No, I had not seen this spoof, and I'm so grateful to you for sending it my way. As a Warhol disciple, I find it hilarious! And I certainly agree with Paul Morrissey about how awful that PBS documentary on Warhol was (among other things, the drag queens were erased).
Dawn French here strikes me less as Ultra Violet than Brigid Polk, while Jennifer Saunders is less Viva (the nerves-on-edge product of an American Catholic girlhood) than Ultra Violet, who was more the smoldering international diva. I love it when Dawn proclaims, "We were peaches waiting to be bruised!"
Nico, the impassive, Teutonic blond Amazon, seems crossed here with the fierce, imperious Mary Woronov -- of whom I've always been a great fan. I was thrilled to meet her once and later was very pleased to be asked to blurb her memoirs.
Not least in this parody is the always spectacular Eleanor Bron as a jargon-spouting New York University media studies professor. What a wonderful sendup of postmodernist crap! Bron of course played Patsy's bohemian mother in "Absolutely Fabulous." Americans first saw her in "Help!" ("I can say no more!" while dancing with Paul McCartney). One of her most brilliant performances was as the rich dilettante Hermione Roddice in Ken Russell's film of D.H. Lawrence's "Women in Love" (1969). Bron has one of the keenest minds in modern entertainment.
Longtime fan here. As a Reaganite homo, couldn't disagree with you more on politics, but who cares? Surely a drag aficionado like yourself has heard of Verka Serduchka, the Ukrainian Cinderella and Dame Edna of the Ukraine? She's the alter ego of comic Andriy Mykhailovych Danylko, very famous in Russia for her hit songs and brilliant videos.
Verka is a parody of a loud, pushy, bourgeois Ukrainian matron, always accompanied by her doddering lush of a mother. To the horror of Ukrainian nationalists, her song Danzing Lasha Tumbai placed second in this year's typically trashy Eurovision contest and later crashed the British Top 30 and French Top 10! Her videos are comic gems in which Almodovar meets Warhol, and she even ran for Parliament in September's elections.
Check out the vids for "Tuk Tuk Tuk" (Verka as a jazzy chanteuse in a cheesy restaurant full of nouveau riche Russians and prostitutes), "Ya Popola Na Lubov" (electropop glam sets the standard for sheer extravagance), "Gop Gop Gop"(hilarious montage of drunken pickle and vodka banquet), "Severnye Devki" (jazz pop meets Cossack chic), and of course "Danzing Lasha Tumbai."
P.S. On the subject of drag queens, check out the electrifying video for "El Cementerio de mis Suenos," the latest No. 1 smash in Spain by glam-pop duo Fangoria, featuring Eurogay icon Alaska. The vid showcases the group's ubiquitous drag queens, and Alaska herself has always walked the line with her deep voice and over-the-top features.
Jeff Percifield
I am embarrassed to say I had not heard of Verka Serduchka! I am so appreciative of your keeping me and interested Salon readers up to date. I nearly fell out of my chair at "Tuk Tuk Tuk," where Verka, dragging her tiny mama along, seems to have fused Carmen Miranda with Harvey Korman's Mother Marcus, the town yenta in the soap opera parody "As the Stomach Turns," on "The Carol Burnett Show." The mad Rabelaisian imagery and rhythms of all of Verka's videos make one want to eat! drink! dance! What a tornado of ethnic hedonism!
Alaska, surrounded by Pete Best-style drag queens, is certainly a formidable character. Yards of bosom and assertive orange hair. She doesn't try to hide her age, the way American women actors and performers do. She's mature and flaunts it. No misty, baby-faced, shallow nymphet look for her! There are no parallels to Alaska in current American entertainment -- a mark of our cultural poverty and punitive gender norms.
Camille Paglia's column appears on the second Wednesday of each month. Every third column is devoted to reader letters. Please send questions for her next letters column to this mailbox. Your name and town will be published unless you request anonymity.
About the writer
Camille Paglia is the University Professor of Humanities and Media Studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Her most recent book is "Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-Three of the World's Best Poems."
Story finder (3 ways to search Salon)
Salon Directory (browse by topic)