MR. CHARLIE BROWN

In this memoir, a drag queen becomes an icon of the Atlanta drag scene through hard work and perseverance.

Born Charles H. Dillard into “a missionary Baptist family in Westmoreland, Tennessee,” “Charlie Brown, the out-and-proud Atlanta drag entertainer” was the youngest of three children. Charlie knew about his attraction to boys from a young age. “[His] daddy, Charlie Ben Dillard was a foreman at the local Fruit of the Loom T-shirt factory and a Boy Scout leader. [His] mama, Velma Ann Sanders, meanwhile, was the local Girl Scout troop leader.” As young as 5 years old, Charlie liked dressing up as Minnehaha, his “very first experience in drag.” In a variety of venues, he performed as Mr. Charlie Brown in full drag. In 1971, the Watch Your Hat and Coat Saloon drag bar opened; Dillard got a job there as a sound man and male lead, and his career took off. His first drag performance was “a big crowd pleaser, times ten.” As a drag entertainer, Dillard traveled the country doing shows and meeting others in the drag queen community. Throughout the memoir, co-author Eldredge and Dillard recount Dillard’s career in compelling detail. With the arrival of the deadly AIDS virus, Dillard worked tirelessly to raise money to support those with the disease, raising awareness and educating the gay community. Dillard also mentored younger drag queens as he got older. Once shunned by the gay community, Dillard eventually became “a grand marshal in Baltimore’s Gay Pride parade” and received “the AID Atlanta Founders Award.” This memoir offers a bracingly authentic account of Mr. Charlie Brown’s life and career, replete with the typically salty language of the scene (“bitches”; “gay as hell”). The authors also movingly depict the softer side of Dillard in his relationship with his husband Fred. The multi-faceted Dillard will effortlessly engage readers with this fascinating personal history.

An honest, raw, and often graphic memoir.