Trust me, chickens. This one will sear into your memory till you’re six inches under. It’s Daytona Beach drag star Billie Boots, who may have been toothless but she was far from charmless. Billie–captured here in the documentary Queens For a Night–was sort of like Ursula from The Little Mermaid after a very rough night. But with that eye makeup and that impish hag appeal, she made many others’ nights go down way easier.
According to my friend Angelo, “Billie was magic. A standard part of her act was taking her dentures out onstage. She was so old and feeble when I caught her act in the late ’90s that she had to hang on to a pole for support for her numbers, which typically included lip-synching routines from Phyllis Diller‘s 60s comedy albums.” And yet…this Boots was made for walking onstage. Brava!