By Laurie Sheril
Part VIII: More from the Fifties
The Fifties was not the greatest decade for "drag in cinema." In fact, it may have
been the worst! Aside from Ed Wood (covered in the last installment), the instances
of drag were few and far between. Maybe it was the shadow of Senator McCarthy, but
whatever the reason, filmmakers did not give us many opportunities to see males in feminine
finery in the Fifties!
One example, though, appeared in a series of films made in Great Britain. The "St.
Trinian's" films took place at a wacky girl's school. In two entries in the series
Alistair Sim played the part of Millicent Fritton, headmistress of the school. (Please
note this was not a case of "drag" per se, but that of a male actor playing a female...
something that, I guess, made it "socially acceptable" in the '50s.) In both "Belles
of St. Trinian's" and "Blue Murder at St. Trinian's," Sim played the part of the
dowager head of the school. Obviously this role was not one that required wearing anything
remotely close to "sexy" clothes. Sim's ample figure, though, was perfectly suited
for the intended role.
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An added bonus in "Blue Murder..." was character actor Lionel Jeffries, who played
a jewel thief that had to resort to disguising himself as a headmistress of a girl's
polo team to elude the authorities. Jeffries' character was just as dowdy as Sim's,
even though this was merely a disguise! There were other "St. Trinian's" films, but these
were the only two that featured drag in any form.
Bob Hope was always good for a few laughs in drag, and in the '50s he put on a dress
in "Casanova's Big Night" (1954). In one scene, Hope gets in female drag disguise
(while his co-star, Joan Fontaine gets into male-drag). Though Hope could have possibly
looked good in his period dress, he came from the school of comedy that said just putting
on the dress was enough for laughs... you didn't have to look good in it.
Unlike Hope, Jerry Lewis was a comedian that rarely got into drag. He did do it twice
in the '50s, though (and once
in the '60s, we'll cover that one later), in the films
"At War With the Army" (1950) and 1953's "Scared Stiff." In the former he played
a private who went AWOL. His disguise was a blonde wig and off-the-shoulder blouse (complete
with hairy arms and chest.) "Scared Stiff" saw Lewis giving it his best in a Carmen
Miranda impersonation (a favorite of FI's of the '40s and '50s) in one of the movie's funnier scenes.
One more bit of brief crossdressing occurs in the 1956 film, "Everything But the Truth."
Tim Hovey stars as a child who tells the truth... about everything. In one brief
(very brief) scene, Hovey and star Maureen O'Hara have to make a "get-away." O'Hara
resorts to disguising the boy as a girl (complete with dress, purse, and mary-janes.
It was an interesting bit of juvenile female impersonation... just too bad it was
on and off the screen before you knew it.
Now, I have conspicuously left out one drag film of the 1950's. One that many be considered
the best drag film ever made (well at least the best drag film ever made up until
1959!). That's "Some Like it Hot" and we'll use our entire column next month to cover it! See you then.
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