The Showbags Early and Late Shows

Don’t Be Late

“We were in such a hurry to leave the restaurant ‘because we know you always start on time”.

I was talking to a fan one night, and he had summed it up. We wanted the best possible entertainment, presented like theatre – on time! – and the fans responded. As 11pm approached the front of the stage was filled with up to 100 fans sitting on the carpet for the best view, the best standing positions taken, and the coveted tables filled with expectancy as the Overture played. Always on time.

Early Shows

Our Early Shows were at 9 and 10 pm. We’d tried a mid-afternoon matinee show, but gradually we moved to shows that started when the sun was down. Drag Queens and cheap beer couldn’t compete with summer tans showing off a winter of gym work!

We had a tiny budget for the whole night, which Jessica and I supplemented with free costumes and big shows. I considered part of ‘paying my dues’. Drag Queens start off working for free until their talent elevates them, or they become best mates with someone important. (Yes, just like show biz!). It didn’t worry me that I was “working for free” since I was learning stagecraft and discovering my character, and I was also learning the media and publicity side of things. 

The Greyhound hardly, if ever, advertised, but I changed that once the Early Shows started. I began an ‘Amanda Says’ campaign, with me wagging my finger as a Grande Dame admonishing. So I usually put my ‘pay’ for the night into advertising and hiring an occasional ‘big name’ to give the Early Show some credibility. Eventually the budget caught up, and we had our special guest weekly.

Late Shows

The Late Shows were at 11 and 12 and were the three Showbags doing spot numbers, one guest spot from our Early Show celebrity, followed by the Showbags production show at midnight.  

We had names for the shows at the start, but ended up calling them by a song we remembered. (for example, ‘the Knock on Wood show’).  We usually ran the shows for 8-10 weeks, unless, as in the case of our ‘Xanadu’ show, the audience was still growing. We ran that one for 14 weeks. Unfortunately we cut it shorter than it could have run. (drag shows like Pokeys regularly ran shows for 20-30 weeks). The next show was our last at The Greyhound and after a particularly unpleasant few weeks, we quit.

Thanks for the memories

What we left is, for me, a wonderful memory. The Early Shows became a gathering place for people like the Seahorse Club, local gays and lesbians, and older patrons who felt uncomfortable on the traditional gay scene. We also had social groups and memorably, a regular group of nurses off-shift dubbed ‘the pussy posse’. 

The table layout of the function room was filled weekly with groups bringing friends along. Some out for the first time, others taking the opportunity to explore new lifestyles. We arrived one week to find that the promoter had removed tables and chairs and left only a row of tables on each wall. I received a piece of several regular’s minds on how unimpressed they were. I understood why. The Early Shows were like a party in your dining room, and once the tables were gone there was a desert of carpet and the usual standing/cruising crowds of any gay venue. That was the end of the Early Show ‘community’ in a way. Most of those fans slowly disappeared, replaced by the crowds that filled the venue to capacity. 

The Age Newspaper did and article on the Greyhound, and like most news, it was after the event. The moment when someone excitedly came to the dressing room to announce that ‘queens from the Laird’ were in the house, was the moment the community feeling was at its height. The Laird was home to Melbourne’s leather culture, and their patrons were fiercely loyal and kept to their own venue. Having ‘the Laird queens’ in to check us out was the high point of the Greyhound as a ‘community’ destination. I was sad to see it go.