The Cockettes

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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

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[edit] Underground beginnings

The first performance of the Cockettes took place on New Years Eve, 1969 at the Palace Theatre in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood and soon became a "must-see" for San Francisco's hip gay community, combining LSD-influenced dancing, set design, costumes and their own versions of show tunes (or original tunes in the same vein). Initially, shows were performed every six weeks, performing on stage prior to the Saturday midnight "Nocturnal Dream Show" of underground films at the Palace Theatre. 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.

David Ferguson, who went on to become a notorious Punk Rock impresario, worked with The Cockettes on a number of different projects including producing one of their most famous shows on New Years Eve 1971. Even against the tolerant backdrop of San Francisco, The Cockettes' bawdy antics presented PR issues. A number of anecdotes made the rounds recounting the tactics Ferguson used to sneak the troupe and its outrageous stage behavior by wary club owners:

“ For nearly 20 years, Mr. Bimbo [Agostino Giuntoli, owner of Bimbo's] had presided over his lavish and busy supper club five nights a week, and he was nervous about renting the place out...In fact, he was so nervous about that prospect that he asked David Ferguson to sign a affidavit of sorts—on the back on an envelope—swearing that he would allow no naked women to perform onstage. It was only after seeing the show that Mr. Bimbo got the joke and realized how funny his prohibition was. 'David,' he said, as he approached the table, laughing. 'I can see that I have to be careful with you. You promised me no naked women, but you said nothing about naked men.'[1] ”

[edit] 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. (It must be added that during the first year the Cockettes sneaked many audience members into the theatre free through the back door.) 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. Later, when Cockette audiences began to consist of celebrities such as Truman Capote and members of European royal families, the group insisted on being paid by the theatre owner. 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. The Cockettes continued to work as professional performers while the Angels of Light chose to do free theatre without admission charge.

[edit] New York City flop

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. They performed their original musical "Pearls Over Shanghai." According to accounts of the time, "Everybody who was anybody" came to the Cockette's New York opening, including such celebrities as John Lennon, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, Angela Lansbury, Sylvia Miles, Holly Woodlawn, Candy Darling and Andy Warhol. But without the magic of Hibiscus (who had left the Cockettes to form a free theatre group, The Angels of Light), the opening night was a disaster. And in the theatre things went from bad to worse when Angela Lansbury walked out on the show, soon followed by most of the audience. After the show Gore Vidal quipped, "Having no talent is not enough." Apparently the New York professionals did not view the group as talented. Sylvester, a member of the group who later went on to become a 70's disco star, had often sung either before or after the Cockettes shows in San Francisco with his own band, but after the opening night fiasco in New York, he decided to distance himself from the Cockettes and demand separate billing.

[edit] 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.

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.

Among the more famous people of the Cockettes... Tomata duPlenty, an early member, who left the group and went on to sing in the seminal L.A. synthpunk band, the Screamers. Also 70's disco diva Sylvester. In Cockette shows, Sylvester's incredible singing and rendition of Billie Holiday songs were always sure to get a standing ovation. After the demise of the Cockettes Sylvester became a well-known disco singer during the late 1970s. During the groups last year, John Waters screen diva, Divine became a member and performed in the final show of the Cockettes.

Other core members of the Cockettes were Link (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 or Martin's lyrics), Fayette, 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 (original known as Big Daryl). Many other people too numerous to mention performed in only one or two shows.

[edit] Current lineup

Currently only twelve members of the Cockettes are still living. Twenty-three members have died, most of them from drug abuse and AIDS-related causes.[citation needed]

The Cockettes were credited at the time with being a huge influence on gay liberation: The term "genderfuck" was coined about them to express what one might make of a drag queen with a beard.

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 the theatre world today.

[edit] Documentary

The Cockettes were the subject of a 2002 documentary, The Cockettes. The film debuted at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. It went on to a limited theatrical release and to play the film festival circuit. At the premiere at San Francisco's Castro Theatre many of the surviving Cockettes attended in genderfuck drag.

[edit] 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. Within the Angel commune house meetings were held every morning, all personal money was pooled into a communal treasury, meals were bought and ate communally, and a form of complex marriage where each member was married to each other member evolved. The group also had a form of ritual criticism in which members could ask for "a criticism," the purpose of which was to help members deal with personal problems and personal growth. At its peak the San Francisco Angels consisted of sixty people, including women and children.

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. He died of an AIDS related illness in 2001 in St. Petersburg, FL.

In 1976 a short lived group, known as The Assorted Nuts, was formed by Tahara, former Cockette/Angel of Light San Francisco. This group consisted mostly of institutionalized mental patients who performed in shows written by themselves. Among Assorted Nut shows were an anti-nuclear energy performance called "Atomic Testes", and a show on discrimination against mental patients called "Transcendental Medication." The Assorted Nuts stopped performing in 1981.)

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 knowledgable 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 in 1992.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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