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This week Penguin Books' Chamberlain Bros. imprint is releasing worldwide (in hardback) "Superstar in a Housedress", my 256 page biography of this fascinating artist and personality who both lived and performed sometimes as a man, sometimes as a woman.
On Sunday, May 29th or Tuesday, May 31st, The New York Times "Bookshelf" section will publish an excerpt of my book next to a photo of the cover!
The book includes the DVD full theatrical version of my award-winning film, narrated by Lily Tomlin. The DVD interface design features Lou Reed's 1971 "Walk on the Wild Side" (his song about Jackie, Warhol and the other superstars) as background audio and also includes more than 30 minutes of EXTRAS - including some outrageous deleted interview footage, a Curtis performance of a prose poem, and scenes from Curtis' triumphant 1974 revival of "Glamour, Glory and Gold".
For the book, I interviewed more than forty friends and colleagues of Curtis including surviving superstars Holly Woodlawn, Penny Arcade, Joe Dallesandro, celebrity photographer Jack Mitchell, director Paul Morrissey, and Tony Award winners Lily Tomlin and Harvey Fierstein. Heavily researched, the book includes interviews with Jackie Curtis, letters and diary excerpts, photographs, and never-before-published poetry and excerpts from Curtis' hilarious plays "Glamour, Glory and Gold", "Heaven Grand in Amber Orbit", and "Vain Victory". The book also features many stories and a lot of ribald and outright scandalous tales of Curtis' wild escapades not in the film.
A new Viacom channel, MTV LOGO has just acquired the broadcast rights to the film (beginning with the channel's debut in major market cities) but because MTV LOGO will be on digital basic cable there will be bleeped lines and blurred visuals. The uncut version will only be available on the DVD with the book. Full updates and photo pages on the website: http://www.jackiecurtis.com
