{{Short description|American LGBTQ activist and drag queen}} {{Infobox person | name = Flawless Sabrina | image = Flawless-Sabrina.jpeg | caption = Photograph by Diane Arbus | birth_name = Jack Doroshow | birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|09|10}} | birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|11|18|1939|09|10}} | death_place = New York City, New York, U.S. | other_names = Mother Flawless Sabrina | occupation = Activist, actress, drag queen }}
'''Flawless Sabrina''' (September 10, 1939 – November 18, 2017), also known as Mother Flawless Sabrina, was an American LGBT activist, drag queen, performer, and actress, based in New York City.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/queen-sabrina-flawless-mother/|title=Queen Sabrina, Flawless Mother|last=Ryan|first=Hugh|date=2015-03-07|access-date=2016-11-01|language=en-us|newspaper=VICE}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=https://hyperallergic.com/166852/preserving-the-lifework-of-a-cross-dressing-queer-legend/|title=Preserving the Lifework of a Cross-Dressing Queer Legend|last=Steinhauer|first=Jillian|date=2014-12-05|work=Hyperallergic|access-date=2017-04-30|language=en-US}}</ref> Flawless Sabrina was a pioneer for transgender people and drag queens not only in the mainstream, heterosexual society, but within the gay society as well, where transgender people remained heavily stigmatized.<ref name=":1" /> Sabrina lived in New York near Central Park from the 1960s until her death.
== Early life == Born Jack Doroshow in South Philadelphia,<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/film/glory-in-a-transitional-drag-moment-with-jack-doroshow-a-k-a-flawless-sabrina-8528727|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420050718/http://www.villagevoice.com/film/glory-in-a-transitional-drag-moment-with-jack-doroshow-a-k-a-flawless-sabrina-8528727|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 20, 2016|title=Glory in a Transitional Drag Moment With Jack Doroshow, a/k/a Flawless Sabrina|last=Musto|first=Michael|date=2016-04-19|work=Village Voice|access-date=2017-05-03|publisher=Village Voice, LLC}}</ref> in a family of mixed Jewish and Italian heritage,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/11/remembering-the-queer-mentorship-of-flawless-sabrina-jack-doroshow.html |title="Whatever You Do Is Perfect": Remembering the Queer Mentorship of Flawless Sabrina |date=27 November 2017 |publisher=Slate.com |access-date=2020-07-14}}</ref> Sabrina was a pioneer in the transgender and gay communities in the 1960s in New York.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.out.com/entertainment/2015/01/13/why-drag-icon-mother-flawless-sabrina-hero|title=Why Drag Icon Mother Flawless Sabrina Is a Hero|date=2015-01-13|work=Out Magazine|access-date=2017-05-03|language=en}}</ref>
In the 1960s, New York drag queens were very stigmatised, not only by the mainstream, heterosexual society, but even within the gay community as well. Sabrina was one of the first widely known drag queens in the United States. She became widely known partially for organizing various drag queen pageants all over the U.S. such as The Nationals, Miss Philadelphia or the Miss Nationals, which was sponsored by Sabrina Enterprises.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Balzer|first=Carsten|date=2005-01-01|title=The Great Drag Queen Hype: Thoughts on Cultural Globalisation and Autochthony|jstor=40341889|journal=Paideuma|volume=51|pages=111–131}}</ref>
==Career== The documentary ''The Queen'' captures the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest in New York City; Sabrina served as emcee to the competition.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/film/film-forums-nyc-celebration-contains-multitudes-6437146|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812021953/https://www.villagevoice.com/2013/01/09/film-forums-nyc-celebration-contains-multitudes/|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 12, 2017|title=Film Forum's NYC Celebration Contains Multitudes|last=Anderson|first=Melissa|date=2013-01-09|work=Village Voice|access-date=2017-05-03}}</ref> The film was selected to screen during International Critics' Week at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, which was curtailed before any awards could be given out, due to ongoing civil unrest in France.<ref name=":1" /> Sabrina was subsequently arrested three times in 1968 promoting ''The Queen'' in Times Square.
While filming the documentary Sabrina took on the moniker of "Mother" to assure other participants in the pageant that she was not part of the competition. Very soon, what was a joke became a very personal title, and she became a mentor to numerous other transgender people living in New York City at the time.
The success of ''The Queen'' resulted in Sabrina accepting numerous invitations to speak on talk shows and make television appearances in drag. These broadcasts caused discomfort not only with the heterosexual and conservative public, but the gay public as well.<ref name=":1" /> A poster of Sabrina in ''The Queen'' has a brief cameo in ''Pink Flamingos'' (1972), a film by John Waters.<ref name=":0" />
Despite Sabrina's confidence with herself in drag on television and other engagements, she remained somewhat mysterious within the gay community, as recounted by Thom Nickels, author of ''Gay and Lesbian in Philadelphia''. Though she was not a huge part of the Center City night life, she hosted several decadent and grandiose mansion parties.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TapnuOUmXo8C&q=Nickels,+Thom.+Gay+And+Lesbian+Philadelphia.+Charleston,+SC:+Arcadia,+2002.+Print&pg=PA4|title=Gay and Lesbian Philadelphia|last=Nickels|first=Thom|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2002|isbn=0738510009|access-date=2017-05-02}}</ref>
In 2008 Flawless Sabrina appeared in the theatrical production ''Notorious Beauty'' in New York City.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/voice-choices/gender-bender-7154700|title=Gender-Bender|last=Ashman|first=Angela|date=2008-07-02|work=Village Voice|access-date=2017-05-03}}{{dead link|date=October 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Sabrina played a drug-induced vision of a thin, ghostly, violin player in ''Dorian'', a 2009 four-channel video installation by Michelle Handelman.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html|title=Art in Review|last=Johnson|first=Ken|date=2009-05-22|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-04-30|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Sabrina was also featured in Handelman's 2014 multichannel video installation ''Irma Vep, The Last Breath'', influenced by Musidora, known for playing Irma Vep in the 1915 film ''Les Vampires''.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=http://broadmuseum.msu.edu/exhibitions/irma-vep-last-breath|title=Irma Vep, the last breath|website=Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University|language=en|access-date=2017-05-03|archive-date=2017-01-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113185831/http://broadmuseum.msu.edu/exhibitions/irma-vep-last-breath|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thestranger.com/visual-art/features/2015/07/22/22579995/michelle-handelmans-irma-vep-the-last-breath-adds-gender-subversion-and-class-critique-to-a-100-year-old-anagram|title=Michelle Handelman's Irma Vep, The Last Breath Adds Gender Subversion and Class Critique to a 100-Year-Old Anagram|work=The Stranger|access-date=2017-05-03|language=en}}</ref>
==Death and legacy== Sabrina died on November 18, 2017, at the age of 78.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.artforum.com/news/id=72369 |title=Flawless Sabrina (1939–2017) |magazine=Artforum |date=November 19, 2017 |issn=0004-3532 |access-date=November 21, 2017 |archive-date=December 1, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201032711/https://www.artforum.com/news/id=72369 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Sabrina was also a mentor for Ceyenne Doroshow, now an author, public speaker and advocate for homeless youth.<ref name=":0" /> They met at a midtown Manhattan club called Bentley's, and Sabrina helped her get control of her life, while she was a homeless teenager.<ref name=":0" />
In 2014, a Kickstarter crowdfunding fundraiser raised $20,000.00 to create an archive of her work for easy access and study, called the "Flawless Sabrina Archive".<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flawless-sabrina/flawless-sabrina-archive|title=Flawless Sabrina Archive|website=Kickstarter|language=en-US|access-date=2017-05-02}}</ref> The fundraiser was founded by Zackary Drucker and Diana Tourjee, two of Sabrina's mentees.<ref name=":2" /> The archive was created as a thank-you to Sabrina for being inspirational to queer youth, as well as a way of raising money to protect her when she was almost evicted from her New York City apartment. The owner of the building had died, and once the ownership was returned to the bank they wished to increase the rent, or evict her. The archive money now funds a storage space where Tourjee archives Sabrina's possessions as they move them in.<ref name=":0" /> Sabrina's mentees also state, as part of their reason for the creation of the Flawless Sabrina Archives, that Sabrina has been and continues to be an influential part of the transgender community.<ref name=":0" />
In 2021, PBS television series ''American Masters'' published a 6-minute documentary short, ''Flawless Sabrina: Queer Icon and Star of "The Queen''', narrated by Peppermint.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Polk |first=David |date=2021-08-21 |title=Flawless Sabrina: Queer icon and star of 'The Queen' |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/flawless-sabrina-queer-icon-and-star-of-the-queen/18373/ |access-date=2024-02-11 |website=American Masters |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" !Film and video art !Role !Year |- |''Gazelle: The Love Issue'' |Actor/Herself |2015 <ref>{{cite web|title=See an excerpt from 'Gazelle: The Love Issue', which is at the Festival MixBrasil|url=http://g1.globo.com/pop-arte/cinema/noticia/2014/11/veja-um-trecho-de-gazelle-love-issue-que-esta-no-festival-mixbrasil.html|website=Globo.com|publisher=Globo Comunicação e Participações S.A.|access-date=2017-04-30|language=pt|date=2014-11-14}}</ref> |- |''Irma Vep, The Last Breath'' (video installation) |Actress |2014 <ref name=":6" /> |- |''Saint Bernard'' |Actor |2013 <ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.comingsoon.net/horror/news/734037-first-look-at-gabe-bartalos-latest-film-saint-bernard|title=First Look at Gabe Bartalos' Latest Film Saint Bernard|date=2013-07-10|work=ComingSoon.net|access-date=2017-05-03|language=en-US}}</ref> |- |''She Gone Rogue'' |Actress |2014 <ref>{{cite web|title=Interview: Flawless Sabrina, Zackary Drucker, and Elizabeth Sherman|url=http://whitney.org/WhitneyStories/FlawlessSabrinaZackaryDrucker|publisher=Whitney Museum of American Art|access-date=30 April 2017}}</ref> |- |''At least you know: you exist'' (short film by Zackary Drucker) |Actress |2011 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2012/08/zackary-drucker-her-friends-films-conversation/|title=Zackary Drucker & Her Friends: Films & Conversation - Hammer Museum|website=The Hammer Museum|date=23 August 2012 |language=en|access-date=2017-05-03}}</ref> |- |''Dorian'' (video installation) |Dorian's Dead Self |2009 |- |''The Anderson Tapes'' |Eric, decorator tenant |1971 <ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=&TBL=PN&Type=CA&ID=75398|title=Jack Doroshow|date=2016|website=AFI|access-date=2017-05-03}}</ref> |- |''The Queen'' |Self/Narrator |1968 <ref name=":5" /> |}
== See also == * LGBT culture in Philadelphia * LGBTQ culture in New York City * List of LGBT actions in the United States prior to the Stonewall riots
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0233998}} * [http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/fales/mss_594 Jack Doroshow / Flawless Sabrina Papers], '''Fales Library and Special Collections at New York University Special Collections'''
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flawless Sabrina}} Category:1939 births Category:2017 deaths Category:American drag queens Category:20th-century American Jews Category:American people of Italian descent Category:LGBTQ people from Pennsylvania Category:Activists from Manhattan Category:Activists from Philadelphia Category:Actresses from Philadelphia Category:21st-century American Jews Category:Actresses from Manhattan Category:LGBTQ Jews Category:Drag performers from Philadelphia Category:Drag performers from New York City Category:LGBTQ rights activists from Pennsylvania Category:Drag performers from New York (state)