The Cockettes were an
avant garde psychedelic hippie theater group founded by
Hibiscus
''Hibiscus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising several hundred species that are native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Member species ...
(George Edgerly Harris III) in the fall of 1969. The troupe was formed out of a group of hippie artists, men and women, who were living in
Kaliflower, one of the many communes in
Haight-Ashbury
Haight-Ashbury () is a district of San Francisco, California, named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets. It is also called The Haight and The Upper Haight. The neighborhood is known as one of the main centers of the counterculture ...
, a neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Hibiscus came to live with them because of their preference for dressing outrageously and proposed the idea of putting their lifestyle on the stage. Later in the storefront at 992 Valencia Street, now
Artists' Television Access
Artists' Television Access (ATA) is a non-profit art gallery and screening venue in San Francisco's Mission District in the United States of America. ATA exhibits work by emerging, independent and experimental artists in its theatre and gallery ...
.
Their brand of theater was influenced by
The Living Theater
The Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. It is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States. For most of its history it was led by its founders, actress Judith Malina and painter/po ...
,
John Vaccaro's Play House of the Ridiculous, the films of Jack Smith and the LSD ethos of
Ken Kesey
Ken Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s.
Kesey was born in ...
's Merry Pranksters. The troupe performed all original material, staging musicals with original songs. The first year they parodied American musicals and sang show tunes (or original musical comedies in the same vein). They gained an underground cult following that led to mainstream exposure.
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. Noh Mercy (formerly ''On The Rag'') and ''
Tuxedomoon
Tuxedomoon is an experimental, post-punk, new wave band from San Francisco, California, United States. The band formed in the late 1970s at the beginning of the punk rock movement. Pulling influence from punk and electronic music, the group, or ...
'' formed from the Angels of Light.
The Cockettes were the subject of an eponymous 2002 documentary film directed by David Weissman and Bill Weber.
Underground beginnings
At the Pagoda Palace Theatre in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
's North Beach neighborhood, impresario Sebastian (real name Milton Miron)[ let the Cockettes perform as part of his Nocturnal Dream Show, a showcase of ]underground film
An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre or financing.
Notable examples include:
John Waters' ''Pink Flamingos'',
David Lynch's ''Eraserhead'',
Andy Warhol's '' Blue Movie'',
Rosa von Praunheim's '' ...
s, in exchange for free admission. The posters for these performances were designed by Todd Trexler. The Futurama Costume Gala, a science-fiction themed New Year's Eve bash held by the Nocturnal Dream Show creators, drew a rowdy audience of around 600 people. The show soon became a "must-see" for San Francisco's hip community. Combining LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...
-influenced dancing
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its reperto ...
, set design
Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...
, costume
Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people.
The term also was tradition ...
s and their own versions of show tune
A show tune is a song originally written as part of the score of a work of musical theatre or musical film, especially if the piece in question has become a standard, more or less detached in most people's minds from the original context.
T ...
s (or original tunes in the same vein), the Cockettes took to the stage every month, performing prior to the Saturday midnight Nocturnal Dream Show. Show titles included ''Gone With the Showboat
A showboat, or show boat, was a floating theater that traveled along the waterways of the United States, especially along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, to bring culture and entertainment to the inhabitants of river frontiers. Showboats were a ...
to Oklahoma'', ''Tinsel Tarts In A Hot Coma'', ''Journey to the Center of Uranus'', ''Smacky & Our Gang'', ''Hollywood Babylon
''Hollywood Babylon'' is a book by avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger which details the purported scandals of famous Hollywood denizens from the 1900s to the 1950s. The book was banned shortly after it was first published in the U.S. in 1965, a ...
'' and ''Pearls Over Shanghai''.
Word of these shows quickly got out, and by September 1971, the Cockettes gained a reputation as pioneers of San Francisco's counterculture. After local press coverage and sightings of celebrities like fashion designer and socialite Gloria Vanderbilt and author Truman Capote
Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
, the Cockettes gained attention from culture and lifestyle publications such as Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
and Esquire and general interest magazines such as Look and Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...
.
In 1971, The Cockettes released the short film ''Tricia's Wedding'', lampooning the wedding ceremony of Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
's daughter, Tricia Nixon
Patricia Nixon Cox ( Nixon; born February 21, 1946) is the elder daughter of the 37th United States president Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon, and sister to Julie Nixon Eisenhower.
She is married to Edward F. Cox and is the mother of Chri ...
; Nixon's chief of staff H. R. Haldeman
Harry Robbins Haldeman (October 27, 1926 – November 12, 1993) was an American political aide and businessman, best known for his service as White House Chief of Staff to President Richard Nixon and his consequent involvement in the Watergate s ...
arranged a secret screening of the film for White House staffers.
Performance style
The Cockettes pioneered an eclectic style of dress and costume that had not been seen before. They drew inspiration from various sources such as silent film, Hollywood of the 1930s and 1940s, Broadway musicals and the art forms of surrealism and cubism. Using clothing and accessories from past eras found at flea markets and thrift shops, they incorporated these various disparate elements into a look that was unique and timeless, exploring their own personal fantasies by the use of the assemblage method, creating outfits that are now considered iconic within the Wearable Art movement. The Cockettes costumes were completed with the signature make up artistry, most famously the men having glitter in their beards and exaggerated eye make-up. On the stage their performances were initially ad hoc, unscripted and improvised, preferring an experimental and experiential approach to theatre where the outcome was unknown, reaching for a sense of Magic as a result. By their second year of performing on a monthly basis, scripts began to emerge, loosely based on certain themes with characters based on the personas of the individual players, including original songs and music. Their magnum opus was the three-act play ''Pearls Over Shanghai'', with story and lyrics by Link Martin and music by Scrumbly Koldwyn.
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).['']The Cockettes
The Cockettes were an avant garde psychedelic hippie theater group founded by Hibiscus (George Edgerly Harris III) in the fall of 1969. The troupe was formed out of a group of hippie artists, men and women, who were living in Kaliflower, one of ...
'', directed by Bill Weber and David Weissman, 2002, GranDelusion Productions. The reason for the lack of interest in payment was that the group, having come out of the Haight Ashbury
Haight-Ashbury () is a district of San Francisco, California, named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets. It is also called The Haight and The Upper Haight. The neighborhood is known as one of the main centers of the counterculture ...
hippie community, was not then focused on money. Later, when Cockette audiences began to include celebrities such as Truman Capote
Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
and members of European royal houses, the group insisted on payment. Even so, the amounts eventually paid were minimal.
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 ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' and Maureen Orth's pieces in the ''Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...
'' as well as Rex Reed
Rex Taylor Reed (born October 2, 1938) is an American film critic, occasional actor, and television host. He writes the column "On the Town with Rex Reed" for '' The New York Observer''.
Early life
Reed was born on October 2, 1938, in Fort Wo ...
's nationally syndicated column.[.] Whereas Hibiscus was dedicated to anarchy and breaking down boundaries others in the group saw the potential of the efforts and they even hired a theatre director. Hibiscus was explicitly political and committed to free performances as a part of the hippie ethos. 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
George Leslie Goebel (May 20, 1919 – February 24, 1991) was an American humorist, actor, and comedian. He was best known as the star of his own weekly comedy variety television series, ''The George Gobel Show'', broadcasting from 1954 to 195 ...
, and had started to grow into an accomplished singer, even hiring The Pointer Sisters
The Pointer Sisters are an American pop and R&B singing group from Oakland, California, that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, bl ...
as his back-up singers.[.] With Hibiscus, the de facto leader of the group, now gone, plans for a New York City show that could catapult the group to even greater fame were set into motion and tied to a double bill of the Cockettes and Sylvester's new band. 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.
Under the watchful eye of a New York City Public Relations Director and Record Promotion man Billy Smith (Amato) who recognize the group as a potential entertainment group from San Francisco. News of the 47 Cockettes boarding the flight was covered by local television and the group took over the plane in full drag. Once in New York they were housed in a dingy hotel where heroin was easily scored, and 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.[.] 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. The Cockettes were still transitioning from being "a happening" to actually doing structured performances. The group had one week to prepare, but they had few resources and little energy after all the parties. They were however the talk of town and their show was the hot ticket.
In November 1971, the Cockettes who had not left to become 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.[.] 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. 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 Cockettes' New York opening, including such celebrities as John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
and Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up i ...
, Liza Minnelli, Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
, Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor, director, and singer. Perkins is best remembered for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thriller '' Psycho'', which made him an influentia ...
, Truman Capote
Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
, Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and e ...
, and Angela Lansbury
Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...
. Also attending were Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...
and his own infamous gender-bending drag performers Holly Woodlawn
Holly Woodlawn (October 26, 1946 – December 6, 2015) was a transgender Puerto Rican actress and Warhol superstar who appeared in the films ''Trash'' (1970) and '' Women in Revolt'' (1971). She is also known as the Holly in Lou Reed's hit glam r ...
and Candy Darling
Candy Darling (November 24, 1944 – March 21, 1974) was an American actress, best known as a Warhol superstar and transgender icon. She starred in Andy Warhol's films ''Flesh'' (1968) and '' Women in Revolt'' (1971), and was a muse of The Velve ...
. But with the Cockettes' loose San Francisco magic, the opening night was a disaster, as New Yorkers expected a tightly performed show.[.] Angela Lansbury walked out on the show, soon followed by Andy Warhol and most of the rest of the audience. After the show Gore Vidal quipped, "Having no talent is not enough."
The Cockettes had difficulty translating their San Francisco work to New York City, compounded by the fact that the Cockettes were rather anti-rehearsal. Their idea was to have a blast onstage with the true spirit of Hollywood. For San Francisco, the Cockettes in the late 1960s were beautiful, funny, liberating, psychedelic messengers from the gods. But the New York celebrities the Cockettes wanted to impress were not impressed. Later, the Cockettes explained their New York failure by commenting "the New York audiences did not understand us." After a week of ''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. Sylvester and his band had more consistently positive reviews, but he disassociated himself after several nights on advice from his business friends.
Notable members
After the New York run at the Anderson Theater, the Cockettes returned to San Francisco and performed ''Les Etoile Du Minuit'', the final version of ''Pearls Over Shanghai'', ''Journey to the Center of Uranus'' and their final show, ''Hot Greeks''. Divine
Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.[divine< ...](_blank)
, star of films by noted filmmaker John Waters
John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...
, joined the group in ''Journey to the Center of Uranus'', thus making her San Francisco debut. In that show Divine performed the Cockettes' song "A Crab On Your Anus Means You're Loved" while dressed as a big, red lobster.
After the group disbanded in the spring of 1972, various Cockettes continued to perform, either as solo performers or as a group that was no longer billed as The Cockettes. John Rothermel, who was often cast in a lead role due to his excellent singing voice and knowledge of 1920s/1930s music, had a successful cabaret career in San Francisco.
In the fall of 1972 Fayette Hauser, Tomata du Plenty, Link Martin, John Flowers, and Sweet Pam moved to New York City to perform in underground theatre. They lived on the Bowery and performed at the Cafe Cino, The Bouwerie Lane Theatre in the Palm Casino Revue, Club 82 and CBGB's with other groups such as the Ramones and Blondie. Later a few Cockettes formed the group Paula Pucker and the Pioneers.
In 1975 Tomata du Plenty and Fayette Hauser moved to Los Angeles and continued to perform in small theatre venues like the Anti-Club and Al's bar.
In 1970 Tomata duPlenty, inspired by early Cockette shows, went on to create a spin-off group in Seattle, Washington called Ze Whiz Kidz. He also created the seminal L.A. electropunk
Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrum ...
band, the Screamers
The Screamers were an American electropunk group founded in 1975. They were among the first wave of the L.A. punk rock scene. The Los Angeles Times applied the label "techno-punk" to the band in 1978. In the documentary '' Punk: Attitude'' ( ...
, and he was the lead singer. Du Plenty went on to play a Cockettes-inspired lead role in the punk rock musical '' Population: 1''.
Fayette Hauser was the lead singer in the L.A.-based New Age band Interpol with Jeff McGregor and Chuck Ivey.
Sylvester's rendition of torch songs by the likes of Etta James, Shirley Bassey, Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock a ...
, Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her no ...
, Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...
, Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...
, and Lena Horne in his solo spots led to him becoming one of the most prolific singers of the disco era.
Other core members of the Cockettes were Link (aka Link Martin, aka Luther Cupp), Gary Cherry, Rumi Missabu, John Rothermel, 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 (aka Keith Blanton), Reggie (aka Anton Dunigan), and Miss Harlow (who had been an original Plaster Caster). Bobby Cameron, who met Alessandro Jodorowsky during the tour in NYC and was offered a role along with costume designer Nikki Nichols in his film "Holy Mountain" (1973), started a career as a showgirl and actress in TV series and B movies under the name of Cameron. 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.
Legacy
Numerous performers and performing groups spun off from the Cockettes, including 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, the Assorted Nuts, among others. Many Cockettes also continue to perform in the theatre world today.
A 2009 revival of ''Pearls Over Shanghai'' (the libretto 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.
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.
''The Cockettes: Acid Drag & Sexual Anarchy'', an exhibition exploring the powerful impact the Cockettes had on the San Francisco gay community and on gay culture further afield, is set to open in March, 2022, at San Francisco Public Library
The San Francisco Public Library is the public library system of the city and county of San Francisco. The Main Library is located at Civic Center, at 100 Larkin Street. The library system has won several awards, such as '' Library Journals ...
. The exhibition coincides with the theatre troupes 50th anniversary of its formation.
Documentary
The Cockettes were the subject of an eponymous documentary film, directed by Bill Weber and David Weissman, that debuted at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. It went on to a limited theatrical release and to play the film festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...
circuit. At the premiere at San Francisco's Castro Theatre
The Castro Theatre is a historic movie palace in San Francisco that became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street in the Castro District, it was built in 1922 with a California Churrigueresque fa ...
many of the surviving Cockettes attended in genderfuck
A gender bender is a person who dresses up and acts like the opposite sex. Bending expected gender roles may also be called a genderfuck.
Gender bending may be political, stemming from the early identity politics movements of the 1960s and 19 ...
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.
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. Within the Angel commune house meetings were held every morning, all personal money was pooled into a communal treasury, meals were bought and eaten communally, and a form of complex marriage where each member was married to each other member evolved (all sexual preferences included). During the early 1970s, Martin Wong
Martin Wong (; July 11, 1946 – August 12, 1999) was a Chinese-American painter of the late 20th century. His work has been described as a meticulous blend of social realism and visionary art styles. Wong's paintings often explored multiple ...
involved himself with The Angels of Light by designing sets and painting scenery for their performances.
In 1972 Hibiscus, the founder of the Cockettes and of the Angels of Light, left the Angels and moved back to New York City. There he formed his own group also known as the Angels of Light. The troupe included his parents and five siblings all actors and musicians as well as performers from all walks of life. In 1978, Hibiscus started doing more organized shows, including the fairly popular off-off-Broadway show, "Sky High" (performing under the name of Brian O'Hara). In the early 1980s, Hibiscus formed the glitter rock band "Hibiscus and the Screaming Violets" . A five piece band included his brother Fred as an arranger, keyboardist, his mother Ann wrote all of the original lyrics and music collaborating with her son Fred on a few tunes. Hibiscus's sisters Jayne Anne, Eloise and Mary Lou were The Screaming Violets. They played in many of the clubs of the era. Lewis Friedman's SNAFU was their artistic home. On May 6, 1982, Hibiscus died of AIDS in New York City (supposedly the 224th person to die in that epidemic).
Jack Coe (a.k.a. Angel Jack) was another renowned 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, Florida 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 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, Florida at St. Anthony's Hospital (the same hospital where famed beat poet Jack Kerouac died). Several books and documentaries about Studio 54 and its legendary scene have featured and paid homage to Angel Jack.
Former Angel of Light and trans singer/songwriter Lillian "Lilly Rose" Taber (birth name Curtis J. Taber) performed in numerous bands and recorded several albums and singles from the 1970s through the 1990s. Bands included Jupiter Rey with Lilly Rose, Denver, CO (c. 1970s); Lilly Rose & the Thorns, Denver (1978–79); The Amazing Lilly Rose Band; Band W.O.W., Phoenix, AZ (c. 1980s); and Bartholomew Faire, Phoenix (c. 1990s). Lilly Rose also performed in the "Backstage Review" at the historic Shammoo's in Phoenix in the 1980s, and was the hairstylist for the 1994 TV movie "Knight Rider 2010." Taber died in September 2000 of complications due to AIDS.
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 moved to New York, after a year-long stopover in his home town of Minneapolis, Minnesota. 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 April 21, 1994. (Among his most important finds was a 20" high wood and metal model designed by William Lescaze
William Edmond Lescaze, FAIA (March 27, 1896 – February 9, 1969), was a Swiss-born American architect, city planner and industrial designer. He is ranked among the pioneers of modernism in American architecture.
Biography
William Lescaze w ...
as one of the finalists for the New York Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
building. 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 1920s history and was friends with a bunch of Palo Alto
Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.
The city was es ...
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 sang ''Happy-Go-Lucky You (and Broken-Hearted Me)'', a tune from 1932. Apparently, he later moved from San Francisco to Petaluma and was driving a cab, and died in the late 1980s.
The Cockettes inspired a Brazilian drag troupe "Dzi Croquettes," which are the subject of a 2009 documentary film '' Dzi Croquettes''.
References
Bibliography
*
* Tent, Pam (2004). ''Midnight at the Palace: My Life as a Fabulous Cockette.'' Los Angeles: Alyson Books.
* Visco, Gerry (2008)
"Cockettes Return!" ''Gay City News'' (June 12)
* Hauser, Fayette (2020). ''The Cockettes: Acid Drag & Sexual Anarchy, 1969-1972''. Port Townsend: Process Media.
External links
History of The Cockettes
Martin Worman papers, 1960-2008
resources about the Cockettes held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...
Rumi Missabu collection, 1952-2015
resources about the Cockettes held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...
Fayette Hauser
– website of original Cockettes member
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cockettes, The
Transgender culture
American drag queens
Culture of San Francisco
1969 establishments in California