“Private Birthday Party is a private collection of found photographic slides that depict Kansas City’s early drag ball culture throughout the 1950s and 1960s. With over 200 images, this collection is a rare, important look into the rich history of mid-century drag ball culture in middle America.”
You can view a sample of the collection here and read a Cut article and interview about the collection here. Thank you Aunty Marlena for the links!
The photo above is very telling. Which femulator passes best? The three girls in glamorous attire or the girl in street clothes?
A Kansas City femulator and her friend in 1964 (from the Private Birthday Party collection).
Wearing Spense.
They all look very good, but I'd vote for the girl in street clothes.
ReplyDeleteShe looks a bit more natural than the others.
I guess I really was isolated in a small town. This was happening just a couple hundred miles from where I grew up and I never heard about it!
And, by the way, I do remember a trip to Kansas City as a sophomore for a debate tournament. We went to see the chopped up Kansas version of Thunderball which starts with the cross-dressing scene in Paris!
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