Role Theater Director Name George Harris III Full name George Edgerly Harris III | ||
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Parents George Harris II, Ann Harris Siblings Eloise Alice Harris, Jane Harris, Frederic Joseph Harris, Mary Lou Harris, Walter Harris People also search for George Harris II, Walter Harris | ||
Hibiscus (born George Edgerly Harris III; September 6, 1949 – May 6, 1982) was one of the leaders of the psychedelic gay liberation theater collective known as the Cockettes in early 1970s San Francisco; in today's theatrical parlance he would be considered to be a "Creative Director".
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Early life
Harris was born in Bronxville, New York in 1949 to George Harris II and Ann M. Harris. The family moved to Clearwater Beach, Florida. The Harris parents became interested in theater and began performing with a local community theater called "The Little Theater". George and his siblings started a children's theater troupe, the El Dorado Players. In 1964, the family moved to New York, and Harris appeared in commercials, television, and in 1966 in an Off Broadway play titled Peace Creeps by John Wolfson with Al Pacino and James Earl Jones.
In 1967, George Harris III and his father George Harris II appeared in New York in the Off-Off-Broadway play Gorilla Queen by Ronald Tavel.
War protest
Hibiscus (then George Harris) joined the October 21, 1967 anti-war march on the Pentagon (in order to "levitate" it) and appears in the historic photograph of that event, Flower Power; he was the turtleneck sweater-wearing protester photographed putting flowers into the gun barrels of the MPs.
The Cockettes
Hibiscus (whose full beard, vintage dresses, make-up and costume jewelry created a defiant look, even by today's standards) embraced drag and drugs as paths to spiritual liberation, and attracted a group of like-minded hippies who loved show-tunes, dressing up, showing off and dropping acid, and became The Cockettes.
The Cockettes decked themselves out in drag outfits and glitter for a series of legendary midnight musicals at the Palace Theater in San Francisco's California North Beach neighborhood. They quickly became a "must-see" for San Francisco's gay community, with their outlandishly decadent productions like "Journey to the Center of Uranus," "Tinsel Tarts in a Hot Coma" and "Gone with the Showboat to Oklahoma." Two notable Cockettes were the disco diva darling Sylvester and the "queen of B-movie filth" Divine, who sang "If there's a crab on Uranus you know you've been loved" while dressed as a psychedelic crab queen.
When the Cockettes wanted to start charging for their shows, Hibiscus left, believing all shows should be free, and formed the Angels of Light in San Francisco, which gave many free theatrical performances in the early 1970s in San Francisco and New York City. After moving back to New York, he put together a number of off-off Broadway revues, of which Sky High ran the longest. He also appeared in a daytime soap opera under his real name. In the early 1980s, he and his sisters Jayne Anne, Eloise and Mary Lou and brother Fred, formed the glitter rock group "Hibiscus and the Screaming Violets". Supported by musicians Ray Ploutz on bass, Bill Davis on guitar, and Michael Pedulla on drums.
Hibiscus died of Kaposi's sarcoma due to complications from AIDS on May 6, 1982 at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City. He was a very early AIDS casualty: at the time of his death the new illness was still referred to as GRID.