Behind-the-scenes at Sparrows Pt. 2
The following is based on an article by Thomas Benji in the July 1972 issue of The Paper, and from my own research into Sparrows, a Chuck Renslow-owned drag bar that opened in Chicago in October 1970 and closed two years later.
Roby Landers, the Black drag queen who hosted and directed the show, had previously worked at the Chesterfield in the ’60s. He told Benji that he didn’t believe in contracts, ‘If somebody wants to leave, they should be allowed to leave. If they stay with me it’s because they want to. I hate to have somebody stay if they don’t want to, because then they don’t give me the work that I want.’
There were three production numbers in the show; one had a western motif with Artesia Welles and Ricky—a man playing a man—both wearing chaps and vests and little else. Artesia Welles (Joey) told Whispers about joining the cast: ‘When I was 17 I was in a play called Whores of Babylon and it was in the Body Politic Theater on Lincoln Avenue. Originally I was in the role of Cain, Adam and Eve’s son, and the director asked me if I wanted another part, it was one of the female parts, and I said, ‘Oh sure, I’ll try it.’ After the play closed I didn’t have any immediate plans so I went to Sparrows and did a guest spot. Then Roby (Landers) asked me if I wanted a job and that’s how it started.
‘Roby took an immediate liking to me. I think I was about 18 at the time and a bit of a smartass, and she really dug that stuff. Ebony (Carr) was there, Audrey Bryant, Wanda Lust, Tanya Terrill and Jill Christie.’
‘I was at Sparrows for about five months and then it closed. Chuck (Renslow) was really cool about it, he told us in advance, and we pretty much all traveled en masse to the Togetherness Lounge which was a half block from Dugan’s Bistro. A lesbian couple owned that bar.’
In Benji’s article he talks about how popular Welles was, saying she had the best stage personality as a comedienne.
Wanda Lust (Steve) also appears in Benji’s article, giving make-up tips to drag queens e.g. you have to take your face off before you can put another one on.
Another number that was popular was an ‘extravagant take-off of Cabaret. Wanda Lust played the part of Joel Gray as MC. The show cost $2 to get in, which included two drinks, and it lasted 1-1/2 hours. The manger of Sparrows, David Cardwell, was a major in theater at the University of Colorado and did productions at the Third Eye Theater in Denver. He tells Benji, ‘We’ve done something like 75 productions at Sparrows, including Mame and Hair, where we used the music but wrote our own lines. They were full productions with sets.”
J.C., a regular at Sparrows, told Whispers: ‘I used to go there all the time when they first started out. I thought that was the best drag bar in the whole city. They had a bigger stage, and the people in there were friendlier. I knew most of the drag queens at that time. I remember Roby Landers, and his friend … they used to sit on the swing and do ‘the swing song.’ They had a swing in there and he would sit on the swing in his beautiful gown and he would sing a song as he was swinging. It was so cute!! That was everybody’s favorite. I do remember Ebony, and he did Etta James a couple of times. Sparrows was a pretty big place; they had the bar at the front and at the back there was tables and the stage.’
Ebony Carr told her story to Whispers a few years back. After being kicked out of school for wearing a dress, ‘I had to go and find a job, and that’s when I went back to Chuck Renslow at Sparrows. I had met him one Halloween when I performed one song there, and I knew his manager, who had been impressed. I did Shirley Bassey’s ‘Something.’ So when I went back and told them my plight, they said, ‘Why don’t you come on down?’ and so I did.
‘That was Roby Lander’s show, and with Roby you were a chorus boy until you really proved yourself. So for about two weeks I was a chorus boy, doing male lead with Wanda Lust, and he and I would pull our wigs off and do boy parts with the other girls. The first big thing that I did by myself was a Tina Turner song called ‘Funky Mosquito’s Tweeter.”
Contact Sukie de la Croix at Windy City Times. You can leave a message on his voicemail at (773) 871-7610. He collects memories and interviews over the phone, in person, or via e-mail sukie@windycitytimes.com.