Danny La Rue died this week. .
For you yanks, Danny was the first British drag act (he preferred to be called A Comic in a Frock) ever to break through into popular culture. Here in the 60’s he was one of the UK’s highest paid performers.
I did a cruise once with Danny (not to be confused with cruising with Danny) he was a lovely man. On our second day, in the Bay of Biscay, we sailed into a force-ten storm. I have never been in weather like this. It was like being thrown off the top of a rollercoaster every four minutes. Everyone on the ship was sick – including many of the crew.
During the worst of it, the cruise director called me in my cabin and said, “You’re on tonight.”
“Oh no I’m not,” I replied between retching into a trash can, “Danny La Rue is on tonight. Is he sick?”
“No, the cruise director said, “but he can’t stand in his high-heels in this weather.”
I did the show to an audience made up mostly of elderly deaf passengers. (Apparently if your middle ear is gone you don’t get sea-sick.) After the storm Danny bought me a bottle of champagne.
RIP Danny
John Lenahan's Year of Gratuitous Socks 
10,June, 2010 at 6:55 am |
i was one of the kids who got to go up on stage and sing with danny in a panto of cinderella at xmas in the 70’s. i was five or six, a little blond american in green overalls. danny, as the wicked stepmother, wore a giant gown. he came down the line quipping and when he got to me said, “ooh la, what’s the world coming to? girls in pants and boys in dresses.”