Do you ever just have an abrupt moment of awareness where you realise just how vanilla your life has been?
In case you haven’t had one in a while, allow us to reacquaint you with Tanqueray, the breakout star of Humans of New York, whose viral retelling of her life story this week has set social media ablaze and is, frankly, better than anything you’ll watch on Netflix this year.
Originally gaining Internet fame in November 2019, many may remember her captivating face and even more mesmerising tale, as told to HONY’s photographer and creator, Brandon Stanton.
“My mom threw me out of the house at seventeen for getting pregnant, then had me arrested when I tried to get my clothes. Then she fucked the head of parole to try to keep me in jail. She was some prime pussy back then,” Tanqueray told Stanton in the first post about her.
“But the warden did some tests on me and found out I was smart, so I got a scholarship to go anywhere in New York. I chose the Fashion Institute of Technology, which I hated. But by that time I was already getting work making costumes for the strippers and porn stars in Times Square. All my friends were gay people, because they never judged me.
“All I did was gay bars: drag queen contests, Crisco Disco, I loved the whole scene. And I couldn’t get enough of the costumes. My friend Paris used to sit at the bar and sell stolen clothes from Bergdorf and Lord and Taylors, back before they had sensor tags. So I had the best wardrobe: mink coats, 5-inch heels, stockings with seams up the back. I looked like a drag queen, honey. One night a Hasidic rabbi tried to pick me up because he thought I was a tranny. I had to tell him: ‘Baby, this is real fish!”
We are deceased.
Suffice to say, her brief brush with Stanton blew up online, with the likes of Jennifer Garner writing, “Why is this not a @netflix series?” to the tune of over 21,000 likes (Taraji P.Henson would make a great Tanqueray, just saying…).
And now, albeit under unfortunate circumstances, Stanton has brought Tanqueray, whose real name is Stephanie, back for a 32-part series of posts retelling her incredible life to help raise money for the 76-year-old who has landed on hard times following a fall that left her wheelchair bound.
“Many of you will remember this young lady. Tanqueray caused quite a stir a few months ago when she dropped some truth bombs on us, while wearing a hand-beaded faux mink coat that she made herself. What you don’t know is what happened afterward,” Stanton wrote on the post shared across all HONY pages on September 21.
“Tanqueray—whose real name is Stephanie—sat for a series of twenty interviews with me, during which time I transcribed her entire life story. And whoa boy, what a story. Stephanie is a born performer, so we were initially going to make a podcast out of it. But unfortunate circumstances have required a change in plans. Stephanie’s health has taken a bad turn, and she’s in a really tough spot.
“So I’m going to tell her story right here, right now. It’s the most ambitious storytelling I’ve ever attempted on the blog. It will unfold over the course of 32 posts. But if there’s anyone who can hold an audience for an entire week—it’s Tanqueray. As her story is shared, we will be raising money to ensure that Stephanie can live the rest of her life in comfort and dignity. Stephanie has a lot of urgent needs, so her care will be expensive. But her story is priceless. If the series adds any value to your life over the next seven days, please consider making a contribution to our fundraiser through the link in bio.”
What followed is a moving tale of living history, with Tanqueray unveiling the most personal details of her life as a Black burlesque dancer in 1970s New York City, from abuse to racism to the scandalous stories of the city’s underground scene.
And every time it seems like a story is too good to be true, she produces the receipts, including old photos, magazine articles and memorabilia, which feature alongside her portraits.
“Tanqueray, Tanqueray, Tanqueray. When this photo was taken, ten thousand men in New York City knew that name. My signature meant something to them. They’d line up around the block whenever I was dancing in Times Square, just so I could sign the cover of their nudie magazine,” she began in the first of the 32 posts.
“I’d always write: ‘You were the best I ever had.’ Or some stupid shit like that. Something to make them smile for a second. Something to make them feel like they’d gotten to know me. Then they’d pay their twenty bucks, and go sit in the dark, and wait for the show to start. They’d roll that magazine up tight and think about their wives, or their work, or some of their other problems.
“And they’d wait for the lights to come up. Wait for Tanqueray to step out on stage and take it all away for eighteen minutes. Eighteen minutes. That’s how long you’ve got to hold ‘em. For eighteen minutes you’ve got to make them forget that they’re getting older. And that they aren’t where they want to be in life. And that it’s probably too late to do much about it. It’s only eighteen minutes. Not long at all. But there’s a way to make it seem like forever.
“I always danced to the blues. Cause it’s funky and you don’t have to move fast. You can really zero in on a guy. So that it seems like you’re dancing just for him. You look him right in the eyes. Smile at him. Wink. Put a finger in your mouth and lick it a little bit. Make sure you wear plenty of lip gloss so your lips are very, very shiny. If you’re doing it right, you can make him think: ‘Wow, she’s dancing just for me.’ You can make him think he’s doing something to your insides. You can make him fall in love. Then when the music stops, you step off the stage, and beat it back to the dressing room.”
And there is much more where that came from. You can catch Tanqueray’s complete story series across all Humans Of New York pages on social media, including Instagram and Facebook.
If you would like to donate to the Tanqueray Trust, click here.
