When you think of the word “drag,” modern TV shows and glitter‑filled nights probably spring to mind. Yet the roots of this flamboyant art run deep, extending back to the 19th century. In this roundup we spotlight ten extraordinary American drag performers who first graced the stage before the turn of the 20th century, proving that the sparkle and swagger we love today have long‑standing ancestors.
10 The Drag Performer Who Had A Song In A Bug’s Life
Born in 1840 under the name Ebenezer G.B. Holder, Rollin Howard emerged as one of America’s earliest drag stars to enjoy nationwide fame. A theatrical talent, Howard slipped drag routines into his minstrel acts throughout the 1860s and 1870s. Minstrel shows, then a dominant form of entertainment, featured white performers in blackface portraying caricatures of African‑American life.
Prior to the Civil War, drag was a rarity on American stages. After the war, Howard joined a small cadre of well‑known drag entertainers, among them Francis Leon (whom we’ll revisit shortly). Howard’s on‑stage persona was that of a flirtatious, graceful, and polished wench.
Today, Howard is chiefly remembered for being credited with arranging the catchy tune “Shoo Fly, Don’t Bother Me,” a song whose authorship remains debated—some attribute it to T. Brigham Bishop. The melody gained renewed fame when featured in Pixar’s 1998 film A Bug’s Life. Sadly, Howard’s life was cut short; he passed away at roughly 39 years of age.
9 The Only Leon And His 300 Dresses
Francis Leon, a native New Yorker born in 1844, also rose to prominence as a black‑face minstrel and drag artist. Trained as a boy soprano, Leon first stepped into drag at the tender age of fourteen.
Often billed simply as “Leon” or “The Only Leon,” he cultivated a wench character much like Howard’s. The centerpiece of his act was the famed “Leon’s 300 dresses,” some of which were valued at $400—a considerable sum in that era. By 1873, virtually every major minstrel troupe featured imitators of Leon’s flamboyant style. Contemporary press praised his delicate and accurate portrayal of a “man‑woman.”
Details of Leon’s later years remain scarce; the final record of his activity dates to 1883, when he joined a San Francisco minstrel troupe.
8 The Drag Performer Who Played Widows
Neil Burgess entered the world in Boston in 1846 and carved a niche for himself as a drag artist specializing in the portrayal of elderly widows.
His career launched around 1865 after he stepped in for an ill actress during a performance of the play The Quiet Family in Providence, Rhode Island. Burgess’s most celebrated role arrived in 1879 when he embodied the widowed character in Widow Bedott. Colleagues described him as “not the least bit effeminate,” yet undeniably gifted at embodying female personas. His final stage appearance saw him as the elderly Abigail Prue in the musical County Fair.
Beyond the footlights, Burgess dabbled in invention, devising a turning platform that let horses gallop at full speed within theatres and a contraption that simulated the roar of a massive crowd.
7 The Mormon Drag Performer
Most people recognize Brigham Young as the influential leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints and founder of Salt Lake City. Fewer know that his son, Brigham Morris Young, earned fame performing in drag.
Under the stage name Madam Pattirini, Morris Young entertained audiences across Utah from the 1880s into the early 1900s, even appearing at the Sugar House Ward—a Mormon meeting house in Salt Lake City. Remarkably, the LDS Church welcomed his performances within its own walls. According to his son, Madam Pattirini’s soaring falsetto was so convincingly feminine that many listeners assumed she was a woman.
Madam Pattirini’s legacy lives on; today, Ogden’s Own Distillery in Utah produces a gin named in her honor. Beyond the stage, Morris Young founded the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association, a precursor to the modern Young Men program of the church, which continues to this day.
6 The Drag Performer Who Got Struck By Lightning
Bert Savoy, a Boston native born in 1876, cut his teeth in carnivals, honky‑tonks, medicine shows, and stock companies throughout the 1890s. He made his Broadway debut in the production Miss 1917, headlining an act called “The Society Jesters.” Later, he appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies 1918 and the gay‑friendly Greenwich Village Follies of 1920.
Departing from the graceful women of earlier eras, Savoy became known for bawdy drag queen characters reminiscent of Divine. Some historians claim Mae West borrowed material from his act. He was instantly recognizable by his bright red wig; when told of a man who pushed his wife into a boat to drown her, Savoy quipped, “She was a fool to come up.”
On June 26, 1923, while strolling along Long Beach with four companions, a sudden thunderstorm struck. Savoy was allegedly hit by lightning and, before the bolt fell, is said to have remarked either, “Well ain’t Miss God cuttin’ up somethin’ fierce?” or “That’ll be quite enough out of you, Miss God!” He is credited with coining the popular sayings “You slay me” and “You don’t know the half of it.”
5 The Drag Performer Who Danced With A Snake
Bothwell Browne, born in Denmark and raised in San Francisco, earned the distinction of being one of the first drag artists to appear on film. Early in his career he partnered with male impersonator Kathleen Clifford.
In 1911, Browne starred in the Broadway production Miss Jack, a comedy about a college student who assumes the guise of a sorority sister. His sole cinematic credit arrived in 1919 with Mack Sennett’s war‑time satire Yankee Doodle in Berlin, where he portrayed an aviator who dresses as a woman. Browne’s repertoire also included roles such as Cleopatra, a suffragette, and a “pantaloon girl.”
Browne’s act was noted for its seductive flair, a departure from the more demure drag of his contemporaries. During one live performance he famously danced with a venomous snake. Openly gay, he never married nor had children. After retiring, he turned to teaching dance classes.
4 The First Ambisextrous Drag Performer
William Julian Dalton, better known onstage as Julian Eltinge, first slipped into women’s attire at age ten with the Boston Cadets. As a teenager he performed in women’s clothing for ranchers and miners in saloon shows. After his family discovered his drag pursuits, his father responded with a severe beating.
By 1904, at twenty‑three, Eltinge debuted on Broadway and quickly achieved global fame, touring vaudeville circuits across Europe and the United States. He also appeared in several silent films, including 1917’s The Countess Charming and The Isle of Love alongside Rudolph Valentino.
Unlike many of his peers, Eltinge aimed to present himself as a genuine woman rather than a caricature. He performed under the mononym “Eltinge,” keeping his male identity concealed until the curtain fell, at which point he would remove his wig. Offstage he cultivated a hyper‑masculine persona—getting into fights and smoking cigars—to reinforce the contrast. Dorothy Parker even coined the term “ambisextrous” to describe his dual‑gender mastery.
His success in the musical The Fascinating Widow was such that a New York theater on 42nd Street bore his name, though it later fell into disrepair and became a burlesque house. Eltinge died in 1941 after a performance in New York City.
3 The Drag Performer Who Killed A Man
Ray Bourbon, born in 1892, is remembered for his flamboyant antics and provocative monologues. He claimed to be the illegitimate offspring of a Texas congressman and to descend from the extinct European noble line of the Habsburg Bourbons.
Bourbon’s rise to fame accelerated in the early 1930s: in 1931 he modeled women’s dresses at a department store in Bakersfield, California, and in 1932 he headlined a San Francisco production titled Boys Will be Girls. Over the next decade he performed in countless gay nightclubs across the United States, delivering songs such as “Mr. Wong Has Got the Biggest Thong in China.”
In 1956 he announced he had undergone sex‑reassignment surgery in Mexico, though many suspected the claim was a publicity stunt. He later released the album Let Me Tell You About My Operation and insisted on being billed as Rae Bourbon rather than Ray.
Tragically, his career ended in 1968 when he was arrested for murdering a kennel owner who kept the more than 70 dogs he owned. He received a 99‑year sentence and died in prison in 1971.
2 The Drag Performer Who Was A Sergeant
Known affectionately as “Half‑Pint” due to his diminutive 157 cm (5 ft 2 in) stature, Frankie Jaxon entered the world in 1896 (some sources say 1897) and forged a career as a vaudeville performer and female impersonator.
During the 1910s he toured medicine shows across Texas, winning audiences with his bawdy humor and delicate, feminine voice. Jaxon launched his performing career in 1910, appearing in bars, cafés, and movie houses. He paused his stage work in 1918‑1919 to serve in the U.S. military, where he rose to the rank of sergeant. In the 1920s he joined the Black Hillbillies, and later led his own group, the Quarts of Joy.
Jaxon’s shows were celebrated for intricate dance routines, rapid costume changes, and even acrobatic feats. Songs like “Operation Blues” showcased his penchant for double‑entendre lyrics.
He is perhaps best known for collaborations with Duke Ellington in the short film Black and Tan and with Cab Calloway. Jaxon retired in 1941 and is believed to have died in a veterans’ hospital in 1944, though some accounts suggest he lived until 1953 or even 1970.
1 The Drag Performer Who Toured With His Mother
George Paduzzi, born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1897, earned fame under the stage name Karyl Norman. Billed as the “Creole Fashion Plate” and later dubbed the “Queer Old Fashion Plate” by Groucho Marx, he chose the gender‑neutral name Karyl and paired it with his father’s surname, Norman.
Norman’s career was itinerant; he toured the West Coast from the age of sixteen, often accompanied by his mother. By the mid‑1920s he had become a major vaudeville star, distinguished by his ability to switch between male and female characters within a single performance. He was especially noted for his Southern‑style songs.
In the 1930s his popularity waned, leading him to perform in underground New York clubs. After a morals charge in the 1940s, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt intervened to secure his release. Following his mother’s death, Norman retired to a quiet life in Hollywood, Florida.
10 Amazing American Drag History
These ten trailblazing performers laid the groundwork for the vibrant drag culture we celebrate today. Their daring acts, inventive costumes, and unforgettable personalities continue to inspire new generations of queens and kings on stage worldwide.