News
The gun had been lying there in the desert for some days when the oil worker found it. At first, he figured he'd keep it — but a few days later, he decided he'd better alert the police. Good thing he did, too, because that gun had put a fatal bullet in a man not long before.
From the 1930s through the 1950s, female impersonator Rae Bourbon prospered. He played sold-out houses with his so-called “pansy shows,” like “Boys Will Be Girls” and “Don't Call Me Madam,” in nightclubs on both the east and west coasts, and even in Salt Lake City and Cripple Creek, Colo.
In 1934, he first teamed with musicians Bob Wright and “Chet” Forrest, who would go on to write the music for popular Broadway productions like “Song of Norway” and “Kismet” (the latter including the old standard, “Stranger in Paradise”). Later, Bourbon was accompanied by Bart Howard, the pianist who, in 1954, gave the world “Fly Me to the Moon.” His shows were so successful that he eventually brought “Don't Call Me Madam” to Carnegie Hall. But Bourbon's success came at a price.
Due to the nature of his act, his shows were often raided by police, and Bourbon spent many nights in jail for appearing in drag. During the 1940s, Bourbon also appeared in the stage productions of his good friend, actress Mae West. A couple decades later, though, Bourbon's style of humor had fallen out of favor, and his career was faltering. His final show, “Daddy Was a Lady,” consisted of drag routines interspersed with an animal act in which Bourbon's 65 dogs -- many dyed different colors — would urinate on cue.
It was while traveling with his dogs to another show that Bourbon's car broke down outside Big Springs, Texas. Stranded without money, Bourbon made arrangements for his dogs to be kept in a kennel owned by A.D. Blount. But Rae eventually fell behind on his payments, and Blount ended up selling the dogs to medical research laboratories. Bourbon was incensed, and asked a young boyfriend, Bobby Randal Crain, to visit Blount, rough him up some, and find out where the dogs had been sent.
Crain brought another young man, Bobby Eugene Chrisco, with him to Texas, using money wired to them by Bourbon, and carrying Bourbon's .45 automatic pistol. When they arrived at the Texas kennel, their plans went awry, and within minutes, Blount was dead, shot by Chrisco. The two young thugs panicked and took off down the highway.
As they drove south, they threw the gun from their car, and it lay in the desert until it was eventually found by the oil worker. It was subsequently traced by Texas Rangers to Bourbon, who was then appearing at the Jewel Box Lounge in Kansas City. In February 1970, Rae Bourbon was convicted of being an accomplice to the murder of A.D. Blount, and was incarcerated in the old Brown County Jail in Brownwood, Texas. He died there a year later, from a heart attack.
The strange story of a man whose career as a female impersonator had brought him from the silent screen to a prison cell was finally over.
Notes is supported by the Gay and Lesbian Fund, supporting nonprofits that work to alleviate hunger in Colorado.
Craven Lovelace produces Notes, a daily cultural history of popular music, for KAFM 88.1 Community Radio, kafmradio.org. You can visit cravenlovelace.com for more of his musings on the world of popular culture.
From the 1930s through the 1950s, female impersonator Rae Bourbon prospered. He played sold-out houses with his so-called “pansy shows,” like “Boys Will Be Girls” and “Don't Call Me Madam,” in nightclubs on both the east and west coasts, and even in Salt Lake City and Cripple Creek, Colo.
In 1934, he first teamed with musicians Bob Wright and “Chet” Forrest, who would go on to write the music for popular Broadway productions like “Song of Norway” and “Kismet” (the latter including the old standard, “Stranger in Paradise”). Later, Bourbon was accompanied by Bart Howard, the pianist who, in 1954, gave the world “Fly Me to the Moon.” His shows were so successful that he eventually brought “Don't Call Me Madam” to Carnegie Hall. But Bourbon's success came at a price.
Due to the nature of his act, his shows were often raided by police, and Bourbon spent many nights in jail for appearing in drag. During the 1940s, Bourbon also appeared in the stage productions of his good friend, actress Mae West. A couple decades later, though, Bourbon's style of humor had fallen out of favor, and his career was faltering. His final show, “Daddy Was a Lady,” consisted of drag routines interspersed with an animal act in which Bourbon's 65 dogs -- many dyed different colors — would urinate on cue.
It was while traveling with his dogs to another show that Bourbon's car broke down outside Big Springs, Texas. Stranded without money, Bourbon made arrangements for his dogs to be kept in a kennel owned by A.D. Blount. But Rae eventually fell behind on his payments, and Blount ended up selling the dogs to medical research laboratories. Bourbon was incensed, and asked a young boyfriend, Bobby Randal Crain, to visit Blount, rough him up some, and find out where the dogs had been sent.
Crain brought another young man, Bobby Eugene Chrisco, with him to Texas, using money wired to them by Bourbon, and carrying Bourbon's .45 automatic pistol. When they arrived at the Texas kennel, their plans went awry, and within minutes, Blount was dead, shot by Chrisco. The two young thugs panicked and took off down the highway.
As they drove south, they threw the gun from their car, and it lay in the desert until it was eventually found by the oil worker. It was subsequently traced by Texas Rangers to Bourbon, who was then appearing at the Jewel Box Lounge in Kansas City. In February 1970, Rae Bourbon was convicted of being an accomplice to the murder of A.D. Blount, and was incarcerated in the old Brown County Jail in Brownwood, Texas. He died there a year later, from a heart attack.
The strange story of a man whose career as a female impersonator had brought him from the silent screen to a prison cell was finally over.
Notes is supported by the Gay and Lesbian Fund, supporting nonprofits that work to alleviate hunger in Colorado.
Craven Lovelace produces Notes, a daily cultural history of popular music, for KAFM 88.1 Community Radio, kafmradio.org. You can visit cravenlovelace.com for more of his musings on the world of popular culture.
