Jack Doroshow / Flawless Sabrina Papers
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Abstract
Jack Doroshow (1939-2017), also known as the drag queen Flawless Sabrina, was a performer, writer, producer, and mentor to LGBTQ community members. As Sabrina, Doroshow was a well-known drag queen, making appearances in New York City area clubs, and organizing and hosting drag queen pageants during the 1960s. Sabrina built on her success in the entertainment industry after her involvement in the 1968 film The Queen which documented her 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest. The Jack Doroshow / Flawless Sabrina Papers consist of materials created and collected by Doroshow related to his career and personal life. The bulk of the materials in this collection document Doroshow's successes and failures in the entertainment industry, including files on the movie The Queen; an unrealized 1980s television show The Apple Pie Show with John Waters and Divine; and also proposals and scripts on a variety of other movie, television, and theatrical projects Doroshow attempted throughout the 1970s to the 2000s. The collection also consists of material on the drag community in New York City during the 1960s through 2010s, with some focusing specifically on Flawless Sabrina's drag career through photographs, event invitations, and show cue cards. Materials on the drag community include invitations, publications, and photographs. This collection has numerous issues of the weekly publication Michael's Thing which connected the gay community with restaurants, gay-friendly businesses, and promotional information on special events, drag shows, and dance clubs in New York City during the 1970s and 1980s. Doroshow's papers also include files on his business ventures including his antique selling, children's quilts, music production, and magazine publication. A large collection of notebooks and notepads document his thoughts, writing ideas, and partial journal entries. Doroshow's personal files include correspondence, photographs, appointment books, and resumes.
Biographical Note
Jack Doroshow (1939-2017), also known as the drag queen Flawless Sabrina, was a performer, writer, producer, and mentor to LGBTQ community members. In 1959 Doroshow along with two friends staged a drag pageant in Philadelphia, which eventually led to the creation of his persona Flawless Sabrina, who served as pageant hostess. He eventually formed his own company, Nationals Academy, to tap into the drag show subculture through pageants in large and small American cities. His most famous pageant was the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest of which the footage was made into a 1968 documentary The Queen by Frank Simon. Sabrina acted as mistress of ceremonies and film narrator. The success of the documentary resulted in an increase in speaking engagements and television appearances. Doroshow also sold antiques, as well as produced projects in film, television, and theater. He was well-known as Mother Sabrina, a mentor to not only drag performers, but other members of the LGBTQ community. He passed away in 2017.
Arrangement
This collection is organized into six series. Each is arranged chronologically within. The first series is arranged further into three subseries.
Series I. Film, TV Shows, and Theater
Subseries I.A. The Queen
Subseries I.B. The Apple Pie Show
Subseries I.C. General Project Files
Series II. Drag Events and Ephemera
Series III. Writings
Series IV. Business Projects
Series V. Music Production
Series VI. Personal Files
Scope and Contents
The Jack Doroshow/Flawless Sabrina Papers consist of paper and electronic files created and collected by Jack Doroshow documenting his personal life and career as Flawless Sabrina the drag queen, actor, writer, and producer. This collection provides insight into the work and life of a drag entertainer and business person in New York during the 1960s through 2010s, including his exploration into a variety of business and entertainment ventures, his struggles financially supporting himself as an artist, and his relationships with artists and performers. This collection also documents the evolution of the drag community through the years within New York City.
Doroshow's various projects within the music, television, theatrical, and film industries include the 1968 documentary film The Queen; an unrealized talkshow, The Apple Pie Show, with John Waters and Divine; and the movie More, More, More. Project files in this collection typically include proposal packets, scripts, budgets, and correspondence. Documentation on Jack's career as Flawless Sabrina and also the drag queen community in general is represented through photographs, event promotional material, set plans, notes, and cue cards. Large photograph collages once mounted on Doroshow's apartment walls contain images of Doroshow with friends and partners at home and events throughout his life.
This collection contains a notable amount of issues dating from 1973 to 1984 of Michael's Thing, a guide to information and entertainment for the LGBTQ community within the New York City area. This weekly publication provided articles, interviews, and advertisements which focused on the interests of the community including drag shows, dance clubs, and special events. These issues not only document popular events and places during this time, but Doroshow was also a contributing writer. A large number of loose notes, notepads, and notebooks date from the 1970s to the 2010s, containing Dorowshow's ideas, thoughts, production notes, to do lists, quotes, brief journal entries, and sketches.
While working on his various entertainment industry projects, Doroshow supported himself through successful and unsuccessful business ventures including selling antiques, children's quilts, and two unrealized magazines, Reflections and Casino. His struggles to financially support himself and maintain his rent-controlled apartment in New York are well-documented in this collection, especially as he grew elderly, relying on his community to assist him. Doroshow's role as a mentor to the LGBTQ community is evident in his correspondence and notes with performers and friends, as well as appearances where he would share his experiences with others. This collection also contains material on his personal life, including resumes, and family photographs, as well as material he accumulated on partners and various people in his life.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Jack Doroshow / Flawless Sabrina Papers; MSS 594; box number; folder number or item identifier; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Curtis Carman and the Jack A. Doroshow Revocable Trust in December 2019; the accession number associated with this purchase is 2019.078.
Born-Digital Access Policies and Procedures
Advance notice is required for the use of computer records. Original physical digital media is restricted. An access terminal for born-digital materials in the collection is available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Researchers may view an item's original container and/or carrier, but the physical carriers themselves are not available for use because of preservation concerns.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact Fales Library and Special Collections, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596 with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Appraisal
Three carriers containing born-digital material were removed from the collection because they were blank or not able to be imaged. 80 commercial recordings with no connection to Jack Doroshow/Flawless Sabrina were removed from the collection. 23 publications had existing copies within the library and were removed from the collection.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Doroshow's pronouns within the archival description will reflect whatever name is being used for that project. For items in which he is described as Jack Doroshow (writings, correspondence) the archivist uses "he/his" pronouns, and when Flawless Sabrina material is mentioned, the pronouns are "she/hers". Usage of the subject headings drag queens and female impersonators within the finding aid reflects the way Flawless Sabrina would refer to herself.
At the time of accessioning, materials were rehoused in archival boxes, with loose materials foldered in their original order. Born-digital items were identified, physically separated, and inventoried, but not forensically imaged, analyzed, or described.
In 2023, twenty-four optical discs were forensically imaged, analyzed, and arranged. New York University Libraries follows professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity of the content. Material was placed in acid-free folders and boxes. Overstuffed folders were separated and placed in multiple folders when needed. Material from approximately 15 framed items were unframed and foldered appropriately. Oversized material was unfolded and placed in appropriately sized boxes. Rolled cue cards from shows were sent to the Preservation Lab for housing and returned in January 2024. Two scrapbooks were rehoused by the Preservation lab as well.
A large portion of the commercial audiovisual recordings as well as books and publications were removed from the collection. Their titles and dates were added into a spreadsheet to be stored in the collection's curatorial folder.
