Classic Female Impersonation

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

A Tribute to the Late Michael Andrews

On the Crysti's Condo,  big screen classics from the beautiful female impersonator:

The Top Drag Queen in History!

I was watching the classic Seven Year Itch movie last night and realized I was watching one of the great drag queens of all time, Marilyn Monroe-of course!   Yes silly's I know (or think I do MM was genetic) But where was it written that drag queens have to be men?

Of course I am not the first to push this idea of the over the top female movie stars such as Marilyn being the ultimate drag queens- in that they represented a totally unachievable level of femininity to the greatest majority of genetic women.

Just between you and me though, I'm still jealous of the famous scene of Marilyn's iconic white dress being blown up over the subway grate in the sidewalk! Shown on your left.

Let's not forget to mention one of the female impersonators (Jimmie James) who used MM to build his career. Here he is on a 1987 Phil Donahue show on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:

Freebie and the Bean

Yet another cross dressing classic for the Cyrsti's Condo big screen.  For those of you don't who remember Christopher Morley,(left with Carol Burnett) he was one of the top female impersonators of his day and was in several movies and television shows - when they needed a very convincing cross dresser. I have a very difficult time of labeling him since there just weren't many labels "back in the day" Plus.unfortunately those were the times when most anyone in the media cross dressed, they just had to be up to no good. Such as this 1974 scene from the movie Freebie and the Bean:

A Television "TV" Classic

I know, A bad take off on the old transvestite / T.V. pun but this classic video of beautiful female impersonator Micheal Andrews is anything but but bad and sure fire pick for the Cyrsti's Condo big screen. It's from one of the several "Mike Hammer" shows produced over the years. This one is with Stacy Keach:

Pavel Arambula

Mexican female impersonator Pavel Arambula on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:

Before My Time!

I found this incredibly clear video on YouTube of famed female impersonator Julian Eltinge from 1929:

Enjoy!

Erica Andrews Tribute

On the Cyrsti's Condo big screen, a tribute to the recently passed Erica Andrews from YouTube:

Mona Moore

Female impersonator extraordinaire Mona Moore from YouTube:

Akhiro Miwa

Singer/female impersonator a.k.a. Akihiro Maruyama is seen here from
Black Lizard (Kuro tokage) (1969) [Black Lizard]: Playing a female role, "she" commits suicide by taking poison rather than be arrested; "she" dies in Isao Kimura's arms shortly afterwards. Black Rose Mansion (Kuro bara no yakata; Black Rose) (1969) [Ryuko]: Again playing a female role, "she" is drowned, along with Masakazu Tamura, when their motorboat collides with another boat.

What is a Drag Queen?

Ironically, the more I'm able to make my way in the world as a transgender woman the more I become re interested in how closely related drag queens are to us.
Of course they aren't and drag peeps such as Rude Paul make me sick but every once in a while I run into an interesting video which gives extra insight into the world of drag queens.
Be patient with this one. The first part of it provides an interesting look at a few classic female impersonators and then settles into the present:

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:


 

The Cross Dresser as an Artist

One of the labels which seems to be lost in today's fast paced cyber world is female impersonator.
Over the weekend, a friend of mine sent me a couple of simply horrid cross dressing video's which have caused me nightmares.
Most of you know I love to connect the dots.
In this case, the difference in the closeted cross dressers who excel at the art form and those who don't are the dots.
First of all I know all of us are not created equal. All of us who played football in our past I'm sure now admire those guys with slim builds. (Yes I did play on the defensive line)
That's just the beginning. As one of the young transgender college students recently wrote "who teaches a 14 year old boy how to use makeup"? Take it a step farther "who teaches a 35 year old cross dresser"?
On YouTube...sometimes no one.
But other times you can see the sheer artistry some put into their obsession. You can read in their profiles they are closeted and are part time girls. They have decided "the street" wasn't for them. I have an example from a cross dresser I knew years ago. I recently found a Christmas card photo he sent me which was stunning. No possible way anyone would think the woman in the picture was nothing but a beautiful red head in heels, garters and heels. Of course I knew in person the woman in the picture probably couldn't present well in public- all 6'2 of her-without heels. There were other factors too.
(Today height is not the problem it was. Seemingly women have grown since then and tall girls in heels today are common. Ask Stana)
Regardless of any of that, she was the consummate female impersonator in those pictures. You can log into Flickr or other sites and find quite a few. I'm sure we all know their looks aren't just by accident. All of them work long and hard to perfect it-physical limitations or not.
What I can't wrap my pea brain around are those who don't. I desperately want to feel sorry in a sense for one of my cross dressing sisters who scorched my eyeballs prancing around in a Marilyn Monroe dress, blond wig and drink.  I just couldn't. I wondered if he had enough of that drink to think all was good?
I really don't begrudge him the right to do it. Insightful pictures and videos can be part of a great self education feminine program. I just don't understand  the need to go public with it?
I'm guessing he is a 60 something cross dresser and interestingly would transform into a rather realistic woman of his age.
Keep in mind, I also know there are many individuals who are only into fetish roles such as sissies or petty coats also.
By this time there are too many dots and too little time to connect them in our culture.
The good news is my eye balls are starting to recover and I have a sharp pencil.

Classic Female Impersonators

From YouTube, a montage of a few of the classic female impersonators of the past. Yet a different layer of entertainment from the Drag Queens of today.

Classic Female Impersonation

"Back in the day" Finocchio's opened in 1936 as a mecca of classic female impersonation in San Francisco.
I can't even pretend to say the 30's were a simpler time for anyone in the transgender culture. The word hadn't even been invented yet.
In the midst of all of this Finocchio's managed to stay in existence until 1999.

Pictured on the right is performer Bobby Jonson circa 1943.

For more history on the club, go here.

More Derrick!

Derrick Barry.
If you read Angel's comments here in Cyrsti's Condo about her chance encounter with female impersonator extrordinare Derrick Barry-she had no idea she wasn't looking at a real woman.
No real surprise I guess after seeing a few pix!

Derrick Barry

Famous female impersonator Derrick Barry (on left :) )

Classic Female Impersonation History

Ephemeral recently ran a post featuring famous cross dressers.
The post featured one of the all time popular female impersonators and dare I say actresses of his era Julian Eltinge.
Here's an excerpt:
"All but forgotten today, Julian Eltinge was one of the highest paid actors in the early 1900s.

His shtick: He played all his roles in drag.

But unlike most drag queens, who present a caricature of a woman, Eltinge was a “gender illusionist” pretending, with a wink, to actually be a woman." and of course you can go here for more!

A Bit of History

As she does so many times on her wonderful blog, Zagria's A Gender Variance Who's Who-
She really sent me down memory lane with her feature on female impersonator star "Kim August".
For those of you "more mature" trans readers, you may remember her. She was one of the few performers who made it main stream enough so even I had heard of her in my conservative pre internet world.
Go here 
to check it out!