Lady Bunny on the echoes of Mae West in drag culture | American Masters | PBS

On February 6, 2019, iconic drag performer and artist Lady Bunny chatted with directors Sally Rosenthal and Julia Marchesi about actress Mae West's onstage persona and how she cultivated a legion of queer fans. Interview conducted for "Mae West: Dirty Blonde" (2020).

Chapters:
00:00 Through Mae West reruns Bunny finds a guide for “the tricks of the trade”
02:09 On the persistent rumors around West’s gender and her natural affinity towards drag tastes
03:41 West as a trailblazer in the technology of beauty enhancement
05:26 Mae’s strut and schtick inspires a generation of drag queens
09:18 West’s encounters with the drag scene of the early 20th century
11:16 The enduring legacy of drag balls

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[charlienaujokas]

It's so right to see Lady Bunny on American Masters.

[rebeccamcneil]

Lady Bunny’s laugh and charisma is just so contagious

[tula]

LOVE that Lady Bunny is speaking on the icon Mae West. The original groundbreaker! ❤

[frankmarter]

You are a bright light and a smart person. I knew Mae West for 15 years. She was a little over 5’ tall and wore 6” clog type shoes to appear taller. She was a woman 100%. That rumor is just that an erroneous rumor. No one has had more misinformation printed about her. She dressed up in nice street clothes when I saw her. She only wore gowns when appearing in some special occasion. Her hands were feminine. Welch didn’t know her. She just made one movie with her. She was jealous of Mae’s stature in the acting world. Mae was a sweet generous lady who treated my mother and me very nicely.

[vanessawhitneypro]

Wondrous Lady Bunny talking about Wondrous Mae West?! Yes, Please! Thank You, American Masters PBS!

[tonymansfield]

Lady Bunny and Mae West are The Ultimate Bombshells.

[josephottavi-perez]

Young Mae West was a playwright as well as actress on Broadway in the '20s and was very connected with the Queer community in New York. A friend to many Drag performers, Mae hired them for her play "The Drag, " which she intended to bring to Broadway. However, it was closed out of town. Her character in "Diamond Lil" is heavily inspired by performers Mae knew.

[frankmarter]

I knew her from 1965 to 1980. I saw her dozens of times. She was Mae West 24 hours a day.

[SeanWarren]

Behind the make up, the wigs and the incredibly quick wit, Lady Bunny is a highly intelligent person.

[lucio.martinez]

Cheers to Lady Bunny!
A timeless and entertaining character of our GLBTQ+ community.

[NIGHTGUYRYAN]

i love how every documentary about mae west is just everyone roasting her 😂😂

[_l.w.a.]

I could listen to Lady Bunny all day! She is so entertaining, smart and funny. ❤

[carlpacheco]

Mae West is the original blonde bombshell! I adore her, she made such an impression on me as a child

[fairycloudz]

Bunny has so much knolwedge, i love her so much

[vibeworks]

I can’t say enough wonderful about Lady Bunny, someone I knew personally back in the Limelight days. What a generous human being, so talented. She commands respect with her presence out of the kindness she exudes. I know this seems a weird take because her persona is maybe bitchy? Or something like? Bunny is an exceptional human being. So glad PBS tapped her for this commentary. She’s an ICON. Wigstock changed society around the world and I will never not promote her contribution to a better world. Thank you, Bunny. Thank you.

[briantrombini]

I met Lady B (More like ran into) One night in Seattle walking down Pine Street in front of the Paramount theater. We were just walking by and she came barreling out of the theater and onto the sidewalk. I'm sure I said something stupid like, Hey, you're Lady Bunny! She is exactly llike she is in this video and every other thing I've seen her in.. she was very funny right away maybe a little tipsy trying to hail a cab. Our exchange was brief I don't remember what we said to each other but I do remember her dress was a one piece but it was super short, revealing her spectacular legs and super cute slip on high heel shoes! She was delightful for maybe a whole minute!

[whermany]

Thank you PBS for including BunBun! We love her.

[coreywhy]

Luv it, I'm checking things out on here about Mae West, just fabulous 👑💛 Lady Bunny is fantastic & fabulous 👑💛 Once she passed me in the West Village ... stopped and said " my hair might be bigger than hers " She was in full Drag and I loved it 🤣

[greeneyedwarlock]

LOVE LOVE LOVE LADY BUNNY and her explaining the one and only Mae West is

[freddifan]

I had to play back the Sextette trailer twice to make sure I actually heard Mae drop the f bomb (yes, I know it was the 70s) lol The movie itself, judging by the trailer, was at best a b movie, but If Mae West is in it I'll still watch it lol I adore Mae West. She wasn't afraid of speaking her mind (more than once she probably told the studios what they could do with the Hayes Code lol) and she had no problem using her sex appeal on stage and screen (and nobody could tell her not to dress the way she did, even if they could, technically, tell her what she could and couldn't say or sing lol)