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Downloaded from
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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He's ready to rush that instead...
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I remember my dad used to say,
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"You have three strikes against you
in this world.
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Every black man has two, that
they're just black and they're a male.
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But you're black and you're a male
and you're gay.
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You're gonna have a hard fuckin' time.
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If you're gonna do this, you're gonna have
to be stronger than you ever imagined."
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Hold it.
11
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They have to open the door.
Y'all have to open that door too.
12
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Get off the floor.
13
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Get off the floor!
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Learn it, and learn it well.
15
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All right!
16
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All right, Miss Pepper!
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Girl, give me those motherfuckin' heels!
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Do you want me to say who I am
and all of that?
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- "I'm Pepper LaBeija, and..."
- Oh.
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I'm Pepper LaBeija, the legendary mother
of the House of LaBeija.
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Not the founder.
22
00:03:44,350 --> 00:03:46,352
Crystal was the founder. I'm...
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I just rule it now,
24
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with a soft glove.
25
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And it's important to me to be the mother,
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'cause there's so many little kids
that I have to look out for.
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Although they don't listen to me
and they buck my authority.
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I still think I rule it pretty well.
They like me.
29
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I'm one of the more popular ones.
30
00:04:04,454 --> 00:04:06,456
And I've been around for two decades.
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Reigning, that is.
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You know, I've got more grand prizes
than all the rest.
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Gay people, men,
gather together under one roof,
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and decide to have
a competition amongst themselves.
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Balls.
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I went to a ball,
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I got a trophy,
and now everybody wants to know me.
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This movie is about the ball circuit
and the gay crew that's involved in it,
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and how each person's life
brought them to this circuit.
40
00:04:49,874 --> 00:04:52,794
It's like crossing into the looking glass.
Wonderland.
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You go in there and you feel,
you feel 100% right
42
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as of be — being gay.
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That's not what it's like in the world?
44
00:05:01,427 --> 00:05:03,054
That's not what it's like in the world.
45
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That's not what it's like in the world.
46
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You know,
it should be like that in the world.
47
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This society,
they flip going to a football game.
48
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Basketball. That's their entertainment.
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You know, a ball is ours.
We prepare for a ball.
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We may spend more time
preparing for a ball
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than anybody would spend
preparing for anything else.
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- Exactly.
- A ball is like our world, you know.
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The balls to us is as close to reality
as we're gonna get
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to all of that fame and fortune
and stardom and spotlights.
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I'd always see
the way that rich people lived,
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and I'd feel it more, you know,
it would slap me in the face.
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I'd say, "I'd have to have that," because
I never felt comfortable being poor.
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I just don't.
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Or even middle class doesn't suit me.
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Seeing the riches,
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seeing the way people on Dynasty lived...
these huge houses.
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And I would think, "These people
have 42 rooms in their house.
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Oh, my God. What kind of a house is that?"
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And we've got three. So why is it
that they can have it and I didn't?
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I always felt cheated.
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I always felt
cheated out of things like that.
67
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You have space
to do all that you intend to.
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Now, the categories are Butch Queen,
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one through 17.
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And for the girls, 18 through 30.
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As far as all of y'all not walking,
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please realize that we all,
at one time or another,
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have lusted to walk a ballroom floor.
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So, give the patrons and the contestants,
you know, a round of applause for nerve.
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'Cause with y'all vicious motherfuckers,
it do take nerve.
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Believe me.
We're not going to be shady, just fierce.
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Those balls are more or less
like our fantasy of being a superstar.
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You know, like the Oscars or whatever.
Or being on a runway as a model.
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You know, a lot of those kids
that are in the balls,
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they don't have two of nothing.
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Some of them don't even eat.
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They come to balls starving.
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And they sleep in the under 21,
or they sleep on the pier or wherever.
84
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They don't have a home to go to,
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but they'll go out
and they'll steal something
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00:07:08,012 --> 00:07:11,099
and get dressed up and come to a ball
for that one night and live the fantasy.
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A ball is, the very word,
whatever you want to be, you be.
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So at a ball, you have a chance
to display your arrogance,
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your seductiveness, your beauty,
your wit, your charm, your knowledge.
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You can become anything and do anything
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right here, right now,
and it won't be questioned.
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I came,
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- I saw, I conquered.
- You know what she want.
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That's a ball.
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Give her what she want.
She bring it to you every ball.
96
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Why are y'all gagging so?
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I guess I like the excitement.
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You know, cheering and screaming
if you were good.
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And that's what got me.
I like the competition.
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Makes me stronger.
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Makes me think more.
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Makes me want to come back and get them.
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It's not just the winning.
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It's...
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It's the giving too, 'cause I feel that
I give a lot of enjoyment
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to a lot of people that go to balls.
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And they enjoy to see it,
and I enjoy to walk for them.
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So, that's my...
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philosophy, as I should say.
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To be legendary is, like, their goals.
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To be legendary. You know.
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Let you know I'm legendary, you're not.
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You know, it feels good to them.
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- Like it's —
- An Oscar.
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- A Oscar, right.
- It's the same thing.
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Become a legend, you have an Oscar.
It's the same thing.
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I don't really consider myself
a real legend.
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I've — I've been at the balls
with the legendary children,
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and I've stamped myself
with the legendary children.
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But I'm really, I'm one of top
upcoming children, legendary.
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We have legendary children
and upcoming legendary children.
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We're the upcoming ones. We've been out
longer than the ones that are here now.
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Mm-hmm.
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And we done, had our...
We have our status in the ballroom.
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How long did it take you
to do the tank top?
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A-An hour.
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An hour?
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- Yes.
- You don't do that.
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It usually doesn't take you an hour
to do a shirt,
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especially a tank top.
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Mm-mmm.That's not your speed.
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Kim Pendavis!
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Statement: "Future legend."
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Kim and me have — We've been together.
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And it's more or less me.
I'm the one that's Kim's protégé.
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Because I go with Kim to the balls,
help him out, help him iron.
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'Cause if I don't go to a ball with him
and iron, I mean, he'll be there wrinkled.
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Or he'd be there ironing, but,
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you know, it helps out when
somebody else is there in your corner,
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at your side to say, "Yeah, you can do it.
You're gonna be fine.
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Just go out and do what you usually do."
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What do I get out of it?
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Just simple, you know, joy, satisfaction.
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That's it. Not — You know,
I don't really ask much.
145
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And then from time to time,
later on I can wear the outfit.
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Yeah!
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- Work!
- Everyone waiting in the wings,
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you know you have to make room
for Pepper LaBeija.
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Pepper LaBeija.
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Pepper LaBeija.
Give her some walking room.
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00:10:28,004 --> 00:10:29,505
Liz Taylor is famous.
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Pepper LaBeija.
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00:10:31,674 --> 00:10:34,468
- So is Pepper LaBeija.
- Pepper LaBeija.
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In a sense, so am I.
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But a very much different quantity.
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No magazine's gonna run up to cover me
if I go to a premiere.
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But it's still a fame.
158
00:10:52,445 --> 00:10:56,073
It's a small fame.
But you absorb it, you take it.
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00:10:56,991 --> 00:10:58,284
And you like it.
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00:10:58,826 --> 00:11:01,120
You like the adulation, the applause,
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00:11:01,954 --> 00:11:03,706
the people cheering you on,
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the winning.
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00:11:06,042 --> 00:11:08,669
It's like a physical high.
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00:11:08,753 --> 00:11:10,838
And you know, it's a good high.
165
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It's an addictive high, like all highs
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in the long run turn out to be,
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00:11:17,970 --> 00:11:20,556
but it's a high that won't hurt you.
168
00:11:21,974 --> 00:11:26,520
If everybody went to balls
and... did less drugs,
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00:11:26,604 --> 00:11:28,647
it'd be a fun world, wouldn't it?
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I'm dressing, of course, to go do a show,
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00:11:32,109 --> 00:11:34,737
because
I've always done this professionally.
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00:11:34,820 --> 00:11:36,155
And I was a dancer.
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00:11:36,572 --> 00:11:41,660
And I'm trying to remember
when the first time I went to... a ball.
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00:11:42,078 --> 00:11:46,707
That was the early-type ball
when everybody just walked,
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00:11:46,791 --> 00:11:52,129
and they gave away like four or five
prizes in a very limited category.
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And the children now,
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most of them,
75% of the children you see at the ball
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00:11:58,928 --> 00:12:02,515
wouldn't know what a ball was
if it knocked them in the head.
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00:12:03,432 --> 00:12:06,602
When I first started going to balls,
it was all about drag queens,
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00:12:06,685 --> 00:12:09,688
and they were interested in looking like
Las Vegas showgirls.
181
00:12:09,772 --> 00:12:12,691
Backpieces, tailpieces, feathers,
beads and all that.
182
00:12:12,775 --> 00:12:16,570
But as the '70s rolled around,
the thing started changing.
183
00:12:16,654 --> 00:12:19,448
It started coming down to just wanting
to look like a gorgeous movie star,
184
00:12:19,532 --> 00:12:21,409
like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor.
185
00:12:21,492 --> 00:12:24,078
And now they've went from that
to trying to look like models
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00:12:24,161 --> 00:12:28,040
like Iman and Christie Brinkley
and Maud Adams and all those children.
187
00:12:28,624 --> 00:12:30,751
Everyone couldn't be a Las Vegas showgirl.
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00:12:30,835 --> 00:12:33,963
Everyone couldn't put on
a stack of feathers and a big headpiece.
189
00:12:34,046 --> 00:12:36,340
So they made the categories for everybody.
190
00:12:37,174 --> 00:12:41,095
That's what really made the balls change,
so there was more involvement.
191
00:12:42,096 --> 00:12:46,142
Everyone that goes to one of
these affairs now damn near participates.
192
00:12:46,725 --> 00:12:49,019
Eventually,
over the course of a year's balls,
193
00:12:49,103 --> 00:12:53,441
they've all walked the runway
in some category or another.
194
00:12:54,150 --> 00:12:58,529
Either you've got a nice body,
or you are very fashionable,
195
00:12:59,071 --> 00:13:00,906
or you're very pretty,
196
00:13:01,407 --> 00:13:04,160
or you're very real looking.
197
00:13:04,243 --> 00:13:06,579
But there's always something there
for everyone.
198
00:13:06,662 --> 00:13:08,330
And that's what keeps them all coming.
199
00:13:09,373 --> 00:13:11,375
And it's like — it's like in nature.
200
00:13:11,876 --> 00:13:13,711
I'm such a nature fan.
201
00:13:13,794 --> 00:13:18,424
Young ones are always bucking to move
the — the old bulls out of the way.
202
00:13:18,507 --> 00:13:19,800
That's why they change,
203
00:13:20,217 --> 00:13:24,555
go through all these mad categories
that I never can stay awake for.
204
00:13:25,431 --> 00:13:28,767
Upcoming Pretty Girl, 1986,
205
00:13:28,851 --> 00:13:30,394
take it to the floor.
206
00:13:31,145 --> 00:13:33,397
They're showing off for the press.
207
00:13:33,481 --> 00:13:36,192
Audience,
please back up and give them air!
208
00:13:38,611 --> 00:13:42,364
Next category,
High Fashion Winter Sportswear,
209
00:13:42,448 --> 00:13:44,742
the Poconos versus the Catskills.
210
00:13:46,368 --> 00:13:47,453
♪ Shake your body... ♪
211
00:13:47,536 --> 00:13:49,330
Is there anyone walking?
212
00:13:50,206 --> 00:13:53,292
Some children were asking me
what I meant by "Miss Cheesecake."
213
00:13:53,375 --> 00:13:57,338
That means you must not only have a body,
but you must be sexy.
214
00:13:57,588 --> 00:13:59,715
A lot of people have bodies,
but are not sexy.
215
00:14:00,174 --> 00:14:01,759
Big body!
216
00:14:02,426 --> 00:14:04,929
Body! Body! Body!
217
00:14:06,180 --> 00:14:07,973
And toned!
218
00:14:08,307 --> 00:14:13,771
A body that says,
"Come up and see me sometime, big boy."
219
00:14:13,854 --> 00:14:16,941
Going to school. School.
220
00:14:17,399 --> 00:14:18,651
Elementary.
221
00:14:19,068 --> 00:14:20,319
High school.
222
00:14:20,402 --> 00:14:21,820
College.
223
00:14:22,321 --> 00:14:26,033
Not here. School.
224
00:14:31,247 --> 00:14:33,249
Looking like a girl going to school.
225
00:14:33,958 --> 00:14:36,502
Do she look like a girl going to school?
226
00:14:41,799 --> 00:14:43,342
Town and Country.
227
00:14:43,425 --> 00:14:45,678
Exclusively done.
228
00:14:45,761 --> 00:14:46,971
Dupree!
229
00:14:47,054 --> 00:14:48,472
Dupree! Dupree!
230
00:14:50,349 --> 00:14:54,728
Get into their suits, I said.
The well-dressed men of the '80s.
231
00:14:54,812 --> 00:14:57,398
Get into the suits and get into the pumps.
232
00:14:58,190 --> 00:15:01,986
In real life,
you can't get a job as an executive
233
00:15:02,069 --> 00:15:06,490
unless you have the educational background
and the opportunity.
234
00:15:06,574 --> 00:15:08,742
Now,
the fact that you are not an executive
235
00:15:08,826 --> 00:15:11,537
is merely because of
the social standing of life.
236
00:15:12,288 --> 00:15:13,747
That is just pure thing.
237
00:15:13,831 --> 00:15:15,958
Black people
have a hard time getting anywhere.
238
00:15:16,709 --> 00:15:20,045
And those that do are usually straight.
239
00:15:20,462 --> 00:15:23,924
In a ballroom,
you can be anything you want.
240
00:15:24,008 --> 00:15:27,052
You're not really an executive,
but you're looking like an executive.
241
00:15:27,469 --> 00:15:31,098
And therefore you're showing the straight
world that "I can be an executive.
242
00:15:31,181 --> 00:15:35,060
If I had the opportunity, I could be one
because I can look like one."
243
00:15:35,144 --> 00:15:37,354
And that is like a fulfillment.
244
00:15:37,438 --> 00:15:41,525
Your peers, your friends are telling you,
"Oh, you'd make a wonderful executive."
245
00:15:41,609 --> 00:15:44,194
Is this the businessman
of the '80s or what?
246
00:15:45,195 --> 00:15:47,281
High-fashion Parisian.
247
00:15:47,364 --> 00:15:49,033
Model Yvette.
248
00:15:49,116 --> 00:15:51,160
Chanté, chanté.
249
00:15:51,243 --> 00:15:53,704
Chanté, chanté, chanté, chanté, chanté.
250
00:15:54,371 --> 00:15:55,497
Model!
251
00:15:56,957 --> 00:15:58,334
Thin!
252
00:15:58,417 --> 00:15:59,793
Streamlined!
253
00:16:00,210 --> 00:16:01,378
Trim!
254
00:16:02,046 --> 00:16:03,088
Model!
255
00:16:03,422 --> 00:16:07,635
The category is
Butch Queen First Time in Drags at a Ball.
256
00:16:08,052 --> 00:16:09,637
You know what I mean.
257
00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:11,013
You know what Paris means.
258
00:16:11,096 --> 00:16:12,723
Exactly! Butch queen!
259
00:16:12,806 --> 00:16:14,558
- Butch queen.
- Butch queen!
260
00:16:14,642 --> 00:16:16,518
- Butch queen.
- Butch!
261
00:16:18,937 --> 00:16:22,316
First time in drag at a ball.
That's what I wanted to hear.
262
00:16:28,656 --> 00:16:31,325
The military scene is a basic scene.
263
00:16:31,408 --> 00:16:32,451
It doesn't call for
264
00:16:32,868 --> 00:16:38,082
a bunch of flamboyant turkey boas
and bugle beads, rhinestone.
265
00:16:38,165 --> 00:16:40,668
It's a basic category.
266
00:16:41,418 --> 00:16:43,420
The more natural you are,
267
00:16:43,962 --> 00:16:46,048
the more credit your outfit is given.
268
00:16:47,299 --> 00:16:49,885
Come on, now. It is a known fact
269
00:16:49,968 --> 00:16:53,681
that a woman do carry a evening bag
at dinnertime.
270
00:16:54,473 --> 00:16:56,684
There's no getting around that.
271
00:16:56,767 --> 00:17:00,979
You see it on Channel 7
between All My Children and Jeopardy!
272
00:17:01,939 --> 00:17:04,566
Another World, Dallas and the whole bit.
273
00:17:04,650 --> 00:17:06,276
A evening bag is a must.
274
00:17:06,985 --> 00:17:10,447
You have to carry something.
No lady is sure at night.
275
00:17:10,864 --> 00:17:13,450
With the current children,
the children that are young,
276
00:17:14,034 --> 00:17:16,537
they've gone to television, you know?
277
00:17:16,954 --> 00:17:19,248
I've been to several balls...
278
00:17:20,249 --> 00:17:22,334
and they've actually had categories.
279
00:17:23,168 --> 00:17:24,378
Dynasty.
280
00:17:25,170 --> 00:17:28,674
You know,
want you to look like Alexis or Krystle.
281
00:17:33,011 --> 00:17:36,682
And I guess that's just, um,
a statement of the times.
282
00:17:37,474 --> 00:17:40,352
When I grew up,
you wanted to look like Marlene Dietrich,
283
00:17:40,436 --> 00:17:41,603
Betty Grable.
284
00:17:43,856 --> 00:17:47,276
Fortunately, I didn't know that
I really wanted to look like Lena Horne.
285
00:17:48,110 --> 00:17:50,529
When I grew up, of course, you know...
286
00:17:52,197 --> 00:17:54,241
black stars were stigmatized.
287
00:17:56,285 --> 00:17:58,454
Nobody wanted to look like Lena Horne.
288
00:17:59,329 --> 00:18:02,332
Everybody wanted to look like
Marilyn Monroe.
289
00:18:15,596 --> 00:18:17,514
♪ What you think... ♪
290
00:18:17,598 --> 00:18:20,934
When you're a man and a woman,
you can do anything.
291
00:18:21,685 --> 00:18:24,688
You can almost have sex on the streets
if you want to.
292
00:18:25,230 --> 00:18:28,567
The most somebody will say is,
"Hey, get a hump for me," you know.
293
00:18:28,650 --> 00:18:31,862
But when you're gay,
you monitor everything you do.
294
00:18:31,945 --> 00:18:35,866
You monitor how you look, how you dress,
how you talk, how you act.
295
00:18:36,366 --> 00:18:39,203
"Did they see me?
What did they think of me?"
296
00:18:39,620 --> 00:18:40,829
♪ I think I need you ♪
297
00:18:40,913 --> 00:18:43,457
♪ What you know-ah ♪
298
00:18:44,917 --> 00:18:47,336
♪ To be real ♪
299
00:18:47,419 --> 00:18:49,588
To be able to blend.
300
00:18:50,964 --> 00:18:52,549
That's what realness is.
301
00:18:53,801 --> 00:18:56,887
♪ So real now... ♪
302
00:18:56,970 --> 00:19:00,933
♪ You know that your love is my love
My love... ♪
303
00:19:01,016 --> 00:19:04,686
If you can pass the untrained eye,
or even the trained eye,
304
00:19:04,770 --> 00:19:07,731
and not give away
the fact that you're gay,
305
00:19:07,815 --> 00:19:09,233
that's when it's realness.
306
00:19:09,316 --> 00:19:10,526
Banjee.
307
00:19:10,609 --> 00:19:12,486
Looking like the boy
that probably robbed you
308
00:19:12,569 --> 00:19:14,905
a few minutes
before you came to Paris's ball.
309
00:19:17,741 --> 00:19:22,371
The idea of realness
is to look as much as possible
310
00:19:22,454 --> 00:19:24,540
like your straight counterpart.
311
00:19:24,623 --> 00:19:28,627
Shake the dice and steal the rice!
Right here. Come on, baby.
312
00:19:29,878 --> 00:19:32,631
Yes, daddy,
I got my food stamps and card waiting.
313
00:19:33,048 --> 00:19:34,258
All right.
314
00:19:34,341 --> 00:19:37,344
Dust, coke, base, soap, Rolaids,
he got it.
315
00:19:38,595 --> 00:19:41,890
The realer you look,
it means you look like a real woman.
316
00:19:43,267 --> 00:19:45,644
Or you look like a real man.
317
00:19:46,812 --> 00:19:48,063
A straight man.
318
00:19:52,442 --> 00:19:57,239
Sweetheart, with the cigarette
you're giving me a banjee girl effect.
319
00:19:57,322 --> 00:19:58,740
This is Banjee.
320
00:19:59,992 --> 00:20:03,120
You know, the girls that be on the corner
talking about your man,
321
00:20:03,203 --> 00:20:05,873
one that can hang out with the roughest.
322
00:20:05,956 --> 00:20:08,917
It's not a takeoff or a satire.
323
00:20:09,001 --> 00:20:10,586
Can we have her score, please?
324
00:20:10,669 --> 00:20:13,297
No,
it's actually being able to be this.
325
00:20:13,964 --> 00:20:18,051
Brenda Xtravaganza
looking like a banjee girl.
326
00:20:19,386 --> 00:20:20,387
Banjee.
327
00:20:20,512 --> 00:20:21,889
Banjee girl realness.
328
00:20:21,972 --> 00:20:24,808
You know, one that can take
her little baby brother to school.
329
00:20:24,892 --> 00:20:29,605
One that say, "You know, hey — I saw
those things walking down the street."
330
00:20:29,688 --> 00:20:32,357
It's really a case of
going back into the closet.
331
00:20:32,441 --> 00:20:33,442
Ten!
332
00:20:34,067 --> 00:20:35,903
Ten! Ten!
333
00:20:35,986 --> 00:20:37,779
Ten! Ten!
334
00:20:37,863 --> 00:20:39,281
Are there any more?
335
00:20:39,364 --> 00:20:41,867
Okay, girls, have we come to a decision?
336
00:20:42,618 --> 00:20:45,162
They give the society
what they want to see,
337
00:20:45,245 --> 00:20:46,455
so they won't be questioned.
338
00:20:46,538 --> 00:20:51,084
Rather than having to go through
prejudices about your life and lifestyle,
339
00:20:51,168 --> 00:20:54,713
you can walk around confidently,
blending in with everybody else.
340
00:20:55,255 --> 00:20:59,593
You've erased all the mistakes,
all the flaws, all the giveaways
341
00:21:00,010 --> 00:21:02,179
to make your illusion perfect.
342
00:21:02,930 --> 00:21:04,806
Bernie,
343
00:21:04,890 --> 00:21:06,600
Diane, Frank.
344
00:21:06,683 --> 00:21:08,143
My mother knew I had trophies,
345
00:21:08,226 --> 00:21:10,395
but I was telling her
I'd won 'em for basketball.
346
00:21:10,479 --> 00:21:12,773
I had won trophies for running track.
347
00:21:12,856 --> 00:21:15,484
I was walking up 145th Street
with my girlfriends.
348
00:21:15,567 --> 00:21:18,487
I had on white hot pants,
a chiffon blouse,
349
00:21:18,570 --> 00:21:20,072
a ponytail.
350
00:21:20,155 --> 00:21:22,282
My father was waiting for the light
in his car
351
00:21:22,366 --> 00:21:24,534
and he saw me, he recognized me.
352
00:21:24,618 --> 00:21:29,206
And he went straight to my house before
I could get there and told my mother,
353
00:21:29,289 --> 00:21:30,999
"Your son is a woman."
354
00:21:31,625 --> 00:21:33,752
She didn't press it then.
355
00:21:33,835 --> 00:21:37,965
But, like, maybe a few months later
when she noticed that I had breasts,
356
00:21:38,048 --> 00:21:40,217
everything started coming together.
357
00:21:40,926 --> 00:21:42,970
She really was devastated.
358
00:21:43,428 --> 00:21:46,682
"How could you have breasts bigger
than mine? You're growing nails.
359
00:21:46,765 --> 00:21:49,559
You're becoming a woman
right before my very eyes.
360
00:21:49,643 --> 00:21:52,396
I can't hold my head up. I'm embarrassed."
361
00:21:52,479 --> 00:21:53,689
She still loved me,
362
00:21:53,772 --> 00:21:58,902
but the nagging and the, oh, my God,
about this women's clothes.
363
00:21:59,361 --> 00:22:01,863
And when I had women's clothes
stashed in my closet
364
00:22:01,947 --> 00:22:04,032
and she found them,
she would destroy them.
365
00:22:04,116 --> 00:22:05,659
She burnt up a mink coat.
366
00:22:05,742 --> 00:22:08,120
I was so devastated.
367
00:22:08,537 --> 00:22:12,290
She smelled the perfume I liked to wear,
which was Jungle Gardenia at the time.
368
00:22:12,708 --> 00:22:14,918
She said, "This ain't no girl's coat.
This is your coat."
369
00:22:15,377 --> 00:22:19,256
Took it downstairs in the backyard
of the building and burnt it.
370
00:22:19,339 --> 00:22:21,341
And I stood there and cried like a baby.
371
00:22:21,758 --> 00:22:25,804
As long I have the mustache and all that,
it's cute for me.
372
00:22:25,887 --> 00:22:28,598
She don't want me being in girls' clothes.
She can't take it.
373
00:22:31,393 --> 00:22:32,853
When they're undetectable,
374
00:22:32,936 --> 00:22:37,315
when they can walk out of that ballroom
into the sunlight and onto the subway
375
00:22:37,399 --> 00:22:40,277
and get home
and still have all their clothes
376
00:22:40,360 --> 00:22:43,030
and no blood running off their bodies,
377
00:22:43,113 --> 00:22:46,199
those are the femme realness queens.
378
00:22:46,616 --> 00:22:50,537
And usually
it's a category for young queens.
379
00:22:50,620 --> 00:22:52,831
Some of them say that we're sick,
380
00:22:53,457 --> 00:22:55,000
we're crazy,
381
00:22:55,083 --> 00:22:59,463
and some of them think that we are the
most gorgeous, special things on earth.
382
00:23:02,841 --> 00:23:06,553
I would like to be a spoiled,
rich white girl.
383
00:23:07,220 --> 00:23:10,140
They get what they want
whenever they want it,
384
00:23:10,223 --> 00:23:13,560
and they don't have to really struggle
385
00:23:13,643 --> 00:23:17,147
with finances and nice things,
nice clothes,
386
00:23:17,230 --> 00:23:20,609
and they don't have to...
have that as a problem.
387
00:23:21,443 --> 00:23:25,322
I don't feel that there's
anything mannish about me,
388
00:23:25,405 --> 00:23:29,451
except maybe
what I might have between me down there.
389
00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:32,370
Which is my little personal thing, so...
390
00:23:33,038 --> 00:23:36,875
I guess that's why I want my sex change,
to make myself complete.
391
00:23:38,126 --> 00:23:40,921
I was about 13, 14 years old,
392
00:23:41,004 --> 00:23:45,008
and I used to do it
behind my family's back, just dressing up,
393
00:23:45,092 --> 00:23:47,010
till finally they caught on with it.
394
00:23:47,094 --> 00:23:50,639
And I didn't want to embarrass them,
so that's when I moved away.
395
00:23:50,722 --> 00:23:52,432
She's off to the opera!
396
00:23:52,599 --> 00:23:55,102
I moved to New York
and I continue doing it.
397
00:23:58,230 --> 00:24:02,526
When someone has rejection from
their mother and father, their family,
398
00:24:02,609 --> 00:24:05,695
they — when they get out in the world,
they search.
399
00:24:05,779 --> 00:24:07,531
They search for someone to fill that void.
400
00:24:07,614 --> 00:24:12,285
I know this for experience, because for —
because I've had kids come to me...
401
00:24:12,953 --> 00:24:15,622
and latch hold of me
402
00:24:15,705 --> 00:24:18,500
like I'm their mother,
or like I'm their father.
403
00:24:18,583 --> 00:24:21,753
'Cause they can talk to me, and...
I'm gay, and they're gay.
404
00:24:21,837 --> 00:24:27,259
And that's where a lot of that "ballness"
and the mother business comes in.
405
00:24:27,342 --> 00:24:31,263
Because their real parents
give them such a hard way to go...
406
00:24:32,556 --> 00:24:35,934
they look up to me to fill that void.
407
00:24:38,937 --> 00:24:41,231
- How old are you?
- I'm 15.
408
00:24:41,314 --> 00:24:43,066
What time is it?
409
00:24:43,150 --> 00:24:45,652
Right here, homeboy.
Look at the time over there, 2:26.
410
00:24:45,735 --> 00:24:47,988
- And y'all — how old are you?
- Me, I'm 13.
411
00:24:48,071 --> 00:24:50,157
Thirteen and you're out here at 2:26?
412
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:52,409
- Where you live?
- Me, I live in Harlem.
413
00:24:52,492 --> 00:24:53,994
And why you down here?
Where's your mother?
414
00:24:54,077 --> 00:24:56,079
Hanging out. I don't have a mother.
415
00:24:56,163 --> 00:24:58,039
Everybody has a mother,
or we wouldn't be here.
416
00:24:58,123 --> 00:24:59,875
- Where's your mother?
- She's gone.
417
00:24:59,958 --> 00:25:01,835
- Where's your father?
- He's gone too.
418
00:25:01,918 --> 00:25:03,879
- So who you live with?
- With a friend.
419
00:25:03,962 --> 00:25:06,715
- And you too?
- I live with my mother in the Bronx.
420
00:25:07,299 --> 00:25:10,010
- And y'all just hanging out like this.
- Hanging out, right there inside.
421
00:25:10,135 --> 00:25:13,763
A lot of these kids that I meet
now, they come from such sad backgrounds,
422
00:25:13,847 --> 00:25:16,600
you know, broken homes or no home at all.
423
00:25:16,683 --> 00:25:19,811
And then the few that do have family,
when the family finds that they're gay,
424
00:25:19,895 --> 00:25:21,354
they "X" them completely.
425
00:25:23,523 --> 00:25:26,276
A house? A house? Let's see.
426
00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:28,445
Let's see if we can put it down sharply.
427
00:25:28,528 --> 00:25:30,614
They're families. You can say that.
428
00:25:30,697 --> 00:25:32,032
They're families...
429
00:25:32,616 --> 00:25:34,993
for a lot of children
who don't have families.
430
00:25:38,079 --> 00:25:40,290
But this is a new meaning of family.
431
00:25:40,373 --> 00:25:44,252
The hippies had families,
and no one thought nothing about it.
432
00:25:44,336 --> 00:25:47,797
It wasn't a question of
a man and a woman and children,
433
00:25:47,881 --> 00:25:49,883
which we grew up knowing as a family.
434
00:25:49,966 --> 00:25:54,512
It's a question of a group of human beings
in a mutual bond.
435
00:26:07,025 --> 00:26:10,820
You know what a house is.
I'll tell you what a house is.
436
00:26:10,904 --> 00:26:13,073
A house is a gay street gang.
437
00:26:13,949 --> 00:26:18,245
Now, where street gangs get their rewards
from street fights,
438
00:26:18,912 --> 00:26:22,165
a gay house street-fights at a ball.
439
00:26:22,791 --> 00:26:26,211
And you street-fight at a ball
by walking in the categories.
440
00:26:31,299 --> 00:26:35,845
The houses started
because you wanted a name.
441
00:26:36,388 --> 00:26:38,932
The people that the houses are named after
442
00:26:39,474 --> 00:26:44,312
were ball walkers
who became known for winning.
443
00:26:46,898 --> 00:26:49,985
Work, Paris Dupree.
444
00:26:50,068 --> 00:26:51,361
Work, Paris.
445
00:26:51,444 --> 00:26:53,655
After the first few houses were started
446
00:26:53,738 --> 00:26:56,157
and named after people
who had won trophies,
447
00:26:56,241 --> 00:27:00,912
they also would create houses, like
a new group of kids would create a house.
448
00:27:00,996 --> 00:27:03,540
Then they'd work at building its name up,
which worked.
449
00:27:03,623 --> 00:27:06,126
The House of Xtravaganza,
the House of Saint Laurent.
450
00:27:06,584 --> 00:27:08,044
Overness.
451
00:27:08,128 --> 00:27:09,254
Pendavis.
452
00:27:09,337 --> 00:27:10,714
Adonis.
453
00:27:10,797 --> 00:27:11,798
LeMay.
454
00:27:11,881 --> 00:27:13,633
Pendavis.
455
00:27:13,717 --> 00:27:15,260
Saint Laurent, of course.
456
00:27:18,013 --> 00:27:19,014
Dupree.
457
00:27:19,889 --> 00:27:25,186
They saw me and they all liked me,
all the rest of the Xtravaganzas.
458
00:27:25,729 --> 00:27:28,857
And they decided, "Well,
if you want to become an Xtravaganza,
459
00:27:28,940 --> 00:27:31,192
you have to walk a ball for us.
460
00:27:31,276 --> 00:27:35,155
And if you snatch a trophy,
then you can become the Xtravaganza."
461
00:27:35,822 --> 00:27:38,325
That's how it's supposed to work
with any — everyone.
462
00:27:38,825 --> 00:27:39,826
But, uh...
463
00:27:40,702 --> 00:27:42,454
like that, it wasn't with me.
464
00:27:42,537 --> 00:27:44,456
I just became an Xtravaganza.
465
00:27:46,082 --> 00:27:49,544
Hector Xtravaganza.
He's the one who started the house.
466
00:27:49,627 --> 00:27:52,756
He was the first gay man I ever met.
467
00:27:52,839 --> 00:27:56,551
The first time he took me to the Village,
which was my birthday,
468
00:27:56,634 --> 00:27:59,471
I had just turned 15 years old.
469
00:27:59,554 --> 00:28:04,142
And he threw a party for me... out there.
He bought me a cake.
470
00:28:04,768 --> 00:28:08,104
I met a lot of drag queens, transvestites
471
00:28:08,188 --> 00:28:11,816
that I didn't believe were
because they were so beautiful.
472
00:28:11,900 --> 00:28:14,152
And that kind of sunk into my head.
473
00:28:14,235 --> 00:28:17,238
And I guess that's why it kind of made me
want to even do it more.
474
00:28:17,322 --> 00:28:20,367
They treat each other like sisters.
475
00:28:20,450 --> 00:28:22,911
Sisters or brothers,
476
00:28:23,495 --> 00:28:25,080
or mothers or...
477
00:28:27,415 --> 00:28:30,001
you know, like I say,
"Oh, that's my sister,"
478
00:28:30,085 --> 00:28:32,128
because she's gay too, and I'm gay,
479
00:28:32,212 --> 00:28:35,006
and she's a drag queen or whatever.
480
00:28:35,799 --> 00:28:40,345
My mother is Angie Xtravaganza
and my father is David Xtravaganza.
481
00:28:41,096 --> 00:28:43,765
The House of Xtravaganza has done a lot.
482
00:28:43,848 --> 00:28:46,351
It's made me feel like I have a family.
483
00:28:46,434 --> 00:28:47,894
We're always together. We're always —
484
00:28:47,977 --> 00:28:50,897
If we're not together,
we always speak on the phone.
485
00:28:51,314 --> 00:28:54,984
My name is Angie Xtravaganza, and I am
the mother of the House of Xtravaganza.
486
00:28:56,986 --> 00:28:59,614
When there's a ball, I'm always doing
something for everybody in my house.
487
00:28:59,697 --> 00:29:02,117
I do that one's hair,
the other one's makeup, you know,
488
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:04,619
choose their shoes, their accessories.
489
00:29:04,702 --> 00:29:06,413
I always offer advice, you know,
490
00:29:06,496 --> 00:29:10,417
I mean, as far as what I know
and what I've been through in gay life.
491
00:29:10,500 --> 00:29:12,669
You know,
I ran away from my house when I was 14,
492
00:29:12,752 --> 00:29:15,463
and I've learned all sorts of things,
good and bad.
493
00:29:15,547 --> 00:29:18,800
And how to survive in gay world, you know,
it's kind of hard.
494
00:29:18,883 --> 00:29:22,512
Xtravaganza power!
495
00:29:23,346 --> 00:29:25,598
I bought her her tits. I paid for them.
496
00:29:25,682 --> 00:29:27,517
- He paid for my tits.
- I paid for these implants.
497
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:29,227
- My tit.
- I gave my mother her implants.
498
00:29:29,310 --> 00:29:31,646
- Shake them tits, mommy.
- Shake those tits, mama.
499
00:29:31,729 --> 00:29:32,897
He paid for my tits.
500
00:29:32,981 --> 00:29:35,191
♪ All she want for Christmas
Is her two front tits ♪
501
00:29:35,275 --> 00:29:37,360
♪Her two front tits, her two front tits ♪
502
00:29:37,444 --> 00:29:38,778
♪ We gave her them for Christmas ♪
503
00:29:38,862 --> 00:29:40,280
And we gave 'em to her.
504
00:29:44,075 --> 00:29:47,120
Our mother even nurses us!
She's a good woman.
505
00:29:47,203 --> 00:29:48,455
She nourishes us.
506
00:29:48,538 --> 00:29:51,916
♪ My mommy is a drag queen
Look, I say ♪
507
00:29:52,959 --> 00:29:57,380
From the House of Xtravaganza,
for Mother of the Year,
508
00:29:57,464 --> 00:29:59,549
keeping her children intact.
509
00:30:00,175 --> 00:30:03,511
Can we have Angie Xtravaganza?
510
00:30:06,764 --> 00:30:09,726
Work for us, girl. Walk that runway.
511
00:30:10,935 --> 00:30:13,313
This is from Andre Christian, girl.
512
00:30:13,730 --> 00:30:16,691
My birthday will come and I always
get a birthday gift from Angie.
513
00:30:17,484 --> 00:30:19,444
Won't get one from my real mother.
514
00:30:19,986 --> 00:30:22,113
Like when I got thrown out of my house,
515
00:30:22,197 --> 00:30:26,826
Angie let me stay with her till
I got myself together and I got working.
516
00:30:26,910 --> 00:30:28,703
She always fed me.
517
00:30:28,786 --> 00:30:30,538
She can be a pain in the ass sometimes,
518
00:30:30,955 --> 00:30:32,624
but I wouldn't trade her
for any other mother.
519
00:30:35,502 --> 00:30:36,586
Ninja.
520
00:30:36,669 --> 00:30:40,507
You know, you have to have
something to offer in order to lead.
521
00:30:40,590 --> 00:30:42,008
The mother usually becomes the mother
522
00:30:42,091 --> 00:30:44,511
because she's usually
the best one out of the group.
523
00:30:44,928 --> 00:30:47,305
I'm Willi Ninja,
the mother of the House of Ninja.
524
00:30:47,722 --> 00:30:49,390
Give him what he wants!
525
00:30:50,391 --> 00:30:52,435
I'm the mother of the House of Ninja
526
00:30:52,519 --> 00:30:55,355
because they say I'm the best voguer out.
527
00:30:56,314 --> 00:30:59,526
To be the mother of the house,
you have to have the most power.
528
00:30:59,609 --> 00:31:03,321
Take a real family,
it's the mother that's the hardest worker,
529
00:31:03,404 --> 00:31:05,532
and the mother gets the most respect.
530
00:31:05,615 --> 00:31:09,410
As far as my naming my house
the House of Ninja,
531
00:31:09,494 --> 00:31:12,497
ninjas hit hard, they hit fast.
532
00:31:12,580 --> 00:31:14,082
An invisible assassin.
533
00:31:14,165 --> 00:31:17,168
And that's what we are.
We come out to assassinate.
534
00:31:18,127 --> 00:31:21,756
The House of LaBeija
is the legendary house above all of 'em.
535
00:31:21,839 --> 00:31:24,092
I have the most members,
I'm the most popular.
536
00:31:24,175 --> 00:31:26,761
New York City
is wrapped up in being LaBeija.
537
00:31:26,844 --> 00:31:31,683
So... it speaks for itself. And I am
the fiercest mother out of all of 'em.
538
00:31:32,141 --> 00:31:34,686
LaBeija?
I wouldn't be caught dead in that house.
539
00:31:34,769 --> 00:31:36,980
I'm sorry. I don't see that house.
540
00:31:37,063 --> 00:31:41,609
Only reason I see my house, Pendavis,
is because Kim and Avis.
541
00:31:41,693 --> 00:31:42,944
'Cause both of them walked.
542
00:31:43,027 --> 00:31:46,823
And at the last ball,
Avis showed her goddamn ass off!
543
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:51,536
They call them competitions.
But believe me, they're wars.
544
00:31:51,953 --> 00:31:54,163
And they often do lead to fights.
545
00:31:55,415 --> 00:31:59,460
The emotions be very high. They're
very intense — very intense affairs.
546
00:32:00,378 --> 00:32:03,381
But I guess that's what makes them fun,
like a good movie.
547
00:32:03,464 --> 00:32:05,008
If there's no emotion...
548
00:32:06,634 --> 00:32:07,635
you don't enjoy it.
549
00:32:07,719 --> 00:32:12,724
I don't talk too much about the ball kids,
because I want them to talk about me.
550
00:32:12,807 --> 00:32:14,475
Because I haven't walked yet.
551
00:32:14,559 --> 00:32:16,519
And it's like, well, William says,
552
00:32:16,603 --> 00:32:19,564
"I want you to walk in my ball.
I want you to walk in my ball."
553
00:32:19,647 --> 00:32:22,233
And I keep telling William, I say,
"I'll walk when I walk.
554
00:32:22,317 --> 00:32:25,737
I'll walk when I want, not when you want.
I'll walk when I want."
555
00:32:25,820 --> 00:32:29,157
And so far,
I don't know when I'm gonna walk.
556
00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:33,328
I'm thinking somewhat
around the time of the Legends Ball.
557
00:32:33,745 --> 00:32:35,121
But don't quote me on that.
558
00:32:35,204 --> 00:32:40,001
I mean, it really causes hate, actually,
between two individuals.
559
00:32:40,084 --> 00:32:42,253
It's like a war on the floor.
560
00:32:42,337 --> 00:32:45,590
Like World War III.
But the only thing about it, they're gay.
561
00:32:53,222 --> 00:32:54,849
Now — I'll cut the music.
562
00:32:54,932 --> 00:32:56,726
Now, I said...
563
00:32:56,809 --> 00:33:00,188
I said, men's garments!
564
00:33:00,271 --> 00:33:01,272
What?
565
00:33:01,356 --> 00:33:03,483
He look like he had on a man's fox coat.
566
00:33:03,566 --> 00:33:05,902
Tell this child
where are the men's garments!
567
00:33:05,985 --> 00:33:08,488
I paid for it, motherfucker!
A man bought it!
568
00:33:08,571 --> 00:33:10,114
It buttons on the right side!
569
00:33:10,198 --> 00:33:11,616
The judges said...
570
00:33:11,699 --> 00:33:13,368
It buttons on the right side!
571
00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:16,621
Someone came up and told the emcee —
572
00:33:16,704 --> 00:33:17,705
Are you a judge?
573
00:33:17,789 --> 00:33:19,207
...that it was a woman's coat.
574
00:33:20,124 --> 00:33:23,086
I thought it was kind of silly to nitpick.
575
00:33:23,961 --> 00:33:27,924
Ooh, that's shady! They throwing shade
at him. I can't believe it.
576
00:33:28,007 --> 00:33:29,884
Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
577
00:33:29,967 --> 00:33:32,303
Wait a minute. Wait a minute now.
578
00:33:32,387 --> 00:33:34,472
- Let's not get loud.
- David, David.
579
00:33:35,098 --> 00:33:36,099
Now, David.
580
00:33:36,182 --> 00:33:37,266
David.
581
00:33:37,350 --> 00:33:38,393
David.
582
00:33:38,476 --> 00:33:41,312
That's the one thing
that I find faulty with the balls.
583
00:33:41,813 --> 00:33:43,731
After they've laid down
these little categories,
584
00:33:43,815 --> 00:33:47,902
then they try to become a stickler
for exact interpretation.
585
00:33:48,319 --> 00:33:52,115
Merely a point to...
discredit the contestant.
586
00:33:52,198 --> 00:33:54,575
Like in the Olympics
where the Russian judge
587
00:33:54,659 --> 00:33:59,997
brought the fact that the American coach
had stepped onto the floor,
588
00:34:00,081 --> 00:34:03,710
and that was a disqualification for the,
uh, contestant.
589
00:34:04,335 --> 00:34:05,753
Just as picky as a ball.
590
00:34:07,463 --> 00:34:10,800
So those little flaws like that,
that's because that's a part of shade.
591
00:34:10,883 --> 00:34:15,263
That's the idea, knock 'em out if you can.
Get 'em any way, hit 'em below the belt.
592
00:34:15,346 --> 00:34:16,973
It was typed out!
593
00:34:17,056 --> 00:34:19,809
Where is it? Where is it?
Where is it? Where?
594
00:34:19,892 --> 00:34:21,811
Stop! This is no ball.
595
00:34:22,353 --> 00:34:24,147
Shade comes from reading.
596
00:34:24,689 --> 00:34:26,399
Reading came first.
597
00:34:27,442 --> 00:34:28,443
Reading
598
00:34:29,235 --> 00:34:32,780
is the real art form of insult.
599
00:34:32,864 --> 00:34:36,993
Now you wanna talk about reading?
Let's talk about reading.
600
00:34:38,327 --> 00:34:40,621
What is wrong with you, Pedro?
Are you going through it?
601
00:34:40,705 --> 00:34:43,958
You're going through some kind of
psychological change in your life?
602
00:34:44,917 --> 00:34:48,004
- She went back to be a man.
- Oh, you went back to being a man.
603
00:34:48,421 --> 00:34:50,465
Touch this skin, darling.
604
00:34:50,548 --> 00:34:54,010
Touch this skin, honey.
Touch all of this skin.
605
00:34:54,093 --> 00:34:55,344
Okay?
606
00:34:55,428 --> 00:34:57,346
You just can't take it.
607
00:34:57,430 --> 00:35:00,475
You're just an overgrown orangutan.
608
00:35:00,558 --> 00:35:04,979
You get in a smart crack,
and everyone laughs and kee-kees
609
00:35:05,062 --> 00:35:07,774
because you found a flaw
and exaggerated it.
610
00:35:07,857 --> 00:35:09,609
Then you've got a good read going.
611
00:35:10,109 --> 00:35:11,527
I am a person just like you.
612
00:35:11,611 --> 00:35:15,072
You cut me, I bleed the same way you do.
I bleed the same color.
613
00:35:15,156 --> 00:35:18,075
If it's happening between
the gay world and the straight world,
614
00:35:18,159 --> 00:35:19,994
it's not really a read.
615
00:35:20,077 --> 00:35:23,331
It's more of an insult,
a vicious slur fight.
616
00:35:23,414 --> 00:35:25,708
See, see? There go my sister right there.
617
00:35:25,792 --> 00:35:29,587
She don't even want to even admit
that she my sister. She a bulldagger.
618
00:35:29,670 --> 00:35:33,090
But it's how they develop
a sense of how to read.
619
00:35:33,174 --> 00:35:34,884
That's my husband right there.
620
00:35:35,718 --> 00:35:37,470
And that's my girlfriend right there.
621
00:35:37,553 --> 00:35:39,764
They may call you
a faggot or a drag queen,
622
00:35:39,847 --> 00:35:41,516
you find something to call them.
623
00:35:41,599 --> 00:35:45,770
But then,
when you are all of the same thing,
624
00:35:45,853 --> 00:35:48,523
then you have to go to the fine point.
625
00:35:48,606 --> 00:35:51,359
In other words, if I'm a black queen
and you're a black queen,
626
00:35:51,442 --> 00:35:54,028
we can't call each other black queens
'cause we're both black queens.
627
00:35:54,111 --> 00:35:55,947
That's not a read. That's just a fact.
628
00:35:56,030 --> 00:35:58,574
So then we talk about
your ridiculous shape,
629
00:35:58,658 --> 00:36:01,661
your fa — saggy face, your tacky clothes.
630
00:36:01,744 --> 00:36:03,329
- Let me see what you are.
- Spreading lies!
631
00:36:03,412 --> 00:36:04,705
- Let's see.
- No paint!
632
00:36:04,789 --> 00:36:07,375
- Yes, it's paint! It's paint!
- No motherfuckin' paint, girl!
633
00:36:07,500 --> 00:36:09,961
What?
She wears more makeup than my mother did!
634
00:36:10,044 --> 00:36:15,216
Then reading became a developed form
where it became shade.
635
00:36:15,299 --> 00:36:18,553
Shade is, "I don't tell you you're ugly,
636
00:36:18,636 --> 00:36:22,598
but I don't have to tell you
because you know you're ugly."
637
00:36:22,682 --> 00:36:24,016
And that's shade.
638
00:36:27,019 --> 00:36:28,938
Pump.
639
00:36:29,021 --> 00:36:30,022
Dip.
640
00:36:30,940 --> 00:36:33,025
Spin.
641
00:36:33,109 --> 00:36:34,110
Pump.
642
00:36:35,069 --> 00:36:37,363
Dip. Spin.
643
00:36:37,446 --> 00:36:39,031
Voguing is the same thing as like,
644
00:36:39,115 --> 00:36:41,534
taking two knives and
cutting each other up,
645
00:36:41,617 --> 00:36:43,744
but through a dance form.
646
00:36:44,370 --> 00:36:47,456
Pump. Dip. Spin.
647
00:36:47,540 --> 00:36:49,625
Vogue. Dip.
648
00:36:49,709 --> 00:36:53,337
Go turn it out.
649
00:36:53,421 --> 00:36:56,215
Voguing came from shade,
because it was a dance
650
00:36:56,632 --> 00:36:58,843
that two people did
because they didn't like each other.
651
00:36:58,926 --> 00:37:02,847
Instead of fighting,
you would dance it out on the dance floor.
652
00:37:02,930 --> 00:37:06,684
And whoever did the better moves
was throwing the best shade, basically.
653
00:37:07,310 --> 00:37:10,479
No touching. Neither one of you.
654
00:37:10,563 --> 00:37:13,274
If you touch, I'm chopping you.
I'm telling you right now.
655
00:37:13,357 --> 00:37:16,110
You could take
the pantomime form of the vogue.
656
00:37:16,193 --> 00:37:18,112
This is what generally sometimes I do is,
657
00:37:18,195 --> 00:37:21,741
I make my hand into a form
like a compact or a makeup kit.
658
00:37:21,824 --> 00:37:26,704
And I'm like beating my face with blush,
shadows, or whatever to the music.
659
00:37:26,787 --> 00:37:31,000
Then usually I'll turn the compact around
to face that person,
660
00:37:31,083 --> 00:37:35,046
meaning, like, almost like my hand
is a mirror for them to get a look.
661
00:37:35,129 --> 00:37:37,214
Then I'll start doing their face,
662
00:37:37,298 --> 00:37:41,469
because what they have on their face
right now needs a dramatic makeup job.
663
00:37:42,803 --> 00:37:45,598
So voguing's like
a safe form of throwing shade.
664
00:37:46,057 --> 00:37:48,017
Paris Dupree.
665
00:37:48,100 --> 00:37:49,101
Work.
666
00:37:49,185 --> 00:37:51,103
Paris Dupree.
667
00:37:51,187 --> 00:37:52,772
Work. Ooh!
668
00:37:52,855 --> 00:37:55,942
All right, Miss Fishy. Ooh.
Go knock off Miss Paris.
669
00:38:06,869 --> 00:38:09,080
Come on, baby. Take your time.
670
00:38:09,163 --> 00:38:10,790
Bring it to the judges.
671
00:38:11,207 --> 00:38:14,377
Judges, get into the form and the style.
Work.
672
00:38:14,877 --> 00:38:16,128
Let's hear it for her!
673
00:38:16,212 --> 00:38:18,673
The name was taken from
the magazine Vogue
674
00:38:18,756 --> 00:38:21,258
because some of the movements of the dance
675
00:38:21,342 --> 00:38:24,512
are also the same as
the poses inside the magazine.
676
00:38:25,888 --> 00:38:29,600
The name is a statement in itself.
677
00:38:31,060 --> 00:38:34,647
I mean, you really wouldn't go to a ball
to do the Mademoiselle.
678
00:38:35,064 --> 00:38:36,273
No way.
679
00:38:36,774 --> 00:38:40,111
Now I want all of you
to get up on the floor!
680
00:38:40,528 --> 00:38:42,571
New York and Jersey.
681
00:38:44,657 --> 00:38:46,909
Wake up! Come on!
682
00:38:50,121 --> 00:38:52,581
All right. This is Saint Laurent.
683
00:38:54,709 --> 00:38:57,378
This is Overness.
684
00:39:02,258 --> 00:39:05,094
Whoo! Show 'em how to do that. Mm-mm-mm.
685
00:39:07,221 --> 00:39:08,264
Ouch!
686
00:39:08,347 --> 00:39:12,893
Work! Work! Work! Work! Work!
687
00:39:14,770 --> 00:39:16,188
Like break dancing,
688
00:39:16,272 --> 00:39:21,902
the dance takes from
the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt.
689
00:39:22,319 --> 00:39:25,865
It also takes from
some forms of gymnastics.
690
00:39:26,407 --> 00:39:28,409
They both strive for
691
00:39:28,826 --> 00:39:32,079
perfect lines in the body,
awkward positions,
692
00:39:32,163 --> 00:39:33,706
but it goes one step further.
693
00:39:35,332 --> 00:39:39,587
It's starting to make a name for itself,
but I want it to be known worldwide,
694
00:39:39,670 --> 00:39:42,131
and I want to be on top of it
when it hits.
695
00:39:42,548 --> 00:39:46,802
I want to take voguing
not to just Paris is Burning,
696
00:39:47,595 --> 00:39:49,972
but I want to take it to the real Paris...
697
00:39:50,681 --> 00:39:53,100
and make the real Paris burn.
698
00:39:53,517 --> 00:39:55,895
That's what I wanna do,
and not just there,
699
00:39:56,228 --> 00:39:57,938
but to other countries as well.
700
00:39:58,272 --> 00:40:00,149
My house name is Ninja...
701
00:40:01,567 --> 00:40:04,862
and I would really like
to take my whole house and go to Japan...
702
00:40:05,905 --> 00:40:08,991
and really let loose and do it
and have them accept it there.
703
00:40:09,075 --> 00:40:10,868
I want to be a big star.
704
00:40:12,495 --> 00:40:17,583
Uh... known, generally,
every corner of the world.
705
00:40:20,419 --> 00:40:23,756
You know, maybe as a choreographer,
706
00:40:24,507 --> 00:40:25,841
a famous dancer,
707
00:40:26,759 --> 00:40:27,927
a singer.
708
00:40:28,427 --> 00:40:29,428
All of them.
709
00:40:29,845 --> 00:40:33,682
What the balls has to do with that,
as far as the dance field,
710
00:40:33,766 --> 00:40:35,810
is maybe perfect my craft a little better,
711
00:40:36,685 --> 00:40:39,146
to learn new things...
712
00:40:39,563 --> 00:40:43,067
new ideas,
and bring 'em to the real world.
713
00:40:46,362 --> 00:40:49,907
It's been really unbelievable, my life.
714
00:40:50,825 --> 00:40:52,451
If was to die today or tomorrow,
715
00:40:52,868 --> 00:40:55,121
I could not say
I've not had an exciting life.
716
00:40:55,204 --> 00:40:58,541
I have had a fabu —
And I'm not rich, mind you.
717
00:40:58,958 --> 00:41:01,043
Just imagine if I had the dollars.
718
00:41:01,460 --> 00:41:03,295
Ooh, it'd be too much for the world.
719
00:41:03,712 --> 00:41:06,132
If I had the riches and I had the fame,
trust me,
720
00:41:06,215 --> 00:41:08,801
all of y'all in here
would be rich for points,
721
00:41:09,218 --> 00:41:10,344
'cause I'm very generous.
722
00:41:10,761 --> 00:41:14,473
You know, I can't, I wouldn't enjoy
having a whole lot of money,
723
00:41:14,557 --> 00:41:17,768
like being a millionaire, and hoarding it,
you know?
724
00:41:18,185 --> 00:41:21,730
I'd share it with all my loved ones.
You know, I'd want them to have it too.
725
00:41:21,814 --> 00:41:23,107
We'd all have to go.
726
00:41:23,190 --> 00:41:25,734
I'd want to charter a plane,
and we all fly to Paris.
727
00:41:36,245 --> 00:41:37,496
Opulence.
728
00:41:42,168 --> 00:41:44,211
You own everything.
729
00:41:48,632 --> 00:41:50,342
Everything is yours.
730
00:42:08,235 --> 00:42:14,074
This is... white... America.
731
00:42:15,534 --> 00:42:17,661
Any other nationality...
732
00:42:18,704 --> 00:42:21,540
that is not of the white set,
733
00:42:22,208 --> 00:42:25,711
knows this and accept this,
till the day they die.
734
00:42:26,378 --> 00:42:30,674
For that is everybody's dream
and ambition as a minority,
735
00:42:30,758 --> 00:42:35,221
to live and look
as well as a white person,
736
00:42:35,930 --> 00:42:39,266
is pictured as being in America.
737
00:42:39,350 --> 00:42:44,897
Every media you have,
from TV to magazines to movies to films.
738
00:42:44,980 --> 00:42:47,816
I mean, the biggest thing
that minority watches is what?
739
00:42:48,067 --> 00:42:52,446
Dynasty and The Colbys, All My Children,
the soap operas.
740
00:42:53,322 --> 00:42:55,616
Everybody have a million-dollar bracket.
741
00:42:56,408 --> 00:42:58,911
When they showing you
a commercial from Honey Grahams
742
00:42:58,994 --> 00:43:01,956
to Crest or Lestoil or Pine-Sol,
743
00:43:02,039 --> 00:43:03,707
everybody's in their own home.
744
00:43:05,167 --> 00:43:09,421
The little kids for Fisher-Price toys,
they're not in no concrete playground.
745
00:43:10,256 --> 00:43:14,093
They're — They're riding around the lawn.
The pool is in the back.
746
00:43:16,095 --> 00:43:17,888
This is white America.
747
00:43:18,472 --> 00:43:21,558
And when it comes to the minorities,
especially black...
748
00:43:23,143 --> 00:43:26,272
we, as a people for the past 400 years,
749
00:43:26,355 --> 00:43:29,692
is the greatest example
of behavior modification
750
00:43:29,775 --> 00:43:32,486
in the history of civilization.
751
00:43:32,861 --> 00:43:36,115
We have had everything taken away from us,
752
00:43:36,532 --> 00:43:39,410
and yet
we have all learned how to survive.
753
00:43:41,578 --> 00:43:47,209
That is why in the ballroom circuit,
it is so obvious
754
00:43:47,293 --> 00:43:50,879
that if you have captured
the great white way of living...
755
00:43:52,423 --> 00:43:53,465
or looking...
756
00:43:56,093 --> 00:43:58,095
or dressing or speaking...
757
00:43:59,555 --> 00:44:01,223
you is a marvel.
758
00:44:04,768 --> 00:44:08,188
I think if I could just be on TV
or film or anything...
759
00:44:09,273 --> 00:44:11,275
I'd do that instead of the money.
760
00:44:11,692 --> 00:44:14,987
Of course, I do want the money because
I want the luxury that goes with it.
761
00:44:16,030 --> 00:44:17,031
But...
762
00:44:18,365 --> 00:44:20,117
I want to be wealthy.
763
00:44:20,659 --> 00:44:23,454
If not wealthy, content, comfortable,
764
00:44:24,204 --> 00:44:25,205
you know?
765
00:44:26,332 --> 00:44:28,250
I want to be somebody.
766
00:44:28,334 --> 00:44:30,127
I mean, I am somebody.
767
00:44:30,210 --> 00:44:32,755
I just want to be a rich somebody.
768
00:44:34,506 --> 00:44:36,800
You ain't gonna tell me
you see her in the supermarket,
769
00:44:36,884 --> 00:44:38,510
and you gonna say, "That's a hag."
770
00:44:39,970 --> 00:44:43,140
Women don't go out of their way
because they are women.
771
00:44:43,557 --> 00:44:45,601
I went out my way because I wasn't,
772
00:44:45,684 --> 00:44:48,437
and I felt that
I wanted to be the best I can be.
773
00:44:49,063 --> 00:44:51,315
The Virginia Slims girl is here.
774
00:44:51,398 --> 00:44:53,150
This was not a game for me or fun.
775
00:44:53,233 --> 00:44:54,985
This is something that I wanna live.
776
00:44:55,069 --> 00:44:56,403
She's here in person.
777
00:44:57,738 --> 00:44:59,406
Hopefully, God willing,
778
00:44:59,782 --> 00:45:05,079
by 1988, I fully hope to become
a full-fledged woman of the United States.
779
00:45:08,999 --> 00:45:11,085
You look at all these models on the wall.
780
00:45:11,668 --> 00:45:13,879
Every one of them are gorgeous.
781
00:45:14,296 --> 00:45:16,340
Every one of them are beautiful.
782
00:45:16,965 --> 00:45:19,510
But every one of them have their own look.
783
00:45:19,927 --> 00:45:21,970
This is my idol, Paulina.
784
00:45:22,429 --> 00:45:24,598
Someday I hope to be up there with her.
785
00:45:25,015 --> 00:45:26,350
If that could be me,
786
00:45:26,433 --> 00:45:29,812
I think I would be the happiest person
in the world just knowing that I am,
787
00:45:30,229 --> 00:45:32,731
that I can compare to Paulina,
788
00:45:32,815 --> 00:45:35,275
to stand next to her and to
take pictures with her.
789
00:45:35,359 --> 00:45:37,945
And I look at her here,
and I'd say she's seductive
790
00:45:38,028 --> 00:45:40,531
and she's... alluring.
791
00:45:40,948 --> 00:45:44,660
I look at her there,
and I say she's sexy and provocative.
792
00:45:45,077 --> 00:45:49,873
I look at her here, and I think that
she's childish and little-girl type.
793
00:45:50,290 --> 00:45:52,626
You know?
And I look at her here and it's the same,
794
00:45:52,709 --> 00:45:56,130
and I look at her here,
and I think of wicked beauty.
795
00:45:56,547 --> 00:45:59,508
You know? That's how I see her.
I admire her.
796
00:45:59,925 --> 00:46:02,553
You know, the red-hot fire of hair and...
797
00:46:04,346 --> 00:46:05,389
the whole bit.
798
00:46:07,099 --> 00:46:10,352
You're not really trying
hard enough, then I become hard.
799
00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:14,064
Do not believe just because I'm a guy
that I cannot do it.
800
00:46:14,148 --> 00:46:16,150
In order to be a teacher
to show girls how to do it,
801
00:46:16,233 --> 00:46:17,484
I have to know how to do it.
802
00:46:17,568 --> 00:46:21,280
I've taught for various shows,
like for FIT, I've taught models.
803
00:46:21,780 --> 00:46:25,159
Girls that are from various agencies
that come to me by word of mouth.
804
00:46:35,419 --> 00:46:38,213
New York City women
are a little bit harder than most women.
805
00:46:38,297 --> 00:46:41,133
Basically,
I'm trying to bring their femininity back
806
00:46:41,216 --> 00:46:42,634
and bring some grace and poise.
807
00:46:42,718 --> 00:46:44,928
You know,
whether they become models or not,
808
00:46:45,012 --> 00:46:47,723
it's nice to know
because it's more attractive to men.
809
00:46:47,806 --> 00:46:49,433
But the walk that she's doing
810
00:46:49,516 --> 00:46:53,061
is basically to get more movement
in your hips naturally.
811
00:46:53,145 --> 00:46:54,229
Don't exaggerate it.
812
00:47:04,198 --> 00:47:05,991
Most likely,
she'll get what she wants.
813
00:47:06,074 --> 00:47:07,993
You know,
especially if she's in a man's world,
814
00:47:08,076 --> 00:47:09,953
she can still have her equal rights,
815
00:47:10,037 --> 00:47:12,748
but be able to manipulate a man
by using her feminine wiles.
816
00:47:12,831 --> 00:47:14,458
She can't use it by using masculine.
817
00:47:15,959 --> 00:47:19,463
Are they soft?
Looking from head to toe, would you know?
818
00:47:20,631 --> 00:47:23,592
Is this realness or not?
Let it be motherfuckin' hot.
819
00:47:29,473 --> 00:47:31,934
Miss Octavia,
you don't feel this realness?
820
00:47:32,017 --> 00:47:33,644
Where are you at, sister?
821
00:47:33,727 --> 00:47:36,104
Oops, you're right there, not bothered.
822
00:47:36,855 --> 00:47:40,859
♪ What you think-ah ♪
823
00:47:41,443 --> 00:47:44,404
♪ What you feel now ♪
824
00:47:45,239 --> 00:47:48,617
♪ The more I want, the more I get ♪
825
00:47:48,700 --> 00:47:49,701
LaBeija.
826
00:47:49,785 --> 00:47:52,496
- ♪ The more I want, the more I get ♪
- Candy LaBeija.
827
00:47:52,871 --> 00:47:54,748
Realness in the daytime, darling.
828
00:47:55,165 --> 00:47:57,125
She goes to school as a woman.
829
00:47:57,459 --> 00:47:58,460
Get into it.
830
00:47:58,919 --> 00:48:02,130
Get into both of them,
and see which one is realer.
831
00:48:03,507 --> 00:48:05,467
Feel the flesh or whatever it may be.
832
00:48:06,051 --> 00:48:07,511
Is it soft or not?
833
00:48:10,305 --> 00:48:11,640
It's soft.
834
00:48:11,723 --> 00:48:13,058
Come, come, come.
835
00:48:13,559 --> 00:48:15,602
Score Miss Octavia first.
836
00:48:16,144 --> 00:48:18,063
Step forward. Accept your scores.
837
00:48:18,397 --> 00:48:20,482
Ten, ten, ten, ten, ten.
838
00:48:21,900 --> 00:48:23,068
Score Tennille.
839
00:48:24,236 --> 00:48:26,780
♪ What you feel now ♪
840
00:48:27,281 --> 00:48:28,782
- ♪ I need you
- ♪ What you know... ♪
841
00:48:28,865 --> 00:48:31,285
Nine, ten, ten.
842
00:48:32,035 --> 00:48:33,787
♪ To be real ♪
843
00:48:34,955 --> 00:48:37,916
Grand prize, Octavia.
First place, Tennille.
844
00:48:42,963 --> 00:48:48,051
There's people who sit home all day.
They have potential. Okay?
845
00:48:48,468 --> 00:48:50,971
I mean, they go to the balls
and they prove that they have potentials
846
00:48:51,054 --> 00:48:53,056
on actually selling a garment, okay?
847
00:48:53,140 --> 00:48:54,975
But they, like,
848
00:48:55,058 --> 00:48:58,353
"Being that I have this potential,
the ballroom tells me,"
849
00:48:58,437 --> 00:49:02,357
okay,
"the ballroom tells me that I'm somebody."
850
00:49:02,441 --> 00:49:04,276
But when the ballroom is over,
when you come home,
851
00:49:04,359 --> 00:49:07,279
you have to convince yourself
that you are somebody,
852
00:49:07,362 --> 00:49:08,947
and that's where they get lost.
853
00:49:09,364 --> 00:49:13,535
♪ Everybody's looking for something ♪
854
00:49:13,619 --> 00:49:19,750
♪ Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree? ♪
855
00:49:19,833 --> 00:49:22,210
It's also in a magazine.
856
00:49:22,461 --> 00:49:24,296
What's the name of the magazine?
857
00:49:25,380 --> 00:49:28,467
- ♪ Sweet dreams are made of this ♪
- Nova.
858
00:49:28,550 --> 00:49:31,511
- Paris Kathleen Dupree.
- ♪ Who am I to disagree? ♪
859
00:49:31,595 --> 00:49:33,347
Paris Dupree.
860
00:49:33,430 --> 00:49:36,975
It was a time when you could
spend a — a great deal of time,
861
00:49:37,059 --> 00:49:39,353
making outfits,
and preparing for something.
862
00:49:39,853 --> 00:49:43,982
Now they come very quickly,
and the moods change very quickly.
863
00:49:44,483 --> 00:49:47,736
I come from
the old school of big costumes,
864
00:49:47,819 --> 00:49:49,363
feathers and beads.
865
00:49:50,113 --> 00:49:53,617
And they don't have that anymore.
Now it's all about designers.
866
00:49:54,451 --> 00:49:57,329
And it's not about what you create,
it's about what you can acquire.
867
00:50:00,332 --> 00:50:02,250
What do you think?
868
00:50:03,585 --> 00:50:04,878
Isn't that beautiful?
869
00:50:08,048 --> 00:50:11,677
$559. How's that for a simple dress?
870
00:50:12,177 --> 00:50:16,181
If you have on a label, it means
that you've, uh — you've got wealth.
871
00:50:16,264 --> 00:50:19,810
When it doesn't really,
'cause any shoplifter can get a label.
872
00:50:20,310 --> 00:50:25,107
You can't come down the runway
in something for 14.99 or 49.99,
873
00:50:25,190 --> 00:50:29,194
and say, "Well, I'm lovely,"
and expect to win.
874
00:50:31,530 --> 00:50:33,907
Okay, to describe, explain mopping.
875
00:50:33,990 --> 00:50:39,371
Mopping, you — go into a store, and...
876
00:50:40,706 --> 00:50:43,917
just look for —
look for whatever you wanna see.
877
00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:46,586
Look for whatever. Mopping is stealing.
878
00:50:47,713 --> 00:50:49,214
General stealing.
879
00:50:50,006 --> 00:50:51,883
However it's done, it's stealing.
880
00:50:52,384 --> 00:50:56,346
If you're working every day,
you're struggling to buy this outfit.
881
00:50:56,596 --> 00:50:59,224
When you walk, you're like, "This is me."
882
00:51:00,100 --> 00:51:02,811
And your facial expressions
as well as your means
883
00:51:02,894 --> 00:51:04,521
of projection of your outfit,
884
00:51:04,938 --> 00:51:07,733
it shows if you actually stole it,
or you purchased it.
885
00:51:08,150 --> 00:51:10,444
- You can actually tell?
- You can actually tell.
886
00:51:11,278 --> 00:51:14,656
Faggots are a stunt in themselves,
regardless.
887
00:51:14,740 --> 00:51:15,907
Make no mistake.
888
00:51:15,991 --> 00:51:18,285
First, it comes...
Okay, when it comes to a stunt,
889
00:51:18,368 --> 00:51:21,288
it goes in three — it goes, in order.
890
00:51:21,371 --> 00:51:24,583
It goes faggots, then girls, then boys.
891
00:51:24,666 --> 00:51:28,086
Because boys are the stupidest.
They don't know how to do a stunt right.
892
00:51:28,754 --> 00:51:31,173
Now, faggots will do a stunt,
893
00:51:31,256 --> 00:51:34,593
and I mean, you will never
catch up with it until years later.
894
00:51:34,676 --> 00:51:35,927
And then, I mean, you'll be like,
895
00:51:36,011 --> 00:51:38,805
"Oh, shit!
This faggot pulled this stunt on me."
896
00:51:39,765 --> 00:51:43,310
We went down there, and we had fun,
we act stupid and came back.
897
00:51:43,727 --> 00:51:46,563
But I think the best thing we did
was Roy Rogers.
898
00:51:46,897 --> 00:51:47,898
That was fun.
899
00:51:48,315 --> 00:51:49,566
You would've had something to eat,
900
00:51:49,649 --> 00:51:52,235
'cause how much did you pay for that —
for that sandwich?
901
00:51:52,319 --> 00:51:54,029
I don't remember. Maybe $5 or so.
902
00:51:54,112 --> 00:51:55,864
Around five — $5?
903
00:51:57,616 --> 00:52:00,285
Make no mistake, we got your $5 back.
904
00:52:00,368 --> 00:52:03,163
I had two double cheeseburgers,
905
00:52:03,580 --> 00:52:04,790
two fries,
906
00:52:05,207 --> 00:52:08,835
a Coke, a Sprite and an orange,
chicken and chips.
907
00:52:08,919 --> 00:52:10,962
Just going back and forth.
I lived on that line.
908
00:52:12,130 --> 00:52:15,592
We got over around —
around say around $200 in food.
909
00:52:16,885 --> 00:52:19,805
See, they put cheese on the meat.
910
00:52:22,641 --> 00:52:27,604
I hope after this, Roy Rogers
does not change how it has its food.
911
00:52:27,687 --> 00:52:31,691
Because if it does by this interview,
I will be so upset.
912
00:52:31,775 --> 00:52:36,071
I will be so upset. I'll be squallin'.
913
00:52:36,154 --> 00:52:40,951
I'll be hurt, I'm telling you.
I really will be — 'cause I mean it.
914
00:52:41,034 --> 00:52:44,454
Where else can you go in,
get it done your way,
915
00:52:44,538 --> 00:52:45,956
and go out without paying?
916
00:52:46,039 --> 00:52:47,666
Carla Xtravaganza said,
917
00:52:47,749 --> 00:52:52,712
will you please return her black
patent leather shoes, size seven?
918
00:52:55,048 --> 00:52:56,842
There is a reward.
919
00:52:57,843 --> 00:52:59,928
She want her pumps.
920
00:53:00,011 --> 00:53:03,849
She said it's not going to work,
taking her shoes. Give 'em back.
921
00:53:04,349 --> 00:53:07,060
Daytime, if they go out,
they're only going out...
922
00:53:07,853 --> 00:53:10,397
to try to hustle up a quarter or two...
923
00:53:12,732 --> 00:53:16,570
to get their things for the ball...
or go to a little job.
924
00:53:16,653 --> 00:53:19,906
Lot of them have little jobs now.
They work. Don't think they're lazy.
925
00:53:20,282 --> 00:53:23,159
In New York City, you —
you work or you starve.
926
00:53:24,035 --> 00:53:25,829
You work, or — some kind of work...
927
00:53:26,663 --> 00:53:31,084
legal or otherwise,
but you have to work to sustain yourself.
928
00:53:32,878 --> 00:53:35,672
The legendary Tennille Dupree,
929
00:53:35,755 --> 00:53:39,593
and the father of the House of Ebony,
Max Debuciak,
930
00:53:40,093 --> 00:53:44,306
presents a night
of living hell and punishment...
931
00:53:45,307 --> 00:53:47,434
at the Imperial Elks Lodge,
932
00:53:47,517 --> 00:53:52,105
160 West 129th Street,
which is right here.
933
00:53:52,480 --> 00:53:55,108
Doors open at 5:00 a.m.
934
00:53:55,525 --> 00:53:58,403
Grand march is at 7:00 a.m.
935
00:54:01,448 --> 00:54:02,908
♪ Give me that house ♪
936
00:54:02,991 --> 00:54:06,202
The boys are usually later
because of the fact that
937
00:54:06,286 --> 00:54:09,331
we're waiting
for the working girls to get there.
938
00:54:10,373 --> 00:54:12,751
And what is it those girls are doing?
939
00:54:13,168 --> 00:54:16,504
Well, they're making money for the balls,
or they're making their costumes,
940
00:54:16,588 --> 00:54:20,675
their outfits, or, you know,
getting it together like that.
941
00:54:20,759 --> 00:54:22,677
What's their profession?
942
00:54:22,761 --> 00:54:24,888
Usually showgirls.
943
00:54:24,971 --> 00:54:27,182
- Usually, they're, you know, showgirls.
- Uh-huh.
944
00:54:27,265 --> 00:54:29,142
- You know.
- Anything else?
945
00:54:29,559 --> 00:54:32,520
Well, it depends. It depends.
946
00:54:32,604 --> 00:54:36,691
I don't know a lot of their professions,
but usually they're showgirls, usually.
947
00:54:37,776 --> 00:54:41,738
The thing that helped me make
my most money through the escort service
948
00:54:42,155 --> 00:54:44,074
is being that I'm so little.
949
00:54:44,157 --> 00:54:46,952
I'm so petite and tiny.
950
00:54:47,452 --> 00:54:48,453
Um...
951
00:54:48,536 --> 00:54:50,789
The blonde hair and the light skin,
952
00:54:51,581 --> 00:54:54,292
the green eyes and the little features.
953
00:54:54,376 --> 00:54:57,754
And the client's hands
will be bigger than my hands
954
00:54:57,837 --> 00:55:00,423
while they would hold my hand
or something.
955
00:55:00,507 --> 00:55:04,886
You know, they'd like feeling that they're
with something perfect and little,
956
00:55:05,720 --> 00:55:08,640
and not someone that's bigger than them,
957
00:55:08,723 --> 00:55:10,850
because I guess
that kind of disturbs them.
958
00:55:13,728 --> 00:55:16,940
Most all the drag queens
that are involved in the balls,
959
00:55:17,023 --> 00:55:20,360
say, 90% of them, are hustlers.
960
00:55:21,361 --> 00:55:22,988
I guess that's how they make their money
961
00:55:23,071 --> 00:55:26,282
to go to the balls
and get whatever they need and stuff.
962
00:55:26,366 --> 00:55:29,035
I used to hustle in New York
to make my money.
963
00:55:29,119 --> 00:55:32,622
I was with a guy,
and he was playing with my titties,
964
00:55:32,706 --> 00:55:34,582
until he touched me down there.
965
00:55:34,666 --> 00:55:37,752
He felt it and he seen it, and he, like,
totally flipped out.
966
00:55:38,503 --> 00:55:42,007
He said, "You fucking faggot.
You're a freak.
967
00:55:42,090 --> 00:55:44,759
You're a victim of AIDS,
and you're trying to give me AIDS.
968
00:55:44,843 --> 00:55:47,804
What, are you crazy?
You're a homo. I should kill you."
969
00:55:47,887 --> 00:55:50,056
You know, stuff like that.
970
00:55:50,140 --> 00:55:53,476
And, like, I was really... terrified.
971
00:55:53,560 --> 00:55:55,520
So I just jumped out the window.
972
00:55:55,937 --> 00:55:58,523
I grabbed my bag
and just jumped out the window.
973
00:55:58,606 --> 00:56:01,317
But see, now I don't like
to hustle anymore. I don't.
974
00:56:01,401 --> 00:56:06,656
And I'm afraid of what's going on,
the AIDS, and I don't want to catch it.
975
00:56:06,740 --> 00:56:10,285
Like later on this evening,
I'm supposed to meet someone,
976
00:56:10,368 --> 00:56:12,829
a friend of mine,
a very good old friend of mine.
977
00:56:12,912 --> 00:56:17,000
He's a young, very good, attractive,
handsome young man...
978
00:56:18,334 --> 00:56:22,881
and, um — he's taking me out to dinner
later on this evening
979
00:56:22,964 --> 00:56:26,134
or for cocktails after midnight.
980
00:56:26,551 --> 00:56:28,344
I know he'll give me some money...
981
00:56:29,345 --> 00:56:33,975
just for me to maybe
buy a pair of shoes and a nice dress.
982
00:56:34,059 --> 00:56:36,186
So that the next time he sees me...
983
00:56:38,021 --> 00:56:40,774
he'll see me looking
more and more beautiful...
984
00:56:41,566 --> 00:56:43,276
the way he wants to see me.
985
00:56:44,277 --> 00:56:48,239
But I don't have to go to bed with him
or anything like that.
986
00:56:48,615 --> 00:56:50,825
At times they do expect sexual favors,
987
00:56:50,909 --> 00:56:53,203
but that is between myself and them,
988
00:56:53,286 --> 00:56:58,374
so I do not wish
to further speak about that — if they do.
989
00:56:58,458 --> 00:57:01,586
But at most times, 99% of the time,
they don't.
990
00:57:02,921 --> 00:57:05,215
95% of the time, they don't.
991
00:57:06,716 --> 00:57:08,009
But I feel like...
992
00:57:10,428 --> 00:57:12,263
If you're married,
993
00:57:12,347 --> 00:57:14,682
a woman in the suburbs —
994
00:57:15,350 --> 00:57:19,187
a regular woman
that's married to her husband —
995
00:57:19,854 --> 00:57:24,692
and she wants him to buy her
a washer and dryer set.
996
00:57:25,777 --> 00:57:28,530
In order for him to buy that,
997
00:57:28,613 --> 00:57:31,032
I'm sure
she'd have to go to bed with him anyway
998
00:57:31,116 --> 00:57:34,702
to give him what he wants
for her to get what she wants.
999
00:57:35,662 --> 00:57:39,415
So, in the long run,
it all ends up the same way.
1000
00:57:45,171 --> 00:57:48,758
If money wasn't so important
in the world today...
1001
00:57:49,467 --> 00:57:50,969
to survive,
1002
00:57:51,386 --> 00:57:54,097
I guess I wouldn't want anything
but what I have now.
1003
00:57:55,807 --> 00:57:57,308
But since money does...
1004
00:57:58,434 --> 00:58:02,397
I hope that the way I look
puts money in my pocket.
1005
00:58:02,480 --> 00:58:03,940
You know?
1006
00:58:04,357 --> 00:58:08,194
I'm really working hard.
I'm gonna work even harder.
1007
00:58:09,612 --> 00:58:12,282
Yeah. There we are.
1008
00:58:13,366 --> 00:58:15,660
That is lovely. Still.
1009
00:58:16,077 --> 00:58:18,788
Great. Couldn't be better. There.
1010
00:58:18,872 --> 00:58:20,623
It's beautiful like that for the light,
when you kind of, you know,
1011
00:58:20,707 --> 00:58:21,958
do this to the light.
1012
00:58:22,041 --> 00:58:25,170
I want people to look at me as
there's the model Octavia.
1013
00:58:25,253 --> 00:58:27,046
There's the actress Octavia.
1014
00:58:27,130 --> 00:58:30,133
There's
Miss Supermodel of the World Octavia.
1015
00:58:30,216 --> 00:58:32,760
Is this endless, this catalog of poses?
1016
00:58:32,844 --> 00:58:34,846
I could keep going longer than you could.
1017
00:58:35,889 --> 00:58:38,474
Yeah, just there. Mm-hmm.
1018
00:58:38,558 --> 00:58:43,146
I don't want to end up an old drag queen
1019
00:58:43,229 --> 00:58:46,733
with nothing going for me
but trying to win grand prize at a ball.
1020
00:58:47,150 --> 00:58:49,319
Yeah, no.
Back a little bit like you did.
1021
00:58:49,402 --> 00:58:50,778
Yes, that.
1022
00:58:50,862 --> 00:58:54,324
Twisting a little bit more to the light,
just coming around. Yeah, right.
1023
00:58:54,741 --> 00:58:56,034
Couldn't be better.
1024
00:58:56,743 --> 00:58:59,037
I don't think
the world has been fair to me.
1025
00:58:59,829 --> 00:59:02,582
- Not yet, anyway.
- Lovely. Lovely.
1026
00:59:04,500 --> 00:59:07,462
I've been a man,
and I've been a man who emulated a woman.
1027
00:59:07,545 --> 00:59:09,214
I've never been a woman.
1028
00:59:09,297 --> 00:59:13,051
I never... had that service once a month.
1029
00:59:13,635 --> 00:59:15,178
I've never been pregnant.
1030
00:59:15,261 --> 00:59:17,305
You know,
I can never say how a woman feels.
1031
00:59:17,388 --> 00:59:21,726
I can only say how a man who acts like
a woman or dresses like a woman feels.
1032
00:59:21,809 --> 00:59:23,603
I never wanted to have a sex change.
1033
00:59:23,686 --> 00:59:26,814
That's just taking it a little too far,
you know?
1034
00:59:27,232 --> 00:59:30,401
Because if you decide later on in life
to change your mind, you can't.
1035
00:59:30,485 --> 00:59:31,778
Once it's gone, it's gone.
1036
00:59:32,278 --> 00:59:35,490
A lot of kids that I know,
they got the sex change because they felt,
1037
00:59:35,573 --> 00:59:38,660
"Oh, I've been treated so bad
as a drag queen.
1038
00:59:39,077 --> 00:59:43,248
If I get a pussy," excuse the expression,
"I'll be treated fabulous."
1039
00:59:43,665 --> 00:59:45,291
But women get treated bad.
1040
00:59:45,708 --> 00:59:49,003
You know, they get beat, they get robbed,
they get dogged.
1041
00:59:49,087 --> 00:59:51,422
So having the vagina,
1042
00:59:51,506 --> 00:59:54,092
that doesn't mean
that you're gonna have a fabulous life.
1043
00:59:54,175 --> 00:59:56,719
It might, in fact, be worse. You know?
1044
00:59:56,803 --> 00:59:59,931
So I've never recommended it, and I myself
would have never, ever got it,
1045
01:00:00,014 --> 01:00:02,475
and I'm so thankful that I was that smart.
1046
01:00:02,558 --> 01:00:04,519
Because right about now,
1047
01:00:04,936 --> 01:00:09,232
this next 40 or so years
that I'm gonna be here, I'm gonna live.
1048
01:00:09,315 --> 01:00:12,735
And for those children that can't take
the fact that I still look youthful, ha!
1049
01:00:12,819 --> 01:00:13,820
Suffer.
1050
01:00:13,903 --> 01:00:17,407
No bags, no lines. Lovely.
1051
01:00:18,283 --> 01:00:19,450
Don't fall.
1052
01:00:22,495 --> 01:00:25,540
America's nice. You can do
what you want if you have the money.
1053
01:00:25,623 --> 01:00:28,584
You can be what you want,
certainly, Look at me.
1054
01:00:30,253 --> 01:00:36,426
In '84...
I've had a nose reconstructed job.
1055
01:00:36,843 --> 01:00:38,428
I've had my cheekbones risen.
1056
01:00:38,511 --> 01:00:41,931
I've had a chin implant
and breast implants.
1057
01:00:42,015 --> 01:00:43,599
Yes. Tell them like it is.
1058
01:00:43,683 --> 01:00:49,605
The most important factor in my life
that has been completed recently
1059
01:00:49,689 --> 01:00:52,608
is that
I've had a transsexualism operation.
1060
01:00:52,692 --> 01:00:56,070
That means I've had a sex change.
I'm no longer a man.
1061
01:00:56,696 --> 01:00:59,407
I am a woman. I feel great.
1062
01:01:00,908 --> 01:01:02,994
- I'm very happy.
- She has to rub it in.
1063
01:01:03,828 --> 01:01:08,458
And I feel like the part of my life
that was a secret is now closed.
1064
01:01:08,541 --> 01:01:09,917
- For now.
- I can close the closet door.
1065
01:01:10,001 --> 01:01:11,919
There are no more skeletons in there.
1066
01:01:12,337 --> 01:01:16,632
And I'm as free as the wind
that's blowing out on this beach.
1067
01:01:21,679 --> 01:01:24,640
Except that voice is still there.
1068
01:01:26,017 --> 01:01:28,478
- Ah!
- As free as this beach.
1069
01:01:29,604 --> 01:01:32,190
♪ I am what I am ♪
1070
01:01:32,273 --> 01:01:36,319
♪ I am my own special creation ♪
1071
01:01:38,363 --> 01:01:41,199
A free gift today at the Dior counter.
1072
01:01:41,282 --> 01:01:43,409
Sample Poison by Dior, ladies.
1073
01:01:43,910 --> 01:01:47,246
Sample the elegance today. Poison by Dior.
1074
01:01:47,622 --> 01:01:50,166
- Can I sample it?
- Yes.
1075
01:01:50,249 --> 01:01:51,918
Dior's Poison.
1076
01:01:53,669 --> 01:01:55,296
- Very nice.
- Delicious, yes?
1077
01:01:59,384 --> 01:02:01,803
Folks, please keep moving.
We're trying to keep the aisles clear.
1078
01:02:01,886 --> 01:02:03,388
Please keep moving.
1079
01:02:04,722 --> 01:02:07,266
The Ford search
for the Supermodel of the Year,
1080
01:02:07,350 --> 01:02:09,435
the seventh search of this type.
1081
01:02:09,519 --> 01:02:12,313
Mrs. Ford is here
with two of her top models,
1082
01:02:12,397 --> 01:02:14,565
and we're interviewing candidates
1083
01:02:14,649 --> 01:02:17,568
who hope to become
the Supermodel of the Year.
1084
01:02:17,652 --> 01:02:20,321
Clients like models who will be helpful,
1085
01:02:20,780 --> 01:02:23,491
who never say the clothes are terrible
even if they are.
1086
01:02:23,574 --> 01:02:25,910
Because after all,
not everything is perfect.
1087
01:02:26,661 --> 01:02:30,915
They have to make the least
perfect of clothes look like a Dior.
1088
01:02:31,999 --> 01:02:36,129
And so that they can't just say,
"That's the worst thing I've ever seen."
1089
01:02:37,213 --> 01:02:41,634
They have to make it look good.
They have to be very, very cooperative.
1090
01:02:41,717 --> 01:02:45,430
And they have to be cheerful. Nobody likes
to go in and hear your troubles, you know.
1091
01:02:45,513 --> 01:02:46,889
When people ask how you feel,
1092
01:02:46,973 --> 01:02:49,392
don't tell them if you're sick,
'cause they don't really care.
1093
01:02:49,475 --> 01:02:52,645
- And then you drop it off...
- Three, two, one.
1094
01:02:52,728 --> 01:02:55,398
But while the faces of the '80s
stood on line,
1095
01:02:55,481 --> 01:02:57,442
the feet of the '80s did some waiting.
1096
01:02:57,525 --> 01:03:01,028
Half an hour and round the block,
all the way to Third Avenue.
1097
01:03:01,112 --> 01:03:05,241
One of these young ladies could become
the Supermodel of the World.
1098
01:03:05,324 --> 01:03:06,325
Exciting?
1099
01:03:08,453 --> 01:03:09,454
Try again.
1100
01:03:11,831 --> 01:03:16,586
How does this type of thing square
with women's lib?
1101
01:03:17,962 --> 01:03:19,422
What about men?
Do they take you seriously?
1102
01:03:19,505 --> 01:03:22,884
Or when they hear you're a model,
how does their reaction change to you?
1103
01:03:22,967 --> 01:03:27,096
What about, like I asked before, does this
square with the women's lib movement?
1104
01:03:27,638 --> 01:03:31,434
Can I have a few of you over here?
Okay. Can I have a few more women?
1105
01:03:31,517 --> 01:03:32,977
- How you doin'?
- Good. How are you?
1106
01:03:33,060 --> 01:03:35,188
Fine. Nice to meet you too. I'm Shari.
1107
01:03:35,271 --> 01:03:38,316
- Shari, my name's Janet.
- Hi, Janet. So you want to be a model?
1108
01:03:38,399 --> 01:03:40,526
- Yes.
- So you need an application.
1109
01:03:40,610 --> 01:03:44,572
Actually, I was in this contest.
That's how I started. That's me.
1110
01:03:44,655 --> 01:03:45,781
- I can't believe that.
- Yeah.
1111
01:03:45,865 --> 01:03:47,658
- That's five years ago.
- You still look great.
1112
01:03:47,742 --> 01:03:48,743
Thanks a lot.
1113
01:03:48,826 --> 01:03:52,497
We look at 75,000 pictures.
I mean, well, you know,
1114
01:03:52,580 --> 01:03:55,625
that's the average amount that
we look at each contest.
1115
01:03:56,083 --> 01:04:00,171
What have girls become? Are they the same?
How are they different?
1116
01:04:00,254 --> 01:04:04,675
Girls are not different...
from yesterday or the day before.
1117
01:04:04,759 --> 01:04:07,595
Everybody who's young
has a hope and a dream...
1118
01:04:08,596 --> 01:04:12,391
and I don't think that it's ever been
any different in the history of the world.
1119
01:04:15,645 --> 01:04:18,356
I believe that
there's a big future out there...
1120
01:04:19,398 --> 01:04:21,734
with a lot of beautiful things.
1121
01:04:22,902 --> 01:04:24,403
Lot of handsome men.
1122
01:04:25,738 --> 01:04:26,906
Lot of luxury.
1123
01:04:28,658 --> 01:04:30,076
I want a car.
1124
01:04:30,910 --> 01:04:32,828
I want be with the man I love.
1125
01:04:33,454 --> 01:04:40,169
I want a nice home away from New York,
up the Peekskills, or maybe in Florida.
1126
01:04:40,253 --> 01:04:42,171
Somewhere far, where no one knows me.
1127
01:04:42,880 --> 01:04:44,674
I want my sex change.
1128
01:04:45,841 --> 01:04:48,219
I wanna live a normal, happy life,
1129
01:04:48,302 --> 01:04:52,098
whether it's...
being married and adopting children,
1130
01:04:52,181 --> 01:04:55,476
whether it's being famous and rich.
1131
01:04:57,311 --> 01:05:00,147
I want to get married in church in white.
1132
01:05:01,857 --> 01:05:05,570
Sometimes I sit and I look at a magazine.
I try to imagine myself
1133
01:05:05,653 --> 01:05:09,031
in the front cover, or even inside.
1134
01:05:10,616 --> 01:05:12,952
I want to be a complete woman,
1135
01:05:13,035 --> 01:05:16,998
and I want to be a professional model
behind cameras
1136
01:05:17,790 --> 01:05:19,709
in the high fashion world.
1137
01:05:20,918 --> 01:05:23,170
I want so much more. I want...
1138
01:05:24,297 --> 01:05:29,010
I want my name to be a household product.
1139
01:05:29,510 --> 01:05:33,764
I want everybody to look at me and say,
"There goes Octavia."
1140
01:05:34,682 --> 01:05:37,226
I want this. This is what I want.
1141
01:05:38,185 --> 01:05:40,104
And I'm gonna go for it.
1142
01:05:50,364 --> 01:05:55,828
Amy... Xtrava... ganza!
1143
01:05:58,456 --> 01:06:01,792
Amy Xtravaganza!
1144
01:06:02,710 --> 01:06:03,753
Swinging...
1145
01:06:04,670 --> 01:06:05,796
vogue.
1146
01:06:09,091 --> 01:06:13,095
Vogue. Vogue. Vogue. Vogue.
1147
01:06:13,179 --> 01:06:16,307
Amy Xtrav...
1148
01:06:16,932 --> 01:06:20,895
Previously, I introduced, uh, rap music,
1149
01:06:21,520 --> 01:06:23,439
along with the dancing
1150
01:06:23,522 --> 01:06:25,775
to Japanese people,
1151
01:06:25,858 --> 01:06:28,152
and they really loved it.
1152
01:06:28,235 --> 01:06:30,613
This, ladies and gentlemen, is voguing,
1153
01:06:30,696 --> 01:06:33,199
a form of dance
that has its roots in Harlem,
1154
01:06:33,616 --> 01:06:37,703
a takeoff on runway modeling, which
they had plenty of last night as well.
1155
01:06:38,746 --> 01:06:42,708
Voguing is an attitude, a style.
1156
01:06:42,792 --> 01:06:44,335
It's — It's...
1157
01:06:44,418 --> 01:06:48,589
Kind of an institutionalized showing off.
But not without its entertainment value.
1158
01:06:48,673 --> 01:06:53,636
It's something very spectacular.
Very important art form. Very important.
1159
01:06:53,719 --> 01:06:58,599
It's just so theatrical.
And the energy. Oh, it's just terrific.
1160
01:06:58,683 --> 01:07:01,185
In addition to perhaps
putting voguing in vogue,
1161
01:07:01,268 --> 01:07:05,064
this love ball, sponsored by
the Design Industries Foundation for AIDS,
1162
01:07:05,147 --> 01:07:07,566
raised more than $350, 000
1163
01:07:07,650 --> 01:07:10,695
for research and housing
for the homeless who have AIDS.
1164
01:07:11,028 --> 01:07:13,906
And I had never seen
anything quite like it.
1165
01:07:13,989 --> 01:07:16,617
And I'm Connie Collins, News 4, Manhattan.
1166
01:07:17,451 --> 01:07:21,580
Two years ago,
I was working in a health food store,
1167
01:07:21,997 --> 01:07:25,376
still teaching,
and trying to perform on my own.
1168
01:07:25,459 --> 01:07:26,877
Well, now —
1169
01:07:26,961 --> 01:07:30,589
my foot is, like, in every little doorstep
that you can think of.
1170
01:07:31,340 --> 01:07:35,803
Um... I'm doing a lot of runway work.
1171
01:07:35,886 --> 01:07:40,307
I'm dancing, performing for
Malcolm McLaren, various other people,
1172
01:07:40,391 --> 01:07:43,769
doing choreography,
helping people put their shows together.
1173
01:07:44,562 --> 01:07:45,646
So it's going very good.
1174
01:07:45,730 --> 01:07:48,774
♪ It wasn't easy
No one, two, three ♪
1175
01:07:48,858 --> 01:07:52,236
This earring that I have here is...
I bought this in Japan.
1176
01:07:52,319 --> 01:07:54,905
As you can see, it says "House Couture."
1177
01:07:54,989 --> 01:07:57,116
I can't read the rest of it.
It has a scissor,
1178
01:07:57,199 --> 01:08:00,119
and it has "Junior Gaultier '89" on there,
of course.
1179
01:08:00,202 --> 01:08:03,622
That's the Gaultier label emblem.
I bought it, mind you.
1180
01:08:03,706 --> 01:08:07,251
I have the receipt still.
Where? I don't know, but I bought it.
1181
01:08:07,334 --> 01:08:09,336
♪ Deep in vogue ♪
1182
01:08:11,464 --> 01:08:13,549
♪ Deep in vogue ♪
1183
01:08:13,632 --> 01:08:18,512
The balls have kind of gotten
toned down compared to what it used to be.
1184
01:08:19,013 --> 01:08:23,350
Now when I tell people what it is,
and they go and it's not what they expect,
1185
01:08:23,434 --> 01:08:26,479
you know, it's like they feel a little bit
of a letdown, you know?
1186
01:08:26,562 --> 01:08:29,440
And they say, "Oh, it was long,
it was dragged out, it was boring."
1187
01:08:29,523 --> 01:08:31,525
Okay, the balls are always long
and dragged out,
1188
01:08:31,609 --> 01:08:32,943
but they were never boring.
1189
01:08:33,569 --> 01:08:36,071
I really do kind of miss
the street element.
1190
01:08:36,155 --> 01:08:38,199
I mean, but everything changes,
1191
01:08:38,282 --> 01:08:41,994
and — and everything's been changing
drastically, you know.
1192
01:08:42,077 --> 01:08:46,707
Um... New York's not even the same —
anymore.
1193
01:08:48,375 --> 01:08:51,837
♪ I gotta have you every day
In my doggone life ♪
1194
01:08:51,921 --> 01:08:56,509
♪ It's not over
Baby, baby, baby... ♪
1195
01:09:09,188 --> 01:09:11,440
♪ I want to shout... ♪
1196
01:09:14,527 --> 01:09:16,862
I always said to her,
"Venus, you take too many chances.
1197
01:09:16,946 --> 01:09:18,739
You're too wild with
people in the streets.
1198
01:09:18,823 --> 01:09:21,742
Something is gonna happen to you."
But that was Venus.
1199
01:09:21,826 --> 01:09:24,620
She always took a chance.
She always went into strangers' cars.
1200
01:09:24,703 --> 01:09:28,457
She always did what she wanted
to get what she wanted.
1201
01:09:30,543 --> 01:09:33,754
I had a booking
for a Christmas show at Sally's,
1202
01:09:33,838 --> 01:09:37,716
and the DT's came to me
with a picture of her, murdered,
1203
01:09:37,800 --> 01:09:41,887
and they were about to cremate her
'cause nobody had came to verify the body,
1204
01:09:41,971 --> 01:09:46,141
and I was the one that had to give
all this information down to her family.
1205
01:09:46,642 --> 01:09:48,853
Actually,
they found her dead after four days,
1206
01:09:48,978 --> 01:09:52,439
strangled under a bed in a sleazy hotel
in New York City.
1207
01:09:52,523 --> 01:09:53,858
I'm hungry.
1208
01:09:54,275 --> 01:09:56,402
We use to get dressed together,
call each other,
1209
01:09:56,485 --> 01:09:59,738
and say what we were gonna wear,
and, you know, she was like my right hand,
1210
01:09:59,822 --> 01:10:00,823
as far as I'm concerned.
1211
01:10:00,906 --> 01:10:03,367
I miss her.
Every time I go anywhere, I miss her.
1212
01:10:03,826 --> 01:10:04,994
That was my main...
1213
01:10:05,744 --> 01:10:07,746
the main daughter of my house,
in other words.
1214
01:10:08,247 --> 01:10:09,957
But that's part of life,
1215
01:10:10,040 --> 01:10:13,669
as far as being a transsexual
in New York City and surviving.
1216
01:10:19,925 --> 01:10:22,344
I always had hopes of being a big star.
1217
01:10:26,265 --> 01:10:29,727
And then I looked.
As you get older, you aim a little lower.
1218
01:10:30,769 --> 01:10:33,981
And I just say, "Well, yeah,
you still might make an impression."
1219
01:10:34,064 --> 01:10:36,442
Everybody wants to leave
something behind them,
1220
01:10:36,525 --> 01:10:38,944
some impression, some mark upon the world.
1221
01:10:40,112 --> 01:10:41,196
And then you think...
1222
01:10:42,448 --> 01:10:44,283
you've left a mark on the world...
1223
01:10:47,745 --> 01:10:49,204
if you just get through it...
1224
01:10:52,583 --> 01:10:54,668
and a few people remember your name.
1225
01:10:56,295 --> 01:10:57,588
Then you left a mark.
1226
01:11:00,925 --> 01:11:02,885
You don't have to bend the whole world.
1227
01:11:05,804 --> 01:11:07,932
I think it's better to just enjoy it.
1228
01:11:12,061 --> 01:11:13,228
Pay your dues...
1229
01:11:15,397 --> 01:11:16,690
and enjoy it.
1230
01:11:18,859 --> 01:11:21,570
If you shoot a arrow
and it goes real high...
1231
01:11:22,613 --> 01:11:23,948
hooray for you.
1232
01:11:41,548 --> 01:11:44,802
♪ What you think-ah ♪
1233
01:11:46,011 --> 01:11:48,931
♪ What you feel now ♪
1234
01:11:50,265 --> 01:11:52,810
♪ What you know-ah ♪
1235
01:11:54,103 --> 01:11:55,729
♪ To be real ♪
1236
01:11:58,357 --> 01:12:01,110
♪ What you think-ah ♪
1237
01:12:01,652 --> 01:12:06,031
- ♪ I think I love you, baby ♪
- ♪ What you feel now ♪
1238
01:12:06,115 --> 01:12:10,953
Bring the cameras closer, Mr. DeMille.
I'm ready for my close-up. And so...
1239
01:12:11,036 --> 01:12:12,871
♪ To be real ♪
1240
01:12:15,916 --> 01:12:19,086
♪ Ooh ♪
1241
01:12:19,169 --> 01:12:22,548
♪ Your love's for real now ♪
1242
01:12:23,007 --> 01:12:28,429
♪ You know that your love is my love
My love is your love ♪
1243
01:12:28,512 --> 01:12:30,848
♪ Our love is here to stay ♪
1244
01:12:30,931 --> 01:12:33,267
Okay, Winter Sportswear.
1245
01:12:33,726 --> 01:12:39,648
Preferably fur, but if not, you know,
in error, you can... natural fibers. If —
1246
01:12:39,732 --> 01:12:43,694
If you choose the polyester, God help you.
You know how the children are.
1247
01:12:43,777 --> 01:12:46,280
♪ To be real ♪
1248
01:12:49,491 --> 01:12:52,411
♪ Ooh ♪
1249
01:12:52,494 --> 01:12:56,373
♪ Your love's for real now ♪
1250
01:12:56,457 --> 01:12:59,585
♪ You know that your love is my love ♪
1251
01:12:59,668 --> 01:13:01,920
♪ And my love is your love ♪
1252
01:13:02,004 --> 01:13:04,631
♪ Our love is here to stay... ♪
1253
01:13:04,715 --> 01:13:07,593
Okay, you add "U-G"
at the end of your word, right?
1254
01:13:08,010 --> 01:13:09,970
But you have to take off the first letter,
1255
01:13:10,054 --> 01:13:12,598
or the first letters,
until you get into a vowel.
1256
01:13:12,681 --> 01:13:14,600
♪ What you feel now ♪
1257
01:13:20,105 --> 01:13:21,648
♪ To be real ♪
1258
01:13:24,401 --> 01:13:27,029
♪ What you think-ah ♪
1259
01:13:27,112 --> 01:13:28,822
♪ I think I love you ♪
1260
01:13:28,906 --> 01:13:31,200
♪ What you feel now ♪
1261
01:13:31,283 --> 01:13:32,826
♪ I feel I need you ♪
1262
01:13:32,910 --> 01:13:35,829
♪ What you know-ah ♪
1263
01:13:36,997 --> 01:13:38,457
♪ To be real ♪
1264
01:13:38,540 --> 01:13:41,126
♪ It's got to be real ♪
1265
01:13:41,210 --> 01:13:42,669
♪ To be real ♪
1266
01:13:42,753 --> 01:13:45,255
♪ It's got to be real ♪
1267
01:13:45,339 --> 01:13:51,929
♪ To be real ♪
1268
01:13:56,892 --> 01:14:00,187
I'm not looking for anything.
I think all men are dogs.
1269
01:14:00,604 --> 01:14:01,605
I honestly do.
1270
01:14:02,397 --> 01:14:04,942
You know,
every man starts barking sooner or later.
1271
01:14:10,197 --> 01:14:11,615
I'm a quiet person.
1272
01:14:12,741 --> 01:14:16,036
And if you believe that, you know,
I own that island right over there too.
1273
01:14:16,328 --> 01:14:19,373
♪ What you feel now ♪
1274
01:14:20,415 --> 01:14:23,460
♪ What you know-ah ♪
1275
01:14:24,128 --> 01:14:26,088
♪ To be real ♪
1276
01:14:28,257 --> 01:14:30,926
♪ What you think-ah ♪
1277
01:14:32,761 --> 01:14:35,139
♪ What you feel now ♪
1278
01:14:37,141 --> 01:14:39,977
♪ What you know-ah ♪
1279
01:14:40,978 --> 01:14:42,354
♪ To be real ♪
1280
01:14:42,437 --> 01:14:45,023
♪ Oh, yeah, yeah, ha! ♪
1281
01:14:45,107 --> 01:14:46,567
♪ To be real ♪
1282
01:14:49,778 --> 01:14:56,785
♪ Somewhere over the rainbow ♪
1283
01:14:58,370 --> 01:15:01,915
♪ Skies are blue ♪
1284
01:15:01,999 --> 01:15:03,917
They want to be with their kind.
1285
01:15:04,334 --> 01:15:06,170
- Right.
- They want to be gay-gay.
1286
01:15:06,253 --> 01:15:08,755
It's probably, like, just like,
just all right.
1287
01:15:08,839 --> 01:15:10,716
Just like, again, just like a community.
1288
01:15:11,300 --> 01:15:15,012
In a religious community,
they want to pray together a lot, right?
1289
01:15:15,095 --> 01:15:18,765
- I suppose.
- Well, this gay community might wanna...
1290
01:15:19,349 --> 01:15:22,477
Or-Or they, like, wanna be together.
1291
01:15:23,562 --> 01:15:28,192
♪ Someday I wish upon a star ♪
1292
01:15:29,026 --> 01:15:32,529
♪ And wake up where the clouds are far ♪
1293
01:15:33,530 --> 01:15:36,617
♪ Behind me ♪
1294
01:15:46,793 --> 01:15:50,672
♪ Way up on the chimney tops ♪
1295
01:15:51,465 --> 01:15:53,675
- ♪ That's where... ♪
- That's where...
1296
01:15:53,759 --> 01:15:57,679
♪ That's where you'll find... ♪
1297
01:15:57,763 --> 01:16:00,682
All right! All right!
1298
01:16:04,144 --> 01:16:06,438
All right!
1299
01:16:10,776 --> 01:16:12,027
Go ahead!
1300
01:16:12,110 --> 01:16:15,906
♪ Way up high ♪
1301
01:16:24,915 --> 01:16:26,541
♪ Rainbow... ♪
1302
01:16:26,625 --> 01:16:28,543
Work at it! Work!
1303
01:16:29,544 --> 01:16:31,046
♪ Oh ♪
1304
01:16:33,715 --> 01:16:36,718
All right!
1305
01:16:50,190 --> 01:16:53,735
♪ Over the rainbow ♪
1306
01:17:01,076 --> 01:17:05,330
So this is New York City,
and this is what the gay life is about.
1307
01:17:06,373 --> 01:17:07,958
- Right.
- Right?