Paul Cummings was so convincing and gifted at portraying a woman that he made it a feature of his stage shows. He would walk onto the stage as Lavern Cummings, sing a few songs in a female voice, and then later in the set would drop into a deep baritone, shocking audiences in the process. Back when Cummings was performing in the 1950s, the phrase 'drag queen' was barely known at all. What we'd now call drag queens were simply known as 'female impersonators.'
Completely committed to her act, Cummings didn't even wear a wig; all of the hair was real, grown out and styled to resemble Marilyn Monroe. Her home territory was the gay paradise of San Francisco, where she was a regular at the Jewel Box Revue, followed by a long stint as a star attraction at Finocchio's. She may even have been around to tell us her stories today, but she was sadly killed in a car crash in 2018 at the age of 90.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.