The Cockettes

Emerging at the end of the ‘60s, THE COCKETTES were a theatrical troupe of assorted hippies, drag queens and gay men who embraced the new drug-fuelled, anti-establishment counterculture in San Francisco. Founded by the flamboyant ‘Hibiscus‘, they started out by performing improvised musicals before the midnight film at the Palace Theatre.As their popularity grew, so too did the extravagance of their events, and the number of their ranks. Continuing successfully into the early ‘70s, they briefly counted Divine and pop diva Sylvester as members. But eventually they drifted apart, or went solo, leaving a lasting legacy most evident with the emergence of ‘glam‘ rock and the popularity of acts such as David Bowie and the New York Dolls.Combining archive footage and contemporary interviews - with former Cockette members and celebrity fans such as John Walters - this documentary portrait is an affectionate, sometimes amusing, and often touching tribute to a cultural phenomenon that re-establishes THE COCKETTES as the innovating pioneers that they were.