A 1940s movie, 1970s rock music, and 2020s Drag Story Hours

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Much of the Republican party’s recent anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has been centered around drag shows and the demonization of those who perform them.

But what if I were to tell you that Republican idol, Ronald Reagan, once starred in a film that featured multiple scenes of drag? Not only that, but the men performing in drag were active US soldiers in World War II who were raising money for the army?

Let me introduce you to the 1943 film, This Is the Army

The film was made as propaganda/fundraising for the US army during WWII. It featured actual soldiers dressing in drag for multiple scenes, for crowds of adults and children alike. And not one, but two Republican politicians were in the movie: Ronald Reagan (yes, that Ronald Reagan) and George Murphy (eventual senator for California).

This movie wasn’t even a small film. It was the highest-grossing movie musical at the time, earning almost triple the earnings of The Wizard of Oz

Of course, this movie is still a product of its time. It has some pretty racist moments, even for the time period. A lot of the humor about the drag involves the conflating of crossdressing and being genderqueer.

However, I think there is an important discussion to be had about the place of drag in America and how it has shifted and changed in the past 80 years.

Since the 1940s, drag has become a lot more associated with the queer community, and has thus been seen as something adult and/or sexual. While drag has always been a favored form of self-expression for the queer community, it is also a form of theatre that ought to be treated with as much respect as any other art form. This Is The Army understood that, featuring multiple forms of drag and even celebrity impressions of Lynn Fontanne.

Elton John hid his gayness for a long time. And it was a big deal when he came out.

But Freddy Mercury? He was the lead singer of an all male band called "Queen". If thats "hiding gayness" then it's hiding it in plain sight.

Elton John, Rob Halford and Freddy Mercury all hid things in plain sight, but the fact that they had to hide things at all shows how strong the closet was in that era.

We all know now, but all three had fans who were surprised by their orientation.

As I mentioned most of us as teens thought the name "Queen" like "Alice" Cooper was showmanship.

We were called the Nazz and we found out about Todd Rundgren's band who were called the Nazz. So I said let's not come up with a name that's dark, because they're expecting that. I said, "What if we sounded like we were somebody's aunt?" It was kind of like the all-American, sweet little old lady name. And I wasn't Alice Cooper. I was just the singer in the band Alice Cooper, like Manfred Mann. Pretty soon everybody called me Alice, they just assumed that the singer's name was Alice. So, at that point, I legally changed my name to Alice Cooper. It was a total outrage at the time. Now it's a household name.