Second Thanksgiving at the Chelsea
I got lucky enough to be invited to the annual Second Thanksgiving at the Chelsea Hotel in Willem’s gorgeous apartment on the 7th floor. There was such a great collection of people:
That's Willem doin' his disco thang in the background. And that is me and my BELLY.
And, for some reason, I had the craziest urge to break out the balloons that night…
Storme can totally work a balloon hat
And the best part of the whole evening was getting to hang out with the legendary Storme DeLarverie:
The Lady of the Jewel Box
A film by Michelle Parkerson
1987, 21 minutes, Color, VHS/16mm/DVD
Order No. W99114
“It ain’t easy…being green” is the favorite expression of Storme DeLarverie, a woman whose life flouted prescriptions of gender and race. During the 1950’s and 60’s she toured the black theater circuit as a mistress of ceremonies and the sole male impersonator of the legendary Jewel Box Revue, America’s first integrated female impersonation show and forerunner of La Cage aux Folles. The multiracial revue was a favorite act of the Black theater circuit and attracted mixed mainstream audiences from the 1940s through the 1960s, a time marked by the violence of segregation. Parkerson finds Storme in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, now working as a bodyguard at a women’s bar and still singing in her deep silky voice with an “all girl” band. Through archival clips from the past, STORME looks back on the grandeur of the Jewel Box Revue and its celebration of pure entertainment in the face of homophobia and segregation. Storme herself emerges as a remarkable woman, who came up during hard times but always “kept a touch of class.”
within two minutes i was officially obsessed with her
She is extraordinary. She was one of the first female impersonators, and actually sang for me in her freaking luscious, velvety voice. She told me stories about performing…she once got stabbed in the back at the Apollo…and, like the true graceful lady she is, she threw a cloak over the knife and calmly told her manager to escort her to a cab and take her to the nearest hospital, then gracefully exited the establishment. She is 89, and still incredibly elegant and gorgeous. And she taught me some burlesque moves!
This is what we are chanting with each hip rotation: Boom-titty-boom-titty-boom
The whole night was surreal and perfect.
and, of course, ended with me taking a nap as usual (this time in the lobby):
And
