The quintessential British Dr. Evadne Hinge and Dame Hilda Bracket were an extraordinary musical duo that stole so many hearts as outrageous Edwardian ‘drag’ artists. Their heartwarming rags to riches story may seem like a gay fairy story now, but for those of us in the Uk during that period, every line is very true.
For two years in the early 1970’s the pair performed their act on the small stages in what could only be politely described as shabby South London pubs such as the Union Tavern and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. The packed queer crowds were so used to seeing potty-mouthed overdressed drag queens lip-syncing pop songs and being as lewd as they could. Yet somehow when greeted by these two ‘ladies’ dressed in Edwardian drag singing operatic arias they were stunned into a mixture of awe and respect that I had never seen before
Also at the time, they performed Sunday lunches times at the trendy chic AD8 restaurant in Kensington hosted by one of its owners the glamourous April Ashley one of the very first transgendered women in the UK. It was however after a successful appearance at the 1974 Edinburgh Festival, their careers took off.
They were very quickly ‘discovered’ by the ‘establishment ‘ such as the BBC, they starred in a BBC Radio 4 series, The Enchanting World of Hinge and Bracket, and their own television show entitled Dear Ladies. and they never looked back. They were one of the few ‘drag’ acts to be able to completely crossover to the mainstream which was capped when they were invited to perform in The Royal Variety Show in front of HM The Queen.
What was such a joy to witness was as Dame Hilda (played by Patrick Fyffe) adapted to her new fame she still maintained her jokes full of queer innuendos and her rather acerbic sarcasm of the long-suffering Dr. Evadne (George Logan).
Sadly the act died when Fyffe died in 2002 at the age of 60, but thankfully there is a wealth of their material to be discovered and enjoyed online, like this video here.
