In the era of Drag Race, it’s easy to view drag as a form of entertainment that’s only recently slipped into the mainstream, dominating stage, screen, and beyond in only a short while. This year alone, Jinkx Monsoon headlined Chicago on Broadway, Hulu’s Drag Me to Dinner served up a dinner party competition show on an angle, and Drag Story Hour remains popular in libraries throughout the world. Drag might be bigger (and flashier) than ever, but as an artform with a long, complex history, a lot of heels have been worn down getting here.

Fortunately, there are authors like Brian Bradley working to highlight the individuals who filled those shoes. In Outrageous Misfits, his attention is firmly on Craig Russell, a larger-than-life personality who made a career out of impersonating larger-than-life personalities across mediums. Early on, Bradley retells how Craig, at fourteen, founded the flagship Canadian chapter of the Mae West fan club. A short time later, with a bit of obsession and a lot of flattery, he found himself invited to work as her personal secretary while living in her Santa Monica beach home. It’s an almost unbelievable anecdote that Bradley handles with both a matter-of-face delivery and a bit of wonder. It’s a tone he routinely falls on, and it’s more than justified. After hearing about his teenage escapades, it’s hardly surprising Craig ultimately explored a career that put his time with Mae West to profitable use: impersonating her.

While Craig’s rise as an internationally famous female impersonator known for impressions of Carol Channing, Judy Garland, and, of course Mae West is compelling, it’s only half the book. One of Bradley’s smartest decisions in structuring Outrageous Misfits is the full attention he puts on Craig’s wife, Lori Russell Eadie. With Bradley’s absorbing descriptions of Craig’s onstage antics, it’s not hard to imagine his act attracting a cadre of loyal fans, and none came more devoted than Lori. Perhaps a little eccentric with clinging tendencies, Lori attached to Craig and the two embarked on a relationship with more ups and downs than Craig’s career. Never mind Craig was gay, they married. That was Craig and Lori: tragically perfect for each other.

While their tumultuous marriage, topsy-turvy careers (Lori worked on Craig’s shows before ultimately becoming a dresser in Canadian theatre), and all the fireworks in-between, their story could become exhausting. Drugs, alcohol, and deep insecurities don’t make 300 pages fly by. Yet here, thanks to Bradley’s careful research and exploration, they do. He treats Craig and Lori with a humanity that life didn’t always shine on them, resulting in a rich portrait of two complicated people.

While drag might be more visible than ever, Outrageous Misfits showcases the importance of reflecting on the performers who have previously donned mascara and sparkle dust. Thanks to Brian Bradley, Craig and Lori have one final, glorious bow to give.

Thank you @dundurnpress and @netgalley for sending me this book for review purposes.

Please know that there are triggers for rape, verbal abuse, drug addiction, self harm, cancer.

Outrageous Misfits is the story of a Canadian female impersonator and the woman that loved him. Their story is unconventional, but they were honest with themselves. They lived their lives as they wanted. I’m trying not to cry while writing this because this biography moved me immensely.

This story was a reflection of mental illness and how trauma affects the soul. Craig and Lori were two souls who just wanted to be loved.

There is also an extensive history about the Toronto drag scene and I love learning about history.

Truly loved this book.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review of the story.

Living life to its fullest is the only way to describe e these two people.

Their lives were filled with drama and joy. The history of the time they came to maturity is clearly presented in this book.

An illuminating read.

Craig Russell (1948 - 1990) was a Canadian female impersonator and actor. He was born and passed away in Toronto. To the disappointment of his father, growing up he was more interested in girly things. As a teenager, he started a Mae West fan club and realized his dream by briefly working and living with her in California. When Craig returned to Toronto, he worked as a hairdresser and started pursing his career as a female impersonator in gay clubs around Toronto. Eventually he became famous worldwide doing impersonations of Carol Channing, Bette Davis, Mae West, Barbra Streisand, Tallulah Bankhead, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Midler, Anita Bryant, Shirley Bassey, Peggy Lee and Judy Garland. In 1977, he starred in the film Outrageous!, based on a short story written by a friend and former roommate, and it won film festival awards. In 1987, he starred in the sequel, Too Outrageous!.

In 1982, Craig married Lori Jenkins (1958 - 2008). Lori was obsessed and in love with Craig and catered to his every need. At times he found her suffocating and would push her away but other times needed her in order to feel loved. They spent many years apart (Craig's choice while he lived in Europe) and she took him in when he moved back to Toronto penniless a couple years before his death.

After Craig's AIDS-related, Lori became a dresser, working on some of the larger theatre productions that came to Toronto. When she passed away from cancer, she was buried next to her husband in Port Perry, ON.

I like reading bios/autobios and this one caught my eye because Craig and Lori were Canadian and from Toronto. I'd heard of Craig Russell but had never seen any of his work.

Both came from messed-up abusive childhoods ... Craig reacted by being as loud and flamboyant as possible and Lori was quiet and compartmentalized everything. Lori loved Craig but he didn't love her back. No matter how badly he treated her, she always stayed with him. At some points, Craig had it all ... fame and fortune ... but he blew it all on drugs, alcohol and partying. He had mental illness, which wasn't talked about then as it is today. He acted out a few times and lost everything including money and respect.

I liked the writing style and it was obviously well-researched ... the author spoke with their family, friends and colleagues and had access to Lori's journals and daytimers. Not only does it discuss Craig and Lori's life but it also gave background about what it was like being gay in the 1970s right up today.

Craig Russell was an awkward young man who found himself thanks to Mae West. Lori Eadie was a fan who found herself because of Craig Russell. In the book Outrageous Misfits, author Brian Bradley examines the life of a famous Canadian female impersonator, and the most influential people in his wife. Russell was known for his talented impersonations of not only Mae West, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Judy Garland, and Carol Channing.   Lori Eadie was a quiet theater lover who experienced serious trauma and found herself working with Craig.

While the book does discuss the positive aspect of Craig's performances and life in the film Outrageous, it doesn't shy away from the negative aspects of his life, including mental health issues, drug addiction, the abandonment of his daughter, and the sexual assault and abuse Lori suffered when she was younger. There's also an entire part a bout how Craig became so worried about not remaining Mae West's favorite, that he was caught possibly stealing one of her dresses. Brian Bradley definitely did his research on this one.



Outrageous Misfits is now available from Dundum Press.

This well researched and very through look at both Craig Russell and his wife Lori Russell Eadie is interesting, however it never delves deeply in to the Russells' lives and motivations. (In the case of Lori, it may be that she was just not very interesting except for her devotion to Craig.) It becomes a recitation of where and when rather than delving into what was happening. There are a couple of exceptions to this--his relationship with Mae West, his relationship to Margaret, his long time childhood friend, and the working relationships developed during the Outrageous! movie (Even in this, it is expanded too much.) Throughout, one never gets a sense of the 'gay' Craig and his gay relationships and loves. Bradley tries to make his work relevant by including some history of drag as opposed to what Craig felt he was doing with his female impersonation and the 21st Century Toronto gay scene. It just doesn't work.

Thanks to Net Galley for this electronic version.

This was an intriguing book about two people I wasn't familiar with before but were integral to early drag history. Would recommend for those interested in LGBTQ history as well as gender non-conformity.

I did not know who Craig was before reading this book and I was eager to get to know a drag icon.
I honestly wish I didn't. We all know celebrities can be volatile, but it was just really hard reading that many pages about him being awful. He said himself he would rather be the women he portrayed and had very little personality himself. It's hard to read about a mean man and his wife, who was obsessed with his act, and thus with him. Both having gone through rough childhoods, and many hard times later it just read as a bit of a train wreck. I looked him up after I was done reading and he is talented, but just reading about all his debauchery kind of ruined him for me. As for the book itself. I was really interested in the LGBTQ+ part of the story, but I feel that was under served. Then the parts about the making of the movie Outrageous and the sequel were too long for my liking. The last chapter was such a random hop from the last few years in the drag community.
It had interesting parts, but it wasn't for me. Such a pity.

This was an unflinching book about a larger than life personality, and his wife (who was his number one fan.)
It tackles addiction and abuse in an open and honest way.
It also provides a glimpse into the challenges faced by the LGBTQ community.
This was an interesting book that I recommend.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

I really enjoyed this bio of Craig Russell, one of the most well known female impersonators of the 60s and 70s. The book talks about him as a person in depth yet remains connected at all times to his stage personna, his desire to perfect it and his voyage through show business.
I think the writing is fairly good. At least it was intriguing enough to keep me reading. I kept wanting to know more about Craig and I actually went to YouTube to watch a couple of performances. Worth a read for sure.

4.5 Stars.
Long before the fabulous Ru-Paul brought men in drag into our living room with his colourful Grammy-winning TV show, Canada’s own outrageous Craig Russell moved his act from Toronto’s gay bars to some of the world’s leading concert halls. In 1977 he starred in the movie Outrageous partly based on the time he roomed with the author, Margaret Gibson, a friend who suffered from schizophrenia. The Berlin Film Festival awarded him best actor for his role in this critically acclaimed movie.

In his early days, Craig worked as a hairdresser. While still a teenager he lived with his idol Mae West, employed as her secretary. He rejected the label ‘drag queen’ and referred to himself as a female impersonator. His celebrity impressions included Mae West, Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Tallulah Bankhead and Peggy Lee, stars whom he adored. He toured Canada, USA, Germany, Holland and Sydney, Australia in the 1970s with his very popular stage show. His show was first-class entertainment. He was able to duplicate not only the appearances and gestures but remarkably the singing voices of the female stars he adored. He brought humour to his act.

I wanted to read this book because I saw Craig Russell’s entertaining performance on stage in the late 1970s and also saw his movie, Outrageous. I knew nothing about his professional and personal life. The author’s extensive research and numerous interviews is evident in this comprehensive biography. Craig was very insecure when not on stage adopting the personas of his ladies. He was diagnosed as manic-depressive. His destructive manic episodes alienated him from close friends and professional contacts. He did not feel loved for himself, but only when impersonating celebrities and receiving applause. Going through episodes of depression, he started relying heavily on liquor and cocaine. Along with his mental illness, his self-destructive behaviour resulted in disastrous stage shows in NYC's Carnegie Hall, in California, and Amsterdam which alienated managers and audiences. His career went into rapid decline after his return from Europe.

In 1987 it was decided that a sequel to the successful movie, Outrageous, would help him in making a comeback. Due to some manic episodes followed by states of depression, drinking and illegal drug use, producers and directors found working with him to be almost impossible. They hired handlers to keep watch on him. The movie was finally released to mainly hostile reviews and was not successful. An even more outrageous drag queen, the often vulgar 320 pound Devine, had just acted in the mainstream Hairspray motion picture, and younger audiences were unfamiliar with the stars portrayed by Craig. They wanted to see impressions of their current singing idols.

Broke and despondent he moved into a shabby apartment with two sleazy men. He was on welfare and suspected of smoking crack and sniffing glue.

Lori Russell Eadie was a creative teenager who was obsessed with movies, stage and celebrities. Her obsession and love centred around Craig in particular. She actively stalked him and once having met him devoted all her devotion and energy into making him happy. He did not return her romantic love which he found stifling, but rather liked her undivided attention. She had been staying with him in Europe, but he got sick of her constant clinging and made her go back to Canada. After his return from Europe, he finally married her. She put up with his explosive anger and his numerous male companions and always forgave him. He made her leave their apartment, insisting on a divorce. She only pretended to get one and found employment backstage at major theatre productions.

When he was at his lowest level she brought him food, finally persuading him to move into her nicer apartment. She discovered he was dying of AIDS, and lived and cared for him until his death. This was a tragic tale going from the heights of superstardom to the lowest depths of despair. I believe the book could have been shorter without minimizing its information and impact. I would have liked to see more pictures added to those already included.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for this interesting biography which discusses out the danger of stardom on those whose fragile egos are little prepared for it.

This is the biography of Craig Russell and his wife Lori. Craig Russell was a famous female impressionist during the 70’s and 80’s. This is the story of his tumultuous life. Lori his obsessive number one fan who later becomes his wife is also featured in this biography. Both came from highly dysfunctional families which influenced their lives. It is also a tale of mental illness, addictions drag performers and gay life in Toronto. This was a very informative and interesting story. Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.