Gods and movie aliens

 Did you see the lunar eclipse a few nights ago? It's always an amazing sight. Here the sky was hazy at first and I couldn't see anything until a brick-red ball emerged eerily from the murk. Later, when the eclipse was over, the sky was totally clear and the full moon was very bright, illuminating everything in its characteristic milky light. 

For thousands of years the moon was associated with femininity in most cultures. Then Galileo had the idea of pointing a new-fangled device called a telescope at the moon 400+ years ago and realised that the features were mountains and craters, not some arcane pattern of patches with divine significance, and so we entered the age of science, which was great for reducing superstition. Yet I couldn't help recalling the association between the moon and femininity, and as it was a warm night and I was dressed just in a T-shirt and light skirt, I imagined how a MtF trans person in an age before Galileo might have appreciated the moonlight shining on them. Maybe as a divine endorsement or spiritual uplift or blessing for their femininity. Ah well, science has many benefits, but maybe we have lost a little mystique in the process. 

Not to mention some amazing dress sense!

 

This lady, painted in in the same decade Galileo first looked at the sky, may be trying to emulate the full moon! And that's one statement frock she's got. Do you think we've also lost something in the intervening eras now that we're into sweatshop-made tee-shirts, cheap leggings and imitation leather accessories? Possibly.

 

Rocky horror

A news feature this week reminded me that the Rocky Horror Picture Show was first released fifty years ago, in the UK in August and in the US in September 1975. 

It flopped. 

But like a lot of initial flops, it gradually became a cult. Midnight screenings, attracting a more alternative audience, became a phenomenon, with audiences turning up dressed as the characters, bearing props and with their own well-rehearsed heckles. 

Yes, the musical was a tribute to horror and sci-fi B-movies and the glam rock of the early '70s, and the crossdressing/trans element was not initially supposed to be that prominent, but the message of tolerance and freedom to be who you are was always clear. A weird way to celebrate personal authenticity and autonomy, but hey, there's hardly been a more popular stage show or film. The film is the longest continuously running film in history, and arguably the biggest cult movie.

I have the DVD and it's one of my favourites. I've never seen the film at the cinema, but I did go to the stage show with a girlfriend. I wanted to dress as Magenta the maid but this was frowned upon as my girlfriend at the time had her own intentions that way ... and very sexy she looked, too. But no, I had to go as a male - but I thought it was a suitable twist that my role in a crossdressing audience, when I dress as a woman every day, should be to dress male (a sort of vampiric one - she chose my outfit).

Anyway, thanks to fifty years of musical whackiness for helping to get the message across to so many.

 

Another old crossdressing comedy 

In the unique repository of crossdressing history and culture that is Stana's inimitable blog, Femulate, she posted a still the other day from the 1909 short film, How Percy Won the Beauty Competition, a seven-minute music-hall style romp typical of the era, directed by and starring Alf Collins as Percy, which you can watch here:

 

There are innumerable films, plays and stage entertainments from the first half of the twentieth century that include crossdressing and female impersonation, and I have often wondered if the phenomenon was as much connected with trans people finding an outlet for their needs through stagecraft as audiences merely wanting entertainment. 

Anyway, this short movie caught my eye more than most because the second and third scenes show Percy outside the Charles Fox wig and makeup theatrical store in central London, where many of us TGirls have got our supplies such as foundation, beard reducer, makeup brushes, etc. I knew them when they were in Tavistock Street but since first being established in 1878 they have had many other addresses in London's theatre district. I think in this film that this is the shop as it was in nearby Wellington Street. And what a bold frontage and display it had at the time! 

 

There's a characteristic Renault taxi of the era in this still, too. 

Percy doesn't seem to be the only CD in the beauty contest, which has none of the swimsuit and talent rounds that bedevil such competitions nowadays! Percy therefore wins through elegance, femininity and charming the judges, a lesson for every aspiring CD! But then ... The Benny Hill style chase scenes - which the actors and actresses are obviously enjoying a bit too much for realism - are shot in Dulwich, rather a new suburb at the time. 

If you like period costumes and huge bonnets, this is the movie for you. Bring back big hats, I say! For a history of Charles Fox, there's this item online, with photos: Layers of London.

(Ah well, I guess you can take the girl out of London, but you can't take London out of the girl! The theatre district of London was very much my old stamping ground.)

 

Riviera life

Back to nowadays and the riviera where I now live, where we've had a near perfect summer. It's been a wet and horrible summer elsewhere in the Alps but Sanremo Bay is very sheltered and the cool air from the rain-sodden mountains has tempered the heat of summer blowing up from Africa to make the last couple of months a real treat. The official "summer seaside season" traditionally ends on September 15th when the last holidaymakers have returned to work and school, so I'm making the most of the last few days of the outdoor swimming pool. 

I'm glad I rid myself of body hair to be more feminine this year. Despite the maintenance, I've felt a lot happier for it. Tomorrow evening there should be a little party at the pool, although the weather gods feel like spoiling it by scheduling a thunderstorm at the same time. I shall have to get some more bubbly wine and some nibbles for it. I don't keep wine in the house these days because it makes me fat! And after that, when baring my feet in public is no longer a thing, I shall repaint my toenails. I love having painted nails.

The other week's Creature Feature mentioned a gecko who'd moved to my ceiling for some days. I met him, or an identical friend, scuttling under the front door on my return from Milan, and several more outside the back door since. It's either the same one getting about a lot, or there's a whole bunch of them. They're welcome, though. Bugs don't stand a chance!

Have a good weekend.

Sue x