Beautiful or Tragic: The Untold Saga of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

In the final installment of her miniseries, Rabia (of Suddenly: A Frank Sinatra Podcast) gives us a deep dive into the backstory of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, a film based on three actual Sydney drag queens: Cindy Pastel, Lady Bump, and Styrkermyer. How did this film come to be, and how did they get queer and trans life so wrong? This deep dive will change the way you think about Priscilla—and trans Australian history—forever.

Source notes for this episode:

WATCH “LADIES PLEASE” ON YOUTUBE HERE

• “Fact sheet: The sorry rock phenomenon”, Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park,
• “I Love the Nightlife” rehearsal footage with Cindy Pastel, Strykermeyer and Lady Bump – shot on camcorder, outtake from Ladies Please
• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert DVD commentary track by Stephan Elliott
• Al Clark – Making Priscilla (1995)
• Birth of a Queen documentary on Priscilla DVD
• Footage of Priscilla premiere aftermath at Cannes 1994 including Stephan introducing “the people it was based on”
• “’Priscilla’ lets director Elliott indulge in his loves for disco and high camp”, Steve Murray, The Atlanta Journal, 26 August 1994
• “The drag queens behind Priscilla”, Wendy Tuohy, The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 May 1995
• Interview with Carlotta from Stations of the X, 1963
• Clip of Carlotta’s appearance on Number 96, 1976
• “Priscilla party boat, Sydney Harbour, Australia Day 2007” video
• Damien W. Riggs – Priscilla, (white) queen of the desert (2006)
• Stephan Elliott Q&A at Austrian Film Museum, 2019
• “The real life Priscilla Queen of the Desert”, 60 Minutes Australia
• “Putting Stamp on role”, Robert W. Butler, Syracuse-Herald Journal, 28 September 1994

Between a Frock and a Hard Place (2015)

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