Michelle DuBarry — alias Russell Alldread — talks about being crowned by Guinness World Records.
As she twirls around a stage belting out Doris Day lyrics,
you’d never think Michelle DuBarry is 84.
But along with her birthday this week came the title of
World’s Oldest Performing Drag Queen.
Russell Alldread — Michelle is his alter ego — dressed in
drag before he knew what the word meant, before RuPaul and before Toronto’s gay
community could surface.
“It was all underground,” said Alldread, who moved to
Toronto in the 1950s to perform in theatre and ballet, mostly dressing as a
woman and in defiance of police.
The news that Michelle is the Guinness World Record holder
of that title was announced to DuBarry last Tuesday in an underground bar by
Max MacDonald, a friend and the one who nominated her.
“Michelle represents an era that I grew up, the Dynasty
era, because she’s all furs, gowns and diamonds,” he told the Star at DuBarry’s
local hangout on Church St., Statlers. “That’s what set her apart.”
The Star asked a few more questions about Michelle’s long
run.
How did you become a drag queen?
I’ve always had the love of the stage. I had two sisters and
the three of us were always put out singing to the women’s groups or to the
hospital—Christmastime, whatever. And then I got dressed up in drag — I didn’t
know anything about drag then. We got dressed up like girls at the high school
Halloween night. And then, when I got into the city in the 1950s, I got
involved in theatre and ballet. I was a ladies’ shoes salesman and started
doing underground dress-up. We got raided by the police . . .
Anyway, then I
got married to a woman — a real woman, thank you. That was five years, and she
was a size 4 high heel. Can you picture a size 4? Then I got invited down to
511; it was like a downstairs nightclub idea — very theatrical, very wonderful
shows. We played shows to straight men, and there weren’t a lot of people that
were out, and we sort of let them come out. Then, I started the Great Imposters
and travelled for 10 years with the group. And in the ’80s I got involved in
raising money for charity.
Oh, they’ve always been very supportive. Never any trouble
at all. My dad was a blacksmith welder and he was so damn busy with making a
living and coming in and having a bath, and my mother was a nurse so she was
very supportive. As a matter of fact, at 11 years old, I was being driven home
by a Boy Scout leader who kept telling me dirty stories. So she (my mother)
said to me: “What’s going on, Russell?” and I said, “Nothing.” And he never
drove me home again. You know what I mean? She was a perfect woman that way.
How has the drag scene in Toronto changed?
Well, I guess time changes everything. It’s a different
feeling. Not so many as put-together shows, there are more individual stars on
their own. Like, in my day, we had women’s names, like I was Michelle. It was
easy to remember. A lot of them don’t have real people’s names. And their
makeup is sort of weirder, to me, now. They do extreme eyebrows, and
extreme lashes and everything extreme. In my time, we tried to look very real.
We performed as Barbra Streisand, or Marilyn Monroe, and we tried to look like
the person.
Nowadays, if I’m out at a big show one night, I like to sit
in the night after. I also take extremely good care of my health. I avoid
sugar, I buy things with no salt added, I don’t eat anything white — white
bread, all that stuff.
Oh, the old singers. I don’t like the new music at all. You
know, Doris Day, all the old singers.
I have a message song I am usually doing now called “We Can
Be Kind,” by Nancy LaMott. “We can be kiiiiiiind, we can take caaaaare of
each other.” It’s like a message song. Makes people cry.
It’s quite an honour. I wake up in the morning. I don’t live
yesterday, I don’t live tomorrow. I wake up and count my blessings because I’m
very, very lucky. I’m very healthy. I’ve lost pretty well all my special
friends now. They’ve all died on me. You know, because I’m old. It’s your
attitude at living every day, I think, that counts. I’m an old drag queen, but
I’m still very young.
By: Verity Stevenson
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