The Cockettes

The Cockettes were a psychedelic drag queen troupe founded by Hibiscus in the late 1960s in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood. The troupe performed outrageous parodies of show tunes (or original tunes in the same vein) and gained an underground cult following that led to mainstream exposure.

In 1971, over differences in philosophy, the group split into two separate groups, the Cockettes and The Angels of Light. The Cockettes continued to work as paid performers while the Angels of Light chose to do free theatre without admission charge.

The Cockettes were the subject of a 2002 documentary, The Cockettes

Underground beginnings

On New Years Eve, 31 December 1969, at the Palace Theatre in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, Steven F. Arnold let the Cockettes perform as part of his "Nocturnal Dream Show", a showcase of underground films, in exchange for free admission. ^[1] The show soon became a "must-see" for San Francisco's hip community. Combining LSD-influenced dancing, set design, costumes and their own versions of show tunes (or original tunes in the same vein), the Cockettes took to the stage every 6 weeks, performing prior to the Saturday midnight "Nocturnal Dream Show". Show titles included Gone With the Showboat to Oklahoma, Tinsel Tarts In A Hot Coma, Journey to the Center of Uranus, Smacky & Our Gang, Hollywood Babylon and Pearls Over Shanghai. Word quickly got out that nothing like these shows had ever been seen before, and within a few months the Cockettes were getting enormous attention from the media. Not only hippie magazines, such as Earth and Rolling Stone, wanted stories on the Cockettes, but also mainstream magazines such as Look, Life and Esquire were anxious to do features as well.^{[citation needed]}

In 1971, The Cockettes released the short film Tricia's Wedding, lampooning the wedding ceremony of Richard Nixon's daughter, Tricia Nixon; Nixon's chief of staff H. R. Haldeman arranged a secret screening of the film for White House staffers.^[2]

Philosophical split

During their first year the Cockettes were not paid for performances, although tickets to the shows sold for $2.00, the proceeds going to the theatre owner (during the first year the Cockettes sneaked many audience members into the theatre free through the back door).^[3] The reason for the lack of interest in payment was that the group, having come out of the Haight Ashbury hippie community, was not then focused on money.^[3] Later, when Cockette audiences began to consist of celebrities such as Truman Capote and members of European royal houses, the group insisted on being paid by the theatre owner.^[3] Even so, the amounts eventually paid were minimal.

In early 1971, over differences in philosophy, the group split into two separate groups, the Cockettes and The Angels of Light.^[3] The Cockettes continued to work as professional performers while the Angels of Light chose to do free theatre without admission charge.^[3]

New York City trip

Once Hibiscus had left the group some of the members saw the departure as an opportunity to capitalize on the media attention from articles in The Rolling Stone and Maureen Orth's in The Village Voice as well as Rex Reed's nationally-syndicated column.^[4] Whereas Hibiscus was dedicated to anarchy and breaking down boundaries others in the group saw the potential of the efforts and they had even hired a director.^[4] Hibiscus was explicitly political and committed to free performances as a part of the hippie ethos.^[4] At the same time Sylvester was being noted as a stand out act for his singing. He was getting funding from Gregg Gobel, the son of George Gobel, and had started to transform into an accomplished singer even hiring the Pointer Sisters as his back-up singers.^[5] With Hibiscus, the defacto leader of the group now gone,^[6] plans for a New York City show that could catapult the group to even greater fame where set into motion and tied to a double bill of the Cockettes and Sylvester's new band.^[5] Although rock-promoter Bill Graham passed on the opportunity for a New York show he did connect the group with Harry Zerler, "a wealthy talent scout for Columbia Records" and booked Sylvester as the opening act.^[5]

News of the 47 Cockettes boarding the flight was covered by local television and in full drag the group took over the airplane even complimenting the stewardess' "drag".^[7] Once in New York they were housed in a dingy hotel where heroin was easily scored but spent most of their time as celebrated guests at dozens of parties where they could eat and drink for free, running a tab at a local diner and getting free taxicab rides.^[8] Sylvester knew the Cockettes were not going to do well but he was determined to make his debut as a rock star and practiced with his band every day.^[8] The Cockettes were still transitioning from being "a happening" to actually doing structured performances.^[8] The group had one week to prepare but they had few resources and little energy after all the parties.^[8] They were however the talk of town and their show was the hot ticket.^[8]

In November 1971 the Cockettes, minus former Cockettes (now the Angels of Light), were booked for performances at the Anderson Theater in New York City. The venue had no sound or lighting systems and needed a curtain.^[9] The stage was also twice the size of the Cockettes usual one so all the sets had to be rebuilt from scratch in six days.^[9] They opened with "Tinsel Tarts In a Hot Coma", a send-up of films about Broadway in the 1930s. According to accounts of the time, "Everybody who was anybody" came to the Cockette's New York opening, including such celebrities as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Liza Minnelli, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, and Angela Lansbury.^[9] Also attending were Andy Warhol and his own infamous gender-bending drag performers Holly Woodlawn and Candy Darling. ^[9] But with the Cockettes' loose San Francisco magic, the opening night was a disaster (New Yorkers expected a tightly performed show).^[10] And in the theatre things went from bad to worse when Angela Lansbury walked out on the show, soon followed by Andy Warhol and most of the rest of the audience.^[10] After the show Gore Vidal quipped, "Having no talent is not enough." Apparently the New York professionals did not view the group as talented.^[10]

What had seemed so fabulous in San Francisco did not translate well in New York City.^[10] Also, the group did not have ample opportunities to rehearse, so their performances in New York were not their best.^[3] Of course, no one told New Yorkers that the Cockettes were rather anti-rehearsal.^[10] For the Cockettes, the idea was to have a blast onstage with the true spirit of Hollywood. For San Francisco, the Cockettes, in the late 1960's, were beautiful, funny, liberating, psychedelic messengers from the gods.^[10] For most New Yorkers, it was "You've got to be kidding!," and the celebrities the Cockettes had so wanted to impress were not impressed.^[10] Later, the Cockettes tried to explain their New York failure by commenting "the New York audiences did not understand us," (although it appeared perhaps New York had understood them). After a week of disastrous "Tinsel Tarts..." playing to empty houses, they performed their original musical "Pearls Over Shanghai" for the remaining 2 weeks of their contract, and the Village Voice gave it a rave. But it was too little too late.^[3] Sylvester and his band was the lone exception but he disassociated himself after several nights on advice from his business friends.^[10]

Notable members

After the New York bomb, the Cockettes came back to San Francisco and performed their final show in the summer of 1972, "Journey to the Center of Uranus". At this time Divine, star of films by noted filmmaker John Waters, joined the group, thus making her San Francisco debut. In that show Divine performed her song "The Crab at the Center of Uranus" while dressed as a lobster.^[3]

After the group disbanded in 1972, various Cockettes continued to perform, often as solo performers (John Rothermel, who was often cast in a lead roles due to his excellent singing voice and knowledge of 20's/30's music, had a successful cabaret career in San Francisco), but more often as a group, although no longer billed as The Cockettes. Later a few Cockettes formed the group Paula Pucker and the Pioneers, among others.^{[citation needed]}

Tomata duPlenty, an early member, who left the group and went on to sing in the seminal L.A. synthpunk band, the Screamers. Du Plenty went on to play a Cockettes-inspired lead role in the punk rock musical Population: 1.

Sylvester's rendition of torch songs by the likes of Etta James, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, and Lena Horne during his solo spots were always a highlight. After the demise of the Cockettes, Sylvester became one of most profilic singers of the disco era.

Other core members of the Cockettes were Link (aka Link Martin, aka Luther Cupp), Gary Cherry, Rumi Missabu, Tahara (whose parents had been rodeo clowns), Goldie Glitters, "Johnny Cockette", Sweet Pam (aka Pam Tent), Martin Worman, Scrumbly Koldewyn (who wrote tunes to Link's Martin's lyrics), Fayette Hauser, Daniel Ware, Dusty Dawn, Linden, Brent Jensen, Pristine Condition, Reggie (aka Anton Dunigan), Miss Harlow (who had been an original Plaster Caster) and Kreemah Ritz (originally known as Big Daryl) and Chris Kilo who produced a few of the early shows after the Angels/Cockette split. Many other people too numerous to mention performed in only one or two shows.^{[citation needed]}

Current lineup

In its history numerous performers and performing groups have spun off from the Cockettes, including, among others, the Seattle Ze Whiz Kidz (including actors Tomato Du Plenty and Screaming Orchids; the first Whiz Kidz show was a musical based on the life of Yma Súmac), The San Francisco Angels of Light, The New York Angels of Light and The Assorted Nuts. Many Cockettes also continue to perform in the theatre world today.

A 2009 revival of Pearls Over Shanghai (the screenplay was originally written by Link Martin) in San Francisco included the participation of Rumi Missabu and piano accompaniment by composer Scrumbly Koldewyn, with Tahara one of the costume collaborators.^{[11][dead link][12]}

On December 3, 2009 several members of the Cockettes (Fayette Hauser, Scrumbly Koldewyn, Rumi Missabu, Sweet Pam, Tahara) came together at SFMOMA for a rare screening of the films Tricia's Wedding, Palace, and Elevator Girls in Bondage followed by discussions and memorable Cockettes moments. There was an afterparty at the Cafe du Nord on Market Street near Noe Street at which the Cockettes-inspired New York drag troupe the Dixie Chicks performed.^{[citation needed]}

Documentary

The Cockettes were the subject of a 2002 documentary, The Cockettes, directed by Bill Weber and David Weissman. The film debuted at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. It went on to a limited theatrical release and to play the film festival circuit.^[13] At the premiere at San Francisco's Castro Theatre many of the surviving Cockettes attended in genderfuck drag. The Cockettes received the LA Film Critics Award as Best Non-Fiction Film of 2002 and the Glitter Award for Best Documentary of 2003.^[14]

Related acts

In early 1971 a few members of the original group broke away from the Cockettes and formed their own theatre group, The Angels of Light. The Angels became a well-known and highly creative San Francisco theatre group during the 1970s. Angels performances were free, with no admission charge. The Angels lifestyle included communal living in an old three-story Victorian house in San Francisco on the north side of Haight Street just west of Divisadero Street.

In 1972 Hibiscus, the founder of the Cockettes and of the Angels of Light, left the Angels and moved to New York City. There he formed his own group also known as the Angels of Light. The focus of his group was mostly drag revues in which members wore heavily sequinned costumes and did Jayne Mansfield style parodies of women. He moved back to his home town, New York, in 1978, and with his family (Harris) started doing more organized shows, including the fairly popular off-off-Broadway show, "Sky High" (performing under the name of George O'Hara). In 1982 Hibiscus died of AIDS in New York City (supposedly the 224th person to die in that epidemic).

Jack Coe (aka Angel Jack) was another renown member of the Angels of Light. He was seen later on as a regular performer at Studio 54 in NYC. In the 1990s, he moved to his mother's home in Gulf Port, FL. to help care for her. While in Florida, he would make random appearances and do occasional solo performances throughout the club circuit. In his final years, he befriended underground multi-media performance artist Mikee Plastik, whom he did his final work with (costume design and photo shoot). Coe died of an AIDS related illness in 2001 in St. Petersburg, FL. at St. Anthony's Hospital (the same hospital where famed beat poet Jack Kerouac died).^{[citation needed]}

In 1977 the Angels of Light San Francisco commune disbanded, although the group continued to perform until 1980. At present many of the male members of the Angels of Light have died of AIDS, while other members, still living, have moved on and currently live all over the world.

In 1978, John Rothermel (who had had a successful solo cabaret career in San Francisco, after leaving The Cockettes) moved to New York, after a year-long stopover in his home town of Minneapolis, MN. He had always been a junk shop shopper and had become a collector of Art Deco while still in San Francisco. Later in New York, he became an early collector of Mid-Century Modern/post-WWII furniture and decorative arts. After he initially worked in New York as stage manager for Hibiscus' most successful New York off-off Broadway show "Sky High", he developed into one of the most knowledgeable collectors of Mid-Century Modern. He worked at the Greenwich Auction Room, and independently bought and sold furniture and decorative arts before dying of AIDS on 4/21/94. (Among his most important find was a wood and metal model designed by William Lescaze as one of the finalists for the New York Museum of Modern Art building.^[15] Certainly worth $10,000.00 or more, John's mother, Della, donated it to the MOMA after John died.)

Another interesting member was Frank Bourquin, using the name Inez Paloma. Frank was John Rothermel's roommate on Market Street. Frank was deeply into 1920's history and was friends with a bunch of Palo Alto record collectors centered around Ed Linotti, who was director of the Stanford University music archives. Frank was working at the Post Office, but developed an ulcer and left on disability. He was featured in a number of the post-Hibiscus shows; one where he sung Happy-Go-Lucky You (and Broken-Hearted Me), a tune from 1932. Apparently, he later moved out to of San Francisco to Petaluma and was driving a cab, and died in late 1980s.^{[citation needed]}

The Cockettes inspired a Brazilian drag troupe "Dzi Croquettes," which are the subject of a 2009 documentary film Dzi Croquettes.^[16]

Notes

1. ^ The Palace was located at 1741 Powell Street. Much more here: [1]
2. ^ Greenberg, David (2004), Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image, W. W. Norton & Company, pp. 117, ISBN 9780393326161, http://books.google.com/?id=qUR51eH6LB0C&pg=PA117 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} The Cockettes, directed by Bill Weber and David Weissman, 2002, GranDelusion Productions.
4. ^ ^{a b c} Gamson, 75-6
5. ^ ^{a b c} Gamson, 75-8
6. ^ Gamson, 74
7. ^ Gamson, 77-9
8. ^ ^{a b c d e} Gamson, 79-83
9. ^ ^{a b c d} Gamson, 81-83
10. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Gamson, 83-87
11. ^ Avila, Robert (2009-06-24), "Velvet goldmine", San Francisco Bay Guardian, http://cgi.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=8759&catid=85, retrieved 2009-10-22 
12. ^ Abney, Andrea (2009-06-18), "'Pearls Over Shanghai': A Cockettes classic", San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/17/NSIJ186AC3.DTL, retrieved 2009-10-22 
13. ^ IMDB release info
14. ^ IMDB awards
15. ^ MOMA:Proposal model
16. ^ "Dzi Croquettes". Next Magazine. 23 July 2010. http://www.nextmagazine.com/reel-love/dzi-croquettes. Retrieved 20 June 2011. 

Bibliography

• Gamson, Joshua, The fabulous Sylvester: the legend, the music, the seventies in San Francisco, Macmillan, 2005, ISBN 0805072500, 9780805072501.
• Tent, Pam (2004). Midnight at the Palace: My Life as a Fabulous Cockette. Los Angeles:Alyson Books. ISBN 1-55583-874-X
• The Cockettes, 2002 documentary.
• The website for the definitive documentary about the troupe with a history brief
• Visco, Gerry (article) Cockettes Return! Gay City News June 12, 2008.

[2]^{[dead link]}

External links

• A site with information about The Cockettes and the 2002 documentary about their history.
• The Cockettes at the Internet Movie Database
• The website for the definitive documentary about the troupe with a history brief
• Martin Worman papers, 1960-2008. Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library (index of resources about the Cockettes)