The Cockettes - Related Acts

Related Acts

In early 1971 a few members of the original group broke away from the Cockettes and formed their own theatre group, The Angels of Light. The Angels became a well-known and highly creative San Francisco theatre group during the 1970s. Angels performances were free, with no admission charge. The Angels lifestyle included communal living in an old three-story Victorian house in San Francisco on the north side of Haight Street just west of Divisadero Street. Within the Angel commune house meetings were held every morning, all personal money was pooled into a communal treasury, meals were bought and ate communally, and a form of complex marriage where each member was married to each other member evolved (all sexual preferences included).

In 1972 Hibiscus, the founder of the Cockettes and of the Angels of Light, left the Angels and moved to New York City. There he formed his own group also known as the Angels of Light. The focus of his group was mostly drag revues in which members wore heavily sequinned costumes and did Jayne Mansfield style parodies of women. He moved back to his home town, New York, in 1978, and with his family (Harris) started doing more organized shows, including the fairly popular off-off-Broadway show, "Sky High" (performing under the name of George O'Hara). In 1982 Hibiscus died of AIDS in New York City (supposedly the 224th person to die in that epidemic).

Jack Coe (aka Angel Jack) was another renowned member of the Angels of Light. He was seen later on as a regular performer at Studio 54 in NYC. In the 1990s, he moved to his mother's home in Gulf Port, FL. to help care for her. While in Florida, he would make random appearances and do occasional solo performances throughout the club circuit. In his final years, he befriended underground multi-media performance artist Mikee Plastik, whom he did his final work with (costume design and photo shoot). Coe died of an AIDS related illness in 2001 in St. Petersburg, FL. at St. Anthony's Hospital (the same hospital where famed beat poet Jack Kerouac died).

In 1977 the Angels of Light San Francisco commune disbanded, although the group continued to perform until 1980. At present many of the male members of the Angels of Light have died of AIDS, while other members, still living, have moved on and currently live all over the world.

In 1978, John Rothermel (who had had a successful solo cabaret career in San Francisco, after leaving The Cockettes) moved to New York, after a year-long stopover in his home town of Minneapolis, MN. He had always been a junk shop shopper and had become a collector of Art Deco while still in San Francisco. Later in New York, he became an early collector of Mid-Century Modern/post-WWII furniture and decorative arts. After he initially worked in New York as stage manager for Hibiscus' most successful New York off-off Broadway show "Sky High", he developed into one of the most knowledgeable collectors of Mid-Century Modern. He worked at the Greenwich Auction Room, and independently bought and sold furniture and decorative arts before dying of AIDS on 4/21/94. (Among his most important finds was a 20" high wood and metal model designed by William Lescaze as one of the finalists for the New York Museum of Modern Art building. Certainly worth $10,000.00 or more, John's mother, Della, donated it to the MOMA after John died.)

Another interesting member was Frank Bourquin, using the name Inez Paloma. Frank was John Rothermel's roommate on Market Street. Frank was deeply into 1920's history and was friends with a bunch of Palo Alto record collectors centered around Ed Linotti, who was director of the Stanford University music archives. Frank was working at the Post Office, but developed an ulcer and left on disability. He was featured in a number of the post-Hibiscus shows; one where he sang Happy-Go-Lucky You (and Broken-Hearted Me), a tune from 1932. Apparently, he later moved out to of San Francisco to Petaluma and was driving a cab, and died in late 1980s.

The Cockettes inspired a Brazilian drag troupe "Dzi Croquettes," which are the subject of a 2009 documentary film Dzi Croquettes.