What A Drag

What A Drag:
Men as Women & Women as Men in the Movies

By Homer Dickens

1984, Quill

264 Pages


From the Introduction

Impersonation of the opposite sex has always been a fascinating subject. The practice has come down through the ages in many forms, and is significant to any study of mythology, religion, anthropology, psychology or social behavior. As this brief introduction will show, drag did not begin with the movies but has been with us since ancient times, as part of individual behavior - or as entertainment.

The "drag" pictures in this book cover seven decades and, in their own way, represent not only the actor's art of disguise but also offer us a microcosm of film history - one of the twentieth century's most exciting art forms, which has also left us a permanent record of the changing face of culture and society. Movies reflect our perception and customs from an age of public innocence to the new morality of the 1980s. Role-switching, disguises, masquerades and sexual transition are shown here in every form imaginable.


Table of Contents

Charley's Aunt - The Old Chestnut
Some Like It Hot - The Classic Drag Film
The Comedians
The Comedies
The Dramas
The Thrillers
Period Pieces - Historical Drag
The Musicals
The Chorus Lines
The Westerns
The Children
The New Freedom
Television Drag
Hollywood at Play