TURNABOUT

Years: 1975 - present

History/Story:

TURNABOUT began in 1975 by Sanford Director. It appears began at the same time of Mr. Hunky contests. The contest is to present people in a totally different costume or representation than what they would normally be. There is a lot more research needed - but here is a glimpse of TURNABOUT. Photos or information prior to 1981 have not been found.

Per an interview with Susie Shepherd, she stated, “And I had a little bit of a coming-back-to-life thing in August with Turnabout. It was an invitational ( event) that Sanford (Director) did for some charity or another every year, and this year he was doing it for the Frank and Allison Scholarship Fund which later would become the Pride of the Rose Scholarship Fund, which was just the second gay scholarship ever to happen in the United States, and Turnabout is always a lot of fun, you know, the guys do gal things and vice versa, and so I participated in that and had a good time. It was the first good time I'd had in ages. [GLPAN interview 11-4-2000 Susie Shepherd Interview Tape 2B Page Four] Jack Brady. He was from Boston, and I couldn't stand him. His attitude was, "Well, I'm finally getting paid to go to cocktail parties" --the lazy sonofabitch--well, you know, we're here to work. And anyhow, people wanted us to do a performance. Well, he refused to do drag, and so I said some of our friends, the queens, "If you'll put me in drag, I'll do it." So, Frank Schneckenburger--now Frank's another one you guys should interview if you haven't interviewed him--he was Emperor V twenty-one years ago, and you don't want to wait too long on him because his health is starting to get pretty iffy. But his prior was the Lady Robin--she died of AIDS some years later--but she and Ursula, who also gone now--put me in drag, and it was a scream. I was gorgeous--nobody recognized me. There was a guy then named "Raunchy Robert"--who is also dead now--well the first time I did boy drag, (he) didn't believe I wasn't a boy and kept trying to proposition me, but (while in) the girl drag, half the drag queens got jealous because they thought, "Oh my God, who's this new queen in town?" Then they found it was me, and then it was fine. But I had more fun doing drag. I made twenty bucks in tips. I thought, "Oh my God, this is the future, this is great, this is what I've been looking for, I've needed a change." [GLPAN interview 11-4-2000 Susie Shepherd Interview Tape 2B Page Five]

1982 Per an article in Cascade Voice, page 7, August 1982 Sunday, August 22 “Darcelle XV’s was the scene of the Sandra Dee Turnabout Show. This annual even was a stellar success. The Cascade Voice was already at the typesetter and since we could not give this even adequate coverage with sensational photos we delay coverage until our October issue. Also announced at Mr. Sandy’s outrageous show were the winners of the FRANK AND ALLISON SCHOLORSHOP AWARD – Steve Simms and David Matthews…