Terry Burris oral history interview 2, 2021 June 17
Description
In this second of several interviews, Terry Burris, aka Tiffany Storm, proprietor of Chasers Bar and Grill in Charlotte North Carolina, discusses her experiences as a contestant in the Miss Gay America pageant during the 1990s, and her success in winning the Miss Gay North Carolina America title in 1997. [All times approximate]. Ms. Burris outlines how winning pageants was important for drag performers to validate their value as artists, how pageants provided a means of garnering recognition and admiration, the prestige of the North Carolina America pageant, and how promoters groomed and supported potential contestants [00:58]. She describes how pageant coach Tom Gwen noticed her potential as a performer and approached her in 1995 even though she weighed 300 pounds at the time, how she won the Ms. Western North Carolina America preliminary pageant despite strong competition, and the elaborate talent act that Mr. Gwen devised for her using the comedic character of Bridget the Midget and incorporating Madonna's popular song, Vogue [6:30]. Ms. Burris describes her first pageant gown that was made by fellow drag queen Tina Terrell's mother out of velvet with solid rhinestones, the four-day pageant held at Scorpios nightclub in July 1996, and how she was pleased to come second runner up out of twenty-eight contestants for Miss Gay North Carolina America [12:30]. She continues to relate how work started almost immediately for the 1997 pageant season, the details of her $5,000 gown weighing forty pounds that was custom made in a design shop in Lancaster South Carolina called CB's Peach Tree, how she paid for the dress, and how she had to have the dress shortened at additional cost by a dressmaker in Charlotte who also created her sportswear [14:40]. She describes other outfits and elaborate sets that were custom made for the 1997 pageant competition when she won the Miss North Carolina America pageant, including a carousel prop that filled the whole stage at Scorpios, her statement to the judges during the question session challenging the tradition of pageant queens being petite and starting a trend for larger contestants [19:50]. She gives details of how the 1997 Miss Gay America pageant was organized, the stiff competition she faced in her group, and how she won the Lady Barbara award for placing eleventh [29:20]. Ms. Burris relates how she resisted going back to pageant competitions feeling that they were too costly in time and resources, how winning Miss Gay North Carolina America had established her reputation, how Scorpio's owner Rick Wilds took over the competition in the late 1990s, and Mr. Wild's influence in her life [33:22]. She describes how judges were chosen for the pageants, other honorary titles she has won, and the fate of her pageant gown that is still in the possession of Gypsy Star [44:20]. She remarks on the upcoming 50th anniversary of Miss Gay America pageant scheduled for January 2022 in Little Rock Arkansas, discusses various Charlotte drag queens who have competed over the years, including Kerrie Nichols (aka Jeff Capell), Tracy Morgan, and Blair Williams, and issues with burn-out and addiction among contestants [56:07] She continues to discuss various Charlotte drag queens including Veronica Lee (aka Bennie Purdue), Gypsy Star (long time seamstress at Morris Costumes), Great Britain (aka Brittney Gwynne and Dennis Love), Sasha Tate (aka Larry, and now Laura Young), Kasey King, Grand Prix (aka Erin Washington), Boom Boom Latour, Tina Terell, Linda Locklear, Ebony Devon, Ebony Delight, and also Jim Buff, and Elgin Kenner who both became nationally famous [1:02:00].