WHO DOES THAT BITCH THINK SHE IS?

The life story of iconic drag queen Doris Fish (1952-1991) and a broader examination of post-Stonewall gay life.

Philip Clargo Mills, born in Manly Vale, a suburb of Sydney, grew up as a “placid young introvert,” and “when he came out to the family, at around eighteen, no one was remotely surprised.” By that time, writes Seligman, author of Sontag and Kael, he had already discovered Sydney's drag scene. Nightclub fame with his group Sylvia & the Synthetics brought him to San Francisco, which became his second home. Good looks and a voracious sexual appetite made him a “natural” prostitute, which gave him the funds and freedom to fully become Doris. Sporting a distinctive look—“beehive, short, thick lashes, and very pale mod-style lips—Doris led a trio called Sluts-A-Go-Go, which helped make her a star of the Sydney Gay Mardi Gras. Her métier was makeup ("I'd paint my eyeballs if I could!"), and the raison d'être of her shows was their costume changes. Extravaganzas such as the "Nightclub of the Living Dead" and the film Vegas in Space featured plots that were "just a rack to hang the drag on.” Ultimately, writes the author, Doris' "bad-girl drag" and "aggressive glamour" helped to define an era in which drag queens were evolving "from social lepers to culture heroes” and the world was reeling from the AIDS epidemic. By the time of Doris' death from AIDS in 1991, drag had transformed from insider entertainment into popular culture, “homosexuality went from being regarded as disgraceful and revolting to not a big deal.” The book benefits from the author's friendships and frank interviews with many of its principal players. Many scenes from Doris' later life read like compiled oral histories, which results is an intimate feel to a lively read.

Drag culture and camp humor hit it big in the life of Doris Fish.