Early Days
Some who are old enough may remember Les Girls at the Ritz hosted by Stan Munroe. This was basically Melbourne's fist venture into men in frocks as an entertainment medium in the 1960's and early 1970's. Les Girls quickly moved to Bojangles on The Esplanade at St. Kilda titled Play Girls featuring beautiful transsexuals such as the great Debra Le Gae as host with the very camp Cherry Ripe in her traditional comedy role . Two other venues quickly emerged, the Union Hotel run by the legend of Drag Mr. Doug Lucas in Richmond and Trisha's Coffee shop in North Melbourne.
Time move quickly and new venues appeared with the coming of the acceptance and the decriminalization of "Gay". Shows like the Pokeys and venues like Mandate become very popular and the places to be. Even more so gay newspapers were produced and transsexuals were no longer conscripted into the army
(The amazing Debra Le Gae) Leigh Klooger Photograph
The Pokeys
Possibly the greatest show ever seen in Melbourne, the Pokeys at the Prince of Wales Hotel in St. Kilda ran for almost 14 years hosted by the legend of drag Doug Lucas who co-owned the venue with gay icon Jan Hillier. The Pokeys ran every Sunday night to packed crowed and finally closed in 1992.
Pokeys featured Doug Dancing boys and the most beautiful transsexuals including " The Fab Four" Rene Scott, Debra Le Gae, Terry Tinsel and Michelle Tozer but over time included Vivian St. James, Jacque Roberts, Amanda Lee Linsley, Coralie De Winter and Sheree La More at various stages.
The Pokeys wowed punters loons and celebrities alike every week with its huge costumes, elaborate choreography and bevy of beauties. i don't think there was a fag in Melbourne during the Pokeys years that hadn't been and seen a Pokeys show. Sadly Jan Hillier, Viv St. James and Sheree La More passed away in 2000,2009 and 2010 respectively.
Leigh Klooger Photograph Leigh Klooger Photograph
Shows, Venues and Legends
Many shows and venues have come, gone and stayed over the years. Some of these that have left their mark on many of us have included Pokeys, the history making La Gore's Back Yard at the Xchange, PZR at Three Faces, Lip Stix at the Xchange and Three Faces , Troll Dolls at the original Market, Dream Girls at the Greyhound, New Wigs at Three Faces, Drags Inc at Three Faces, TLC (Tabitha Lucy and Caress) at the Xchange, Cover Girls at the Xchange, Wonderworld at the Xchange, Anything Goes at the Xchnage Jane's Bar at the Dome and who could forget still going strong today the Dynamic Duo Barbra (The Dynamic Duo Miss Candee and Barbra Quicksand in 2010) Quicksand and Miss Candee.
(Doug Lucas and Kerrie La Gore) (The Original cast at the Greyhound - Social Identity, Tootsie, Dianna Lee, Anita Mann & Sherin Sequence)
Legends over the years have been created including Doug Lucas, Ken Payne the owner of Three Faces (now the market) and Mandate, Kerrie La Gore, Michelle Tozer, Jan Hillier, John (Trish) Barry, Debby Le Gae, Terri Tinsel, Rene Scott, and Alan Mayberry of Rainbow Awards and Fantasy Ball fame.
Award After Award
For those of you that don't know the most awarded drag entertainer in Victoria is Rita La Coqueater. She is one of the most multi talented performers in the country today and is a costumier, performer, host and producer.
Rita has won Rainbow Awards, Diva Awards and Also Awards. She won best costumer for her work with PZR, and the Classics on a number of occasions and best show with the Classics, and PZR and best Cabaret Performance with PZR.
Rita is one of Australia's best drag costume makers and has been recognized as such. Over the years shows such as Monday Prince, Fab Three, Classics, PZR and a host of other shows have had the benefit of Rita costumes.
Rita once said accepting the costuming award at Crown Casino "I want to thank Paris who is the woman that wears my costumes so well"
(Rita La Coqueater the most awarded Drag Entertainer in Victoria's history)
Rita started performing and partying in 1989 after an initial career in window dressing at Myer Melbourne in Bourke st windows and did her first shows in 1990 at Cadillac Bar. She moved to 3 faces for Fab 3, a show put together by Kerrie Le Gore. Rita was the costumer and creative force behind that show as well as PZR, Internets, twisted sisters at Virgin Mary's and the opening show for the Market Hotel. Rita was one of the Classics for a 3 year period and helped produce and costume that show as well as numerous dance party shows and appearances. She costumed and produced the Dragorama show at the Peel in 2009 and has worked at and been thrown out of most venues in town. Love Rita or hate her shes certainly hard to ignore.
Rita often says what she lacks in popularity amongst her drag peers she certainly makes up for in her popularity with punters. I disagree as she is certainly popular with this old show girl. In fact a lot of her early costume work shaped what we see as Melbourne drag today. She has at one stage or another dressed most queens in Melbourne.
In recent times worked at the POW as costumer and producer and currently appears at Priscilla's at 153. More recently she has been stretching her wings as an author of a weekly gossip column in Southern Star
Rita says her career has had more ups and downs than a roller coaster but I can assure you she always manages to stage a comeback. She will be here for many years to come and will be, I am sure winning a lot more awards.
Trisha's Coffee Shop
The amazing John Barry aka Trisha who was a song and dance man in Hollywood and featured in a number of films ran and owned Trisha's Coffee Shop. John not only ran the venue but produced choreographed and hosted the shows. Many careers started at Trisha's including Emerald Stone, Anita Mann, Dianna Lee, Rene Scott and a host of others. The venue ran through the 1970's and 1980's
The venue was actually a coffee shop located in North Melbourne and never actually had a liquor license however no one ever really new what was in those coffee cups once they went under the sandwich making counter. Attached to the coffee shop was a show room. Trisha who made no secret that she cracked whip at show time would demand all the patrons move into the show room to watch the show. Often you could hear the buttons on the lighting board being pushed above the music.
Show rehearsals were always fun at Trisha's . Old Trish was noted for throwing chairs and ashtrays if performers weren't getting the choreography right.
(Trish Barry at the 1998 DIVA Awards where she was
awarded a Life Time Achievement Award)
John Trish Barry was a legend and Icon of the Melbourne gay community and is the only person to be awarded two life time achievement awards from both the DIVA Awards Committee and the Rainbow Awards Committee. Rod Green aka Emerald Stone nursed and looked after Trish through her later years until her death in 1999. Trish claimed she was 73 at the time others believe she was more like 83 but no one every really knew.
The Xchange
The Xchange Hotel became a gay venue in the mid 1980's and became the biggest drag venue in Melbourne hosting shows five nights a week. The Xchange owned and operated by Kevin Atwood became the pinnacle of drag. In the 1990's if you made it at the Xchange you had made it in drag. All drag entertainers aspired to become and Xchange girl
The Xchange featured some of the most memorable shows including Wonderworld with Doreen Manganinni and yours truly, Anything Goes the longest running one woman show in Melbourne's drag history hosted by the award winning Lucy Loosebox, the Dynamic Duo Miss Candee and Barbra Quicksand and of course the history making La Gore's Back yard amongst many others. The Xchange also featured some of Melbourne's best DJ's including Steven Betty Beale, Mona McNamara and Paul Anderson. The Xchange continues to produce quality shows today
Doreen Manganinni Rainbow and DIVA Award Winner
Leigh Klooger Photograph
Three Faces
Three Faces was the brain child of Ken Payne and Kerrie La Gore. The venue where the Market Hotel is located in Commercial Road South Yarra today, ran for around ten years and produced some of Melbourne's biggest crowds and most memorable shows featuring performers like Paris, Rita, Zowie Knox, Michelle Tozer, Doreen Manganinni, Miss Candee, Sky Brooks, Jacque Roberts, Sue Ridge, Barbara Quicksand, Hot Coco, Tracy Twat, Dawn Syndrome and a host of others. With a world class light show and many famous international DJ's the Three Faces pioneered the dance bar concept
(PZR with Paris, Rita and Zowie Knox) (Kerrie La Gore) Leigh Klooger Photograph
Amazing shows such as NYPD Pink with Michael Michelle and Kerrie La Gore, The Internets, Lip Stix featuring Miss Candee, Kerrie La Gore, Doreen Manganinni, and Zowie Knox, New Wigs with Skye Brooks and Michelle Tozer, PZR, and Drags Inc featuring Sky Brooks, Sue Ridge, Tabitha Turlington and Caress were produced and attracted huge crowds
The Dome
The Dome emerged in the mid 1990's as a straight venue based on the corner of Commercial Road and St. Kilda Rd. in the old Chevron Hotel Building. It quickly realized that drag could draw an even bigger crowd and Miss Jane became the brainchild behind the Dome's transformation into a mixed venue packing in 1500 people on a Saturday night running till 8am Sunday morning. Jane's Bar quickly developed and was a huge hit with shows hosted by Miss Jane at 3am and 4am. The who's who of Drag went to Jane's Bar and the who's who of the entertainment community including Jimmy Barns and Danni Minogue. Yours truely was a regular performer and often hosted with Miss Jane.
Jane created a playground for all of the hard working show girls with an abundance of straight boys ready willing and able to spend quality time (often in the toilets) with a show girl or two.
(Miss Jane at the Dome in Jane's Bar)
Today
There are still a number of the old faithful venues such as the Xchange, the Peel, the Greyhound and DT's however there many new venues popping up all the time like Abode, Neverwhere Priscilla's, Heaven's Door and Circuit.
Even more so, some of the old faithfuls are still treading those boards such as Sue Ridge, Tabitha Turlington, Candee, Babs Quicksand, Dulcie D'Jour and Paris however there is a new bread of drag megastars including Nova China, Anita Beer, Destiny Forbidden and Monte Diamonte. Shows are still huge with the biggest being the Classics on Saturday night at the Skinny Dog - The Greyhound Hotel.
(Sue Ridge the queen of camp)
(Monte Diamonte)
(The Classics including Laura Gravity, Rita La Coqueater, and Paris with the Late great
Vivien St. James who was an original cast member)
(Millie Minogue a current member of the cast of the classics at the Greyhound Hotel every Saturday night)
