{"id":34239,"date":"2016-05-10T09:25:27","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T13:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourcommunityroots.com\/?p=34239"},"modified":"2016-05-10T09:33:34","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T13:33:34","slug":"in-loving-memory-of-midnight-annie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourcommunityroots.com\/?p=34239","title":{"rendered":"In Loving Memory of Midnight Annie"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Midnight<\/a>
Midnight Annie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Midnight Annie was the illusion of Owen Pride Roach. A local St. Louis bar owner named Gary Reed befriended her when he bought Lementine’s back in the 1980s and recruited her for their first drag show. To make the event more of a draw, Gary billed it as \u201cMidnight Annie\u2019s Final Performance\u201d. Of course, it wasn\u2019t, really. She performed her crazy numbers where she\u2019d howl at the moon.<\/p>\n

Some say she earned her name back in the 1940s when she\u2019d bribe a prison guard to \u201centertain\u201d inmates at midnight. \u201cShe lost many fortunes,\u201d Gary said, suspecting she came from great wealth and would inherit large sums from time to time, only to blow it all on shady characters.<\/p>\n

In her later years, Annie lived a few blocks from Clems and was a fixture. When she fell ill she gave Gary medical power of attorney, which fortunately he never had to use. Because he was essentially her legal guardian, Gary referred to Annie as his only child, even though she was decades his senior.<\/p>\n

Midnight Annie passed away on on April 6, 1995 at the age of 73. \u00a0Her ashes sat on a friend\u2019s mantle for years until the time came to remodel the Lementine’s\u00a0and the decision was made to place her in the wall, right behind the false doors on the Allen Street side. \u00a0When Clem’s closed, he had her ashes removed and took her with him.<\/p>\n

MIDNIGHT WAS A TRUE ICON of DRAG in St Louis! SHE WAS NOTORIOUS!<\/p>\n