Is Murray Hill’s Showbiz Dream Finally Coming True?
For years he wowed ’em in the clubs with his drag-king lounge act. Now, against all odds, he’s breaking out.
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Reporting from Palm Springs, Calif., and Los Angeles.
The almost famous drag king comedian Murray Hill struts through Melvyn’s Restaurant & Lounge, an old school steakhouse in Palm Springs, Calif.
Listen to this article with reporter commentary
Melvyn’s is Mr. Hill’s kind of place. It has steak Diane on the menu, black-and-white head shots of celebrities on the walls and the aroma of crêpes suzette flambéing in the air. And Palm Springs is Mr. Hill’s kind of town — faded midcentury Hollywood glamour, with a modern dash of queer culture.
Moving past diners wearing pastel polo shirts and golf shorts, Mr. Hill cuts a distinctive figure in his three-piece baby blue seersucker suit and white loafers. His pencil-thin mustache, tinted glasses and shiny rings complete a look that brings to mind a 1970s Las Vegas lounge singer crossed with a 1950s Borscht Belt comedian.
He is a somebody, clearly. But who?
He sits down, studies the menu. His glance falls on the section for steak toppings, which are listed under the heading “Enhancements.”
“‘Enhancements’?” he cries, loudly enough for almost everyone in the place to hear. “I already got them. They’re back at the house. They’re on the drying rack!”
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