HERBERT POLLITT, British transvestite actor, born (d: 1942); Herbert Who, you’re asking, right? Well, we’ve recently met Liane de Pougy (August 11), and we’ve been introduced to Aubrey Beardsley (August 21). Herbert Pollitt was an English transvestite actor who use the stage name “Diane de Rougy” (derived, of course, from the name of Liane de Pougy, who was a Folies-Bergere dancer as well as a courtesan) and a close friend of Aubrey Beardsley, who, as we’ve already learned, some actually believed to be straight, despite all his odd-duck friends. Herbert Pollitt, Folies-drag and all, was an early lover of Aleister Crowley, who we’ll talk about come October.

CHARLES BUSCH, American director, writer, actor and drag queen, born; Busch first came to prominence as both author and performer (as the leading lady, in drag) in plays that simultaneously sent up and celebrated classic film genres. These include Vampire Lesbians of Sodom (1984), Psycho Beach Party (1987), The Lady in Question (1989), and Red Scare on Sunset (1991). Less well-known are some earlier works in the same vein: Theodora, She-Bitch of Byzantium (1984), Sleeping Beauty, or Coma (1984) and Pardon My Inquisition, or Kiss the Blood Off My Castanets (1986).

In 2000, Busch's work debuted on Broadway, when The Tales of the Allergist’s Wife opened following an earlier off-Broadway. The play, his first in which he did not star and the first created for a mainstream audience, was written as a vehicle for actress Linda Lavin, who played opposite Michele Lee and Tony Roberts. Allergist's Wife received a 2001 Tony Award nomination for Best Play and ran for 777 performances.