Drag King Mo B. Dick’s Groundbreaking Influence on the LGBTQ community
Table of Contents
Introduction
Early Life and Key Influences
The Birth of Mo B. Dick
Pioneering Drag King Performances
National Tours Bring Drag Kings to the Masses
Prolific Media Appearances
Preserving History and Honoring Legends
Moves to LA but Continues to Influence
Introduction
Drag King Legend Mo B. Dick is cited by many as one of the founding forces behind the modern drag king movement. But before the swagger, pompadour and gold tooth, Mo was a woman from the Philly suburbs seeking identity and community in the big city. Amber LeMay was privileged to have the chance to speak with Mo, which you can watch in the video here.
Early Life and Key Influences
"Mo" was born April 7, 1965 in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania to a bustling Irish Catholic family. Growing up alongside nine siblings, young Mo took particular notice of their father Lou's commanding confidence which served as inspiration to emulate.
As Mo recalls:
"In church on Sundays, I remember watching my father, Lou, help the priest with holy communion. As he sauntered to the altar, I was enamored by his confident stride. He owned that church. And I wanted that for myself.”
Football was the family business, with Mo's dad playing for Woody Hayes' elite Buckeye squad. Mo's godfather was NFL legend Gino Marchetti - her father's business partner in a chain of East Coast burger joints. Surrounded by these big personalities, Mo saw a magnetic swagger to claim as their own.
Pre-drag, Mo embarked on extensive world travel to find themself before eventually settling down in New York City in 1993. In 1995 with the wind still in their sails, Mo spent the summer in Provincetown amongst a large LGBTQ community. While there Mo befriended drag kings Buster Hymen and Julie Wheeler along with drag queen Misstress Formika. While their encouragement laid the foundations to give masculine performance a go, it was an article in the San Francisco Weekly that sealed the deal. Upon returning to New York City in November 1995 driven to create her pioneering drag king persona, Mo began an illustrious drag king career.
The Birth of Mo B. Dick
Drawing inspiration from iconic male personas, Mo B. Dick assembled his first looks in late 1995. With sock appendages, spirit gum sideburns and thrift store attire, she hit the streets to become he, Mo B. Dick - the B stands for Bodacious.
Mo recalls the immense freedom of those first tentative steps into masculinity:
"While walking to the bar, I passed a group of men who would have normally verbally accosted me had I been dressed as a woman, but this time there was a slightly inaudible murmur 'hey' and I responded 'hey' back. To my great surprise, I felt safe walking the streets of NYC dressed as a Drag King.”
Pioneering Drag King Performances
Mo didn't rest on his laurels after those pioneering first steps. Just months later in March 1996, Club Casanova was launched which was the globe's first weekly drag king event.
With Mistress Formika and club promoter Mario Diaz's guidance, the party fostered talent like Dred, Justin Kase, Pencil Kase, Labio, Shon, and Murray Hill while attracting diverse crowds every Sunday night. Though shuttered after 21 glorious months due to mayoral interference, Club Casanova's influence was profound!
As former collaborator John Gerity summarized:
"Mo B. Dick started Club Casanova with Mistress Formika in 1996 as the first weekly regular Drag King show in New York City. The idea was simply to give drag kings an outlet to express themselves, but what happened was an explosion.”
Indeed, the ripples from those first Club Casanova shows continue spreading today. The diverse crowds and gender play Mo spotlighted cleared space for new voices and identities across cultures.
National Tours Bring Drag Kings to the Masses
Ever the savvy promoter, Mo knew Club Casanova's forced closure left eager audiences hungry for more drag king swagger. So in Spring 1998, Mo took Club Casanova's spirit on the road for an 18 city, six week sweep of the U.S. and Canada. With his signature moxie on the mic, Mo introduced audiences from Moorehead to Memphis to daring drag kings like Berlin’s Antonio Caputo while proving the genre's immense entertainment potential. This ground-breaking tour spawned troupes across North America - exponentially expanding drag kings' exposure and fandom.
Prolific Media Appearances
A tireless advocate throughout Club Casanova's meteoric rise, Mo ensured press portrayed Kings accurately while securing prestigious bookings.
His media highlights remain staggering, even decades later: John Waters' 1998 cult hit “Pecker”, Off-Broadway shows, the essential documentary "Venus Boyz", MTV and HBO specials - even modern classics like Sex & the City. Such mainstream visibility was unprecedented for early drag kings like Mo. Many academics believe his witty gender commentary eased acceptance of later drag kings and non-binary performers.
As professor Kathryn Rosenfeld assessed:
“Mo seems to represent a fairly conscious performance of whiteness: his character at once reveals characterizations of the working-class white male as sexist, homophobic, and exaggeratedly macho for the stereotypes they are…”
Through irony and satire, Mo expanded once-narrow assumptions of identity and performance.
Preserving History and Honoring Legends
Never forgetting his own inspirations, Mo has led multiple efforts to celebrate drag history and its oft-overlooked king contingent of the LGBTQ community.
In 2018, Mo co-created dragkinghistory.com with fellow notable Drag King Legend Ken Vegas of Washington, D.C.. The site offers an unprecedented archive of female and non-binary drag chronicles so central voices aren't lost. In 2020, the U.S. Library of Congress itself recognized the website's cultural import - cementing Mo's historian status alongside performer.
And in early 2021, Mo worked with Ken Vegas and acclaimed drag kings Flare and Fudgie Frottage to organize the pioneering Drag King Legends panel. This virtual event gathered and honored drag monarchs - like Mo himself - whose decades of work laid foundations for modern media darlings still stepping into their first packers. Preserving past accomplishments ensures no one overlooks King's abilities to inspire and endure.
Moves to LA but Continues to Influence
Although Mo relocated to Los Angeles in 2004 to advance his acting, his prestige and cultural sway persist thanks to advocacy work, continued performance, and the many King careers launched from his steadfast shoulders alone.
During 2020's global shutdowns, Mo paired Zoom shows with drag personalities worldwide - offering community and catharsis through their shared love of gender play and costume. Kings of the World was a global cyber drag king variety show that brought together drag kings, queens and in-betweens from 6 of the 7 continents that generated feverish buzz.
In 2022, Mo headlined the 20th Anniversary of the go drag ! Festival in Berlin, Germany produced by fellow Drag King Legend Bridge Markland. And in 2023, Mo was back in Europe to headline Kings International in Barcelona, Spain produced by Ken Pollet. These spectacular events served as great opportunities for Mo to MC, perform and present Drag King History on international stages.
Today, you can find Mo Zooming in to present Drag King History for colleges, Universities, company lunch hours and festivals. One such festival was Circa: Queer Histories Festival presented by One Institute.
Few would ever dream of undertaking a King act without first paying homage to Mo's gold standard swagger and humor. Though LA life may have shifted focus, his advocacy ensures no one forgets the magical epoch when Mo B. Dick himself ruled New York City club life Sunday nights weekly with his coy nods, bulging props, and Brooklyn bluster.
For over 25 pioneering years and counting, Mo B. Dick has showcased the appeal, talent and sheer showmanship of drag kings. From landmark tours and films to digital archives and countless inspired impersonators, his influence permeates nearly all aspects of male mimicry.
With Club Casanova's 1990s golden era long gone, we owe Mo our continued reverence for so fearlessly staking Drag Kings' rightful place on culture's main stage. All female and non-binary drag king performers henceforth follow the trails Mo B. Dick blazed in his legendary leopard jackets.
—This article was written, restructured, or adapted by Russell with information gathered from sources around the internet. Russell is the producer of Amber Live and is greatly overworked to pull it all together. If it’s on the internet, it must be true. (We’re kidding.) BUT, if you find any errors or omissions in the article, please let us know so that we may correct the issue. Thanks for your support!
