Elwood Johnson, a.k.a.
Lady Elaine Peacock
“I love the audience response. My attitude is ,
I don't do it for myself It isn't just taking all the time.
It's sort of like giving hack.”
BY
A N N D E E
H O C H M A N
you are meeting Lady Elaine Peacock
fo r coffee.
You are thinking about Peacock's per­
formance at the rally after Gay and Lesbian
Pride
her trademark dress, awash in skin­
tight purple sequins, a shelf o f cheekbone, an
ocean o f hair, legs long enough to cross the
state line. You are thinking about all o f this
when Elwood "Woody" Johnson walks in
a
slim 29-year-old with a light moss o f beard.
He looks like a graphic artist (he majored in
commercial art at Benson High School) or
maybe the owner o f a small business (he runs
a floral delivery service). H e's not nearly as
tall as you might imagine.
Let’s say the overall effect is a little bit
jarring.
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But Johnson s not fazed in the least. His
offstage persona friendly, gregarious, with
a giddy staccato laugh fits him as easily as,
say, a floor-length glittering gown with
feathers and a tiara.
After almost 10 years o f lip-synching to the
likes o f Eartha Kitt and Lena Horne, Elwood
Johnson is Lady Elaine Peacock.
Johnson talks about Peacock in a tone that
is partly mocking, partly worshipful
as i f
she were an elegant but strange old fr iend
rather than his alter ego. But the more he
talks, the more evident it becomes that life
looks different from Peacock’s eyes.
Johnson may fee l the burn o f racism; to
Peacock, people are simply jealous. And her
confidence seems contagious. While Johnson
could easily pass, if he wanted to, fo r an art
student or a businessman, he writes in the
hobbies” line on job applications that he is a
female impersonator. I f the boss doesn’t like
it, he doesn't want to work there.
In a recent book, After the Ball, two
Harvard-educated gay men argued that the
gay movement would get further if it
downplayed its more flamboyant members,
including butch lesbians and flaming drag
queens. Lady Peacock could tell them how
they missed the point.
Peacock and her colleagues achieve a
measure o f freedom allotted specifically to the
fringe, but one that spills over to the rest o f
us. By being themselves
both o f them
they smash society’s sacred gender barrier.
They’re so fa r out, the rules can’t touch them.
And in the meantime, they’re singing and
dancing like nobody’s business.
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“It was Halloween, 1980 or ’81. Often
that’s how drags start out, on Halloween. It’s
easier to dress up then; all the straight people
are doing it, too. So...we can disguise
ourselves.
“I ran in a contest [at the Metropolis). I
started lip-synching in this contest called
Rosebud and Thom. And I won. And I’ve
been doing it ever since.
“My oldest sister makes most of my
clothes. I used to have her do my face,
because we were similar to each other; she’s
light-complected.
“The name of her business is Peacock
Clothiers. T hat’s where I got my name from.
She’s had that tag ever since high school,
’cause she’s a very colorful person. There’s
six kids in my family; she’s the oldest and
I’m the youngest. So I said, ‘I ’ll be Lady
Peacock.’
“Then I had a lover whose sister’s name
was Elaine, and I liked the name. I thought, ‘I
can’t find anything that’s feminine that will
tie in with Elwood.’ Lots of performers go
from ‘Robert’ to ‘Rosie’ or ‘Roberta.’ But
‘Elwood’ — there’s nothing you can do with
it. I thought, ‘Oh, Elaine. There’s the first two
initials. I’ll be Lady Elaine Peacock.’ And
I’ve used it ever since, for seven or eight
years.
“I love the audience response. My attitude
is, I don’t do it for myself. I get a lot of
notoriety from it, but if the audience is enjoy­
ing what I’m doing, then I’m doing something
for somebody. It isn’t just taking all the time.
It’s sort of like giving back. I really enjoy it.
“It’s a pain sometimes, a hassle. I hate
shaving. Most people don’t know that. Most
people, when they look at me in drag, would
never think I would even worry about
shaving. When I was younger, I really looked
good, ’cause I didn’t have to worry about
ingrown hairs. But now I’ve had electrolysis
under here, under my chin. Not cosmetic
surgery. I haven’t needed that, thank God.
“The best part about it is traveling. You
meet friends everywhere. It’s amazing.
There’s 50-some Imperial Sovereign Rose
Courts across the United States now, which
happens to be too many, in my estimation.
You can’t possibly get to all of them. I’d
rather have it like it used to be, so that when
you went to a ball out of state, it was a lot
larger.
“Ever since Stonewall, female imperson­
ation has gotten more popular. There was a
time when you would never, ever think of a
drag queen going out in the daytime or
running around town in drag. Because of the
way the world is, I suppose. It has come a
long way. And it’s across the country, not just
in one place. You can’t just throw something
like that on any group of people and expect
them to accept it wholeheartedly, because
everybody thinks differently.
“At Darcelle’s, where I work now, the
audience is mostly straight. But gay people
still go there because that’s how it started out.
It got successful to the point where it’s
become a stop for business people and people
from out of town.
“Of all the places I’ve been to, Portland
has the best impersonators. Here, most of the
queens help each other out. If somebody
wants to know how to do a certain something
to their eyes, or to their face, there’s always
somebody to say, ‘Okay, this is how you
should do it,’ instead of saying, ‘Oh, no. I’ve
got it down. I’m not going to give my secrets
away.
“(To become Lady Elaine Peacock] I like
to take two hours. That’s from shaving and
picking hairs out of my face to the finished
product. I hate rushing. I ’m one of those per­
fectionist-type people. I do my own makeup.
My sister still makes my costumes — my
more elaborate costumes, things that I don’t
go out and buy off the rack.
“After I became Empress, I had so many
gowns made, so that I could look regal and
everything. I hardly go anywhere without a
gown, a nice formal-looking gown. I mean, I
have a lot of run-around things, short skirts.
Not short-short skirts. Below the knees. That’s
my reputation. I have to look nice. I try not to
let myself fail the public.
“A lot of people have never seen me out of
drag. Sometimes I go up to people and say,
‘Hi, how are you?’ and they look at me so
funny, like ‘Who are you? I don’t even know
any black people.’ And then I tell them, ‘I’m
Lady Elaine Peacock.’ And they’re all
embarrassed. They never think of me this
way. They always think ‘Peacock.’ Because
that’s what they see. For some people, I ’m
their idol, sort of like the movie stars.
“This is a hobby, more or less. An expen­
sive hobby. We make ends meet where we
can. But I have a floral delivery service, and
that’s where I make my living. We have 20-
some accounts, including some of the
Safeway stores. Everything in our business is
under Peacock Services, which includes floral
delivery, graphic arts, entertainment. We rent
lighting equipment. We have property
management on there, but we haven’t gotten
any property yet, other than one house. W e’ve
had the business for three-and-a-half, almost
four years.
“I pick up new things now and then. I still
do my old favorites. My act has become more
refined, probably. People have suggested that
I do certain songs, but I won’t do them unless,
on stage, it looks like it’s me doing it. I will
try not to do a voice that docs not look like
this body could put that voice out. Eartha Kitt
is her own voice; you don’t even have to see
her, she’s just exotic automatically. And that’s
the look I portray on stage. I won’t do some­
thing that doesn’t go with my whole façade.
People do songs that just don’t fit. I try not to
do that.
“I’ve encountered some racism, but I think
the people I’ve experienced that from are the
people who’d like to be where I am, or the
people who want to know the people that I
know. I ’ve experienced that a lot, but I think
it’s more jealousy than racism. Well, it’s a
mixture.
“In the business, I used to go to the
individual banks and cash the checks. Well,
that was prejudice. The looks I got said:
‘Well, you’re black, you’re too young to have
a business in your name. Are you really this
person?’ I had to stand in lines for up to an
hour because they wouldn’t cash my check.
That’s the kind of prejudice I got.
“As Peacock, I ignore it totally. Because,
first of all, I don’t think we can afford to be
prejudiced one way or another. W e’re all in
the same boat; w e’re all gay. That’s the way I
look at it; if you don’t like me, there’s some­
thing wrong with you.
“I educate people every chance I get.
When I was in college — I went to PCC on
Killingsworth — there was a church group
there. They were something else. This one
woman, in particular, she was in love with
me. She had a crush on me. Well, first she
thought she could change me after she found
out I was gay. Then when she found out I was
wearin’ dresses, I think she sort of gave up.
She realized she wasn’t going to change me,
because I was going to be me, and I wanted
the world to know who and what I was, and I
didn’t care what they thought. I think you get
along better in life that way.
“As far as one adult saying to another,
‘You shouldn’t be that way; you’ll get along
better,’ well, the world has a lot of people in
it. And it ain’t gonna change like that. I don’t
care what you say or do.”
y
I N S U R A N C E
A G E N C Y .
I N C .
6 1 0 S.W. B ro a d w a y , #408
(503) 22 8 -8 3 2 7
SHAMBHALA
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New Age Music
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Books * Crystals
Jewelry * Cards
Open Daily 10 am to 6 pm
Meditation and Chat with
ISHVARA
Sunday 10 a.m.
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1644 N.E. Highway 101
Lincoln City, OR 97367
(503) 994-2488
jmsi out ▼ 15 ▼ September 19*9