TV/media depictions of drag or crossdressing that had an impact on you growing up

[Starla]

Was there a particular depiction of crossdressing in the media that really made an impression on you early in your life -- something that really gripped you and stirred up your budding interest? Especially if you, like me, grew up long before the Internet's barrage of trans images, and only had a few fleeting insights into that world through TV, film, or print.

Three examples come to mind. I grew up in the 60's and 70's, and remember being fascinated by Flip Wilson's "Geraldine" character on his variety show. He looked quite fetching in drag, and created a very believable (and funny as hell) character. One sketch in particular wowed me -- when Geraldine became a Playboy Bunny. Being naive and as yet unacquainted with things like falsies, waist-cinchers, and the art of "tucking," I was mesmerized at just how he managed to achieve such a curvy, feminine shape.

The second was an article in Life magazine titled "The Boys in the Bank." This was about the botched bank robbery that was later dramatized in the movie "Dog Day Afternoon." Included in the article was a photo of John Wojtowicz's ("Sonny" in the movie) crossdressing gay boyfriend Ernest Aron ("Leon" in the film) en femme. That little, blurry black-and-white photo fascinated me. This issue of Life was one of several amongst a ragtag collection of magazines available for perusal in one of my high school classrooms, and I took every opportunity during down time to casually wander over and get another glimpse of that picture.

Finally, there was an episode of the old game show To Tell the Truth. The challenger was a young man who had been jokingly dressed as a woman by some of his female friends and entered in a local beauty contest as a joke....only to actually win the damn thing! Both the real subject and his two "imposters" on the panel were in full drag. I was not only drawn to how good they all looked, but by the notion that this had been done to him by girls (I always had fantasies of being dressed up by a female friend), and could actually look so convincing as to beat out real girls in a beauty contest!

[Karren H]

Not anything on TV but I also read a Life article on transvestites in NYC... And it made me aware that I wasn't alone....

[JiveTurkeyOnRye]

There were a few things for me, I think it was more like it was for Karren though, where it made it seem like "ok so this isn't just me."

Nickelodeon had a show called "You Can't Do That on Television," which was this oddly subversive kid's show originally from Canada, that had a lot of weird things on it like people having slime dropped on them whenever they said "I Don't Know," but also once in a while they'd do jokes about boys wearing dresses, or being dressed like girls, and I remember being a little kid and watching that stuff and whenever a boy wearing girls clothes would be used in a sketch, I'd feel excited, like I can remember even having butterflies in my stomach the way you do when you're anxious or excited about something coming up. I remember wanting *so* badly to be on that show just so I could wear a dress sometimes.

There was also a movie called Ladybugs with Rodney Dangerfield and the late Jonathan Brandis where Brandis played a a teenage boy who Dangerfield's character had dress as a girl to play on the girl's soccer team he was being forced to coach for work. Another "I wish I'd been in that" moment.

Like Karren I remember being so relieved the first time I came across the word Transvestite, but mine was actually in a MAD Magazine. It was their parody of the Tim Burton Batman movie, and there was a panel where Bruce Wayne was revealing himself to someone as Batman, so he stepped out dressed in the suit and someone said "Oh you're a transvestite." I asked my mom what transvestite meant and she explained that there are some men who dress in women's clothes. She said it very disapprovingly, like it was a bad thing, but by that point I was 8 or 9 years old and I already knew I very much wanted to wear girl's clothes, so even though she said it like that, I remember feeling so happy that there were enough people that felt like me that there was a word for it.

[Christinedreamer]

My formal awakening came from a newspaper article in DC about a female impersonation nightclub that had the line "These gorgeous young men floating about in diaphanous chiffon gowns are quite fetching". I vowed that as soon as I was able to drive THAT would be a spot to visit and I did. That was followed by several other nightspots and eventually I got hired as the sound and light guy for a few clubs in and around DC in the 70's. That afforded me a LOT of opportunity to meet and talk with the performers, befriend a couple, and learn a LOT of the tricks of the trade.

This also gave me a much better understanding of the gay world and as such, I am a strong supporter of gay rights.

[spotlessMind]

I've been most inspired/impacted by people involved in music. The list is too long to recite, but people like Bowie, Trent Reznor, Freddy Mercury, etc etc. They've all had their influence on me over the years. Even if it was just dabbling in androgyny. Rocky Horror Picture Show of course... except my fascination with it has always peaked when it wasn't just cross-dressing, but the transformation from man to woman. So, more recently, people like Brian Molko catch my attention. Look up the video Pure Morning by Placebo on youtube and you'll see what I mean. He doesn't have to do much to look pretty /jealous lol! My grandmother was super intrigued by drag queens and such, which also played a huge role for me. I was very close to her and we spent a lot of time just talking over a bottle of wine when I lived with her. She was a very special woman in my life.

[Chickhe]

Gee, that's long ago. I remember the movie 'Switch'. The main character wakes up as a female to re-live his life in a woman's shoes. I thought a lot about that movie.

There was not much educational material in those days and I found a book in the library on transsexuals and I was way to scared to sign it out and secretly read most of it hidden inside another book. I was even too scared to be seen looking in that section of the library.

[barbie lanai]

Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd occasionally seemed to have a segment that caught my eye. And back when it came out, the movie "Some Like It Hot".

[Jenna Lynne]

The first media depiction I saw was "Some Like It Hot." I thought it was fairly horrible, and I was horribly embarrassed that I needed to watch it -- I can't say it inspired me, because it reflected what I was already secretly doing.

All of the depictions of crossdressers in the media during those days seemed really gross to me. Maybe my reactions were colored by my own feelings of shame, but I can't recall a single positive depiction. Either the crossdresser was the butt of jokes, or if she actually passed as a woman, she was a psychotic killer. There seemed to be no other images being presented.

Look at the end of "Some Like It Hot." There's a sort of veiled acceptance of crossdressing when Jack Lemmon says, "I'm a man," and Joey Lewis smiles and says, "Nobody's perfect." But it's the way Lemmon says it. He tears off his wig and says it angrily. If he had left his wig on, curled up beside Lewis, and whispered it in his ear, the effect would have been entirely different. And if they had done it that way, the film would never have been released. It would have been far too controversial.

I hope there are better images in the media these days. I don't go to many movies or watch TV, so I don't know. I did like "The Crying Game" a lot, though. That was the only movie I've ever seen where the transgendered character was not a joke, not a psycho, and not a victim.

[Jenna Lynne]

There was not much educational material in those days and I found a book in the library on transsexuals and I was way to scared to sign it out and secretly read most of it hidden inside another book. I was even too scared to be seen looking in that section of the library.
That brings back a memory! I read "The Christine Jorgenson Story" that way, hiding in the back of the library because I certainly wasn't going to march up to the checkout desk with it!

[Sophie86]

Geraldine was a very big influence, as was the show Bosom Buddies.

I first learned about CD/TVs, though, from reading Ann Landers. I picked up two important data points from her: that crossdressers were primarily heterosexual, and that some wives accepted their husbands' crossdressing.

[Cari]

Geraldine would be my first memory. Bosum Buddies was another one. They weren't negative just didnt really hit home. I would have loved to live in the building on Bosum Buddies but didnt really consider them to be like me.

I remember some coverage of Christine Jorgensen and that seemed to connect more for me. I have never considered myself a TS but knew I wasnt a drag queen either. I think the fact that she was a real person and not a charachter kinda hit me.

I do remember a talk show with Tula as a guest; that would be the first one that really connected. They discussed Crossdressing as opposed to Transsexualism. I remember her saying that there more out there than you know ect. It was the first time I saw a bigger picture and a place where I may fit in. Also she looked damn good and made me want to see how good I could look.

[Polly R]

I suppose the first CD film I too saw was 'Some Like It Hot'. But at least it was a bit of a spoof and you knew exactly what was what. In recent years I suppose it was a couple of 'elderly' prim and proper dames - Hinge and Bracket who used to entertain us on UK TV - one played the piano whilst the other sang. At least they were a bit more prim and proper compared with the late great and outrageous Dani la Rue and more recently, the even more outrageous Lillie Savage or Dame Edna Everidge. But these latter are really drag artistes in comparison and not the more prim and proper me who prefers the smart casual or classic look...

xx Polly

PS. Although not CDing, Mrs Robinson in 'The Graduate' - very sexy and got me thinking a bit strangely...

[SuzanneBender]

Great question. For me there were many things that I wouldn't really call influence, but were more of a simple affirmation that there really could be others like me in the world. Growing up it was Flip Wilson. I even had a doll that had Flip on one side and Geraldine on the other. The TV show Soap meant a lot to me. There was a character on it that was actually portrayed a seemingly normal person. Well as normal as the characters on Soap were. Unfortunately most of what I found in my early youth painted the picture that I was destined to be some sort of freak or at the very least was going to grace the add pages of some porn mag with my face (and body) if I embraced the desire to be a woman.

Then came my teen years and the fabulous androgynous 80's. Lets face it, most of the great pop stars of that era were cross dressing at some level. Who can argue with Mascara, tight leather pants, and hair that most women die for. Rocky horror was huge. What and opportunity for suburban kids to play with Gender every Friday night at midnight in their own local theater. What we wanted to do and be was at the cutting edge of pop culture.

[Stephanie Anne]

There was an episode of Magnum PI where a someone was a cross dresser.

In hindsight Rocky Horror did nothing for my imporessions. Movies like I love you Guido, Birdcage, Philadelphia, Adventures of Pricsilla Queen of the Desert, Crying Game, and Just like a woman all helped shape my later impressions of myself.

[Tina B.]

The Christine Jorgenson Story, in Life magazine was the first I remember, I kept that copy of life hidden in my room for ages, and read that story many times. Then it was "some like it hot", To me it was a story of forced crossdressing, they where in hiding remember. Having the excuse of "doing it because I had to", always appealed to me. Then there was Uncle Miltie, and Red Skelton, both got into and old granny dress for a least one skit every week, It was silly, and the clothes ugly, but again, at least it was a man in a dress. Christine was a woman trapped in a mans body, Jack, and Tony, where just actors playing at hiding in a funny way, and Uncle Milti and Red Skelton where clowns, just playing around, I was almost grown before I heard the word Transvestite, when I looked it up my old dictionary didn't even have a definition for the word, I had to break it a part as a great old English teacher had taught me to do, to learn if it meant what I thought it meant. Trans, to cross over, as crossing an ocean, desert or large body of land, such as transcontinental railroad. Vest. a form of clothing. Cross dress is pretty obvious from that. Then I read the book, Canary, about a transsexual and her story of how he became her, it was a painful story about a bad surgery job done in Mexico that almost killed her, because it was so hard to get it done here, but still I was inspired just knowing I was not the only one that fought with some female identity issues, and suppression is not the only way to deal with it. I never wanted to go all the way with it, just wanted to express myself from time to time, and not feel guilt, shame or any of that other stuff, and seeing all of those images made be feel like just one of a group, and not a stand alone freak, then of course many years latter along comes the inter net and I found out I'm just one of what must be millions world wide, so now I feel just plain normal, not special at all.
Tina B.

[Loveday]

I guess I was kind of slow, the first person I noticed doing drag or crossdressing was Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie). It was the first time I ever saw someone dressed as a women I guess (?) that was not doing comedy. If I look back at comedians I think of Milton Bearl or Flip Wilson's "Geraldine" character, but I never looked at them in a more serious manner since it was only for laughs. There was a movie where Jerry Lewis didn't dress, but played a father raising a child by himself, fulfilling the role of the father and mother. I guess that affected me alot since I later raised my child by myself.

[t-girlxsophie]

Funny,that I first realised I wasn't alone when I read Agony Aunt Dear Dierdrie in the Sun Newspaper,was a story about a Crossdresser in the closet,It gave the phone number for a support group in my area,I havent looked back since
As far as entertainment went It was Comedians that caught my eye,Scottish Comedian Stanley Baxter spent most of his Xmas specials in drag,also ppl like Danny La Rue and Dick Emery

:hugs:Sophie

[andrea35]

The Crying Game did it for me, I totally wanted to crossdress ever since.

[KarenCDFL]

The first major information I was exposed to was in 1979. It was about that time I got a CompuServe Account and found the On line Gender Forum for the first time. I was 21 then and it was the first time I did not feel like I was alone.

[Crysten]

I forget the name of the picture...it was a british film about a soldier in WWII in England who didn't want to fight, so dressed up as a woman to escape service. Very convincingly, I might add, since he was pursued by a soldier and had to fend off his advances. Can't remember how it ended (probably with his getting caught) but that movie made an impression on me - a man can live his life as a woman!!! AWESOME!!

[Starla]

Then I read the book, Canary, about a transsexual and her story of how he became her....

That book had a lot of influence on me, as well. I first saw Canary Conn on Phil Donahue's show, and was impressed by not just her beauty (I would have killed to have silky, long, blonde hair like hers), but the way she had overcome obstacles and trauma to become who she always wanted to be. Her tenacity and the way she discussed everything with a good dose of humor was admirable, too. I immediately started searching for her book, and finally found a used paperback copy. Read and re-read it many times.

I wonder what ever happened to her. She had that brief bit of fame and notoriety, and was trying to get a musical career going, then she just disappeared off the radar. I hope things worked out for her -- maybe she just retreated to a happy, but quiet life away from the limelight.

[Shadeauxmarie]

There were no movies or TV shows about crossdressing that significantly impacted me. There were many movies that had women dressed in a manner that I thought sexy and provocative. I wanted to be dressed just the same. (Thanks RHPS). The epiphany for me was when I discovered the book "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex...." I'm sure my mother left it out so my brothers an I would not ask her questions. That book showed me I was a transvestite.

[Starla]

I forget the name of the picture...it was a british film about a soldier in WWII in England who didn't want to fight, so dressed up as a woman to escape service. Very convincingly, I might add, since he was pursued by a soldier and had to fend off his advances. Can't remember how it ended (probably with his getting caught) but that movie made an impression on me - a man can live his life as a woman!!! AWESOME!!

That rang a bell, and I think this is the film you refer to:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070835/

[Frédérique]

TV/media depictions of drag or crossdressing that had an impact on you growing up

Thank you VERY much for making a distinction between drag and crossdressing. For a moment I thought we were going to get into another long, drawn-out “discussion” about words…


There was also a movie called Ladybugs with Rodney Dangerfield and the late Jonathan Brandis where Brandis played a teenage boy who Dangerfield's character had dress as a girl to play on the girl's soccer team he was being forced to coach for work. Another "I wish I'd been in that" moment.

Yeah, I didn’t see this at the time, but I saw it recently on YouTube. I thought Brandis looked really excellent en femme – very convincing and downright vulnerable. Speaking of Rodney Dangerfield: “My wife’s cooking is so bad, the flies chipped in to fix the screen door!”

Monty Python tweaked my curiosity about crossdressing when I was growing up. There were the usual over-the-top drag presentations, of course, but also, now and then, they would slip in a very believable example of MtF crossdressing. I would often say to myself, “That looks like fun – you can DO that?” One thing led to another, and I eventually expressed my hidden feminine desires…
:battingeyelashes:

[Cari]

Thanks for reminding me about soap
That charachter was a CD who had a relatively normal life

Forgot about that one.

[VanessaVW]

Silence of the Lambs had a negative impact on me. It was a set-back for me at the time.

[Barbara Dugan]

I think it was an old Aime show Princess Knight from Osamu Tezuka on the mid seventies even It was a FTM character, I was fascinated by the gender bending theme
148339

[t-girlxsophie]

I forget the name of the picture...it was a british film about a soldier in WWII in England who didn't want to fight, so dressed up as a woman to escape service. Very convincingly, I might add, since he was pursued by a soldier and had to fend off his advances. Can't remember how it ended (probably with his getting caught) but that movie made an impression on me - a man can live his life as a woman!!! AWESOME!!

Didn't end well for the soldier,his lover (Glenda Jackson)shot him in the end

[msginaadoll]

I can remember reading one of Frank Baums books- he wrote the Wizard of Oz. In the end the main character is transformed into a female. It turns out he was changed by a witch so he could not be Ozma the Princess of OZ. I read that as a 9 or 10 year old and so wished it could have been me. Latter I also watched Bosom Buddies- Peter Scolari was a much prettier female than Tom Hanks. I also remember an episode of fantasy island where a husband and wife changed places. I think the man may have been Vic Tayback.
I also noticed the crossdressing in Mad and Cracked mags. Also everytime Danny LaRue or any other female impersonator was on Magum, TJ Hooker or any other show I was glued to the tv.

[Karren H]

And another thing..... after I was diagnosed with my pitutary gland issues in 2004.... A TV show came on that really got the pink fog flowing.. "He' a Lady". www.tbs.com/shows/hesalady/ I got sucked into this and it was like a reawakening... After 10 years of very little dressing (thanks to the brain tumor).... I was out of the closet... Big time.

[DebsUK]

Oooh, so many instances. There is Christopher Morley in Freebie and the Bean. I know it's a bad role model because he was a crossdressing assassin, but he looked fantastic and that was probably the first time I realised you could actually dress and look like a woman. Dr Jeckyll and Sister Hyde (the 70s Hammer movies) was something that I really longed for, to be able to change into a woman lke that. I also remember seeing Renee Richards on the telly one time and I was stunned to hear that a man could actually have an operation to become a woman. There was a very early youth show in the 1980s on the BBC called Riverside which featured an interview with someone I don't know the name of, but this was a guy in a dress with big hair, makeup and the works and this made me think I could try dressing in full. There were the New Romantics I was so jealous of because they were wearing makeup and great clothes, especially David Sylvian from Japan. Then I saw Boy George and he blew my mind, he was gorgeous and again gave me something to aspire to. Let's also not forget Roger Taylor from Queen in the "Want to Break Free" video, though that was later in my life, but still had an impact. Otherwise I was always looking out for newspaper articles on transgendered people that occasionally cropped up, even though they invariably showed the subject as a pervert or a weirdo, but it did help me realise there were others like me

These were mostly in my early teens, but there wasn't much in the way of real crossdressing on British TV before then, or not that I saw. You had comedians like Dick Emery who did some female characters, but he was clearly a man in drag, or Monty Python who were the same but actually funny, and there was Danny La Rue who was more glamourous, but I never really saw much of him. We have pantomime with the dame characters, but these are just men in dresss with the worst cartoon makeup. I was always more envious of the principal boy who is a woman playhing a male character, who is unquestionably an attractive woman in a very short skirt and sexy boots playing a boy.

[danielletorresani]

I think Bosom Buddies was my earliest exposure to it, but it didn't make me want to do it at all. What made me want to do it was seeing these gorgeous images of women in lingerie from Playboy. I equated lingerie, stockings and garters with what turned me on, and soon enough those items alone turned me on, even if a girl wasn't wearing them...and eventually I started wearing them myself!

[Christinedreamer]

Wow no mention of variations magazine supplement to Penthouse? And as for "He's a Lady" I must confess I am still in love with Alberta. Pure fox!

I saw the "Christine Jorgensen Story"movie in the mid 70s. It was critically panned BUT it was an eye opener for many in the TG/TS community and many characters in the movie were actually respectful to her. That was a rarity back then for anyone in the TG life.

[Vickie_CDTV]

Years ago, Tula (Caroline Cossy) made the rounds on the talk show circuit to promote her book "My Story". It was around 1990 or so if I remember right. I am fortunate enough to have several recordings of these appearances and have preserved them digitally. She was an amazing lady, too bad she is not in the public eye anymore.

Bosom Buddies definitely had an influence on me, I loved that show as a kid. I was fascinated by Donahue and other talk shows of the day whenever they had on TV/TS folks on, and often recorded them and watched them over and over again. The episodes of Donahue featuring JoAnn Roberts and the one where they went to Wildside in Toronto were my favorites.

[sandcastle]

Oooh, so many instances. There is Christopher Morley in Freebie and the Bean. I know it's a bad role model because he was a crossdressing assassin, but he looked fantastic and that was probably the first time I realised you could actually dress and look like a woman. Dr Jeckyll and Sister Hyde (the 70s Hammer movies) was something that I really longed for, to be able to change into a woman lke that. I also remember seeing Renee Richards on the telly one time and I was stunned to hear that a man could actually have an operation to become a woman. There was a very early youth show in the 1980s on the BBC called Riverside which featured an interview with someone I don't know the name of, but this was a guy in a dress with big hair, makeup and the works and this made me think I could try dressing in full. There were the New Romantics I was so jealous of because they were wearing makeup and great clothes, especially David Sylvian from Japan. Then I saw Boy George and he blew my mind, he was gorgeous and again gave me something to aspire to. Let's also not forget Roger Taylor from Queen in the "Want to Break Free" video, though that was later in my life, but still had an impact. Otherwise I was always looking out for newspaper articles on transgendered people that occasionally cropped up, even though they invariably showed the subject as a pervert or a weirdo, but it did help me realise there were others like me

These were mostly in my early teens, but there wasn't much in the way of real crossdressing on British TV before then, or not that I saw. You had comedians like Dick Emery who did some female characters, but he was clearly a man in drag, or Monty Python who were the same but actually funny, and there was Danny La Rue who was more glamourous, but I never really saw much of him. We have pantomime with the dame characters, but these are just men in dresss with the worst cartoon makeup. I was always more envious of the principal boy who is a woman playhing a male character, who is unquestionably an attractive woman in a very short skirt and sexy boots playing a boy.

Debs, I remember much the same as you, I think I have a video recording of the Riverside Studio incident (apparently he got friends to sneak in a change of clothes for him, so it was not expected by the interviewer) somewhere.

Two other major television influences for me, were :-

1. An (1970s Christmas?) advert for a portable hairdryer with hood, in which a 17th century cavalier on the run from roundheads, restyled his long hair using curlers and the hood, and got past his pursuers disguised as a woman with ornate hair, corset, floor-length dress, etc.

2. In the cartoon 'Arthur! and the Square Knights of the Round Table' an episode has Lancealot accidently being transformed into a beautiful woman.

I certainly liked the idea of trying both of these out for myself. I would dearly like to see these short items again.

Regarding Christopher Morley, I think he was in a number of U.S. programmes & films, including a hospital soap where his 'female' character had a number of weeks, before being exposed as a crossdresser.

Is there a website/resource where those of us who have such clips could share them with our fellow members?

Sandra

[Janice Lester]

Debs and Sandcastle,

Thanks for mentioning Christopher Morely. I saw Freebie and the Bean about a year after I first cross dressed and it was a revelation. I think he was in several shows/movies in the late 70's.

I also came across a story in a Playboy type magazine about a writer who was sent to a feminization service by his editor at about the same time.

And finally I was in San Francisco just before my senior year of HS and we were walking down Broadway and stumbled past an adult bookstore that you could see the mags in and there was one with a TS on the cover with her boys and girls in all their glory. At the time I found that so exciting I thought maybe that's what I wanted.

Anyway, OP great thread idea.

[Sophie86]

1. An (1970s Christmas?) advert for a portable hairdryer with hood, in which a 17th century cavalier on the run from roundheads, restyled his long hair using curlers and the hood, and got past his pursuers disguised as a woman with ornate hair, corset, floor-length dress, etc.

Haha! Sounds like a reference to Bonnie Prince Charlie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Prince_Charlie#The_.27Forty-Five.27), and his escape from Britain disguised as a woman. Only in the UK could they have a commercial like that. :)

[Annie D]

Didn't Billy Crystal play a crossdresser on an evening soap? It was one of his earliest TV programs; did I say TV???, I meant television. There was a black and white 'B' movie, named the Christine Jorgenson Story and a segment on the Marcus Welby series, where Robert ???? (the dad in the Brady Bunch) had a sex change operation.

I think that I was most influenced by the beautiful women in movies and the clothing that they wore; I really wished to wear some of the geogeous outfits and see what I looked liked in them......if I could only look like them......be still my heart!

[Annaliese2010]

...Speaking of Rodney Dangerfield: “My wife’s cooking is so bad, the flies chipped in to fix the screen door!”LOL... I got to that point in your post JUST after a big sip of coke... aerosolized... now residing on my monitor & keyboard. So I shall log off powerdown & clean your joke off my equipment! Your casual delivery was perfect. So... Rodney. Thnx for the laugh. Lol...

[Abbyru1]

The tv game show "To tell the Truth" with Gary Moore as host had a segment about
some college boys who changed into girls while the panel members were blindfolded which
influenced me. A newspaper story of a club in Germany whose patrons where all cd somtime
in the 60's made me aware that we existed.

[Rachel Morley]

I guess, just like others, it was movies like "Some Like it Hot" but also there was pop music TV shows and when in 1977 when I was 14 years old, I saw David Bowie singing "Boys Keep Swinging" I was curious about the three backing singers but I thought they were girls, however my eyes nearly popped out of my head when it got to 2mins 15 secs in the video! I had no idea! That was the first time I realized that perhaps it didn't happen just in movies. Here's a link if you want to see what I'm talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SoiXlp0HAU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SoiXlp0HAU)

However, it wasn't until 1989 that I really did something about, what was fast becoming a kind of obsession for me and that was when I saw an add in a national UK newspaper that said: "From He To She" ... it was for a crossdressing service called "Transformation" (the Stephanie Ann Lloyd one) I went there for my first real experience of "doing things properly" and not just something for fun for a costume party. The rest, as they say, is history! :)

[spotlessMind]

ahhhh bowie is the greatest ! ;)

[Kate Lynn]

Milton Berle was my inspiration,I just wish I looked that good. :D

[Christy_M]

At 4, 5, or 6 it was Flip Wilson's Geraldine and many antic of cd on Laugh In. Between 6 and 11 it was Klinger from MASH. At 11, Billy Crystal played Jodie on Soap which while still part of situational comedy, offered a seriousness to his life style right down to suicidal depression. It was also around this time I read a Robert Heinlin novel about a rich old guy with a rare blood type who was paying for a brain transplant but the only available person to be killed during this crucial point was a young beautiful woman...I was mesmerized and finished with the hope that one day I could get my brain transplanted into a beautiful woman. I think it was called Stranger in a Strange Land (?). Then, there were also Saturday Night Live, Second City TV, Monty Python, Bennie Hill and countless other variety type comedies throughout my life...Bosom Buddies, Crying Game, Soldier's Story all came later but still provided validation that there may be a few others out there that are interested in things that interest me.

[Starla]

Between 6 and 11 it was Klinger from MASH.

A lot of TG folks dismiss Klinger as a negative burlesque, but I always got a kick out of him. The way that it started out simply as a dodge, then began consuming him to where he was really getting into it, sewing his own clothes, keeping up with fashion, and seeking tips from the nurses. I remember once when a nurse bribed him into "looking the other way" while on guard duty by promising to loan him a particular blouse and peasant skirt of hers that he had admired. :)


It was also around this time I read a Robert Heinlin novel about a rich old guy with a rare blood type who was paying for a brain transplant but the only available person to be killed during this crucial point was a young beautiful woman...I was mesmerized and finished with the hope that one day I could get my brain transplanted into a beautiful woman. I think it was called Stranger in a Strange Land (?).

The book is "To Sail Beyond the Sunset." Though "Stranger in a Strange Land" is another Heinlein classic. (Hell, anything by Heinlein is a great, entertaining and thought provoking read.) A lot of his stories had elements of gender change themes.

[Vickie_CDTV]

If it was shown in the daytime, I think the soap opera in question was "Santa Barbara". I know that one had a crossdressing character (a real crossdresser if I remember right, been 20 years or so.)

If I remember right, To Tell The Truth also had a TV (and FI) and their wife on the show; the celebrity panel later revealed they read the TV/FI immediately and thought something was up. It was the 80s version of the show.

[patti.jean]

Not anything on TV but I also read a Life article on transvestites in NYC... And it made me aware that I wasn't alone....

My first awareness that I wasn’t alone was also from a 1966 Life Magazine article on Sunset Strip in California that included a mention of boys dressed as girls working on the strip. Maybe not the best role model but I vividly remember it as a moment in my life when I realized there was another world out there.

[Annie D]

Does anyone remember a Johnny Carson show that hosted a man, he was quite tall, like 6'7", and his very short wife and their only child, a daughter? The couple both crossdressed and the daughter brought pictures that she had drawn for school showing dad in a dress and mom, of course, in pants. The daughter was about 7 or 8 years old and accepted what their parents were doing as very normal.

Of course, there was Johnny hosting Tiny Tim and his eucal (I can't spell it), his banjo type instrument. Didn't Johnny dress up as Aunt ???? on occasion.

[Janice Lester]

This thread inspired me to re-watch Freebie, its not a great movie by any means. But wow Christopher Morley was sex as hell a boy and as a girl. If you get the chance I suggest giving it a watch.

[Sarah Doepner]

Unfortunately everything I saw was intended to use Drag as bad, over-the-top humor. Milton Berl, Red Skelton and the others. I didn't have control of the TV at home so anything that could have been close to a positive interpretation of a Crossdresser was on the channel I wasn't watching. When I did see a CD on Television I only wanted to turn them off since I knew they were going to be embarrassed at the end, and if they were not, then I would be embarrassed for them. Now I know that all I was doing was projecting my insecurity onto the characters I was watching. By the time the attitudes were changing I was out of the house and went years without a television. I now have the remote control in my hand thank you.

[StaceyJane]

Billy Crystal played a transsexual on the comedy series "Soap"
His character entered the hospital to have a sex change but changed his mind.

I remember the TV series "Medical Center". In one episode a doctor (played by Robert Reed) announced he was going to have a sex change. I was around ten years old then. I read about the episode in TV guide and was all interested but on the night it was on I stayed away from it because I didn't want my family to know that I was interested in sex changes.

[Avana]

The second was an article in Life magazine titled "The Boys in the Bank." This was about the botched bank robbery that was later dramatized in the movie "Dog Day Afternoon." Included in the article was a photo of John Wojtowicz's ("Sonny" in the movie) crossdressing gay boyfriend Ernest Aron ("Leon" in the film) en femme. That little, blurry black-and-white photo fascinated me. This issue of Life was one of several amongst a ragtag collection of magazines available for perusal in one of my high school classrooms, and I took every opportunity during down time to casually wander over and get another glimpse of that picture.

I had never heard of this film.. watched it last night - thank you for bringing it to my attention. I thought it was a very good film.

[JamieTG]

Christopher Morley in Freebie and the Bean. Around that same time he did a spread in Playboy where he and a Playboy model changed clothes. He looked gorgeous in her dress. It didn't increase my own crossdressing but I found myself very sexually attracted to him.

[Caprica]

I think that seeing a few shows/movies/ads had a major impact on my crossdressing.

I remember an episode of the anime series Zorro when one of the major characters (can't remember which one) had to dress up as a cute girl. I'm pretty sure I saw this before I have had any crossdressing experience, but I remember I thought it was very cool, and that the crossdresser was very cute.
I also remember being impressed by a few depictions of crossdressers in some TV shows and ads when I was a kid, but I can't recall many details.

There was also Monty Python, which had a big influence on my life as a whole, but I obviously treated their crossdressing as a joke (and still do).

[Lorileah]

I have been searching my memory (which in and of itself is a daunting task) and I just can't remember any TV or movie person who instigated or affected my cross dressing. Personally I found Geraldine and Milton Beryl offensive and hey were actually people who reinforced me to NOT dress because I didn't need people pointing and laughing at me. When I was in my 20's Christine Jorgensen, Tula and Wendy Carlos were m heroes for having the fortitude to actually change (I never had the guts). I love the campyness of Rocky Horror but it was again too much a parody and just reinforced my thought hat I was strange in some manner and didn't want to be thought of as a clown. So no, I can't think of anyone who helped direct me or even made me feel better about being a cross dresser.

I can however think of many transsexuals who I admire, even a few here.

[MsJordan]

The Bosom Buddies show in the early 80's is my first time I remember seeing men crossdressed. The show that made say to myself, I need to go for it, was the He's a Lady Show on TBS.

[Starla]

This thread inspired me to re-watch Freebie, its not a great movie by any means. But wow Christopher Morley was sex as hell a boy and as a girl. If you get the chance I suggest giving it a watch.

Chris Morley did quite a few TV roles as well, in addition to the aforementioned stint on Santa Barbara, including roles on Vega$, Partners in Crime and Too Close for Comfort. All of these appearances have been on YouTube at one time or another.

[Celeste Aileen]

I remember many of the instances the gurls have supplied, but another imnportant one to my own pastime as a part-time girl goes way back, which may suggest my "certain age". Coincidentally, it too was in Life magazine ... probably in the forties! A college ran an annual stage show for girls only, and a fellow was dressed up (no doubt with the help of girls) and attended. I remember the line, "someone tipped off the cops" and he was outed. The pictures showed him in a neat skirt suit and a coat, as an extremely passable college gal. The lucky guys who were able to dress while faces and bodies were still young! Anyone ever see that one?

Celeste Aileen

[Lea]

I always liked watching the movie "Some Like It Hot". I was always so jealous.

The show that made the big difference for me was Phil Donahue when he had crossdressers on. That was the day I knew I was not alone and others were out there like me.
:thumbsup:

[DebsUK]

Sandcastle, it's strange how a tiny segment like that on Riverside can influence you isn't it?

I also forgot to mention an interview I saw on daytime TV when I was off ill which had Caroline Cossey promoting her first book I am a Woman. Must have been in the mid 80s. She was a big influence on me from seeing her as nothing but a beautiful woman who was good looking enough to be a model. There was also a World in Action (a topical news programme) edition that was about transexuals that I remember

I've seen a few more of Christopher Morley's appearances on Youtube including some detective show that had Lynda Carter in it. There is an easy clip to find of him from an episode of Magnum too.

[Laurie A]

Interesting question, for me it was cartoons. They would spark my interest and over active imagination...

[DebsUK]

Didn't end well for the soldier,his lover (Glenda Jackson)shot him in the end

The film is called Triple Echo.I saw this in my late teens and it really had an affect onme. Kind of "Oh no! I have to disguise myself as a woman to stay safe! What a shame..."

[Claire Cook]

When I grew up in the late 40's / early 50's all I remember is "Uncle Miltie" and what I thought were his outlandish and ridiculous portrayals of women. They turned me off. All I knew was that I loved sneaking into my mother's closet and wearing her clothes; I even made a set of breast forms with lipstick colored nipples so that I could fill out her bras. My favorite books were the Alice books and I so much wanted to be a little girl like her.

I do remember movies where crossdressers were depicted as psychos (well, Psycho ...) but all they did was to fuel guilt.

[Vickie_CDTV]

Of course, there was Johnny hosting Tiny Tim and his eucal (I can't spell it), his banjo type instrument. Didn't Johnny dress up as Aunt ???? on occasion.

The character was "Aunt Blabby". There are clips of the character on youtube etc.

[sandcastle]

There's an episode of The Munsters that I really like.
Grandpa mixes up a potion that changes him (temporarily) into a blond woman - so he can spy on Lily. I can't remember the name of the actress.
Which was fun in itself. At the end it turns out the teenage son (Butch) has unwittingly drunk the remains of the potion and a blond youngster turns up but with the shocked boy's voice. Oh I wish such a potion really existed.

[renee k]

Was there a particular depiction of crossdressing in the media that really made an impression on you early in your life -- something that really gripped you and stirred up your budding interest? Especially if you, like me, grew up long before the Internet's barrage of trans images, and only had a few fleeting insights into that world through TV, film, or print.

Three examples come to mind. I grew up in the 60's and 70's, and remember being fascinated by Flip Wilson's "Geraldine" character on his variety show. He looked quite fetching in drag, and created a very believable (and funny as hell) character. One sketch in particular wowed me -- when Geraldine became a Playboy Bunny. Being naive and as yet unacquainted with things like falsies, waist-cinchers, and the art of "tucking," I was mesmerized at just how he managed to achieve such a curvy, feminine shape.

The second was an article in Life magazine titled "The Boys in the Bank." This was about the botched bank robbery that was later dramatized in the movie "Dog Day Afternoon." Included in the article was a photo of John Wojtowicz's ("Sonny" in the movie) crossdressing gay boyfriend Ernest Aron ("Leon" in the film) en femme. That little, blurry black-and-white photo fascinated me. This issue of Life was one of several amongst a ragtag collection of magazines available for perusal in one of my high school classrooms, and I took every opportunity during down time to casually wander over and get another glimpse of that picture.

Finally, there was an episode of the old game show To Tell the Truth. The challenger was a young man who had been jokingly dressed as a woman by some of his female friends and entered in a local beauty contest as a joke....only to actually win the damn thing! Both the real subject and his two "imposters" on the panel were in full drag. I was not only drawn to how good they all looked, but by the notion that this had been done to him by girls (I always had fantasies of being dressed up by a female friend), and could actually look so convincing as to beat out real girls in a beauty contest!

One thing this thread is doing is showing our ages. I remember all the shows that Starla mentioned in her post. Plus, " Some like It Hot " was an early favorite of mine.

Renee

[RachelF]

Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd occasionally seemed to have a segment that caught my eye. And back when it came out, the movie "Some Like It Hot".

Hahaha, yes I love Bugs Bunny with red lips, a dress, long eyelashes. high heels and blond hair ...