S9E2: Dorian Corey
Many people in our audience will have seen Jennie Livingston’s 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning, an exploration of Black and Latinx ball culture in New York City. One of the film’s primary interview interlocutors is Dorian Corey, who is one of the film’s most quotable characters. Corey's life helps us explore the history of drag from balls for enslaved people in the 1870s to today. And did you know that Corey knew, during all those serene interviews in Paris Is Burning, that the man she had murdered in self-defense and not trusted police to handle it (would you?) was mummified in the closet behind her.
Many people in our audience will have seen Jennie Livingston’s 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning, an exploration of Black and Latinx ball culture in New York City. One of the film’s primary interview interlocutors is Dorian Corey, who is one of the film’s most quotable characters. Corey's life helps us explore the history of drag from balls for enslaved people in the 1870s to today. And did you know that Corey knew, during all those serene interviews in Paris Is Burning, that the man she had murdered in self-defense and not trusted police to handle it (would you?) was mummified in the closet behind her.
SOURCES:
https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19931218/1737662/deceased-drag-show-star-leaves-mummy-mystery-behind-in-closet
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/24/burning-down-the-house-debate-paris-is-burning
https://files.eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/5381/2016/06/16101213/hooks_paris-is-burning.pdf
https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/18/style/paris-has-burned.html
https://www.swervmagazine.com/entertainment-2/pioneers/
https://queermusicheritage.com/drag-pearl.html
https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/November-2005/The-Gay-30S/
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/drag-queen-slave-ball/
https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/the-legendary-hamilton-lodge-ball-home-at-the-rockland-palace-dance-hall-in-harlem/
https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/queens-and-queers-rise-drag-ball-culture-1920s
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2935316?seq=1
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/24/burning-down-the-house-debate-paris-is-burning
https://zagria.blogspot.com/2010/08/dorian-corey-1937-1993-performer.html
Our intro music is Arpeggia Colorix by Yann Terrien. Our outro music is by DJ Michaeloswell Graphicdesigner.