THE MAKING OF

PART 2 - BRING ME THE HEAD OF DEL CLOSE

Opening one show in a weekend is frantic enough. Last-minute costume runs, inspecting T-shirt designs and keeping actors’ spirits up are all daunting tasks. Opening two shows in one weekend is really crazy. I picked crazy, of course. BETTIE PAGE UNCENSORED had already run once before, but my idea of merging the long-form improvisation form with a talk show was something else I felt I had to try. And so was born BRING ME THE HEAD OF DEL CLOSE.

It isn’t really necessary to know if Del actually existed or who he was to appreciate the show that follows immediately after BETTIE PAGE UNCENSORED, although readers of this site realize he was a co-founder of the Chicago Psychotronic Film Society. Let me illustrate by telling a Del story, and you tell me if he was real or not.

It’s the early 1960s, and Del is living in New York with Wavy Gravy. He has on shorts with hip pockets, and he stuffs a pack of cigarettes in each pocket. He has on a short-sleeved shirt and stuffs 8 joints into its pocket. He puts on knee pads and elbow pads. He injects himself with a syringe of crystal methedrine, created by Adolf Hitler and used by him during the war. He puts on World War One goggles, a helmet with a flashlight duct-taped to it, and rollerskates. He picks up his .38 caliber pistol, tucks it into his waistband and steps carefully outside, as passers-by look on in bewilderment. He lifts the lid off the sewer and climbs in. He cuts on the helmet light and begins skating through the sewers, shooting at rats. Is Del real?

You bet, and in an average show I might take on Al Crowley, drugs, booze, politics, Church of the SubGenius, the Illuminati, secret societies and UFOs. Did I mention sex? And, I have guests! Our first performance began with a friend putting his legs behind his head and screaming "Bring me the head of Del Close!" and, let me tell you, that wakes up an audience.

Before I did plays, I worked in film, but the cost was so prohibitive that I couldn’t stick with it. I could open a play for six weeks at the cost of ten minutes of sync sound film. And DAT wasn’t around in 1992 when I started doing plays. My plays get reviewed and draw audiences; while many films languish at film fests or in filmmakers’ closets, my shows are at least seen.

The photos accompanying this piece are from dress rehearsal, which is the first time the cast gets to be on stage with the lights and many of the clothes they’ll be wearing. Our Bettie here, Lis, is sans makeup (to keep her skin clear opening night). Christian Ginocchio is Irving Klaw and Michelle Zee plays Paula. Michelle produces her own shows around town and has appeared in several independent films.

Bettie’s love interest is Armand, played by John Kostrey, and he is the lucky devil who gets to kiss Bettie on stage in a smoldering first-kiss scene. Roz is Bettie’s wisecracking friend played by Tara Ryan, who appears on stage in pasties (which of course fell off on opening night. Darn it.) Our villain is Senator Estes Kefauver, the government official attempting to link juvenile delinquency to the Klaws and Bettie Page, portrayed by Ronald Bruce Meyer.

As you look at the photos here of actors trying to get into their clothes and find their lights, you are glimpsing the chaos of dress rehearsal. We survived.

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