Talking to Lisa Eaton about the '70s & '80s ...
First gay bar I went to in Chicago ...
"I always liked going to straight bars, 'cuz it turned the straight guys on. They got a kick out of that. I knew I could start shit, but I was careful. The first bars I went to were the Annex, Crystal Blinkers and the Bistro. I waited until I was 21 before I went to the bars, even though I saw bars around and people told me about them."
First time on stage ...
"It was Ruthie's. It was a little dive and I came in doing Barbra Streisand. I lipsynched. I had the most beautiful set of teeth, they were so strong. That's how I got in all the clubs. They liked me at Ruthie's. At Ruthie's I had a few hairs on my chest and the host of the club, her name was Jaye Sutherland, she said, 'If you're going to be a professional, you've got to get rid of those hairs on your chest.' I shaved those hairs and the next thing you know they blossomed, Mary. I was furious. All I had to do was put a depilatory on it. Then, from Ruthie's, I met other people and they told me, 'Lisa, audition at House of Landers.' Well, I hardly had a wardrobe. I went in half-assed, I wore sun hats and long skirts, boots and stuff, it was very '70s. I looked like a hippie imitating Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland. So then I started to go to thrift stores with a friend.
"The first audition, I didn't make it, and Roby said, 'You've got promise, though.' She liked my lipsynch. Roby Landers finally hired me when she saw that my wardrobe improved and I learned some make-up tips. Roby paid us $100 a week, this was in '72, '73, and I roomed with Verushka, another queen that worked there. She was from South America. When they announced her name, they would say, 'The Latin Lovely Verushka. Straight From Caracas, Venezuela.' We became good buddies. She was very jealous of me. Like if I'd leave her alone and want to go out, she'd get pissed off. We wound up fighting a lot. But we stayed together for a while.
"Then I went to David's Place, then when that closed, I went to Indiana, and everyone kept telling me, 'It's India-No-Place, Mary. There's no future there.' The pay was good, but I walked out, and when I left, one queen said to me, 'You're the hottest thing since matches.' I thought, 'Thanks.' So then my ego started to build. From there I went back to Chicago, and I started to perform at the Bistro and I got in with T.L. Noble and everybody who worked there. I just wanted to dance to the music and party, so I became one of their main dancers.
"After that I was doing guest spots at the Baton. All the girls would say, 'Lisa's crazy, Mary, but she's talented.' Felicia held a meeting and she said, 'I don't care what you girls think of Lisa, but I want to keep her on, because she stirs up the house.'
La Cage ...
"I worked at La Cage when Divine was there. La Cage was the most excellent female impersonator lounge in the City of Chicago. It was located on Oak Street, right next to the Esquire Theater. Chili Pepper told the guys who owned it, 'Oh I've got this girl for you. She's great, you're gonna love her.' So I had my medication and I brought the house down and they hired me overnight.
"One day, La Cage called me up and said, 'We're letting all the girls off this week, because Divine is coming in and she needs all the time to herself. They said, 'If you want to come in and see her tonight, come in.' I said, 'I'd love to meet her.' So she was downstairs in the restaurant with her wig off. When I met Divine she had a menu in front of her, and it was huge, and I said, 'Take the shark girl, the last one I had swallowed a Puerto Rican. You'll love it.' She goes, 'OK Judy, OK.' Then I was escorted back upstairs and she proceeded to go on and she did, 'Step by step, slowly I turn.' She had this big black wig on, like Ann Landers does.
"She was staying at the same hotel I lived at. I saw her crawling in at four in the morning once, shuffling her feet and heavy breathing. She said to me, 'Oh hi Judy.' Then she called me one night, and said, 'Hello Angie.' And I said, 'No, there's no Angie here.' Then the phone rings again, 'Hello Judy,' and I say 'Hi' ... 'This is me, Divine. I need to know where I can buy size 13 pumps steel-reinforced. Just give me Chili Pepper's number.' So I said, 'Oh no girl ...' She said, 'Oh just give me her number.' I said, 'OK.' So she called, then Chili calls me and says, 'Why were you so reluctant to give Divine my phone number?' I said, 'But you know how you are ... ' She said, 'But Divine's a star! She's a star!'"
The end of drag ...
"I didn't really give up drag, I just got fat and I can't bend down to put girdles on anymore. It's sheer laziness on my part. I used to take diet pills to give me energy, but then I thought, 'Why do I have to have all that false energy?' There's gods talking to me here. Why not just be yourself? Go to the bars and entertain people as yourself. But sometimes I do get drag fever, but like a friend of mine said, 'It's over, Mary, it's over, your drag days are over.' I just don't live for it like I used to."
Future historians take note: The memory section in this column contains just that—Memories!—and are only to be used as a starting point for your research. Send your stories to Sukie de la Croix at Outlines. He also interviews over the phone or by e-mail sukiedelacroix@iname.coy
What a
What a
Difference a
Gay Makes
The Gay/Lesbian Movement, 5, 10, 15 & 20 Years Ago
June 18-24
1995: 5 Years Ago
U.S.: GLAAD national executive director Ellen Carton steps down and Donna Red Wing is appointed acting director t Sotheby's in New York presents Bid For Life, a benefit auction for AIDS groups. The event honors Robert Woolley, Sotheby's Director of Decorative Arts, for his long time commitment to AIDS fundraising. t Melissa Etheridge's Yes I Am is in the Billboard Top 5. t This Way Out, the international lesbian/gay radio magazine, is carried by more than 85 stations around the world, and airs on the global short-wave station "Radio For Peace International." t Scott Thompson ( Kids in the Hall ) tells the Philadelphia Enquirer: "In my career I've become known as 'the gay guy,' not as a comedian or a writer. It's all about my faggotry, my homosexuality. I've basically become a flavor, not a person. It's infuriating ... I've become a gay icon, but at the same time I've been totally dissed and completely ignored by the gay and lesbian community." t Coors, which has always had questionable policies on racial and gay issues, adds domestic-partner coverage for all gay and lesbian employees. t The city of Miami Beach, Fla., begins a major campaign to attract international gay vacationers. The city hosts a five-day tour for journalists from major European gay publications. t Britain: British film director Michael Winner ( Death Wish ) admits he pretended to be gay to avoid two years compulsory military service. He says: "I'd heard rumors if you were homosexual they didn't let you in. Rather naughtily I went to see a psychiatrist in London and told him I was gay." The psychiatrist gave Winner a letter he used to gain exemption. t Brazil: Renato Russo, composer, musician and vocalist for the country's most successful rock group, Legiao Urbana, comes out, and his latest solo album is called The Stonewall Celebration. t Germany: A monument to gay victims of the Nazis is erected in Cologne, where Chief Mayor Norbert Burger, and gay Member of Parliament Volker Beck, speak to the crowd.
1990: 10 Years Ago
U.S.: The 6th International Conference on AIDS takes place in San Francisco. t The Empire State Building is lit up in lavender lights in honor of Gay Pride Week. t Czechoslovakia: In Prague, activists organize SOHO, the country's first national network of lesbian and gay organizations.
1985: 15 Years Ago
U.S.: Georgia's sodomy law is declared unconstitutional by a panel of judges in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court rules that gays do have a fundamental right to privacy. t Wall Street Journal former columnist R. Foster Winans and his lover David Carpenter are found guilty in U.S. District Court of committing fraud against the paper. Winans is accused of passing advanced knowledge about stocks to another man, who paid Winans for the information. The money was allegedly given to Carpenter, who deposited it into a joint account with Winans. t Mother Theresa visits PWA's hospitalized at George Washington University.
1980: 20 Years Ago
U.S.: Can't Stop The Music, the cleaned up version of the Village People bio, opens nationwide. Critics and fans alike hate it. t Memphis radio station FM 100 fires its controversial DJ Ron Jordon after numerous complaints about his derogatory comments aimed at gays and other minority groups. t The 3rd National Lesbian and Gay Health Conference takes place in San Francisco. t Jamaica: In Kingston, Jamaica Gaily News reports that a new Gay Freedom Movement Group in Montego Bay has opened the nation's first gay center.
