THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 29, 1995 TAG: 9501280026
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARK MOBLEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
IONA TRAYLOR does.
Own a trailer. A trailer filled with fancy earrings, stretch pants and ashtrays. She is the poster girl for the low-born, high-life lifestyle. She is also one of Virginia Beach's leading exports.
Traylor is the star of ``Iona Traylor (My 1995 Calendar),'' on sale at Waldenbooks stores and other retail outlets across the United States and Canada. She also has a ``Queen of Southern Camp'' line of birthday cards from Innovisions, a Chicago company.
She is the brainchild of former grocery store manager Jeff Riley and former flight attendant Doug Blevins. She came to life, appropriately enough, in a bowling alley on Halloween, 1993.
Riley, Blevins and a couple of friends decided to celebrate the holiday in drag at Pinboys on Little Creek Road in Norfolk.
``Let me tell you what, you coulda heard a pin drop,'' says Riley, 30. ``All of a sudden you could hear me whispering, `Let's get outta here.' '' But they stayed and played. Traylor and her cohorts also visited Mitty's and other nightspots, winning three costume contests.
``People said, `Y'all can do more with this,'' says Blevins, 36. ``We both were white-collar professionals who decided we were sick of what we were doing. We basically found a way to get away from those jobs.''
The way to change their lives was to create a life for Iona. They figured she was born in Spring Ditch, S.C., to Miss Hadda Nuff and Mr. Russell ``Rusty'' Traylor. Her best friend? Miss Polly Hester, played by Blevins.
They enlisted photographer Eric Thingstad, a frequent Virginian-Pilot contributor, to shoot Iona and Polly in a variety of settings.
Their first stop was Norfolk's Brambleton Avenue, in front of the YMCA during rush hour traffic, for a shot of Iona in leopard skin and guitar-shaped earrings. She perched one pump on a suitcase and held a sign reading MEMPHIS.
``We had so much fun, we laughed until we had tears rolling down our cheeks,'' Blevins says.
Riley adds, ``People stopped and said they were on their way to Memphis. Did I want a ride?'' Iona and her entourage also shot on the steps of Norfolk's First Presbyterian Church and at Sarah Constant Park in Ocean View.
Iona is not your garden variety, lip-synching drag queen. She is a character, an Edna Everage with a lard jar on the stove. She has ventured out in public, for AIDS benefits in Norfolk and at the gay-friendly resort town of Rehoboth Beach, Del. She also went to see Joan Rivers at the Virginia Beach Pavilion.
``Meyera Oberndorf sat right behind me,'' Riley says. ``She loved the outfit. Asked where I got it.''
The answer is: From a closet filled with startling synthetic fabrics that might best be handled with gloves and sunglasses. Iona's earring collection is formidable, including such items as a ``white trash'' pair made of two little trashcans and itty-bitty junk. ``I make all of those,'' Blevins says. ``I'm hell with a hot glue gun.''
But what Blevins and Riley are most interested in making is a career for Iona. Their plans include another calendar, more cards, a music video, a sitcom and a screenplay.
``We're not trying to make fun of anybody in a trailer park,'' Blevins says. ``Look at this girl here. She makes $12,000 a year at the Bowlarama but she lives life to the fullest.''
He says they've never met anyone offended by the pictures. ``There's always someone in their family who looks like that. `This looks like my aunt, like my sister or my uncle or somebody.' We did a lot of research. We rode around a lot of trailer parks.''
The 1995 Christmas cards should have a touch of authenticity - Blevins' grandmother recently let them shoot at her 1958-vintage trailer on the Outer Banks. ILLUSTRATION: [Photo of calendar]
by CNB