Pokeys

Jan Hillier and her business partner from other venue ventures, Doug Lucas saw the writing on the wall with the Les Girls franchise and knew that even if the straight world was over drag shows, the gay population would embrace the world of female impersonation again as its own.

The site of the rebirth was to be the Prince of Wales Hotel, Fitzroy Street in St Kilda. Sunday nights. Jan offered a hot meal, piano bar, Las Vegas show and disco for $3. The entrance fees and bar takings would pay for the show and performers. Her faith in the formula would give the profit.

The Pokeys shows struggled along gaining a slow acceptance among the target market. The Les Girls formula was no longer delivering. Then lighting struck. A talented production team which included choreographer and production genius John Minogios and producer/performer Terri Tinsel gave Melbourne something they had never seen – the Women of the Eighties show.

The opening music of the Prince classic ‘1999’ pumped out of a state of the art sound system, while female impersonators dressed as lizard people clambered out of a light tunnel like something from the film Alien and stretched menacingly across stage. The audience was stunned and on their feet screaming for more. The Pokeys baby had finally put on its high heels and strutted out into centre stage of Melbourne’s gay culture.

Show after show stretched the boundaries of theatre and inventiveness. A dedicated production team lived for the magical theatre of Pokeys and devoted energy, talent and inventiveness to deliver world class entertainment. People flew from the USA to witness the phenomenon. Pokeys achieved world wide renown for its costuming and staging. Show budgets of up to $50,000 cemented the Pokeys reputation for total theatre, fantasy and exquisite presentation. The performers became the Royalty of Melbourne’s gay scene.

Riding high on the opulent eighties, the shows became more and more indulgent. $700 hairline wigs were ordered. Only the best fabrics would be used in the costumes. The wild ride couldn’t last. The stock market crash of 1987 was the beginning of the end. The budgets couldn’t be found to continue the expensive productions that Pokeys had been famous for. The crowds found cheaper entertainments. The AIDS tragedy was claiming many of the creative talent behind the shows. The end of an era was approaching. It was a sad day for Melbourne when Pokeys quietly, and with a final modest crowd closed its doors in 1992.

But the audience had been listening and watching. And some of them wanted to do their own version. The Troll Dolls had an idea and they only needed a venue. The Duke Hotel in Richmond was the place.

Read more about The Troll Dolls