Center Blog

Guest Post by Center Volunteer, Mark Schulte:

On Friday, February 11 the main first floor room of the Center was absolutely packed for a rare screening of the 1968 documentary film “The Queen” as well as an original film called “At Least You Know You Exist” by Zachary Drucker.  ”The Queen” chronicles a drag beauty pageant which took place at Town Hall in New York City on February 20, 1967.  It still holds up, 44 years after it was filmed.  It is rarely screened.

The film depicts the contestants as they arrive in NYC from various parts of the USA, where they won preliminary contests.  The protagonist is the contest host(ess) Jack Doroshow, who is better known in the nightlife world as his drag alter ego Mother Flawless Sabrina.  The contestants are followed as they settle into their hotel rooms, practice for the contest and participate in the actual contest; we then find out what happens afterwards. 

In addition, for the first time ever, original outtakes from the after-party that were recently discovered in the University of Texas archives, were screened.  The younger audience members were screaming at this rare glimpse into our community’s pre-Stonewall history.  There was even a scene where one of the contestants, who had been denied the draft, said that he believed that there would come a day when gay people could serve openly in the military.  The applause was deafening. 
 
The screenings were followed by a panel discussion featuring Drag Historian Joe E. Jeffreys, filmmaker Zachary Drucker and Mother Flawless Sabrina in full drag.  Joe pointed out some of the elements of the film that are possibly lost on a 2011 audience.  For example, men wearing female attire was a felony at the time which resulted in common police raids.  That and other depictions were enough to get the film banned in parts of the country.  That was not the case in NYC, however, where the film had a 9-month commercial run despite being rated X. 

Jack (Sabrina) filled the audience in on a lot of the behind-the-scenes dish on the film and his own personal life of over a half century of doing drag.  He was nearly in tears by the end with all the cheering, clapping and a standing ovation.  It was clear by the end that Jack truly is “The Queen!”