In Kansas City, it was against the law to appear in public in clothes that were “inappropriate” for one’s sex. Looming over performers throughout that early era was an 1860 municipal ordinance that made cross-dressing illegal. Savoy and his stage partner, Jay Brennan, would put on exaggerated comedy routines, laden with iconic catchphrases - a familiar routine for modern drag fans. “He was known for the quality of his clothing, his makeup, his ability to ‘pass’ (as a woman) - because that was the measure of a good impersonator.” He was the RuPaul of his day,” Hinds says.

Julien Eltinge, Bert Savoy, and Karyl Norman were just a few of the famous artists who toured through Kansas City during the heyday of the Shubert and Orpheum theatres. Multiple drag performers rose to national prominence and toured all over the country during this time.

“That's where the practice of female impersonation, of drag, as it becomes known later, assumes a veneer of respectability and is safe for the family.” “According to the purveyors of vaudeville, you could take your children to the show and not worry about the show's content,” Hinds says.

This is when drag artists began to incorporate singing into their performances. The art form quickly evolved from exaggeration to mimicry with the popularity of vaudeville, a type of variety entertainment that became popular in the late 1800s. Advertisements like this in a 1935 edition of The Call document a performer believed to be one of the first Black drag queens, Mae West, touring through Kansas City.

Art with flo