GLAMOUR, GLORY AND GOLD: THE LIFE & LEGEND OF NOLA NOONAN, GODDESS & STAR (1968) Theatre poster

[New York]: Playwrights Workshop, [1968]. Vintage original 24 x 16″ (61 x 41 cm.) poster, unfolded, fine.

Very scarce poster (the OCLC records no known copy) for a 1968 run of the first play written by and starring Andy Warhol superstar Jackie Curtis. This play had its world premiere a year before, also at the Playwrights Workshop, and an entirely different poster was created for this 1968 revival.

“Jackie Curtis was born in New York City to John Holder and Jenevive Uglialoro. She had one sibling, half-brother Timothy Holder, who is an openly gay Episcopal priest. Her parents divorced and she was mostly raised by her maternal grandmother. Her maternal grandmother was Ann Uglialoro, a well-known East Village bar owner known as Slugger Ann. Jackie performed as both a man and a woman throughout her career. While performing in drag, Curtis would typically wear lipstick, glitter, bright red hair, ripped dresses, and stockings. Curtis pioneered this combination of trashy and glamour, a style that has prompted assertions that Curtis inspired the glitter rock or glam rock movement of the 1970s. 

“Andy Warhol said of Curtis, ‘Jackie Curtis is not a drag queen. Jackie is an artist. A pioneer without a frontier.’ Primarily a stage actress, Curtis debuted at the age of 17 in Tom Eyen’s play Miss Neferititi Regrets, produced in 1965 at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. Curtis began writing her own plays immediately after this production. Her productions often featured well-known transgender people, such as Candy Darling and Holly Woodlawn. Curtis’ work was influenced by the Playhouse of the Ridiculous, a resident company at La MaMa. As writer and lead actress, her plays included Glamour, Glory and Gold, which also starred Darling, Melba LaRose, Jr., and Robert De Niro in his first appearance on stage, playing several roles.” (Wikipedia)