This Harvard Tradition Is No Drag

March 26, 2005 — -- Back in the 1800s, legend has it Harvard had a couple of rules. No student was allowed to act onstage, and no student -- they were all men then -- could wear women's clothing.

So much for rules. Since 1844, the men of Harvard's Hasty Pudding have been wearing their wigs, kicking their heels and shaking their … well, you get the idea.

Every year, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals -- named after a dessert they used to eat at their meetings -- comes up with a new student-written show. It's always just men, always in drag and always pushing the limits.

Gender has been a hot topic at Harvard this year, with university President Larry Summers questioning women's aptitude in math and science.

Pudding member Sam Gale Rosenat says of Summers: "I think he would be hilarious playing a woman."

This year's show is a Western, called "Terms of Frontierment." John Blickstead plays a buffalo -- a female buffalo.

"I think I am a sexy buffalo, yeah," said Blickstead.

The Hasty Pudding makes a big splash with its awards for Woman and Man of the Year. This year the group honored actors Catherine Zeta-Jones and Tim Robbins.

Robbins, wearing a blond wig and a striped dress to accept the award, admitted, "I wanted bigger breasts."

Doing drag isn't easy.

There are eyebrows to shape and wigs to brush and, perhaps most challenging, there are the heels.