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THE LOVES OF
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- Carlotta: the legend of Les Girls - |
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Contents |
After
Arnold Feather arrived in Number 96 in 1972 the recurring theme of
many of his storylines would become apparent. As a mild-mannered and
well-behaved young man with a rather puny physique, it was inevitable that, in point of actual fact, young
Arnold would be beset by a constant stream of glamorous young women falling
at his feet. One early
romance was with Dorrie Evans’ voluptuous niece
Georgina Carter (Sussannah Piggott). Then he had an
assignation with his sophisticated catering-school teacher Marion Carlton (Lorrae Desmond). This second assignation ended with a
hasty getaway when No sooner
was this drama in hand when Carlotta
and Les Girls
Performed
entirely by males impersonating elaborately costumed showgirls, Les Girls was by then a veritable King’s Cross institution with its big
production numbers and impossibly gorgeous performers in glittery (and brief)
costumes. Launched in 1963 the show was initially popular with the arty-crowd
and attracted such visiting celebrities as Shirley Bassey,
Vincent Price, Peter Allen and Liza Minnelli. Les Girls - along with its transgendered
star Carlotta - quickly became legend. Carlotta
had appeared in the very first Les Girls performance. The leggy brunette
started out as a chorus girl but eventually emerged as the show’s star, and,
armed with a talent for improvising and a portable microphone, she also
became the show’s witty compere, often from within
the audience. She returned from an engagement in Hong Kong
with silicone enhanced breasts and later went blond. On her return to Sydney
after her Hong Kong sojourn Australian newspapers erroneously reported that
she had had a complete “sex change” [a] operation there, when in fact she
had only had breast implants. Carlotta would later undergo complete gender
affirming surgery in Sydney. Carlotta was
in fact one of the three initial people to have gender affirming surgery
performed in Australia. It was performed by a British surgeon at the Prince
of Wales Hospital in the Sydney suburb of Randwick.
Carlotta was the only celebrity of the three initial patients and her story
made headlines. She paid just $5 for the procedure - the figure was to cover
the costs of the legal documents that Carlotta signed, waiving any right of
recompense from the hospital should the operation go wrong. Carlotta happily
went under the knife, the operation was a success, and she never regretted
it. Carlotta
cannot recall the exact date of the surgery, believing it occurred either in
1973 or 1974. She continued with Les Girls after the operation, ultimately
chalking up a whopping twenty-six total years service with the revue. By the
time she left for the final time in 1992 the show had long been a standard
for suburban mums and dads and a regular stop for giggly hen’s party groups.
Carlotta was by that stage famous for strolling through the audience between
the big production numbers and ruthlessly sending-up anyone who made the
fatal mistake of laughing too loud, dressing badly, or foolishly trying to
heckle the great star. Carlotta
in Number 96
Carlotta appeared
in just six episodes of Number 96, which aired February-March 1973.
In the autobiographical 1994 book He Did It Her Way:
Carlotta, Legend of Les Girls, the celebrated showgirl recounts her
experiences in the then top-rated soap: “I
worked with Abigail on Number 96 when I was cast as Arnold
Feather’s new girlfriend, Robin Ross. The joke was that Arnold fell in love
with me without realising I was a man. He thought I
was a genuine showgirl. I remember Abigail used to turn up to work in these
baby doll nighties. She was always getting into
trouble for being late, but she was so pretty, the tiniest little face and
that mass of thick hair. I don’t think the camera did her justice. “Number 96 was my first real acting job and I was petrified. What made it worse
was they kept me locked up on set because my true identity was supposed to be
a secret. Pat McDonald, who played Dorrie Evans,
was wonderful. She would pick me up in the mornings and tell me to just be
myself. The funniest scene from Number 96 was when they had me in the
dressing room and my flatmate walked in and caught
me shooting up with this hypodermic needle that must have been fourteen
inches long. And she asked me if I was a drug addict and I said ‘No, I’m just
injecting some hormones’. Which I thought was hysterical because the only
hormones I ever took came in pill form. “Eventually
Arnold Feather asked Robin to get married so it was essential to the plot
that I revealed that I was a tranny. The way they
did it was for “The
original ending would have shocked them even more. It was planned that I
would be in the bathtub when “Because
my identity had to be kept a secret they locked me in this very small
dressing-room on set. I called it a cupboard, it was so small. When it was
time to film one of my scenes they would order everyone out of the studio
except the crew and the actors involved. At lunch breaks I would have my
meals sent in to my room, while all the others went out to eat. It wasn’t
exactly fun. I’d have to be there at 7 am, you’d stay there till 6 pm, then
I’d have to run off and do my show at Les Girls. “Abigail
once said that she thought I had better tits than she did, but hers were
pretty damn good, and they were real. She had trouble relating to me as a man
(this was before my sex change) so she always referred to me as a she.” [1] Viewers of the serial had first learned that Robin was transgendered in the aforementioned scene with Terri Sandford (Bernadette Hughson) and the hormone injection. Producer Bill Harmon had always insisted that Carlotta’s true identity be absolutely kept secret, to the extent that Carlotta’s contract specified she could not reveal her involvement with the show to anyone - not even her closest friends. TV Week reported that the day after the revelation that Robin was transgendered the switchboard at Channel Ten was jammed by amazed viewers wanting confirmation as to whether Robin’s portrayer was male or female. The morning after the bombshell aired Carlotta told TV Week: “I’m not at all surprised that nobody guessed who I was because we tried so hard to keep it a secret. I had always thought it would be divine to act in Number 96 so I went and saw my friend Gordon Chater who knows absolutely everyone in show business. He spoke to Bill Harmon and suggested that I could be written in to the show. Mr Harmon wasn’t too enthusiastic at first, but he asked if I could appear on the show on the condition I didn’t tell a soul. I was really thrilled.” [2] Carlotta says she was pleased that the script was not in poor taste and did not ridicule “female impersonators”. “I was delighted when I saw how beautifully the writers handled it. Various ways of revealing my true identity were discussed. But the final outcome was that I would confess to Arnold - an ending I much prefer. Although I only appeared in six episodes I wasn’t ‘killed off’ so there is always a chance that I might be used again. If the audience response was good they might even use me a lot. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.” [3] Sadly even Number 96 was not ready for a transgendered character full time, and Robin made no returns to the story. Carlotta nevertheless enjoyed her stint and found the other cast members friendly and helpful. “They all knew I hadn’t acted on television before and they were really wonderful to me. Pat McDonald was so nice. She helped me learn all my lines. I was a little nervous that the kissing scenes with Arnold might be embarrassing, but he behaved like a true professional. I was so concerned about the clause in the contract that says I could be asked to strip - but they didn’t ask me. I wouldn’t mind doing a nude scene but I would like it to be done tastefully.” [4] After her brief stint went to air Carlotta found strangers in the street were approaching her asking if she was Robin Ross, and a group of eager school children stopped her for her autograph. “Although I love stage work I would really love to be given a chance as a serious actress. People like me are seldom given an opportunity to prove themselves on television and I think Number 96 has been a real breakthrough. I’m hoping now that other doors will open for me. I wouldn’t mind playing a female impersonator, but naturally I would prefer to play a straight female role.” [5] |
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Originally uploaded June 2000 Last updated 22 May 2010 |
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