Superstar in a Housedress: The Life and Legend of Jackie Curtis (24 page)

I stood around and spoke with some of the mourners when it was over and the hearse left for its journey to Westchester. One woman, a crusty, somewhat feisty off-Broadway has-been fired up a joint and several of us toked. People probably thought we were heathens for smoking dope in front of a church, but somehow, in this case, it seemed appropriate. Everyone wandered off and I went home to change clothes, my mind in a sincere funk.

Holly Woodlawn

One day I heard that Jackie was dead. I don’t like funerals, I don’t like coffins and I will never ever go to another one. I was sitting there during the memorial service, the priest is doing his Ave Maria thing and suddenly the door of the church slams opened and this woman is crying hysterically, “I killed him, I killed him” and they dragged this bitch outside. She had been with him when he was shooting heroin and was so guilty about it. I’m going to cry, I know, remembering all of this – they dragged her out and picked up the casket and … my friend was gone. I remember going up to the open coffin and seeing Jackie, and that was the last time I ever saw my friend. I couldn’t go to the gravesite, where they buried him. I couldn’t watch them put his body into the ground. I’ve had too many friends die on me. Wherever Jackie is, I hope he’s happy – because he made me happy.

Ellen Stewart

I am Jackie’s family, and we were very close. Jackie always said that I was his mother. When he had bad times, we could always talk about it. He was always very anxious to not do the things that led to his death. He tried very hard. But the world should understand what it is like being an artist, and a very good one. Having an intrinsic belief in yourself – and yet finding it very difficult for the world to believe in you as an artist.

Jackie once said to me that in a way he was doing Pagliacci, his version of Pagliacci. That is how he felt every time he put lipstick on, pasted on his eyelashes, drew his eyebrows and selected what wig he was going to wear. How well could he be Pagliacci for the coming performance?

Jackie Curtis Tribute by Taylor Mead:

Jackie Curtis, Jackie Curtis

flouncy dame

sort of.

You’re not Jimmie Dean

you’re not Lana Turner.

You were Jackie Curtis

More individual

maybe.

You got a wry, bouncy look at life

and then slipped and fell,

as only fancy figure-skaters

on pointy heels

and big city cement ice

can fall.

Reprinted with permission of the author. © 1985 Taylor Mead

THE STAR
– poem by Jackie Curtis

The star is ideally beautiful

the star is pure

the star is profoundly good

beauty and spirituality combined to form a mythic super-personality

Worshipped as heroes

divinized

the stars are more than objects of admiration

a religion in embryo has formed round them

the star is like a patron saint to whom the faithful dedicate themselves.

Will there ever be words for the vicissitudes of the milk and suffering of the mouth?

—Jackie Curtis © 1985 The Estate of Jackie Curtis

Michael Musto

Jackie was obsessed with stardom, the Hollywood system, the glamour machine, and she ended up part of it in a way because she was a Warhol superstar. Jackie told me that she survived the Warhol years because she was already Jackie Curtis before she met Andy, so she could still be Jackie Curtis afterwards. The wonderful thing is that she became a star. Whether it was a Warhol superstar or just a stage star. She never got to be the movie star that she no doubt envisioned herself as, but she did fashion herself when she was younger a combination of Audrey Hepburn and Jean Seeburg. He was obsessed with the Hollywood glitter machine and I’m sure Jackie had glitter in his veins instead of blood.

He deserved a star on the walk of fame, because he was a star. Even if he was living out of a shoebox, eking out a living doing stage work off-off-off Broadway. Still, he was the biggest Hollywood star in his mind, and in my mind.

And it was just so sweet to see him living a dream, even on a shoebox level. And working in themes of fame and glamour, that’s what all his shows were about. They were all about the star-making process, and he was obsessed with larger-than-life divas, and glamorous icons – and in the process of playing them, he became one.

Alexis del Lago

Jackie was not a man, was not a woman – he was a way of life!

Poem by Sam Abrams

Elegy for jackie curtis

& his/her hip granma

we all wanted to be

billy holiday

& we all were

some of us discovered

early on

i’m not gonna be male

i’m not gonna be female

i’m not gonna be straight

i’m not gonna be gay

just gonna be me

containing

all nothing missing &

everything belongs to me

just as good belongs to you

jackie

you outghta see

all the great clothes

we find in the trash

where we live now

far from bay one

© 1985 Sam Abrams Originally published in ACTION #8/9, 21st Sensual Press, May 1986

Scene Excerpt –
Glamour, Glory and Gold: the Life and Legend of Nola Noonan, Goddess and Star
A comedy by

JACKIE CURTIS

© 1985 The Estate of Jackie Curtis

(Closing monologue of the play. Nola is alone at her beach house. It is night. A full moon.)

NOLA

I like it here. I like the quiet noise, I like the ocean … I like the sunset. It’s very beautiful. It’s not bitter like it was in Chicago. The water …

(SHE picks up a sea shell.)

I had a collection of sea shells. My mother threw them down the incinerator. I cried. She told me to shut up, but I wouldn’t … those sea shells … those sea shells were the only beautiful things I possessed. I ran away from home. I can’t remember how old I was, but I was alone … without my sea shells, my crinolines, my salesman, my ice-man … no one … that’s funny … I don’t remember anything.

(A pause.)

Is that you, Mazie? Toulouse … you’re reading a script for me? I can read it myself … no?

(SHE looks up.)

Ah, hello moon, hello stars! I’m not up in your sky, but I’m a star! A star!

(A pause.)

Arny, who built this set? It’s terribly authentic. Arny! Arny, aren’t you with us anymore? What? I’m not with you anymore? Then where am I? Where am I, Arny? If this isn’t a set, then where am I?

(There is a long, painful pause.)

Somebody answer me! Arny, I’ll be a good girl, I promise … I’ll even finish the picture … what picture? Where’s my speech teacher? Tell her I said “set” … I said “set” and “get” and “pet” and what … what … what?! Oh, just tell her I left all of you saying my “t’s” like a pro!

(SHE begins walking into the ocean.)

Ahh, death, escape, escape … to where? Where? Where hair has never been hit by the bleach pots … a place where eye lashes remain naked … where lips with that blood red slash scream out to be kissed, where wrists hang free of gold-plated bracelets that bind you to your studio. Where nails have never known the touch of gleaming polish … perfumed skin, powdered and suffocated in front of inhuman cameras … machines without mercy.

No more necklaces choking … contract signatures, goodbye! Peter … Peter, is that you?

What was I, Peter? What was I? Glamour … glory … golden girl … admired … idolized … loved … dreamt about, fantasized, publicized, blown up out of proportion on plastic screens all over the world, so some concession stand could sell popcorn in some dingy theatre! Looked at, stared at, whistled at, yelled at.

Peter … it’s not you, is it, Peter? It never was you!

(The waves are covering her now.)

Death … escape clause … escape … ahhh …

(PAUSE a beat.)

What was I?

(PAUSE a beat.)

What was I?

The music comes up, and then out. The lights die.

THE END.

Jackie Curtis up on the roof, 1975.
Photo © Craig Highberger

Craig Highberger

A beautiful summer afternoon. Jackie in a simple housedress, hair dyed Lucille Ball red and teased into a wild bushy mane. Some unexposed film. We went up on the roof of my apartment building, 147 West 10th Street, which had a marvelous view of the city we both loved. Pretending to lean on the spire of the Empire State Building was his idea. Looking at the photograph now all I see is a huge hypodermic needle sticking in his arm.

Closing line from Jackie’s final letter to Craig Highberger:

Please give everyone my love, and think of me often … and remember I am here to bewitch the universe …

I love you,

Jackie

Interviewee Bios

George Abagnalo – Screenwriter

George Abagnalo met Jackie Curtis when he was working at Warhol’s factory at the age of 16. He coauthored the screenplay of Andy Warhol’s last film
Bad
(1977) and is the author of the novel
Boy on a Pony
(2001).

Paul Ambrose – Actor

Paul Ambrose first met Jackie Curtis (who was appearing at La Mama in
Cockstrong
) in the late 1960’s shortly after moving to New York City from Tennessee. His first appearance on stage was in Jackie Curtis’s
Vain Victory
as Juicy Lucy. In 1970 Paul, Jackie Curtis and Candy Darling auditioned in drag for Busby Berkeley for chorus line parts in the Broadway musical revival of
No, No, Nanette!
. Unfortunately, none of the three were cast.

Michael Andre – Poet / Literary Editor

Michael Andre published Jackie Curtis’s poem “B-Girls” in
The Poet’s Encyclopedia
, a 1979 publication of the literary journal
Unmuzzled OX
. Jackie’s poem is the longest work in the 310 page volume (8 pages). Andre notes that it is based upon Jackie’s observations of the barroom denizens of Slugger Ann’s, his grandmother’s Lower East Side bar.

Andrew Amic-Angelo – Actor (1943–2005)

Andrew Amic-Angelo played three male leads (Lefty the one-armed tuba player, mobster Johnny Apollo, and film director Arnie) in the 1974 revival of Jackie Curtis’s
Glamour, Glory and Gold
. He performed in
Death of a Soldier
,
A View from the Bridge
, and
Godspell
on Broadway and in several television series.

Penny Arcade – Performance Artist

Penny Arcade appeared in
Women in Revolt
with Jackie in 1972, but the two had been friends for many years. They met when Penny was in high school and shopped thrift stores every weekend looking for thirties cocktail dresses. Penny appeared in many of Curtis’s plays, including
Femme Fatale
and
I Died Yesterday
. Her latest works, including
Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore!
,
Bad Reputation
, and
New York Stories
have toured internationally.

Michael Arian – Actor

Actor Michael Arian first met Jackie Curtis when he joined John Vaccaro’s “Play-House of the Ridiculous” troupe, appearing in Curtis’s
Heaven Grand in Amber Orbit
. He partied with Curtis in the backroom of Max’s Kansas City. Arian lives in New York City and works with Ellen Stewart’s La Mama Experimental Theater Club.

Gretchen Berg – Photojournalist

Gretchen Berg met Jackie Curtis in 1965 when she was interviewing and photographing Andy Warhol for
Show
magazine. She took photographs of Jackie for his first portfolio and they became friends. Berg witnessed Jackie’s transformation from an idealistic adolescent boy into the drag persona that brought him fame. She lives in Manhattan.

Styles Caldwell – Actor

Styles Caldwell was a devoted friend of Curtis. Curtis lived with Styles in Hollywood in the late 1970s while attempting to land the lead role in
The James Dean Story
. Caldwell was in the studio audience during the taping of Valerie Harper’s TV show
Rhoda
when Jackie played a man in drag who answers Brenda’s ad for a roommate. Unfortunately the scene wound up on the cutting room floor, some say because of Anita Bryant’s anti-gay movement. In 1983 Styles appeared in
I Died Yesterday
with Curtis.

Leee Black Childers – Ex-Mgr/Promoter David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Stooges (1945–2014)

Leee Black Childers came to New York in the mid-sixties and met Jackie Curtis at Max’s Kansas City. Jackie lived with him off and on and they were close friends until Leee moved to England in the late 70s. Leee was manager and promoter for David Bowie, Iggy Pop, the Stooges, the Heartbreakers, and Levi and the Rockats. He was a photographer and writer whose work is featured in
Punk
the definitive record of a revolution (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2001).

Laura de Coppet – Author

Author Laura de Coppet, a journalist who has contributed to many publications including Andy Warhol’s Interview, was an assistant at the John Gibson Gallery during the mid-1970s. Laura was a close friend and benefactor of Jackie Curtis. She was also very close to the late Leo Castelli (Warhol’s art dealer) and Andy. She is the author of
The Art Dealers
(expanded edition, 2002, Cooper Square Press).

Joe Dallesandro – Actor

By 1968, Joe Dallesandro was the toast of the New York underground film scene. The “Little Joe” of Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” was the enigmatic, often naked star of eight Paul Morrissey films presented by Warhol between 1967 and 1972 including
Flesh
(1968) which costarred Jackie Curtis and Candy Darling. His films include Francis Coppola’s
The Cotton Club
(1984) and
Beefcake
(1999). He lives in West Hollywood.

Harvey Fierstein – Tony Award Winning Actor, Playwright

Harvey’s second appearance on stage in a drag role was in Jackie Curtis’s
Americka Cleopatra
. He played Jackie’s mother. Harvey is an award-winning playwright, actor, and gay rights activist. In 1983 he won the Broadway Theater’s prestigious Tony Awards for both his starring performance and for Best Play,
Torch Song Trilogy
. One of America’s few openly gay major celebrities, Fierstein is currently starring (in drag) in the hit Broadway musical
Hairspray
.

Joe Franklin – TV Legend (1926–2015)

Jackie Curtis had his first TV exposure on Joe Franklin’s
Down Memory Lane
. Joe Franklin began his New York talk and variety TV show in 1951 and holds the Guinness Book of World Records award for hosting the most TV shows (31,015). He appeared as himself in the films
Ghostbusters
and
Broadway Danny Rose
.

Robert Heide – Playwright / Author

Robert Heide met Jackie Curtis through his close friend, Ron Link, who directed several of Jackie’s plays including
Glamour, Glory and Gold
. Heide witnessed Curtis’s transformation from a shy young playwright into a powerhouse talent destined for stardom. Heide’s plays were performed at the Caffe Cino, the Judson Church, Cafe La Mama, and Theater for the New City. He is coauthor, with Jon Gilman, of eight books on popular culture in twentieth-century America.

Don Herron – Photographer / Writer / Painter

Don Herron moved to NYC in the late 70s when he began working on a series of portraits of people in their bathtubs, concentrating primarily on performing artists. He currently writes a weekly column for a Hudson Valley newspaper, and divides his time between the East Village apartment (where he photographed Jackie in his own bathtub) and his 1863 townhouse 60 miles north on the Hudson River.

Rev. Timothy Holder – Jackie Curtis’s Brother

Reverend Timothy Holder spent summers with his older half-brother Jackie Curtis in Tennessee when he was growing up. Jackie’s parents were divorced and he went to live with his mother (and grandmother) in New York City. Jackie’s father began a new family in Tennessee. When Tim Holder was an adolescent he was confused by Jackie’s ambiguous sexuality which is ironic because today, Reverend Holder is an openly gay Episcopal priest.

Alexis del Lago – Artist and Star

Alexis del Lago met Jackie Curtis in 1968. Alexis and Jackie were close friends for the next 17 years and appeared together in many shows and revues. Jackie cast Alexis in a major role in
Americka Cleopatra
in 1970. A talented dressmaker in her own right, Alexis has vivid memories of the evening Jackie borrowed her scissors and altered three designer originals on loan to her for a photo shoot. Alexis’ antiques shop, The Guilded Lily (1986 to 2002) was frequented by many Hollywood stars.

Melba LaRose Jr.

Melba LaRose Jr. starred in the premiere run of Jackie Curtis’s
Glamour, Glory and Gold
in 1967. She also appeared opposite Jackie in
Lucky Wonderful
(1968). A playwright, director, and actress Melba LaRose is also the founder and artistic and administrative director for NY Artists Unlimited, a nonprofit company taking professional theatre to under-served audiences.

Agosto Machado – Actor

Agosto Machado was a close friend of Jackie Curtis and appeared in many of Jackie’s plays, including
Americka Cleopatra
and
Vain Victory
. Agosto also worked with John Vaccaro’s Playhouse of the Ridiculous, and in many plays at La Mama. He lives in Manhattan.

Sasha McCaffrey – Messenger, Personal Friend

In 1966, Sasha McCaffrey was barely out of high school and had his first job and his first apartment in the West Village. Holly Woodlawn, Candy Darling and Jackie Curtis moved in with him and it was several months before he realized the three were not girls.

Taylor Mead – Poet, Actor, Superstar (1924–2013)

Actor, poet, and Warhol superstar Taylor Mead was the insouciant pop enigma who had seen everything and done it all. Taylor was in San Francisco in ’56 when the beat poetry scene got going and was famous for standing up on a bar and screaming his poetry over the noise all the drunks were making. His films for Warhol included
Kiss
(1963),
Tarzan and Jane Regained … Sort of
(1963),
Taylor Mead’s Ass
(1964),
Imitation of Christ
(1967), and
Lonesome Cowboys
(1967).

Sylvia Miles – Actress

Born in Greenwich Village, and a lifelong New Yorker, Sylvia Miles was an Academy Award Nominee for her performance as Cass opposite John Voight in
Midnight Cowboy
(1969). Sylvia was very close to Andy Warhol and partied with Jackie, Candy Darling, and Holly Woodlawn. In 1972 she starred in director Paul Morrissey’s
Heat
with Joe Dallesandro. Her current roles include appearances in
Sex in the City
and she has made a big splash as Roxy’s trashy mom, Stella (a recurring role), on ABCs soap opera
One Life to Live
.

Jack Mitchell – Photographer (1925–2013)

Jack Mitchell earned his living as a photographer since the age of fifteen. After serving in World War II, he spent 45 years living and working in his studio on New York City’s Upper East Side. His photographs have appeared in most national and international publications covering the Arts. Mitchell photographed Jackie Curtis and other Warhol Superstars extensively during the late sixties and early seventies for
After Dark
magazine, the
New York Times
, and other publications.

Paul Morrissey – Writer / Director,
Women in Revolt

Director Paul Morrissey studied literature at Fordham and began directing independent films in the early 1960s. In ’65 he took charge of operations at the Warhol studio. Morrissey’s direction revitalized the films presented by Andy Warhol – from the arthouse/cult classics
Flesh
(1968), and
Women in Revolt
(1972) which starred Curtis, to his more mainstream successes with
Flesh for Frankenstein
and
Blood for Dracula
(1974). The 55th Cannes Film Festival honored him with an official tribute in 2002.

Michael Musto – Entertainment Journalist

Michael Musto is one of the leading entertainment journalists and cultural critics in the United States. Noted for his wit and sardonic humor, he writes the popular Village Voice entertainment column “La Dolce Musto,” and contributes to
Interview
,
Out
, and the
New York Times
. His books include
Downtown
and
Manhattan on the Rocks
. Musto is a regular on E-TV and his film appearances include
Resident Alien
, a documentary on the life of Quentin Crisp.

Jeremiah Newton

Jeremiah Newton was a beloved friend of Candy Darling until her death in 1974 of cancer. In 1996 he provided additional scenes and dialogue for the indie hit
I Shot Andy Warhol
in which Candy is portrayed by Stephen Dorff and Jeremiah is played by Danny Morgenstern. He cowrote
My Face for the World to See: The Letters, Diaries and Drawings of Candy Darling
,
Andy Warhol: Superstar
, and recently had a reading from his play
Candy Darling Live and Onstage
, which was part of the 2004 Howl Festival. He is producer of the 2010 Candy Darling documentary
Beautiful Darling
.

Joey Preston – Jackie Curtis’s Cousin

Joey Preston’s mother Josephine was a featured cast member of Curtis’s
Vain Victory
. When Joey was a young boy, Jackie, Holly Woodlawn, and Candy Darling came to the apartment in full drag to visit his mother. Joey did not recognize his older cousin. As an adolescent, Preston and Curtis sometimes hung out in Slugger Ann’s, their grandmother’s bar on the Lower East Side. Joey Preston was stage manager and assistant to Curtis for the last six years of his life. He is Associate Producer of
Superstar in a Housedress
.

Ruby Lynn Reyner

Ruby Lynn Reyner and Jackie Curtis were featured at the Pornography and Censorship Festival at the University of Notre Dame where they were promptly censored. Ruby played the title role in the smash hit
Heaven Grand in Amber Orbit
at La Mama. Ruby also served as the Maid of Honor at Jackie’s wedding to Eric Emerson. Ruby remembers Jackie as the only person to make her pee in her panties!

Mona Robson – Devoted Companion

Mona Robson met Jackie Curtis in 1965 on Christopher Street. Curtis (in drag) came up to her saying, “Let’s go dancing” by way of introduction. It was the beginning of two decades of friendship. Robson became Curtis’s backstage assistant, confidant and companion.

Rose Royalle – Transgendered Entertainer

As soon as she was old enough to get a drug connection, Rose ran away to live with bohemians, alcoholics and street people. She became a close friend of Jackie Curtis and joined the Ridiculous Theater Company. Charles Ludlam cast her as the Turtle Woman in
Turds in Hell
(1969) but as was her custom, Miss Royalle was too bombed to perform. Today, after rehab, Rose Royalle is one of New York’s most popular and influential transgendered performers, noted for her over-the-top outfits.