On Point With: Ruby Rims

After 50+ years in the scene, Legend of Drag Ruby Rims is still going strong and starting the new month with a special show.

Thotyssey: Ruby, hello! Thanks for chatting with us today! How happy are you for autumn in New York? Also, do you live in town?

Ruby Rims: Ye,s love this weather. I live in midtown Manhattan

Random: are you gonna miss the horse drawn carriages after they’re phased out by city mandate in two years, or is everyone better off without them?

I’m not going to miss them, as I never rode in one. I think for safety reasons–not just for humans, but also for the horses–it’s better without them. Save a horse, ride a cowboy!

Agreed! These days you are largely a singing cabaret performer, but you’ve done the bar scene in legendary OG venues like The Anvil. Do you ever miss those old, exciting dark rooms… or do you prefer these “respectable” spaces, lol?

Oh God, how I miss them! But when I am at a place, there’s nothing respectful about it, lol. After all, my name is Ruby RIMS!

I recall that a few years ago, you were running for public office. It was the same local election period Marti Cummings was running in, I believe.

Yes I was running to be a judicial delegate, and have been one for four years now.

You are a Newark native. What was it like growing up there?

Well, when I was a kid it was fine. I grew up in a housing project. When you’re young, you don’t see color… you just see a friend. Prejudice is taught! Then I got older, and realized I was different from the rest of the boys. By the time I was in high school, I became very popular with those boys… and we took walks in Branch Brook Park! When they were alone with me, they purred like kittens. And when they were together, it was like a pack of hyenas!

Ain’t that always the case! Were you always a singer and performer before drag?

I sang and performed in high school, and when I graduated we didn’t have money for college–and truth be told, I was not college material! So at 18, I went to my first gay bar… The Roundtable. I went there a few times–mind you, it was only two years after Stonewall. One evening, the lights went on… and I thought they were having a raid. Then all of a sudden I heard, “Showtime!” Out came this drag queen lip synching to “This Is My Life,” and I’m watching them and I’m thinking to myself, “I can do that… and I can do it better.” Two years later, a little bar in Newark opened up called The Other World. One evening I said to one of the owners that I wanted to dress up and do a couple of numbers; he said sure. And that was that! I was 20 years old.

So you did drag all through the 70s, 80s, 90s and beyond. You must have seen an incredible amount of change and evolution… and perhaps a little devolution, too, lol. It’s a very broad question, but what have been some of the major highlights you experienced in the drag world over that time?

Well, I started out lip synching… and then I started singing in my own voice. I left the Anvil in 1985 and was performing at The Duplex on 55 Grove Street; also bartending, as I was not making the money I made at The Anvil. In 1987 I performed on The Phil Donahue Show, and did it three times. That kind of solidified me.

Those were the days: daytime talk show queens! That’s how a lot of people discovered drag. Was that a totally wild scene?

Yes indeed! Drag was a little more underground then.

Have you had any all time amazing celebrity interactions?

Oh yes, many. I don’t want to name drop, but the one that was amazing was Ethel Merman.

Gag!

I was at the Ice Palace on 57th Street in drag promoting my show for the following week, and one of the owners came over to me and said “Ruby, come over to the lounge. I want to introduce you to Ethel Merman.” I was flabbergasted!. The first musical I ever saw on Broadway was Hello Dolly with her (little do people know it was written for her, but she didn’t play it until the end of the run). I tried to get her autograph, but they raced her to her car… and that was that. Eight years later, there I am headed to meet her; she was there promoting her disco album. She was sitting on the couch, and Lou Prince said “Ethel, I want to introduce you to Ruby Rims. And she said, “say that name again.” “Ruby Rims.” And she turned to me and said, “Well, do you?” I was in shock–not only because it was her, but the fact she knew what a rim job was! I was totally speechless!

Lol! I love that! By the way, do you have something in your repertoire that you consider a signature song?

Yes, a couple. “I’m Just a Drag Queen” is a parody of “Making Whoopee.” And “What Makes a Man a Man.” At The Anvil, it was “It Should Have Been Me.”

You are an HIV survivor, which is wonderful and miraculous. Considering all the terror and sadness you saw during the worst era of the epidemic, do you feel an incredible sense of strength and an ability to fight all the good fights today?

Yes. It was 1992, and in those day it was a death sentence. So many of those beautiful boys from the Anvil and The Duplex and Eighty Eights were gone. and here I am.

You were featured in the Legends of Drag book that was published on 2022, which profiled longtime icons in the scene with gorge photos! And over time you also did a number of performances with other queens featured in the book to promote it, and for fundraiser events. What was that whole experience like?

It was very touching. I guess I always considered myself a legend in my own mind… but never realized that perhaps I had actually become one! So people say I helped pave the way, but honestly I just did it because it was a way to perform. I’m a ham!

Tell us about “Older Than Dirt,” your cabaret revue this Sunday at Judson Memorial Church! What can folks expect, and how did you choose the songs for the show?

Well, I do a lot of fun stuff… but I can get very serious towards the end of the show. My opening and closing numbers have to do with being old. You see, my birthday is Halloween… and I’m doing a birthday show to celebrate it!

Happy birthday!

I suppose you want to know how old I am going to be?

Um, this feels like a trap, lol! But yes!

Can you keep a secret?

I sure can!

So Can I!

Ha!

Well, I started doing drag when I was 20… and I’ve been doing it almost 53 years. Do the math.

Oh no, not math!

I’ll be 73. I really hope many of you can make it! Sunday. November 1st at 7pm. It’s a $30 cash cover. Yes, it’s in a church! For reservations, please call 646-688-2351.