Brian Bradley - Outrageous Misfits: Female Impersonator Craig Russell and His Wife, Lori Russell Eadie

BRIAN BRADLEY

Female Impersonator Craig Russell and His Wife, Lori Russell Eadie

Copyright Brian Bradley, 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purpose of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

Publisher: Scott Fraser | Acquiring editor: Rachel Spence | Editor: Dominic Farrell

Designer: Laura Boyle

Cover image: Ron Bull/Toronto Star (1982)

The Music Of The Night from THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Lyrics by Charles Hart. Additional Lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Copyright 1986 Andrew Lloyd Webber licensed to The Really Useful Group Ltd. International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved. Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard LLC

Printer: Marquis Book Printing Inc.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Outrageous misfits : female impersonator Craig Russell and his wife, Lori Russell Eadie / Brian Bradley.

Names: Bradley, Brian, 1982- author.

Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200164155 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200164171 | ISBN 9781459746978 (softcover) | ISBN 9781459746985 (PDF) | ISBN 9781459746992 (EPUB)

Subjects: LCSH: Russell, Craig (Vocalist) | LCSH: Eadie, Lori Russell. | LCSH: Female impersonatorsCanadaBiography. | LCSH: ActorsCanadaBiography. | LCSH: EntertainersCanadaBiography. | LCGFT: Biographies.

Classification: LCC PN2638.R87 B73 2020 | DDC 792.02/8092dc23

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Ontario, through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and Ontario Creates, and the Government of Canada.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

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For my outrageous sister Jocelyn.

And for anyone who has ever struggled. You are seen, you are understood, you are loved.

Youre mad as a hatter, darling. But thats alright because so am I. So am I. Ive never known anyone worth knowing who wasnt a positive fruitcake.

Craig Russell as character Robin Turner in Outrageous! (1977)

This biography, about Russell Craig Eadie (Craig Russell) and Lori (Jenkins) Russell Eadie, touches on sixty years of gay history in Toronto with a particular emphasis on the Toronto gay community from the 1960s through to the 1980s.

Much has changed in that time, including our understanding and acknowledgement of gender and sexual identities. Everyone has a place in the history highlighted in this book but to be true to the gay community as it was understood in Craig and Loris time, this text mostly identifies gay and lesbian people in respect to historical events and venues I have cited.

You will also note that I have used the broad term gay community. Do not confuse this to mean a community of gay males. In the context of this history, the term gay community includes people of all gender and sexual identities and their allies. To me and my book subjects, we all have a place within it.

This is a biography about a man who grew up wanting to be a star and his No. 1 fan, a woman who later became his wife.

It sounds like a familiar set-up a relationship between a man and a woman that is relatable, even predictable. But a lot is different about the stories of this particular man and woman, and you might come to the conclusion that these two people are unlike anyone you have ever known.

Craig Eadie, better known as Craig Russell, and Lori (Jenkins) Russell Eadie had similar backgrounds and interests. They grew up and built their careers in Toronto. They loved the arts, the rush of performance, the thrill of curtain call, and the adulation of an audience. Craig made his living performing on the stage and dabbling in film and television. Lori worked in theatre, too, but she preferred life backstage in the land of wardrobe, where she was a dresser for some of the most highly touted theatrical productions in Canadian theatre history.

Craigs career was built from a teenage love of great dame female entertainers like Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Tallulah Bankhead, and Bette Davis. Sexpot actress Mae West was his idol and, as president of his (initially fake) Mae West Fan Club, he went to work as her personal secretary in California. Who gets to do something like that? Craig did. He was charmed, in a way, and larger than life. He was destined to be onstage and with the stars.

His art fits into the world of drag, but Craig insisted he was not a drag queen. He was a female impressionist. He was really good at what he did. He was an excellent singer, and his comedy had perfect timing. His impressions were so finely tuned, he imitated gestures down to the wiggle of a pinky finger, the wink of an eye, or the flick of a cigarette. One reviewer said he was able to stir an audience the way the ladies themselves did or do. Another said that no one could handle the big ladies of stage and screen so well. All you have to do is sit there, sip your suds and pick your lower jaw off the floor every now and then.

Eventually joined by some of the best musicians from Canada, the United States, and Germany, Craig toured the world impersonating the ladies he loved and played in some of the grandest venues for audiences who never would have given such a queer man the time of day outside of a theatre. His talent gave him a key to the mainstream entertainment world from which his beloved entertainers came. He went on to star in a movie credited as a groundbreaking film for gay culture and a force that pushed the Canadian film scene forward.

I was thirteen years old, incredibly naive, and living in a small francophone community outside Sudbury, Ontario, when I first heard the name Craig Russell. I was watching something rather bland on television, and all of a sudden, this colourful, flamboyant man was mentioned in a commercial promoting a documentary. I remember it so clearly his coiffed hair and eye makeup, talk of a friendship with actress Mae West, brazen footage of him singing in a wig and gown, and mention that self-confidence eluded him despite his incredible success.