1927 - 2009
Danny La Rue. For many over a certain age he was their introduction to the rumour of public sexual deviancy.
Once upon a time most people would say (if only to themselves): "I don't think I know anyone who's queer". They suspected people of private queerdom somewhere over there, but silence usually kept the question open. The savage normals can just about cope with the unexpressed.
For years, Danny denied being gay - though for years earlier he hadn't been asked where he put his cock - and this lie was essential for the preservation of his family entertainment/musical hall status.
Sofa anthropologists suspected Danny of queerdom, of course - why wear a dress? And that voice! - but he was such an entertaining woman, and where was Danny? In his wigs, frocks and slap he was this reincarnation of wombless flamboyant femininity.
People want to believe what they see provided the mask fits and the lines are learnt. Seamless presentation is the key. We will always give the benefit of the doubt to a class act. Then the overt entertainment queers came along and Danny seemed a bit antiquated because his mask rather than his sexuality was still to the fore. He wasn't politico-sexual or ironic. He gave no cock-cocking backstory to the stage act. He still wasn't making an issue of his misunderstood cock. Danny couldn't stop self-censoring because he knew that if he did stop he wouldn't be Danny La Rue anymore.
I suspect in drag heaven it will be more of the same.
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