The 82 Club showgirls were female impersonators and I was amazed that a male could emulate a glamorous female! I was so impressed that I began clipping the 82 Club ads out of the newspaper each week and hiding them behind the Washington Senators in the box containing my baseball card collection.
One thing led to another and one afternoon when I was home alone, I went into my parent's bedroom and opened the drawer of my mother's bureau where she stored her nylon stockings. (This was in the days before pantyhose and seamless stockings, so her nylons had seams.)
I carefully slipped a stocking up each of my hairless legs (those were the days!) and straightened the seams. When I was done, I opened my mother's closet door to admire myself in the full-length mirror on the inside of the door.
I liked what I saw: a pair of legs that looked just like a pair of woman's legs! Then I realized that I could do even better.
Inside the closet were stacks of shoeboxes containing my mother's shoes. I carefully looked through the boxes for a pair of high heel pumps. When I found a pair (with a three-inch heel), I slipped them on and revisited the full-length mirror.
Not only did I see a pair of woman's legs in the mirror, but they were now a shapely pair of woman's legs! I proved to myself that that a male really could emulate a female.
I quickly, but carefully removed the shoes and stockings and returned them to their proper place before my family returned home. And I assure you that would not be the last time I would visit my mother's bureau, closet and full-length mirror.
Two 1966 advertisements for the 82 Club.
Wearing Leota.
I have the same fond memories. However, I though I had carefully put those nylons back until 30+ years later, my Mom told me she blamed my sister for playing with her stockings, garter belts and shoes. I told her it was me.
ReplyDeleteMy parents had thought they "cured" me when I was in high school. I just hid it deep inside until in my mid 30's, I came out to them as a crossdresser (back then in early 1990's).
Transgendered now.
Your recollections are on target with my own. I have a similar recollection of the ads although I did not cut them out of the paper. On the rare occasions when I had access to my mother's closet and drawers I did my exploring and trying on her nylons, girdles and dresses. To my knowledge I do not think she ever suspected.. Nothing was ever said. I did have two brothers so it could have been any of us invading her stuff.
ReplyDeletewell.. if they didn't make male clothes so boring. just sayin :-)
ReplyDeleteI, too, was mesmerized by those ads for Club 82, and, like you, I would cut them out and wonder.
ReplyDeleteLaurette
Wonderful article. Thanks for posting it. Your remembrance of 82 Club led me to investigate the status of Finocchio's in San Francisco. Saw a show there in the late 1970s that blew me away. Sadly, it closed in 1999. I vividly recalled my childhood dream of being raised a girl as I watched those gurls do their thing.
ReplyDeletePostiung about Club 82 led me to investigate the current status of Finocchio's in San Francisco. Sad to say it closed in 1999 after its long run. It began as a speakeasy called '201 Club' in 1929. The one show I saw blew me away.
ReplyDelete