Michelle: San Francisco Drag Performer: BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bajko, Matthew S. Online Extra: "Political Notes: Gay SF icon laid to rest." Bay Area Reporter, September 9, 2013
"Not only did Sarria break down political barriers with his historic supervisorial bid, he encouraged others to also seek public office. He supported his longtime friend, Maurice Gerry, when he entered politics after moving to upstate New York. 'From the Black Cat to the great cathedral, imagine that,' marveled Gerry, who this year will retire after serving 25 years on the city council in the town of Liberty."
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BBC World Service - Witness History, The US’s first gay election candidate
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Credits: Jose Sarria archive material from the documentary, Nelly Queen: The Life and Times of Jose Sarria by kind permission of its director Joseph Castel. Black Cat monologue recorded by Ball Records. Released On: 08 Jul 2022. Available for over a year.
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Digital Transgender Archive. Finocchio Club San Francisco: The World's Greatest Female Impersonators Souvenir Magazine (1983)
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Collection: Drag Show Programs Institution: JD Doyle Archives Creator: Geneck, Rebecca, Leonard, Jeff, Marino, Peter Date: 1983 Topics: Dancers, Drag, Drag balls, Drag queens, Entertainers, Female impersonators, Striptease Subject: Antonio Vizcaino, Cleo B. Fast, Florencio de los Santos, Frank Doran, George Buchanon, John Compton, John Lonas, LaVerne Cummings, Lestre LaMonte, Lucian, Mike Michelle, Paco Rios, Pat Campano, Paul La Ray, Ray Francis, Rene DeCarlo, Walter Hart
GLBT Historical Society. Michelle papers. Collection Number: 1996-14.
Access: Collection is open for research. Certain restrictions regarding the donor's name apply. Contact the Archivist for more information.
Scope and Content of Collection: Michelle, also known as Mike Michelle, was a popular and well known drag performer during the late 1960s and early 1970s in San Francisco. The collection consists of various posters from performances, photographs, awards and proclamations, sheet music from songs written for/performed by Michelle, and one oil painting of Michelle. GSSO Linked Terms: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_001443; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_004301
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Heyleyman, Liz. PHOTOS: All Hail the Queen - Widow Norton's Funeral SF Event of the Year.
hoodline.com, published on September 08, 2013.
Local and visiting royalty from the International Court System were among the hundreds of mourners who filled Grace Cathedral on Friday for the elaborate state funeral for Jose Julio Sarria, aka Empress Jose I, the Widow Norton.
Always a fan of pomp and circumstance, Sarria left detailed instructions for his memorial, which were followed to the letter by dozens of drag queens in long black gowns with veils covering their crowns and faces. Sarria, who died August 19 in Albuquerque at the age of 90, was a well-loved cocktail waiter and drag performer at the Black Cat Café in North Beach during the repressive 1950s.
. . . Maurice Gerry -- formerly known as Michelle, Czarina de Castro -- friends with Sarria since 1956 revealed another side of Jose, recalling how he had once helped Gerry buy a car with a rubber check.
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San Francisco. Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development Responsibilities; Cultural, History, Housing, and Economic Sustainability Strategy Report.
Sec. 107B.1. Findings. "The Castro neighborhood has been a center of LGBTQ-owned and LGBTQ-friendly small businesses starting as early as the 1950s with Maurice Gerry’s beauty salon at 587 Castro Street . . . . Such small businesses created public spaces, economic resources, employment opportunities, and cultural assets that enabled the LGBTQ population to grow, thrive, create community, and organize for positive social and political change."
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Society for Individual Rights (S.I.R.), Sirlebrity Capades, 1965.
Doyle: S.I.R "was founded in San Francisco in 1964." Its organizers "recognized the need for community involvement. This was very likely the reason for the very popular and regular entertainment events, like the Sirlebrity Capades and productions like 'Hello Dolly,' and 'Mame,' raising funds while enabling a social atmosphere. The organization lasted until 1975 and published the excellent magazine 'Vector' from 1965 through 1977."Vector" from 1965 through 1977.
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Wikapedia. José Sarria
"Unsure of how to find work, he took the advice of a drag performer named Michelle and entered a drag contest at an Oakland bar called Pearl's. Sarria took second place, winning a two-week performance contract at the bar at $50 a week. "I decided then to be the most notorious impersonator or homosexual or fairy or whatever you wanted to call me–and you would pay me for it."[39]
Note:
Loughery, John (1998). The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and Gay Identities: A Twentieth Century History. New York, Harry Holt & Company, p. 216. ISBN 0-8050-3896-5.