By Phyllis Swebilius
The New Haven Register
MILFORD, Conn. — Why does a former firefighter/stripper go on to star in a drag show as Dirty Dixie Normous?
“I needed the money,” Mark Rohrig said recently. “My firefighter’s pension isn’t cutting it.”
Rohrig had danced about 25 years as the “Polish Pony” through his Red Hot Pony Express Entertainment Agency. “No one wants to see a (nearly) 52-year-old male stripper anymore,” he said. His new act is “salty, sexy parody.”
“Dirty Dixie is not going to be welcome at Sunday Mass,” he said.
His latest incarnation will have begun three years ago come Halloween, when his agency got a request for a drag queen.
He didn’t have any in his stable of artists, but hoped he could pull it off.
“I’m an entertainer,” he said. He went to the library for a book on make-up his ex-wife (who stripped with him) had used. Then to Goodwill for some clothing. He picked up a Patsy Cline CD to lip sync to, and a star was born.
His first time out in drag, to a club in New London, he was “shaking like a leaf.”
“From firefighter to now wearing a dress, driving around at night,” he recalled. He was worried about getting pulled over by police.
Now, he said, he’s very comfortable in his new skin, and even goes to the mall during the day. While people may mutter under their breath, “No one’s ever done anything negative to me,” he said.
“I love going out dressed as a woman. It’s amazing at how I get treated.”
Men hold the door, carry his bag, hit on him. Straight men.
“I think it’s quite obvious that I’m a guy,” he said.
Sometimes, he bumps into women he used to date, who “have no clue” who he is.
His family and former colleagues accept his new career, he said. His teenage son, who lives out of state and visits in the summer, knows he’ll “do anything in the entertainment industry for a buck.”
“I tell him to treat everyone equally, black, white, gay, straight, whatever,” Rohrig said. “That’s how you have to live life.”
Retired Firefighter Gary Corolla of Milford said Rohrig has “always been a showman, but the act is really polished, he pulls it off.” He said when Rohrig was with the department, he had orange hair, spiked 4 inches, and took a lot of ribbing.
Corolla said he and his wife have seen Rohrig’s act. “But it’s not for the faint of heart,” he said.
Young Mark’s showbiz career began in the fourth grade at Mathewson School. He was the Wizard in “The Wizard of Oz.”
“Maybe that’s where I got my yearning for the spotlight,” he said.
As a teenager, he played drums in drum and bugle corps here and in California. “I loved it. I was making noise and having fun and being in parades,” he said.
Now, at 135 pounds, he’s a slender size 6-8, sometimes a 4. But the feet! Men’s size 10 1/2 makes him a 12 women’s, and he’s “desperate.”
“For a good pair of women’s shoes, I’ll do anything,” he said.
His persona as “Queen of Comedy” is Marilyn meets Betty Boop, with a touch of “biker chick.”
His clothing is second-hand, including a little two-piece by Dior. Some outfits are recycled from his old “Polish Pony” days. A few adjustments to the fabric, new sparkles, strobes, beads, and he’s Dirty Dixie.
He takes up to an hour on his face. While many drag queens use professional products, Rohrig’s is “make-up by Crayola.”
Blond wig, jewelry, press-on tattoos from the dollar store and he’s ready to meet his public.
He has performed in New Orleans, locally and New York, including the Miss Fire Island Pageant, he said. He staged a drag revue May 11 at Two Boots in Bridgeport and has a burlesque show in June in East Hartford, where he’s doing the comedy and playing host. He also starts a burlesque and drag show at a Manchester sports bar in June.
Rohrig says his drag business has opened doors. “I have so many new friends I’ve met as Dixie Normous,” he said. “I just see the world through a different set of eyes now.”
He said he retired from the Fire Department because of a post- traumatic stress disorder caused by the death of an infant when he was on the job.
“I was depressed for years, and this has basically brought me out of it without taking any meds,” he said.
For a business plan, he said he wants to make Dirty Dixie a household name, as is RuPaul. Rohrig aims to bring his show more into the mainstream, and add birthday parties, bridal shows and a Sunday afternoon at a local strip club.
Rohrig’s act includes drinking and partying songs. “If you’re not laughing, then I’m not doing my job,” he said.
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