Miss Melbourne Drag

Re-iventing a Wheel

Every drag queen started off in and amateur drag competition at one of the big venues. The Troll Dolls had started it off with their “Search for a Tragey” which was a great success – and immediately copied every where.

Drag competitions were a great way to build an audience and so we decided on our own version. Miss Melbourne Drag (MMD) was the title, and we worked hard at finding prize sponsors, including some great support by fellow drag enthusiast, Dr Paul Spanon.

There were 8 rounds, to semi-finals with the to 8 and a grand final with the final top 4. It all went well and MMD became quite renowned, especially when our prizes totalled almost $20,000.

Future Stars

Many of our contestants went on to bigger things, which is the way of it. MMD introduced us to Adelaide newcomer Roxy Bullwinkle whose talent shouted out at us, and I immediately had Roxy in mind if we needed cast members. As it turned out, Roxy joined Showbags and co-hosted our Drags Aloud TV show.

Another find was Kris Del Vayze, an experienced professional dancer. Kris of course, later formed the Manly Sisters (also MMD entrants) and all 3 became core to The Sound of Music Drag Show

Here you’ll find images and promotions for the competition. We featured an image  of each week’s winner in the advertisement sponsored by MCV newspaper, and our grand finals were always packed houses. It was quiet pandemonium backstage as 8 drag queens got ready for their big moments on stage.

I really liked promoting new talent and I tried to show them respect as performers and drag queens, respect which I knew was sometimes missing elsewhere. Hopefully MMD is a fond memory for them.