

Here we go transgender (excuse me!) drag history buffs!

(left) The first Miss Gay America Pageant - Center-Charlie Brown, First Runner Up.Miss Gay America 1971- Norma Kristie (All photos from the private collection of Jerry Peek)

From the Out and About Magazine:

"All across the country people are discovering the art of female impersonation, and drag shows are doing big business in most major US cities and many smaller towns. RuPaul’s Drag Race has brought attention to the art form to the masses, and drag is appealing to a wider variety of audiences than it has in years".

"The Miss Gay America pageant is unique in that all contestants must be biologically male. No transgender performers, and no drag artists taking female hormone therapies or having undergone cosmetic surgeries below the neck are allowed to compete. Long-time pageant owner Norman Jones is acknowledged as the force behind the success of MGA, owned since 2005 by Larry Tyger and Terry Eason, but without its creator, Nashville native Jerry Peek, the respected competition would not exist today."

For more of this drag history piece go here.

Classic Female Impersonation

Remember the term female impersonator ? I think in my youth female impersonator was perhaps a more politically term for drag queen. Perhaps Great Britain had some of the most famous ones for a time such as Danny LaRue. If you have not heard of - or seen him, check this video: