Stana Goes to the Movies
Regular readers are familiar with the daily Femulator spot at the bottom of each blog post. In that spot, I feature images of femulators that I have found hither and yon.
Often, the source of those images are theatrical films and television shows. It seems to be a bottomless source for guys dressing up as gals.
Years ago, while I was searching for femulator images, I came across the photo above from a 1951 film titled No Questions Asked. The photo showed an actor in 1950’s high glam fashion and he looked so good that I thought “he” might have been an actress playing a man impersonating a woman. But, in fact, the high glam gal was actor William Reynolds.
I was so impressed with his femulation that I sought out more information about the film, as well as more images of his femulation in that film. Turned out that there was not much on the Internet beyond the film’s entry in IMDb.
I even sought out the film itself, but I could not find a copy on VHS or DVD. Evidently, TCM had the film and had shown it a couple of times, but of course, I missed it whenever it was shown. So I kept it in mind while I continued searching for other femulations.
Some time later, I learned that the film had been released on DVD, so I ordered a copy and after the mailman dropped it off, I dropped everything to watch the film.
Here is the plot summary from IMDb:
“Steve Keiver, young lawyer working for an insurance company, hears his boss remark that he'd pay a large sum ‘no questions asked’ for return of stolen property to avoid paying a much larger claim. On his own initiative, Steve arranges such a deal, earning a nice commission. But he catches the eye of gangsters who think he’s the ideal middleman for future similar deals...many of them. As Steve is drawn in deeper, the police take an interest in him, and he’s ripe for a doublecross.”
IMDb does not mention the femulation, so I will fill in that part of the plot:. The gangsters hire two guys, who dress as gals and go to the “Ladies’ Lounge” of a Broadway theater to rob the female patrons of their jewelry.
The blond femulator, actor William Phipps, enters the Ladie’s Lounge of the Broadway theater as if he owns it. (You go, girl!)
The brunette femulator, actor William Reynolds, follows brandishing a handgun and a dainty purse. Don’t you just love the outfits the boys put together for their caper?
Blondie relieves the ladies of their jewelry. The ladies were completely fooled by the boys’ femulations and during questioning by the police, one victim remarked that the lady robbers were very pretty.
Sans jewelry, the ladies are forced into the back room of the lounge.
With the ladies safely stashed away in the back room, the femulators prepare to exit the premises.
The femulators sashay out of the theater to their getaway car.
Inside the car, the femulators switch from girl mode to boy mode. How they managed to accomplish this in the cramped back seat of the getaway car is not revealed.
Using descriptions given by the ladies in the lounge, the police produced composite drawings of the perps.
The blonde and brunette femulators in boy mode.
The hero of the film identified the boys as female impersonators from the burlesque. The blonde femulator corrected our hero and said they were “artists” from vaudeville.
By the way, I found it interesting how the “good girl” in the film, played by Jean Hagen (left), resembled William Reynolds en femme. They could be sisters!
Anyway, in addition to the excellent femulations, I enjoyed the film in its entirety. It is great film noir.
 |
| Wearing Cynthia Rowley |
 |
| William Phipps’ test shot en femme for the 1951 film No Questions Asked |
