On November 7, at the Kraine Theater, in the East Village, Jamie Brickhouse (“Dangerous When Wet,” “I Favor My Daddy”), continuing to mine his life for material, lovingly shares “Tall Tales of the Glamorous Women Who Changed My Life,” celebrating the look, the attitude, and the strength of six personal favorite divas, three of them predictable to someone who knows his work, but three of them complete surprises. Jamie repeats his “Stories in Heels, on November 12 at 7 p.m., as part of the FRIGID New York 10th Annual Gotham Storytelling Festival. It might well also turn up in Cherry Grove, Fire Island.
As we enter the small theater at 85 East Fourth Street, we are faced with a serious line of colorful high-heeled shoes, one pair per diva, plus one pair of flats, and an assortment of jackets, which provide the costuming for these “tall tales.” Soon, Jamie appears and takes us all into his confidence, as if we were old friends, about the women who have touched his life.
The expected three are his “high maintenance” Mama Jean, his original, well-shod—shades of Imelda Marcos—diva; Joan Crawford, from whose work he learned about old movies and glamour, and a piece of whose finery, a furry talisman, he now owns; and Joan Collins, whom he shepherded around to shops, radio interviews, and book signings, when he worked in publishing. Joan Collins was named for Joan Crawford and, when Collins met Mama Jean, saw a resemblance between Jamie’s parent and herself. I think Jamie couldn’t have agreed more.
The other three, and I won’t spoil the surprises, also encountered through his jobs, are “the first victim of cyber-bullying;” a pioneering publisher, author and, like Jamie’s mother and Joan Crawford, business woman, who, if she didn’t invent sex, certainly illuminated its mysteries; and a favorite, famously optimistic senator, before she ever held elected office.
Spend a bit more than an hour with Jamie, when “Stories in Heels” comes your way, and hear his take on this fascinating sextet of sheroes.