Superstar in a Housedress: The Life and Legend of Jackie Curtis Read Online Free Page A
Author: Craig B. Highberger
heroin and has bows tied around his arms to conceal abscess scarring. Reviews are mixed.
March 1985 – Jackie stops using drugs. He changes his name to Shannon Montgomery and begins attending acting classes at the HB Studio. He has photographer Scavullo take a new head shot of him as Shannon and begins to audition for male roles in theatrical productions and New York-based soap operas.
May 15, 1985 – Jackie Curtis dies of an accidental heroin overdose at the age of 38. His wake is held at the Andrett Funeral Home on 2nd Avenue and 21st Street and the funeral mass at St. Ann’s Church. Jackie Curtis is laid out in his coffin as a man in a dark suit with his hair slicked back and a big white flower on his lapel. Photographs of Curtis in drag are arranged on poster board displays and various show business mementos and a plaque reading “John Holder, a.k.a. Jackie Curtis” is placed inside the coffin. Paul Morrissey and Andy Warhol send flowers but do not attend.
Chapter 1 – Youth
Gretchen Berg photographed Jackie Curtis in 1966 when he was just 19. She remembers: “There was something tragic and very sad in his eyes, even when he smiled.”
Photo © Gretchen Berg
When I was a student in Paradoxology at the University of Spirit Lake in Washington, my professor told me that my mission in life was to see through the veneer of ambiguity, enigma, language, mathematics, science, and existence. To this end, I have traveled around the world collecting serious and whimsical puzzles.
Gretchen Berg
It was the hot summer of 1966, America was getting involved with Vietnam, people were marching in the streets, there was a lot of marijuana smoke in the air, like the smell of flowers, and I went up to East 47th Street, to the studio, the factory of Andy Warhol. I did an interview with him and I also took photographs. And when I finished, this young kid walked up to me. He was very tall. He had a football player’s physique and he said, “Hello, my name is Jackie. I need some pictures for my portfolio, would you take some pictures of me?” I introduced myself and he said, “I talked to Gerard, I know all about you. You know Andy wants me to star in a film about his life, I’m going to play Andy as a boy.”
So the next day or two we went out together in the East Village and took a lot of photographs. Jackie Curtis was like some flowers – they’re very bright and happy during the day, but at dusk he started to get more and more melancholy. Some people are like that; they take on the coloring, the mood of the night. Jackie seemed to be more of a night creature in many ways. And when the moodiness hit him, that’s when I took my very best pictures of him. There was something tragic and very sad in his eyes, even when he smiled. He had the same sadness that you see in some gypsy children – mirth without happiness. There seemed to be a definite tragic air about him, as if he were conscious of his destiny. Jackie was all alone in the world. His parents had divorced and had started other families. He was living with his grandmother over a bar called “Slugger Ann’s” on 13th Street and Second Avenue. He was very conscious of the fact that he had to make his own way in the world.
George Abagnalo
Jackie told me that when he was about twelve years old he would spend the summer in Tennessee with his father and stepmother. He told me that during one of these visits they must have needed a break from taking care of him so they dropped him off at the house of an Aunt and Uncle where he was to spend a week. Jackie did not like these relatives. He said his Aunt and Uncle were not friendly at all and acted put-upon and his cousins were mean and wouldn’t play with him and he wanted to leave after the very first day. He said spending a week with them would have been an eternity.
On the second morning his Aunt came back from the supermarket and asked Jackie to go to the car and unload the groceries. This was a big family so
March 1985 – Jackie stops using drugs. He changes his name to Shannon Montgomery and begins attending acting classes at the HB Studio. He has photographer Scavullo take a new head shot of him as Shannon and begins to audition for male roles in theatrical productions and New York-based soap operas.
May 15, 1985 – Jackie Curtis dies of an accidental heroin overdose at the age of 38. His wake is held at the Andrett Funeral Home on 2nd Avenue and 21st Street and the funeral mass at St. Ann’s Church. Jackie Curtis is laid out in his coffin as a man in a dark suit with his hair slicked back and a big white flower on his lapel. Photographs of Curtis in drag are arranged on poster board displays and various show business mementos and a plaque reading “John Holder, a.k.a. Jackie Curtis” is placed inside the coffin. Paul Morrissey and Andy Warhol send flowers but do not attend.
Chapter 1 – Youth
Gretchen Berg photographed Jackie Curtis in 1966 when he was just 19. She remembers: “There was something tragic and very sad in his eyes, even when he smiled.”
Photo © Gretchen Berg
When I was a student in Paradoxology at the University of Spirit Lake in Washington, my professor told me that my mission in life was to see through the veneer of ambiguity, enigma, language, mathematics, science, and existence. To this end, I have traveled around the world collecting serious and whimsical puzzles.
Gretchen Berg
It was the hot summer of 1966, America was getting involved with Vietnam, people were marching in the streets, there was a lot of marijuana smoke in the air, like the smell of flowers, and I went up to East 47th Street, to the studio, the factory of Andy Warhol. I did an interview with him and I also took photographs. And when I finished, this young kid walked up to me. He was very tall. He had a football player’s physique and he said, “Hello, my name is Jackie. I need some pictures for my portfolio, would you take some pictures of me?” I introduced myself and he said, “I talked to Gerard, I know all about you. You know Andy wants me to star in a film about his life, I’m going to play Andy as a boy.”
So the next day or two we went out together in the East Village and took a lot of photographs. Jackie Curtis was like some flowers – they’re very bright and happy during the day, but at dusk he started to get more and more melancholy. Some people are like that; they take on the coloring, the mood of the night. Jackie seemed to be more of a night creature in many ways. And when the moodiness hit him, that’s when I took my very best pictures of him. There was something tragic and very sad in his eyes, even when he smiled. He had the same sadness that you see in some gypsy children – mirth without happiness. There seemed to be a definite tragic air about him, as if he were conscious of his destiny. Jackie was all alone in the world. His parents had divorced and had started other families. He was living with his grandmother over a bar called “Slugger Ann’s” on 13th Street and Second Avenue. He was very conscious of the fact that he had to make his own way in the world.
George Abagnalo
Jackie told me that when he was about twelve years old he would spend the summer in Tennessee with his father and stepmother. He told me that during one of these visits they must have needed a break from taking care of him so they dropped him off at the house of an Aunt and Uncle where he was to spend a week. Jackie did not like these relatives. He said his Aunt and Uncle were not friendly at all and acted put-upon and his cousins were mean and wouldn’t play with him and he wanted to leave after the very first day. He said spending a week with them would have been an eternity.
On the second morning his Aunt came back from the supermarket and asked Jackie to go to the car and unload the groceries. This was a big family so
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