Life's a drag?

From the BBC website:

The life of variety show entertainer Danny La Rue is to be dramatised in a new film.

The BFI-funded screenplay has been written by Martyn Hesford, who created the BBC Four biopic Fantabulosa, about Carry On actor Kenneth Williams.

It will examine La Rue's "complex web of relationships" with his manager and partner Jack Hanson and close companion and costume designer Annie Galbraith.

Renowned as a female impersonator, La Rue died of cancer in 2009, aged 81.

Born Daniel Patrick Carroll, the performer was once described by Bob Hope as "the most glamorous woman in the world".

He was hailed as a ground-breaking star as he took his drag act into the mainstream and was the first female impersonator to perform for the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance.

But who on earth will they get to play Danny?

He was fond of playing on his butch Cockney upbringing, so what about Ross Kemp?



He was a tall, commanding figure, so maybe Clive Owen?



Of course, he was a consummate female impersonator - so what about Sean Bean?!



I wait with bated breath...

Danny La Rue website

Late, lamented variety

I am having a verrry slow start to the day, as is my wont on the weekend.

Just having listened to Babs Windsor's fab show on BBC Radio 2 (in which she always does a "Music Hall" slot), I am now suitably woken up and in the mood for a couple of extracts from the late, lamented Good Old Days.



One of the longest-running variety shows the BBC ever had, for some bizarre reason it was axed in the early 80s. Such a shame, for during its thirty years at the top of the ratings, compèred by Leonard Sachs, it featured more than 2000 performers - among them the very best of British showbiz talent, including Morecambe and Wise, Bruce Forsyth, Georgia Brown, Roy Castle, Larry Grayson, Dora Bryan, Arthur Askey, Edward Woodward, Les Dawson, Gemma Craven, David Kernan, Beryl Reid, Bernard Cribbins, Barry Cryer, Sheila Steafel, Roy Hudd, June Whitfield, Frankie Vaughan, Hinge and Bracket, Ken Dodd, Ron Moody, Tessie O'Shea and Barbara Windsor herself, and special guests from America like Eartha Kitt and Dolores Gray...

...as well as these two camp favourites - Danny LaRue and John Inman:

Good Old Days selection 8 featuring Danny La Rue

Good Old Days selection 7 featuring John Inman

The Good Old Days indeed!

So very, very good

Traversing down the dustier corners of Dolores Delargo Towers, I was reminded here, here and, finally, here of the fondness with which we all held a certain "national treasure" of drag, Mr Danny LaRue!

So imagine my joy to discover a rare video of this Danny classic number! Enjoy:

Danny La Rue - Red Riding Hood

From Drags To Riches

One of Britain's most treasured entertainers, the most glamorous drag queen ever Danny LaRue is dead.

Noel Coward called him: "The most professional, the most witty...and the most utterly charming man in the business."

Dame Anna Neagle called Danny La Rue "One of the kindest and most generous men I've ever met".

Remarking on his talents as an entertainer, Bob Hope called him "The most glamorous woman in the world".

In the foreword to his best-selling autobiography, From Drags to Riches, actor Donald Sinden described Danny as "truly original".

And indeed he was. Born in Dublin, evacuated to Devon during the war, Danny began his entertainment career in Royal Navy Concert parties. On returning to civvies, his debut in the West End was in revue, alongside long-term friend Barbara Windsor.

After many years in panto and spectacular burlesque-style shows he eventually opened his own nightclub, which was such a success he attracted many of the biggest names of the 60s - including Judy Garland, Warren Beatty, Shirley MacLean, Dorothy Squires, Shirley Bassey, Noel Coward, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Elizabeth Taylor and even Princess Margaret (who notoriously performed on stage with Danny and walked in on him naked in his dressing room!).

We have an original LP recording of one of his shows at "Danny's Club", and quite clearly heard in the audience is our Babs Windsor, her unmistakable laugh contributing to the rapturous audience appreciation of the grand dame's talents.

Always true to the traditions of Music Hall and the "old school" art of female impersonation, Danny wore the biggest and most outrageous frocks (the envy of any drag queen), yet made sure his audience knew that under the feathers and the sequins it was a "bloke" who was performing.

His biggest coup was the starring role as Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly! - the first "comic in a frock" (his choice of words) to do so - and of course he was an enduringly popular choice for Royal Variety Performances (both The Queen Mother and HM The Queen were big fans, apparently!).

Madame Arcati remembers his star quality first hand (while working at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth); when the stage manager refused to let Danny's hideous toy dog backstage he dismissed him imperiously with, "No dog - no show!" We last saw him (as a man) at the tribute show for John Inman a couple of years ago, and he looked frail then. Apparently he had been very ill for years, and even had to cancel some shows (unheard of for Danny La Rue!).

RIP - a legend. There will never be another like him.

Danny La Rue as Joan Collins

Danny La Rue - On Mother Kelly's Doorstep

Danny La Rue on The Generation Game

From Drags to Riches: My Autobiography by Danny LaRue.

A near Miss?

Good lord! Released on DVD this week is Our Miss Fred, the very first big screen outing for the amazing Danny La Rue; co-starring some classic British actors such as Alfred Marks, Lance Percival, Lally Bowers and Frances de la Tour.

According to the blurb: "Shakespearean actor La Rue is drafted into WWII and appearing in a camp show in France when the Nazis advance. He will be shot as a spy unless he continues in his female costume. Soon he is trying to escape in the company of a group of randy English schoolgirls." Hooked yet?

Totally kitch and dreadful, you can order it from Dress Circle (where else?)

Dress Circle Music Shop

But rather than dwell too long on quite how bad this film is, why not remind ourselves of the real reason why Danny LaRue has a special place in our queeny hearts...

Danny La Rue - On Mother Kelly's Doorstep

Hello Dolly!

That spectacle of glitter, sequins and hutzpah Danny La Rue is 80 years old today! Danny was a camp phenomenon of the mid 20th century - he made drag "respectable" in an era when gay sex was punishable with a prison sentence, playing to any kind of audience without giving offence.



With his catchphrase "wotcha mates", he swept on stage in spectacular costumes and wigs, impersonating such celebrities as Elizabeth Taylor, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Dorothy Squires, even Margaret Thatcher. He was feted by some of the dodgier characters of the 1960s including various hangers-on of the likes of the Krays, but rose to become one of the highest-paid entertainers of that decade.

Danny La Rue was the first female impersonator to perform for the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance, and was befriended by many stars who attended his nightclub in Hanover Square including Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Windsor, Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey, Noel Coward, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Elizabeth Taylor and even (famously) Princess Margaret, who walked in on him while he was naked in his dressing room!

Noel Coward described him as "The most professional, the most witty...and the most utterly charming man in the business." Danny's mainstream career continued for many decades after his 60s heyday, in TV specials, on the big screen (albeit to limited success), and in pantomime. And of course, he made a real name for himself when he landed his most famous stage role - that of Dolly Levi in the musical Hello, Dolly!



Never obviously a great one for supporting gay rights when he was younger, Danny spent much of his career pretending to be a straight man who just happened to dress up for the stage. In truth, Danny lived for decades with his partner and manager Jack Hanson, until Jack's death in Australia following a major stroke. Danny - recently awarded an OBE - went into semi-retirement in 2006 after he too had a stroke, but has apparently stated his intention to tour again in 2008. I look forward to it!

I said hello, Dolly,......well, hello, Dolly
It's so nice to have you back where you belong
You're lookin' swell, Dolly.......I can tell, Dolly
You're still glowin'...you're still crowin'...you're still goin' strong
I feel that room swayin'......while the band's playin'
One of your old favourite songs from way back when
So..... take her wrap, fellas.......find her an empty lap, fellas
Dolly'll never go away again

I said hello, Dolly,.....well, hello, Dolly
It's so nice to have you back where you belong
You're lookin' swell, Dolly.....I can tell, Dolly
You're still glowin'...you're still crowin'...you're still goin' strong
I feel the room swayin'...while that ole band keeps on playin'
One of your old favourite songs from way back when
So...golly, gee, fellas....find her an empty knee, fellas
Dolly'll never go away....I said she'll never go away
Dolly'll never go away again!!

http://www.dannylarue.com/