Milwaukee once had its own Elvira impersonator—and we can prove it

Elvira, being essentially a drag act, transcends the concepts of “real” and “fake.” So we really can’t be too hard on the Elvira impersonator in this local commercial from 1985. Only a 10-year-old boy blinded by the “Two Big Pumpkins” on her chest could be fooled into thinking the woman in the ad was the “real” Elvira, but that’s perfect because that’s probably exactly who Milwaukee-area Partyland stores were hoping to attract:

Turns out that the Mistress Of The Midwestern Dark in the ad was the winner of an Elvira lookalike contest; her name and fate remain unknown, but if she’s anything like the real Elvira, she still looks exactly the same.

[via Watch This Thing and The Museum Of Classic Chicago Television]