Darcelle XV (November 16, 1930 – March 23, 2023) was the stage name of Walter Willard Cole, an American

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...

, entertainer, and

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...

owner and operator in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

had certified him as the oldest drag queen performer in 2016, with a career as an entertainer spanning 56 years at the time of his death.

Biography

Walter Willard Cole was born on November 16, 1930, and raised in the Linnton neighborhood of

. He was described as a shy, "four-eyed sissy boy". In 1952, he was drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, where he was stationed in Italy with the Signal Corps, and served for three years. Afterward, he lived a "conventional" life in southeast Portland with his wife and two children. He worked at a Fred Meyer store and described himself as having "a

crew cut A crew cut is a type of haircut in which the upright hair on the top of the head is cut relatively short, graduated in length from the longest hair that forms a short pomp ( pompadour) at the front hairline to the shortest at the back of the crow ...

and

horn-rimmed glasses Horn-rimmed glasses are a type of eyeglasses. Originally made out of either horn or tortoise shell, for most of their history they have actually been constructed out of thick plastics designed to imitate those materials. They are characterized ...

". Cole used military funds to help start business ventures. Cole first purchased a coffeehouse called Caffé Espresso, which later relocated and expanded to include a basement jazz club called Studio A. In 1967, he purchased a tavern in northwest Portland which became Darcelle XV Showplace. Cole first wore a woman's dress at age 37. By 1969, he had developed the alter ego Darcelle and

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as gay. He left his wife (though they remained legally married) and began a relationship with Roxy Neuhardt, who worked alongside Darcelle at the Showplace as a choreographer, show director, performer, bookkeeper, office manager, and payroll accountant. The two remained together until Neuhardt's death in 2017. Cole died of natural causes at a hospital in Portland on March 23, 2023, at the age of 92. In one of his final interviews, Darcelle stated on the

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podcast that everything was set up to ensure that his daughter, son, and longtime collaborator, Poison Waters, would be able to keep Darcelle XV Showplace running after his death.

Darcelle

Cole, who had an interest in acting and had worked at Portland Civic Theater, developed his alter ego Darcelle and

as gay. The name "Darcelle" honors French actress and singer Denise Darcel. Darcelle wore false eyelashes, jewelry, and shiny clothing. Cole described Darcelle's persona as "sequins on the eyelids, lots of feathers, big hair, big jewels, and lots of wisecracks". Avoiding an Oregon law that prohibited the use of more than one instrument during performances, entertainers at Darcelle XV Showplace

lip-synched Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. Audio for lip syncing is generated th ...

. The business was fined after Neuhardt performed a "ballet-like adagio" with another man. Darcelle attended social functions throughout the city. In 2011, he served as grand marshal of the

Portland Rose Festival The Portland Rose Festival is an annual civic festival held during the month of June in Portland, Oregon. It is organized by the volunteer non-profit Portland Rose Festival Association with the purpose of promoting the Portland region. It inclu ...

's Starlight Parade and received the city's Spirit of Portland Award. Cole and Sharon Knorr published his memoir, ''Just Call Me Darcelle'', in 2011. The book recalls Cole's life, including his childhood, military service, and being Darcelle.

Reception

Darcelle XV Showplace has hosted the longest-running

drag show A drag show is a form of entertainment performed by drag artists impersonating men or women. Typically, a drag show involves performers singing or lip-synching to songs while performing a pre-planned pantomime or dancing. There might also be so ...

on the West Coast. In Kelly Clarke's review of Cole's memoir, she described him as "an energetic businessman whose desire for a life less ordinary catapulted him from a job at Fred Meyer to become the proprietor of a counterculture coffee shop, an after-hours jazz club, a rough-'n'-ready 'dyke bar' and, finally, a nationally known drag revue, without ever leaving Portland." Darcelle XV was recognized by

as the world's oldest drag queen in 2016, then aged 85 years and 273 days. In 2023, city officials announced plans to rename

O'Bryant Square Darcelle XV Plaza (formerly O'Bryant Square) is a square that was a small park and fountain at the intersection of Southwest Park Avenue and Southwest Harvey Milk Street in downtown Portland, Oregon, in the United States. It received the current n ...

in memory of Darcelle XV.

References

External links

* * http://www.opb.org/television/programs/oregonexperience/segment/darcelle-xv/ {{authority control 1930 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American LGBT people 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American LGBT people 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American male actors American LGBT military personnel American drag queens American entertainment industry businesspeople American gay actors American gay writers American male stage actors Businesspeople from Portland, Oregon Gay military personnel Gay memoirists LGBT people from Oregon Male actors from Portland, Oregon Military personnel from Oregon Nightclub owners United States Army Signal Corps personnel United States Army soldiers Writers from Portland, Oregon

Biography

Darcelle

Reception

See also

References

External links