In today’s Notes From the Telegraph Club, I offer a brief (ish) history of male impersonation, and some thoughts on its connections with drag. Today we no longer use the term “male impersonator” to describe a woman who performs onstage as a man today we’d use the term “drag king.” But male impersonation was once a popular and mainstream entertainment, and some male impersonators were famous enough to tour nationally. The Telegraph Club was inspired by many of the real lesbian nightclubs that existed in San Francisco in the 1940s and 50s, and Tommy Andrews was inspired by the male impersonators who performed at them. Something went still inside Lily, as if her heart had taken a breath before it continued beating.” It was a relatively large ad that included a photo of a person who looked like a handsome man with his hair slicked back, dressed in a tuxedo. “It read: TOMMY ANDREWS MALE IMPERSONATOR-WORLD PREMIERE! THE TELEGRAPH CLUB. Drag Race has done a good job with inclusivity in recent seasons, but the fact that kings have been entirely excluded can't go ignored.At the beginning of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Lily Hu is drawn to a nightclub ad in the San Francisco Chronicle. Maddy is one of my faves that came out of Season 14 and I hate to use her as an example for something so negative, but the fact we got a cis-heterosexual man on the show before a drag king is absolutely WILD to me. The format is different yeah, but there's not much of a difference besides Snatch Game, more acting-centric challenges, and an on average older judging panel with certain people having said some terrible misogynistic things. If Landon's victory on Dragula 3 proved anything, it's that kings can occupy a competitive setting with drag queens and absolutely dominate.
This is the only time the words "drag king" were uttered on the show. The first time the term "drag king" was brought up on Drag Race was in All Stars 6 when Kylie was preparing to do Steven Tyler for the Halftime Show challenge. They crowned the top drag king in the industry and Drag Race won't even go out of its way to talk about kings. I'm gonna be the one to say it and I know some of y'all have feelings about the show, but you cannot deny that Dragula is leagues above Drag Race in terms of inclusivity. Does no one else find it bizarre that ZERO drag kings have been cast, featured, or even discussed on the show? Drag queens are so mainstream now and it feels like drag kings have been left in the dust.
If it were exclusive to queens, it would be called RuPaul's Drag Queen Race but it's not.
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