Carlotta premieres tonight

Starting tonight on ABC TV : Carlotta, the bio-pic about Australia's first (well the most famous) sex change Carlotta who starred at Kings Cross famous Les Girls for many years.

"A Theme Park For Every Human Desire"

 The title is a quote from broadcaster Philip Adams about Sydney's Kings Cross where he partied in the 60s and 70s with the late media mogul Kerry Packer. Bizarrely, the Coca Cola sign that signals the beginning of 'The Cross' is now  National Trust listed.

Playwright and author Louis Nowra who has lived there for yonks has written a superb history of Kings Cross, a place he says : "attracts the sane and the mad… but that at times it’s hard to tell the difference."
The Cross is a no-holds barred place -backpackers, prostitutes, strippers, chefs, mad men, poets, beggars, booksellers, doctors, gangsters, sailors, musicians, drug traffickers, movie stars, eccentrics, judges and artists and a former Prime Minster (Paul Keating) live side by side in elegant terrace houses and cheap flats. And slam bang in the middle are George Miller's studios were he filmed Babe and Happy Feet.

Part flaneur, part historian and part eyewitness, Louis Nowra is the best possible guide to a place both real, and a state of mind. The Cross attracts hordes of tourists from all over Australia and the world. It's history began as a sort of melting pot for European expats- there are still gracious old Art Deco buildings lining Macleay Street packed with little old Hungarian and Polish ladies who fled from WW2. During the 20s it became the night time entertainment area offering every conceivable sin man desired- from strip clubs to bordellos, gay bars and 24 hour drinking clubs, illegal gambling casinos and even a few opium dens. The legendary Razor Gangs fought duels in the back streets over the cocaine trade.
 The illegal casinos were frequented by visiting celebrities and  local politicians including premier Sir Robert Askin who like a character out of Casablanca would have his winnings thrust into his hand and be ushered out a side door just before his own cops would raid the joint (mainly to collect bribes).

Norton & Goossens

The list of memorable characters is too long to chart: like the practising witch Rosaleen Norton who became entangled with the British conducter Sir Eugene Goossens (he attended her orgies) whose career crashed when he was stopped at customs retuning from the UK with a suitcase of porn for Ms Norton.

Mr Sin- Abe Saffron

 And Mr Sin Abe Saffron who came from humble beginnings to dominate The Cross for 40 years like an Antipodian Al Capone- just as powerful and deadly and finally like Capone, they could only get him for tax evasion. Owning a string of strip joints and the all male revue bar Les Girls and with a finger in every club and bar in the area, Abe made an art of bribing politicians and police including the Commissioner. And he saw off the US Mafia when they tried to muscle in on the action. When Saffron died he left around $30Million but it's rumoured there was another 30 or 40 hidden away.

Louis Nowra & wife Mandy Sayer

                                                                                                             
Things began to change in the 1960s with the mass influx of US  soldiers on 'R&R" leave from Vietnam and the appearance of Bernie Houghton reputedly the former boss of the infamous Air America who arrived with suitcases stuffed with cash and a new passport courtesy of his spook friends in ASIO. And with the opening of his Bourbon & Beefsteak 24 hour nightspot came hard drugs.

The unexpected can still happen in Kings Cross. Two years ago the Shuttle witnessed an impromptu one hour performance by comedian Robyn Williams at the Kit & Kaboodle when he arrived with actor Elijah Wood for dinner. The Beach Haus club became Leo Di Caprio and his entourage's favourite club of choice as he nightly commandeered 6 tables (leaving about 3 ).  And actor Russell Crowe could be often found popping in to the Portuguese Chicken bar around midnight after a munchies attack.
There's more, much much more in Nowra's book

Carlotta- Ageing Gracefully

 The tele-movie about the Kings Cross identity Carlotta is to start filming with Packed To The Rafters star Jessica Marais to play the famous drag queen.

Jessica Marais

Marais has just completed work on a US series Magic City and will begin filming the ABC movie in late May.

Carlotta began treading the boards at the famous Les Girls in 1963 when "Mr Sin", mobster Abe Saffron opened the risque nightclub. For the next 30 years the transvestite cabaret show was packed nightly and eventually inspired Stephan Elliott's Oscar winning film Priscilla Queen of The Desert.
During the 90's Carlotta was a panelist on the show Beauty & The Beast where 4 female panel members traded barbs with host, the late Stan Zermanic.
Touchingly, that organ of repute, the Daily Telegraph says Carlotta is 69.  The Shuttle attended what was reputedly Carlotta's 60th birthday in 2000. But who cares ?. She's still gorgeous.
 right : here's a screen shot of  Carlotta ( then Ricky Byron) being interviewed in 1963 ..you can view it here.

Drag Star Carmen Laid to Rest

Some mourners flew across the Tasman for her funeral as the legendary drag star and Kings Cross identity Carmen Rupe was laid to rest today at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney.

Carmen died last week of kidney failure at the age of 75.
At her service at the Sydney Anglican Maori Church in Redfern almost 250 mourners crammed in to celebrate Carmen's life and were treated to same memorable stories.

Such as when Carmen was summonsed by the New Zealand Parliament in 1977 to explain herself for for claiming on a TV chat show that there were many gay New Zealand MPs. How times have changed. Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark sent a letter of condolence and NZ television was there to record her funeral.

Lifetime friend Jacquie Grant, looking out across the congregation said "this looks like the best drag show in town"
Jacquie described how during the 1960s and 70s she and Carmen were hauled in by the Kings Cross police many times when they were spotted walking down the street in drag. Sometimes the police were brutal, sometimes very very friendly, but the 2 spent many stints out at Long Bay Jail.

Koko D'Vyne

Ribena arrives

Friend Ribena said "Carmen's life was theatre in action, so her funeral was always going to be a colourful event."
Said friend Koko D'Vyne:“It is a very sad day because who else do we know that was able to do things that Carmen did? Who was bold enough who was strong enough?”
Famous Oxford Street cabaret star Monique Kelly said :“I used to say ‘you’re to blame for all this influx of drag queens from New Zealand’,”
Carmen joined Abe Saffron's Les Girls in the 1950s and was a popular performer there during the 60's and 70s.

not all tears

 She was way ahead of her time and when she stood for mayor of her home town Wellington in the 1970s she advocated for gay and indigenous rights, legalised prostitution and abortion. Along the way she met Frank Sinatra's granddaughter Deana who became a pal.


As the mourners formed a guard of honour, commandeering the street and stopping traffic, Carmen's bright red casket slowly disappeared from view in a white hearse for her final trip to Rookwood to a rousing cheer and a soloist singing her favorite song Le Vie En Rose.

Legendary Carmen Passes Away

She literally stopped traffic around the inner city of Sydney as she drove along streets in her motorised wheel chair, feathers flying and multi coloured boas trailing behind. Always with a cheery wave and a huge smile.

The famous New Zealand born drag queen Carmen Rupe passed away today in St Vincent's Hospital from kidney failure at the age of 74. A month ago she celebrated her birthday with a gang of friends.

Carmen had recently arrived back from her native New Zealand where she had taken part in a conference of Agender a transgender support group.

Born in Taumarunui and known as Trevor Rupe for the first 20 years of her life, Carmen entered the sex industry after leaving the army in the 1950s.

In 1977 she ran for mayor of Wellington and campaigned for hotel bars to be open till midnight or even 2am; the drinking age to be lowered to 18; prostitution to be made legal; abortion to be decriminalised; homosexual acts to be decriminalised; sex education in schools for 14-year-olds; and nudity on some beaches all of which are now legal in New Zealand.

For many years Carmen worked for 'Mr Sin' Abe Saffron who had  a stranglehold over the booming nightclub and sex industry in Kings Cross for 40 years. As a star act in his Les Girls, the all male drag revue show during the 60's and 70s Carmen was a favourite of tourists who flocked in their hundreds every week to the tiny cabaret venue. And she attended Saffron's funeral at the Emmanuel Synagogue in Woollahra  in 2006 where her photo was splashed across newspaper pages.
RIP Carmen Rupe 1935-2011

Drag Star For Hollywood and Film Fame

Courtney Act, seen here in our pic with Danni Minogue recently is headed for Hollywood but is also to play the lead role in a film based on the life of the legendary Kings Cross transgender show biz star Carlotta.

Carlotta, who was born Richard Byron first appeared in the famous Les Girls show at in Kings Cross and for many years worked for the Sydney crime baron Abe Saffron who ruled all night life around Kings Cross with an iron first.

Carlotta

Carlotta also appeared on the TV show Beauty & The Beast where a panel of 4 women would do battle with the 'beast' and host, the late Stan Zemanek as viewers wrote in letters asking for advice.

Les Girls finally closed it's doors in 1993 after a 35 years and was the inspiration for Stephan Elliot's "Priscilla Queen of the Desert". The show continued on the road under the banner of co-star Simone de Troy for several years including a short stint at London's Wimbledon Theatre. Carlotta also appeared in the famous Number 96 , 1970's soap opera playing a transgender girlfriend of Arnold Feather.

Courtney Act, Shane Jenek was a finalist in the 2003 Australian Idol quest and had a hit record "Rub Me Wrong" in 2004. After several attempts he has now secured a working visa for the USA.

Here is Carlotta on Beauty & The Beast :