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Princess Annie, Drag Queen
When I transferred into the University of Texas at Austin in January
1965, I frequently saw an old woman, pushing a bicycle with her earthly
goods in a front-mounted basket, on the "Drag" (Guadalupe Street). The
students called her the "Princess" or "Bicycle Anne."
Stories about this person had common elements: she was widowed, a Cherokee
Indian princess, a prototypical bag lady, etc. Also wildly divergent
elements: she was the American Socialist party candidate for vice
president of the U.S. between World War II and the Korean conflict.
Whatever, she had a foul temper, sometimes matched by her vocabulary. For some
reason, she took kindly to my younger sister, Teresa, who had moved in
with me while attending classes at UT. She told Teresa that she was
Cherokee, and that she'd been widowed since 1947.
Another part of the
Princess's story came to me from Henry, the owner of Hank's Grill, a
place on the drag now occupied by Third Eye Photography (at Dean Keeton
Drive). I saw Henry transact some kind of business with her, and asked
what she was about. Henry told me that he bought advertising in her
weekly newspaper Up and Down the Drag.
Apparently this had
been her husband's paper, and she brought out several editions after his
death before giving up the effort. She was still selling advertising in
this nonexistent rag twenty years later, and the business community on
Guadalupe was still supporting her, and I believe, did so until her
death in the mid-'80s.
Paul Farmer
Austin, Texas
Published:
November 14,
2005
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