Cockette Closeup/Redux C

Cockette Closeup/Redux Cn 1972, Roger Anderson photographed the Cockettes backstage at the Palace Theatre as they mounted gender bending musical productions Pearls Over Shanghai, Hot Greeks and Vice Palace. The flamboyant Cockettes came out of artistic and theatrical communes in San Francisco and featured gay men, women and babies dripping in glitter and vintage drag. Soon after Anderson completed his photography behind the scenes, the Cockettes broke up and moved on to

n 1972, Roger Anderson photographed the Cockettes backstage at the Palace Theatre as they mounted gender-bending musical productions Pearls Over Shanghai, Hot Greeks and Vice Palace. The flamboyant Cockettes came out of artistic and theatrical communes in San Francisco and featured gay men, women and babies dripping in glitter and vintage drag. Soon after Anderson completed his photography behind the scenes, the Cockettes broke up and moved on to separate projects (Sylvester went on to singing fame in the Disco era). His negatives remained archived for nearly forty years and are published here for the first time. In 2008, San Franciscan theater troupe The Thrillpeddlers began mounting revivals of the three major Cockette musicals in collaboration with original Cockette Scrumbly, who was the musical director. David Wilson documented today's actors in their dressing rooms and at rehearsals as a companion project to Anderson's work. Also included are Lyrics from the productions by Link Martin & Martin Worman.