A History of Melbourne’s Drag Shows

 After its Sydney success, entrepreneur Sammy Lee brought a troupe of the famous Les Girls to perform in Melbourne. Their arrival caused a sensation in staid Melbourne and newspapers clamoured to publish pictures of the totally glamorous ‘boys’ who were appearing at the Ritz Hotel in Fitzroy Street St Kilda.

These perfomers were the pioneers of drag in Melbourne.

Because they were officially classifed as ‘male’ they had to get police permits to appear in female attire while travelling to the show, and they weren’t allowed to ‘be on the street’ dressed as women at all. The shows were enormously popular with the mums and dads, and with this public acceptance came a relaxing of attitudes to males dressed as females. Gradually the Melbourne drag scene evolved.

Pokeys, held at the Prince of Wales Hotel in St Kilda on a Sunday night commenced as an offshoot of the Les Girls shows, but gradually the night became a meeting place for Melbourne’s gay population – men and women, inspiring many to don drag and bring their own imaginations on to stage. Many clubs and hotels established “Gay Nights” with drag shows as their primary entertainments and by the early 1990’s Melbourne had a thriving drag industry.

Take this short tour through some of Melbourne’s history. Let’s start with the legendary Les Girls All Male Revue.