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Leigh Bowery (26 March 1961 – 31 December 1994) was an Australian performance artist, club promoter, actor, pop star, model and fashion designer, based in London. Bowery is considered one of the more influential figures in the 1980s and 1990s London and New York art and fashion circles influencing a generation of artists and designers. His influence reached through the fashion, club and art worlds to impact, amongst others, Meadham Kirchhoff, Alexander McQueen, Lucian Freud, Vivienne Westwood, Boy George, Antony and the Johnsons, John Galliano, the Scissor Sisters, David LaChapelle, Lady Bunny plus numerous Nu-Rave bands and nightclubs in London and New York which arguably perpetuated his avant garde ideas.

Early life[link]

Leigh Bowery was born in 1961 in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine, Victoria. He often compared his early life there to a cultural wasteland in which he did not fit well. He was a sensitive and multi-gifted child in "macho" surroundings and as a teenager discovered a whole new world by reading about the London new romantic scene from British fashion magazines such as i-D. This inspired him to reinvent himself at the centre of the avant-garde art world in London. His family was conservative and he often reflected on his parents who were actively involved in the local Salvation Army. He was the older of two children, his sister Bronwyn being several years younger. He described his father as kind but macho and had a particularly close relationship with his mother from whom he inherited a love of dressmaking.

London[link]

After attending Melbourne High School, and one year of a fashion course there, he abandoned Australia and moved to London for good in 1980, initially to make his career as a fashion designer. Although this was a financial failure, it did garner him a small cult following and media interest. Eventually he was making a name for himself by dramatic performances of dance, music, and extreme exhibitionism, while wearing bizarre and very original outfits of his own design.

Early career[link]

He befriended two leading clubbers: Trojan (Guy Barnes), later a painter, and David Walls – later of the design team Gallagher Walls. Bowery moved in with them to a houseshare in Ladbroke Grove, and the two men became the first people in London to wear Bowery's creative designs. Collectively they were nicknamed the Three Kings. They were unemployed for several years and living on benefit, which was common in those days, and were eventually rehoused on the Commercial Road in the East End in a three-bedroom flat high on the 11th floor of a council tower block in one of the poorest and bleakest areas of London. All three would experiment with drugs (mainly downers), but within the year and after a huge fallout, David Walls moved out, leaving Bowery and Trojan to live together. At this time Bowery and Trojan briefly became lovers, but split on Trojan's insistence.

At this time, Margaret Thatcher was in power and, although they were making a reasonable living, times were hard for them. The only escape for them was in the secret underworld of often polysexual or gay nightclubs.

Up until 1986 Bowery would describe himself as a fashion designer and club promoter. Although his early fashion career is often ignored, he had considerable artistic success and it included several collections in London Fashion week, shows at the ICA, The Camden Palace, New York, and Tokyo (see below for Fashion Collections and early Leigh Bowery models).

In January 1985 he started the now infamous polysexual Thursday disco club night "Taboo". Originally an underground venture, it quickly became London's Studio 54, only much wilder, extremely more fashionable, and without the masses of celebrities – although these came flocking in later. For everyone stepping through the doors it was a truly unforgettable experience.

Over the coming years he was invited to host numerous club nights in New York, Tokyo, Rome, and elsewhere.

Contrary to popular belief, Bowery was not part of the New Romantic movement that was popular in Britain during the early 1980s. Though perhaps he is more properly placed within the context of early fashion clubs such as Cha Cha's at Heaven and the "Hard Times" movement, he was always at the centre of the pansexual set of young and fashionable Londoners.

From being a plump, studious, and often bullied child, Leigh grew up to often be uncomfortable in his skin, and used his frequently bizarre designs as an armour for his insecurities. As he got larger he used his costumes to exaggerate his size, and the effect was frequently overpowering and unforgettable for those who encountered him, the more so because of his confrontational style. Bowery was not a wallflower.

In the early days Bowery felt comfortable with describing himself as "gay", although he had intense and passionate friendships occasionally of a sexual nature with women, often in the form of a sadomasochistic-type relationship, with Bowery firmly in the role of master puppeteer. With his bizarre looks Leigh often had difficulties attracting the men he was sexually attracted to, and he would often describe having sex in risky underground situations such as "cottaging", with unattractive individuals.

Unlike many of his club contemporaries Bowery was highly intelligent, widely read, and passionate about all forms of artistic expression. While he could be extremely witty and charming, he would often be a malicious fashion bully, intimidating friend and foe alike with his sharp tongue and accusations. These all reflected a sign of the times where "hardness" went hand in hand with the club scene.

Although Taboo was over by early 1987, Bowery was at the very heart of London's alternative fashion movement. But AIDS and hard drugs had influenced the scene, causing the death of his best friend and former lover Trojan, then of Taboo door whore and budding musician Marc Valtier. As a result Bowery experienced severe depression, which manifested itself in abusive unsafe sexual activities, often in cottaging and public cruising grounds. It was probably at this time he contracted HIV, although he kept this a closely guarded secret from most friends until days before his death. Being HIV-positive at this time was seen as a death sentence and there was much fear and discrimination to be faced – Bowery did not want to be described as an artist with AIDS, feeling it would overshadow any of his artistic achievements.

Soon after, he collaborated with the famous 1980s dancer Michael Clark, after having been first his costume-designer before eventually joining the company as a dancer. He also participated in multi-media events like I Am Kurious Oranj and the play Hey, Luciani, with Mark E. Smith and the band, The Fall and on 15 July 1987 flew to Paris with the cult British band You You You to host their concert at Le Palace. In 1989, he hosted a special one-off Ball held in a massive disused West London warehouse starring Big Bang as part of their Arabic Circus Tour that featured Danielle Dax and Jayne County as supporting artists.

In 1988 he had a week-long show in Anthony d'Offay's prestigious Dering Street Gallery in London's West End, in which he lolled on a chaise longue behind a two-way mirror, primping and preening in a variety of outfits while visitors to the gallery looked on. The insouciance and audacity of this overt queer narcissism captivated gallery goers, critics and other artists. Bowery's exquisite appearance, silence and intense self-absorption were further accentuated by his own recordings of random and abrasive traffic noises which were played for the show's duration. The very intimate and private was flung in the face of the public complete with a "street life" sound track, hinting perhaps at something still darker. In some outfits he appears like some strange roadside creature, like a cat that finally got the cream (of art world attention); in others he is the "Satan's Son" that he would whisper, years later, on his deathbed.

For all his art world exposure and contacts it seems peculiar now that no one suggested to Bowery that he might adopt the very viable strategy of Gilbert and George – an earlier generation's living sculpture – and derive an income from selling images of himself rather than rely on occasional commissions, modeling work for Lucian Freud, or design consultancy for Rifat Ozbek. In the later years of his life the advantages of having an independent income started to become more obvious and Bowery looked to music, in the form of art rock/pop group Minty, to possibly provide this independent income stream. "I have a profile," he confided to former flatmate and fellow Australian Anne Holt, "but I have no money." Minty, he hoped, would provide a solution to this crux, although this wish eventually proved to be unfounded.

He later excited the fashion crowd with a performance at SMact, a short-lived SM Night at Bar Industria. Using Nazi costumes with a lesbian friend named Barbara, they turned concentration camp experimentation into SMart. The readers of Capital Gay, the London weekly newspaper, turned on fellow performer Berkley, who had played the victim, and Barbara and Bowery weathered the storm.

In 1993 Bowery briefly formed the band Raw Sewage with leading clubbers Sheila Tequila and Stella Stein. They performed nude with their faces blacked up, wearing 18" platforms and merkins (pubic wigs), to the bemusement of audiences in London clubs and at the Love Ball in Amsterdam. But the collaboration ended in personality clashes. Bowery went on to appear as the "Madame Garbo" in "The Homosexual (or the difficulty of sexpressing oneself)" by Copi at Bagleys Warehouse in London's King's Cross.

Minty and Freud[link]

In 1993 Bowery formed the band Minty with friend and former 1980s knitwear designer Richard Torry, Nicola Bateman and Matthew Glammore. Their single "Useless Man" "Boot licking, tit tweaking useless man..." which was remixed by The Grid, "Plastic Bag" Which was preserved by the movie I Woke Up Early The Day I Died along with their twisted onstage scatological performances caused The Sun to describe them as the "sickest band in the world", of which Bowery was very proud. The single became a minor chart hit in The Netherlands, although friends felt that he had lost his true artistic self to cheap and obvious shock horror tactics, none of which were new.

During 1994 Leigh performed the "Fete worse than death" in Hoxton Square. Bowery and Nicola Bateman (later, Nicola Bowery) presented their classic "Birth Show", a homage to John Waters' "Female Trouble", in which Bowery "gave birth" to Bateman, who was held under his costume and upside down using a specially-designed harness. Bowery would appear to enter the stage alone but toward the middle of the song birthed his partner who appeared as a very large baby covered in placenta. The performance was revised for Lady Bunny's Wigstock event and captured in Wigstock: The Movie.

In November 1994 Minty began a two week show at London's Freedom Cafe, including audience member Alexander McQueen, but it was too much for Westminster City Council, who closed the show down after only one night. Minty was a financial loss and represented a low point in his colourful career. A spin-off band called Offest later formed including artist Donald Urquhart.^[2]

Bowery was the nude subject of several of Lucian Freud's later portraits, and travelled internationally to the opening events of his exhibitions. This modeling work provided him with a modest income of sorts for a period and he certainly relished Freud's connections to the British establishment.

Influences[link]

Glimmers of the influences of film maker John Waters and artist Andy Warhol can be seen in his keen appreciation of bad taste, truly outlandish self presentation and a deep desire to shock and confuse. "I want to be the Andy Warhol of London" he once said. "Dressed-up," he was obviously "Modern Art on legs" (as Boy George commented), but in daytime attire the badly-fitting, obvious, disturbing wigs are a nod to Warhol's self-presentation strategies that has thus far seemed invisible to both critics and friends alike.

Other art historical parallels include an early 80s attempt at Vincent van Gogh type ear-cutting with friend Trojan (in an attempt to out do nightclub rivals), and as a result inflicted facial perforations that he was warned would not heal (reminiscent of Warhol's weeping wounds). Bowery made a full auto-couture appearance at the 1986 Warhol show Success is a job in New York at London's Serpentine Gallery with Nicola and an unknown assistant.

He became known to a wider audience by appearing in a Post-Modernist/Surrealist series of television and cinema and commercials for the Pepe jeans company, MTV London and other commissions such as stage work for rock band U2. He also appeared regularly in articles, vox pops and as cover star in London's i-D magazine. Bowery was also Art Director for the famous video for Massive Attack's "Unfinished Sympathy".

As a character he featured in the stage musical Taboo that was based on the New Romantic movement. It also featured actors playing Marilyn, Boy George, Steve Strange and other stars of the early 1980s. The musical, which was written by Mark Davies with music composed partly by Boy George, was a London West End hit. American media star Rosie O'Donnell financed a much- altered version for Broadway, but this was not successful.

Johnny Rozsa's photographs of Bowery have been exhibited in several museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, the Kunsthalle in Vienna, and the Kunstverein in Hanover.

Personal life[link]

Although Bowery always described himself as gay he married his longtime friend Nicola Bateman on 13 May 1994, in Tower Hamlets, London, 7 months before his death from AIDS-related illness at the (now closed and redeveloped) Middlesex Hospital, Westminster, London^[3] on New Year's Eve 1994, after a five-week battle that only a handful of friends were informed about.^[2]

Reportedly one death bed pronouncement "Tell them I've gone pig farming in Bolivia", illustrates the gallows humour and dark irony that can be traced in much of his work. Among his last requests was that his middle name be unknown.^{[citation needed]}

Popular References[link]

The character Vulva in the British TV comedy series Spaced is based on Leigh Bowery.^[4]

Boy George recorded a tribute song on his 1995 album, Cheapness and Beauty. The track is called "Satan's Butterfly Ball" and in his Taboo musical, the Leigh Bowery character sings tracks like "Ich Bin Kunst" and "I'll Have You All".

Fashion collections and show information[link]

Fashion collections:

• "Hobo": New York Fashion Week. 1982.
• "Pakis from Outer Space": Camden Palace for London Fashion Week. 1982/83.
• "Mincing Queens": Institute of Contemporary Arts 'Performing Clothes' for London Fashion Week and The Hacienda Club, Manchester. 1984.
• "Disease / Spastic": Riverside Studios and Earls Court for London Fashion Week. 1986.

Models: Models for these shows included old friends such as: Trojan (aka Gary Barnes, died 1987), David Walls, Peter Hammond (aka Space Princess, died 1993), Marc Vaultier (Mark Golding, died 1987), George Gallagher, James Payne, David LaChapelle, Jim McGuire, Robert McGuire, Sandra Cosijn, Dezi Campbell and Malcolm Duffy.

Bibliography[link]

• Leigh Bowery Looks, by Leigh Bowery, Fergus Greer, published by Thames & Hudson Ltd; New Ed edition (2005); ISBN 0-500-28566-7
• Leigh Bowery Looks by Leigh Bowery, Fergus Greer, published by: Violette Editions (2006);ISBN 1-900828-27-8

Discography[link]

• Minty's discography

Partial videography[link]

• Hail the New Puritan (1985–6), Charles Atlas
• Generations of Love (1990), Baillie Walsh for Boy George
• Teach (1992), Charles Atlas
• A Smashing Night Out (1994), Matthew Glamorre
• Death in Vegas (1994), Mark Hasler
• Performance at Fort Asperen (1994)
• Flour (single screen version) (1995), Angus Cook
• U2: Popmart - Live from Mexico City (1997), Dancer during 'Lemon Mix'
• Read Only Memory (estratto) (1998), John Maybury

References[link]

• Posthumous New York exhibition prospectus
• Leigh Bowery obituary by Alix Sharkey
• (IMDB) The Legend of Leigh Bowery, directed by Charles Atlas. 2002, USA/France, 88 mins duration
• Leigh Bowery: The Life and Times of an Icon by Sue Tilley. Published by Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1999. ISBN 0-340-69311-8
• Leigh Bowery by Robert Violette, published by: Violette Editions (London, July 1998).
• Clothing Gandhi's Nation. By Lisa Trivedi
• Lucian Freud: Recent Drawings and Etchings

Audio[link]

• An extended extract (72 minutes) of a 1989 audio interview

Video[link]

• Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art movie
• BBC Clothes Show excerpt with Leigh Bowery
• Donut Party hosted by Michael Alig at Twin Donuts with many New York Club regulars including Isaac Mizrahi
• Bowery footage by UK fashion photographer Nick Knight on SHOWstudio.com
• “The Legend of Leigh Bowery – Full Movie”

External links[link]

• The Great Unknown Melburnian
• Goodbye to the Boy from Sunshine
• Online memorial to Leigh Bowery, Derek Jarman and others
• The Legacy of Leigh Bowery by friend Donald Urquhart
• Leigh Bowery: the Life and Times of an Icon
• Taboo in London
• fashion club

Coordinates: 40°43′11.62″N 73°59′38.86″W / 40.7198944°N 73.9941278°W / 40.7198944; -73.9941278

Looking north from Houston Street up Bowery, with the Empire State Building in the background

The Bowery, looking north from Grand Street, circa 1910

Bowery ( /ˈbaʊ.əri/ or local /ˈbaʊ.ri/), commonly called "the Bowery," is a street and a small neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood's boundaries are East 4th Street and the East Village to the north, Canal Street and Chinatown to the South, Allen Street and the Lower East Side to the east and Little Italy to the west.^[1]

Bowery is an anglicisation of the Dutch bouwerij, derived from an antiquated Dutch word for "farm." In the 17th century the road branched off Broadway north of Fort Amsterdam at the tip of Manhattan to the homestead of Peter Stuyvesant, Director-General of New Netherland. As a street, the Bowery was known as Bowery Lane prior to 1807.^[2] Today it runs from Chatham Square in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north. After Cooper Square, the street runs north as Third Avenue and to the northwest as Fourth Avenue.

Major streets that intersect the Bowery include Canal Street, Delancey Street, Houston Street, and Bleecker Street. A New York City Subway station named Bowery on the BMT Nassau Street Line (J and Z services) is located at the Bowery's intersection with Delancey Street.

Colonial and federal period[link]

The Bowery is the oldest thoroughfare on Manhattan Island, preceding European intervention as a Lenape footpath, which spanned roughly the entire length of the island, from north to south.^[3] When the Dutch settled Manhattan island, they named the path Bouwerij road—"bouwerij" being an old Dutch word for "farm"—^[4]because it connected farmlands and estates on the outskirts to the heart of the city in today's Wall Street/Battery Park area.

In 1654, the Bowery’s first residents settled in the area of Chatham Square; ten freed slaves and their wives set up cabins and a cattle farm.

Petrus Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam before the English took control, retired to his Bowery farm in 1667. After his death in 1672, he was buried in his private chapel. His mansion burned down in 1778 and his great-grandson sold the remaining chapel and graveyard, now the site of the Episcopal church of St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery.^[5]

The Bowery (unmarked), leading to the "Road to Kings Bridge, where the Rebels mean to make a Stand" in a British map of 1776

Cigarette trading card featuring the Bowery Theatre; a few 3½-storey structures of the 1830s (like the building at right) remain on the Bowery today

In her Journal of 1704–1705, Sarah Kemble Knight describes the Bowery as a leisure destination for residents of New York City in December:

Their Diversions in the Winter is Riding Sleys about three or four Miles out of Town, where they have Houses of entertainment at a place called the Bowery, and some go to friends Houses who handsomely treat them. [...] I believe we mett 50 or 60 slays that day—they fly with great swiftness and some are so furious that they'le turn out of the path for none except a Loaden Cart. Nor do they spare for any diversion the place affords, and sociable to a degree, they'r Tables being as free to their Naybours as to themselves.

By 1766, when John Montresor made his detailed plan of New York,^[6] "Bowry Lane", which took a more north-tending track at the rope walk, was lined for the first few streets with buildings that formed a solid frontage, with market gardens behind them; when Lorenzo Da Ponte, the librettist for Mozart's Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, and Cosi Fan Tutte, emigrated to New York City in 1806, he briefly ran one of the shops along the Bowery, a fruit and vegetable store. In 1766, straight lanes led away at right angles to gentlemen's seats, mostly well back from the dusty "Road to Albany and Boston", as it was labeled on Montresor's map; Nicholas Bayard's was planted as an avenue of trees. James Delancey's grand house, flanked by matching outbuildings, stood behind a forecourt facing Bowery Lane; behind it was his parterre garden, ending in an exedra, clearly delineated on the map.

The Bull's Head Tavern was noted for George Washington having stopped there for refreshment before riding down to the waterfront to witness the departure of British troops in 1783. Leading to the Post Road, The Bowery rivalled Broadway as a thoroughfare; as late as 1869, when it had gained the "reputation of cheap trade, without being disreputable" it was still "the second principal street of the city".^[7]

When Lafayette Street was opened parallel to The Bowery in the 1820s, the Bowery Theatre was founded by rich families on the site of the Red Bull Tavern, which had been purchased by John Jacob Astor; it opened in 1826. Across the way the Bowery Amphitheatre was erected in 1833, specializing in the more populist entertainments of equestrian shows and circuses. From stylish beginnings, the tone of the Bowery Theatre's offerings matched the slide in the social scale of the Bowery itself.

Slide from respectability[link]

By the time of the Civil War, the mansions and shops had given way to low-brow concert halls, brothels, German beer gardens, pawn shops, and flophouses, like the one at No.15 in which the composer Stephen Foster lived in 1864^[8] Theodore Dreiser closed his tragedy Sister Carrie, set in the 1890s, with the suicide of one of the main characters in a Bowery flophouse. The Bowery, which marked the eastern border of the slum of "Five Points", had also become the turf of one of America's earliest street gangs, the nativist Bowery Boys. In the spirit of social reform, the first YMCA opened on the Bowery in 1873;^[9] another notable religious and social welfare institution established during this period was Bowery Mission, which was founded in 1880 at 36 Bowery by Reverend Albert Gleason Ruliffson. The mission has relocated along the Bowery throughout its lifetime. From 1909 to the present, the mission has remained at 227–229 Bowery.

By the 1890s, The Bowery was a center for prostitution that rivaled the Tenderloin, and for bars catering to gay men and some lesbians at various social levels, from The Slide at 157 Bleecker Street, New York's "worst dive",^[10] to Columbia Hall at 5th Street, called Paresis Hall. One investigator in 1899 found six saloons and dance halls, the resorts of "degenerates" and "fairies", on The Bowery alone.^[11] Gay subculture was more highly visible there and more integrated into working-class male culture than it was to become in the following generations, according to the historian of gay New York, George Chauncey.

Berenice Abbott photograph of a Bowery restaurant in 1935, when the street was lined with flophouses.

From 1878 to 1955 the Third Avenue El ran above the Bowery, further darkening its streets, populated largely by men. "It is filled with employment agencies, cheap clothing and knickknack stores, cheap moving-picture shows, cheap lodging-houses, cheap eating-houses, cheap saloons", writers in The Century Magazine found it in 1919. "Here, too, by the thousands come sailors on shore leave,—notice the 'studios' of the tattoo artists,—and here most in evidence are the 'down and outs'".^[12] Prohibition eliminated The Bowery's numerous saloons: One Mile House, the "stately old tavern... replaced by a cheap saloon"^[13] at the southeast corner of Rivington Street, named for the battered milestone across the way,^[14] where the politicians of the East Side had made informal arrangements for the city's governance, ^[15][16] was renovated for retail space in 1921, "obliterating all vestiges of its former appearance", The New York Times reported. Restaurant supply stores were among the businesses that had come to the Bowery,^[17] and many remain to this day.

Luxury lofts and soup kitchens jockey for space as the neighborhood's rapid gentrification continues.

Pressure for a new name after World War I came to naught^[17] and in the 1920s and 1930s, it was as an impoverished area. In the 1940s through the 1970s, the Bowery was New York City's "Skid Row," notable for "Bowery Bums" (disaffiliated alcoholics and homeless persons).^[18]

Revival[link]

Since the 1990s the entire Lower East Side has been reviving. As of July 2005, gentrification is contributing to ongoing change along the Bowery. In particular, the number of high-rise condominiums is growing. In 2006, AvalonBay Communities opened its first luxury apartment complex on the Bowery, which included an upscale Whole Foods Market. Avalon Bowery Place was quickly followed with the development of Avalon Bowery Place II in 2007. That same year, the SANAA-designed facility for the New Museum of Contemporary Art opened at the corner of Prince Street.

The new development has not come without a social cost. Michael Dominic's documentary Sunshine Hotel followed the lives of residents of one of the few remaining flophouses.

The Bowery from Houston to Delancey Streets serves as New York's principal market for restaurant equipment, and from Delancey to Grand for lamps.

Bowery historic district[link]

In October 2011, a Bowery Historic District was registered with the New York State Register of Historic Places and, because of that, automatically nominated for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. A grassroots community organization named the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors (BAN) in association with the community-based housing organization called the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council led the effort for creation of the historic district. The designation means that property owners will have financial incentives to restore rather than demolish old buildings on the Bowery. ^[19]

The historic district runs from Chatham Square to Astor Place on both sides of the Bowery.

Notable establishments[link]

Peanut Gallery[link]

An avant garde art movement and the underground gallery that fronts its activities off the Bowery.

Bank buildings[link]

The Bowery Savings Bank was chartered in May 1834, when the Bowery was an upscale residential street, and grew with the rising prosperity of the city. Its 1893 headquarters building remains a Bowery landmark, as does the 1920s domed Citizens Savings Bank.^[20]

New Museum[link]

In December 2007, the New Museum opened the doors to its new location on 235 Bowery, at Prince Street, continuing its focus of exhibiting emerging international artists. This new facility, designed by the Tokyo-based firm Sejima + Nishizawa/SANAA and the New York-based firm Gensler, has greatly expanded the Museum’s exhibitions and space. In March 2008, the museum's new building was named one of the architectural seven wonders by Conde Nast Traveler.^[21] The museum has an ongoing Bowery Project honoring artists who lived on the Bowery with taped interviews and archived records. ^[22]

Amato Opera[link]

This company, which was founded in 1948 by Tony Amato and his wife, Sally, found a permanent home at 319 Bowery next to the former CBGB, and it afforded many young singers the opportunity to hone their craft in full-length productions with a cut-down orchestration. The curtain fell on this well-established opera forum in NYC on May 31, 2009, when Tony Amato retired.

CBGB[link]

CBGB, a club initially opened to play country, bluegrass & blues (as the name CBGB stands for), began to book Television, Patti Smith, and the Ramones as house bands in the mid-1970s. This spawned a full-blown scene of new bands (Talking Heads, Blondie, edgy R&B-influenced Mink DeVille, rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon, and others) performing mostly original material in a mostly raw and often loud and fast attack. The label of punk rock was applied to the scene even if not all the bands that made their early reputations at the club were punk rockers, strictly speaking, but CBGB became known as the American cradle of punk rock. CBGB closed on October 31, 2006, after a long battle by club owner Hilly Kristal to extend its lease.

Bowery Ballroom[link]

The Bowery Ballroom is a music venue. The structure, at 6 Delancey Street, was built just before the Stock Market Crash of 1929. It stood vacant until the end of World War II, when it became a high-end retail store. The neighborhood subsequently went into decline again, and so did the caliber of businesses occupying the space.^{[citation needed]} In 1997 it was converted into a music venue.

Right in front of the venue's entrance is the Bowery Station (J Z trains) of the New York City Subway.

The club serves as the namesake of at least one recording: Joan Baez's Bowery Songs album, recorded live at a concert at the Bowery Ballroom in November 2004.

Bowery Poetry Club[link]

Bowery Poetry Club

The Bowery Poetry Club is a New York City poetry performance space. Located at Bowery and Bleecker Street in Lower Manhattan, the BPC provides a home base for established and upcoming artists. It was founded by Bob Holman, owner of the building and former Nuyorican Poets Café Poetry Slam MC (1988–1996). The BPC features regular shows by Amiri Baraka, Anne Waldman, Taylor Mead, Taylor Mali, along with open mic, gay poets, a weekly poetry slam, and an Emily Dickinson Marathon, amongst other events.

Famous residents[link]

Among other famous residents, Quentin Crisp lived on Third Street near Second Avenue, and near the Bowery, for the last two decades of his life. Béla Bartók lived in 350 Bowery at the corner of Great Jones Street during the 1940s.

The writer William S. Burroughs kept an apartment at the former YMCA building at 222 Bowery, known as the Bunker, from 1974 until his death in 1997.^[23] Mark Rothko, the Abstract Expressionist painter, had a studio on the Bowery. Pop artist Tom Wesselman had a studio on the Bowery in the building now adjacent to the New Museum.

The artist Cy Twombly lived on the 3rd floor of 356 Bowery during the 1960s.

The founder of the Hare Krishna Movement, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada lived in the Bowery when the movement began in America in 1966.

Punk singer Joey Ramone resided in the area, and in 2003 a part of Second Street at the intersection Bowery and Second Street was renamed Joey Ramone Place.^[24][25]

In popular culture[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2010)

Literature[link]

• The Bowery is the setting for Stephen Crane's first novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (published in 1893), about a poor family living in the neighborhood
• New York School poet Ted Berrigan mentions the Bowery several times in his seminal work "The Sonnets".
• The Wild Cards series of books sets the Bowery as Jokertown, the place where the malformed go to live after the Wild Card Virus is released over New York.
• Brenda Coultas's book A Handmade Museum (poetry, published in 2003 by Coffee House Press) contains a section called "The Bowery Project" which documents the pre-gentrification process.

Film, stage and TV[link]

Steve Brodie's bar at 114 Bowery

Sheet Music to The Bowery, 1892

• On the Bowery, an 1894 play starring Steve Brodie, supposed Brooklyn Bridge jumper and Bowery saloonkeeper.
• The Bowery, a 1933 film about Brodie.
• A popular B-movie series made between 1946 and 1958 featured "The Bowery Boys."
• On the Bowery, Lionel Rogosin's 1956 film, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary.
• In the 2002 film Gangs of New York, the Bowery is a mentioned territory of the Bowery Boys, a street gang of the late 19th century during the New York Draft Riots.

Art[link]

• The Bowery in Two Inadequate Descriptive Systems, a collection of photographs and poems by Martha Rosler. ^[26]

Music[link]

The 1891 musical comedy A Trip to Chinatown featured The Bowery, a song that became highly popular in that era.

Over the years, the Bowery has been mentioned in the lyrics of a number of songs, including the Bob Dylan song "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream", from the album Bringing It All Back Home (1965): "I walked by a Guernsey cow/Who directed me down/To the Bowery slums/Where people carried signs around/Saying, 'Ban the bums.'"

The street has also been mentioned in songs by Willie Nile, Jim Croce, Regina Spektor, Dire Straits, Bill Callahan, Saint Etienne the Vancouver Twee pop band cub, Sonic Youth, Two Gallants, Steve Earle, Beastie Boys, Paul McDermott, Billy Joel, Tom Waits, Ryan Adams, The Clash, the Ramones, Jesse Malin and The Foetus All-Nude Revue, Deerhunter among others.

The Bowery is mentioned as a place where love and gin can be found in the lyrics of Stephin Merritt's song "Love is Like a Bottle of Gin" from the album 69 Love Songs.

See also[link]

• Bowery Mission
• Bowery Theatre
• The Bowery (song)

References[link]

Sources

• Fodor's flashmaps New York, 1991
• Fodor's See It New York City, 2004, [ISBN 1-4000-1387-9]
• Valentine's Manual of Old New York / No. 7, Ed. Henry Collins Brown, Pub. Valentine's Manual Inc. 1922

Notes

External links[link]

• Bowery documentary
• East Village History Project Bowery research — in-depth, lot by lot research
• boweryalliance.org — grassroots organization
• New York Songlines: 4th Avenue
• The Bowery, from the Little Italy Neighbors Association — stories, photos, etc.
• The Bowery by Forgotten-NY — images, descriptions, and history
• Bowery Storefronts — photographs of Bowery stores and buildings.
• Lyrics of popular 1890s song, The Bowery
• Bowery Historic District nomination, National Register of Historic Places
• Map of Bowery Historic District
• Bowery Artist Tribute
• Lower East Side Preservation Initiative

Greenwich Village↖ NoLIta← TriBeCa↙

↑Gramercy↑ Bowery ↓Chinatown↓

↗Alphabet City →Lower East Side ↘Coop Village v t e Neighborhoods in the New York City Borough of Manhattan Alphabet City Astor Row Battery Park City Bowery Carnegie Hill Chelsea Chinatown Civic Center Columbus Circle Cooperative Village Diamond District East Harlem East Village Financial District Five Points Flatiron District Garment District Gashouse District Gramercy Park Greenwich Village Hamilton Heights Harlem Hell's Kitchen Herald Square Hudson Heights Hudson Yards Inwood Italian Harlem Kips Bay Koreatown Lenox Hill Le Petit Senegal Liberty Island Lincoln Square Little Germany Little Italy Little Syria Loisaida Lower East Side Lower Manhattan Madison Square Manhattan Valley Manhattanville Marble Hill Marcus Garvey Park Meatpacking District Midtown Manhattan Morningside Heights Murray Hill NoHo Nolita NoMad Peter Cooper Village Pomander Walk Radio Row Randall's Island Roosevelt Island Rose Hill San Juan Hill SoHo South Street Seaport South Village Strivers' Row Stuyvesant Square Stuyvesant Town Sugar Hill Sutton Place Sylvan Court Mews, Sylvan Place, and Sylvan Terrace Tenderloin Theatre District Times Square TriBeCa Tudor City Turtle Bay Two Bridges Union Square Upper East Side Upper Manhattan Upper West Side Wards Island Washington Heights Waterside Plaza West Village Yorkville Community Boards: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 v t e Streets and Avenues of Manhattan North–South Downtown South St · Essex St · Ludlow St · Orchard St · Allen St · Forsyth St · Chrystie St · Catherine St/Catherine Slip · Chatham Sq · Front St · Gay St · Pearl St/Bowery · Mott St · Mulberry St · City Hall Ln/Coenties Alley · Coenties Slip · William St · Centre Market Pl · Jones St · Centre St · Broad St/Nassau St/Lafayette St · Whitehall St · Broadway · Trinity Pl · Church St · University Pl · West Broadway · MacDougal St · Patchin Pl · Varick St · Hudson St · Greenwich St · Washington St · Weehawken St · West Side Elvtd Hwy/West St Midtown East River Dr/FDR Dr · Ave D · Ave C/Loisaida Ave · Ave B/East End Ave · Ave A/Beekman Pl/Sutton Pl/York Ave/Pleasant Ave · First Ave · Second Ave · Third Ave · Taras Shevchenko Place · Irving Pl/Lexington Ave · Fourth Ave/Park Ave · Vanderbilt Ave · Madison Ave · Fifth Ave/Museum Mile · Rockefeller Plaza · Sixth Ave/Ave of the Americas/Lenox Ave/Malcolm X Blvd · Longacre Sq/Times Sq · Seventh Ave/Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd · Shubert Aly · Great White Way · Eighth Ave/Central Park West/Frederick Douglas Blvd · Columbus Cir · Manhattan Ave · Ninth Ave/Columbus Ave/Morningside Dr · Dyer Ave · West Side Hwy/Tenth Ave/Amsterdam Ave · Eleventh Ave/West End Ave · Riverside Dr · Joe DiMaggio Hwy/12th Ave · 13th Ave · Miller Hwy/Henry Hudson Pkwy Uptown Harlem River Dr · Audubon Ave · Duke Ellington Cir · Frederick Douglass Cir · St. Nicholas Ave · Juan Pablo Duarte Blvd · Strivers' Row · Morningside Ave · Claremont Ave · Ft. Washington Ave · Pleasant Avenue  · Cabrini Blvd East–West Downtown Bank St. · Bridge St · Brewers St/Stone St · Wall St · Liberty St · Maiden Ln · Fulton St · Vesey St · Ann St · Park Row · Roosevelt St · Chambers St · Cherry St · Henry St · Worth St/Justice John M. Harlan Way/Ave of the Strongest · East Broadway · Doyers St · N. Moore St · Beach St · Broome Street · Canal St · Hester St · Grand St · Delancey St · Rivington St · Stanton St · Leonard St · Houston St 1st–14th Sts — 1st St · Bleecker St · 2nd St · 3rd St/Great Jones St · 4th St · 6th St · Waverly Pl/Washington Square North · Astor Pl/Washington Mews · 8th St/St. Mark's Pl/Greenwich Ave · Christopher St · Stuyvesant St · 10th St · 13th St · 14th St Midtown 15th–22nd Sts — 17th St 23rd–41st Sts — 23rd St · 24th St · 25th St · 26th St · 27th St/Club Row · 28th St · 29th St · 30th St · 31st St · 33rd St · 34th St · 35th St · 36th St · 37th St · 38th St · 39th St · 40th St · 41st St 42nd–59th Sts — 42nd St · 45th St · 47th St · 50th St · 51st St · 52nd St/Swing Alley/St of Jazz · 53rd St · 54th St · 55th St · 57th St · 58th St · 59th St/Central Park South Uptown 60th–215th Sts — 66th St/Peter Jennings Way · 72nd St · 79th St · 85th St · 86th St · 89th St · 93rd St · 95th St · 96th St · 110th St/Cathedral Pkwy/Central Park North · 112th St · 116th St · 120th St · 122nd St/Mother Hale Way/Seminary Row · 125th St/Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd · 130th St/Astor Row · 132nd St · 139th St/Strivers' Row · 145th St · 155th St · Trans-Manhattan Expwy · 178th–179th St Tls · 181st St · 187th St · Bogardus Pl · Dyckman St Italics indicate streets no longer in existence. See also: Commissioners' Plan of 1811 and List of eponymous streets in New York City.

Baillie Walsh is a music video and film director. He is best known for writing and directing the film Flashbacks of a Fool (2008) starring Daniel Craig, Eve, Harry Eden, and Felicity Jones.^[1]

References[link]

1. ^ Profile IMDB

External links[link]

• Baillie Walsh at the Internet Movie Database

This article about a film director is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Cynthia Payne (born 24 December 1932, in Bognor Regis, West Sussex) is a retired English party hostess who made the headlines in the 1970s and 1980s when she was accused of being a madam and of running her brothel at 32 Ambleside Avenue, in Streatham, in the south-west of London, England.^[1]

Payne first came to national attention in 1978 when police raided her home and found a sex party was in progress. Elderly men paid in Luncheon Vouchers to dress up in lingerie and be spanked by young women.^[2] When the case came to trial in 1980, she was sentenced to eighteen months in prison, reduced to a fine and six months on appeal.^[3] She served four months in Holloway prison.^[2]

In 1986, the police raided her home again, this time during a "special party" she was hosting after shooting the film of her life had been completed. Although she was acquitted on this occasion,^[3] the resulting court case in 1987 made headlines for several weeks with lurid tales, some details of which she aired on The Dame Edna Experience in 1988, with co-guests Sir John Mills and Rudolf Nureyev, where she also launched her book, Entertaining at Home. The court case ended her career as a party giver.

On this programme, she expressed an interest in becoming an MP, in order to change Britain's anti sex laws, which she followed through with by standing for Parliament as a candidate for the Payne and Pleasure Party in the Kensington by-election in July 1988, followed by her standing in her own area of Streatham in the 1992 UK General Election. She did not gain a parliamentary seat.

There have been two films made that are loosely based on her life. Wish You Were Here (1987), about her adolescence with Emily Lloyd in the lead role, and Personal Services (also 1987) about her adult life starred Julie Walters. Both were written (and Wish You Were Here was directed) by David Leland, but are vague in their similarities.

Cynthia Payne has made appearances as an after-dinner speaker and launched a new range of adult services and products in 2006.

Books[link]

• Paul Bailey; Cynthia Payne (October 1982), An English Madam: Life and Work of Cynthia Payne, Jonathan Cape, ISBN 0-224-02037-4 
• Cynthia Payne; Terence Blacker (1 October 1987), Cynthia Payne's Book of Home Entertainment, Penguin, ISBN 0-14-010618-9 
• Gloria Walker (6 Jan 1987), Sexplicitly Yours: Trial of Cynthia Payne, Penguin Books Ltd, ISBN 0-14-010543-3 

References[link]

1. ^ "Cynthia Payne trial". London: The Times. 12 February 1987. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/the_hitch/article873860.ece. Retrieved 2008-04-04. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ ^{a b} Hugh Davies "Payne's sex party souvenirs for sale", Daily Telegraph, 14 December 2004
3. ^ ^{a b} "1987: Mrs Payne is no brothel Madam", BBC On This Day, 11 February

External links[link]

• Cynthia Payne's own website

This United Kingdom biographical article related to crime is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This sexuality-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Joan Rivers
Rivers in 2010
Birth name	Joan Alexandra Molinsky
Born	(1933-06-08) June 8, 1933 (age 79) Brooklyn, New York City New York, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, television, film
Nationality	American
Years active	1950–present
Spouse	James Sanger (1955) Edgar Rosenberg (1965–1987; his death)
Website	"joan.co". http://www.joan.co/.

Joan Alexandra Molinsky (born June 8, 1933), better known by her stage name Joan Rivers, is an American television personality, comedian, and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries. Rivers' comic style relies heavily on her ability to poke fun at herself and other Hollywood celebrities.

Early life[link]

Joan Rivers was born Joan Alexandra Molinsky in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants Beatrice (née Grushman; January 6, 1906 – October 1975) and Meyer C. Molinsky (December 7, 1900 – January 1985).^[1][2] She was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and her family later moved to Larchmont, in Westchester County, New York. She attended Connecticut College between 1950 and 1952 and graduated from Barnard College in 1954 with a bachelor-of-arts degree in English literature^[3] and anthropology. Before entering show business, Rivers worked at various jobs such as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center,^[4] a writer/proofreader at an advertising agency^[4] and as a fashion consultant at Bond Clothing Stores.^[5] During this period, the agent Tony Rivers advised her to change her name, so she chose Joan Rivers as her stage name.^[6]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

During the late 1950s, Rivers appeared in a short-run play, Driftwood, playing a lesbian with a crush on a character played by a then-unknown Barbra Streisand. The play ran for six weeks.^[7] In 1961, Rivers briefly performed on stage in Chicago at The Second City comedy club. Rivers performed in numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the early 1960s, including The Bitter End and The Gaslight Cafe,^[8] before making her first appearances as a guest on the TV program The Tonight Show originating from New York, hosted at the time by Jack Paar.^[9]

By 1965, Rivers had a stint on Candid Camera as a gag writer and participant; she was "the bait" to lure people into ridiculous situations for the show. She also made her first appearance on The Tonight Show with new host Johnny Carson, on February 17, 1965.^[10] During the same decade, Rivers made other appearances on The Tonight Show as well as The Ed Sullivan Show, while hosting the first of several talk shows. She had a brief role in The Swimmer (1968), starring Burt Lancaster. A year later, she had a short-lived syndicated daytime talk show; Johnny Carson was her first guest.^[11] In the middle of the 1960s, she released at least two comedy albums, The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album^[12] and Joan Rivers Presents Mr. Phyllis & Other Funny Stories.^[13]

By the 1970s, Rivers was appearing on various television comedy and variety shows, including The Carol Burnett Show and a semi-regular stint on Hollywood Squares. From 1972 to 1976, she narrated The Adventures of Letterman, an animated segment for The Electric Company. In 1973, Rivers wrote the TV movie The Girl Most Likely to..., a black comedy starring Stockard Channing. In 1978, Rivers wrote and directed the film Rabbit Test, starring her friend Billy Crystal. During the same decade, she was the opening act for singer Helen Reddy on the Las Vegas Strip. In July 1970, Joan performed as the opening act for Sergio Franchi during an acclaimed appearance at the Mill Run Theater in Chicago.^[14] Joan also was the opening act for Sergio Franchi (three year contract) at the MGM Grand Hotel from 1974-1976.^[15][16] Joan became a Las Vegas Strip headliner herself in the 1980s.

1980s–1990s[link]

Rivers has spoken of her primary Tonight Show life as having been Johnny Carson's daughter, a reference to his longtime mentoring of her and, during the 1980s, establishing her as his regular guest host by August 1983. It was not her only work, however. On April 9, 1983, she hosted Saturday Night Live.^[17] In the same period, she released a best-selling comedy album on Geffen Records, What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most? The album reached No. 22 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.^[18]

Autograph with famous catchphrase, about 1983

Also in 1984, Rivers published a best-selling humor book, The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abramowitz, a mock memoir of her brassy, loose comedy character. A television special based on the character, a mock tribute called Joan Rivers and Friends Salute Heidi Abramowitz, was not successful with the public.

The decade was controversial for Rivers. She sued female impersonator Frank Marino for $5,000,000 in 1986, after discovering he was using her real stand-up material in the impersonation of her that he included in his popular Las Vegas act. The two comics reconciled, even appearing together on television in later years.^[19]

Also in 1986 came the move that cost Rivers her longtime friendship with Carson, who had first hired her as a Tonight Show writer. The soon-to-launch Fox Television Network announced that it was giving her a late night talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers.^[20] The new network planned to broadcast the show 11:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time, making her a Carson competitor. Carson claimed he learned of the show from Fox and not from Rivers herself. In 2008, during an interview with Dr. Pamela Connolly on television's Shrink Rap, Rivers claimed she did call Carson, but he hung up on her at once and repeated the gesture when she called again.

The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers turned out to be flecked by tragedy. When Rivers challenged Fox executives, who wanted to fire her husband Edgar Rosenberg as the show's producer, the network fired them both. On May 15, 1987, three months later, Rosenberg committed suicide in Philadelphia; Rivers blamed the tragedy on his "humiliation" by Fox.^[21] Fox attempted to continue the show with a new name (The Late Show) and rotating guest hosts.

A year after the Late Show debacle, Rivers was a guest on TV's Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special. By 1989, she tried another daytime TV talk show, The Joan Rivers Show,^[22] which ran for five years and won her an Emmy in 1990 for outstanding talk show host.^[23]

In 1994, Rivers and daughter Melissa first hosted the E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Golden Globe Awards.^[24] Beginning in 1995, they hosted the annual E! Entertainment Television pre-awards show for the Academy Awards.^[24] Beginning in 1997, Rivers hosted her own radio show on WOR in New York City.

Rivers also appeared as one of the center square occupants on the 1986-89 version of The Hollywood Squares, hosted by John Davidson.

2000–present[link]

By 2003, Rivers had left her E! red-carpet show for a three-year contract (valued between $6–8 million) to cover award-show red-carpet shows for the TV Guide Channel.^[25]

Joan Rivers poses for a photograph at the Pierre Hotel, May 24, 2001

Rivers appeared in three episodes of the TV show Nip/Tuck during its second, third and seventh season playing herself.^[26][27][28] Rivers appears regularly on television's The Shopping Channel (in Canada) and QVC (in both the United States and the UK), promoting her own line of jewelry under brand name "The Joan Rivers Collection". She was also a guest speaker at the opening of the American Operating Room Nurses' 2000 San Francisco Conference. Both Joan and Melissa Rivers are frequent guests on Howard Stern's radio show, and Joan Rivers often appears as a guest on UK panel show 8 out of 10 Cats.

Rivers was one of only four Americans invited to the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles on April 9, 2005.^[29]

In 2006, Rivers was featured on the adult animated show, Drawn Together as Princess Clara's vagina that had received too much plastic surgery. Clara's 'vajoana' often repeated the phrase "who are you wearing, who are you wearing?".

On August 16, 2007, Rivers began a two-week workshop of her new play, with the working title "The Joan Rivers Theatre Project," at The Magic Theatre in San Francisco.^[30] On December 3, 2007, Rivers performed in the Royal Variety Show 2007 at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, England, with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip present.

In January 2008, Rivers became one of 20 hijackers to take control of the Big Brother house in the UK for one day in spin-off TV show Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack. On June 24, 2008, Rivers appeared on NBC-TV’s show Celebrity Family Feud and competed with her daughter, Melissa against Ice-T and Coco.

Joan Rivers performing in her show at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Rivers and daughter Melissa were contestants in 2009 on the second Celebrity Apprentice. Throughout the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of his or her choice; Rivers selected God's Love We Deliver.^[31] After a falling out with poker player Annie Duke, following Melissa's on-air firing (elimination) by Donald Trump, Rivers left the green room telling Clint Black and Jesse G. James that she would not be in the next morning. Rivers later returned to the show and on May 3, 2009, she became a finalist in the series. The other finalist was Duke.^[32][33] On the season finale, which aired live on May 10, Joan was announced the winner and hired to be the 2009 Celebrity Apprentice.

Rivers was featured on the show Z Rock as herself and was also a special so-called pink-carpet presenter for the 2009 broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. She was also roasted in a Comedy Central special, taped on July 26, 2009, and aired on August 9, 2009. From August 2009, Joan began starring in the new reality TV series How'd You Get So Rich? on TV Land.

Joan performing at a London Udderbelly event in 2009

A documentary film about Rivers, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival at the Castro Theatre on May 6, 2010.

In 2011, Rivers appeared in a commercial for Go Daddy, which debuted during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLV.^[34]

Joan and her daughter Melissa Rivers premiered the new show Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best on WE tv. The series follows Joan moving to California to be closer to her family. She moves in with daughter Melissa while searching for a home of her own. It was recently revealed that WE TV has ordered a new season consisting of 10 episodes premiering in January 2012.

In 2011, Rivers was featured as herself in Season 2 of Louis C.K.'s self-entitled show Louie, where she performed on-stage.

Personal life[link]

Rivers' first marriage was in 1955 to James Sanger,^[35] the son of a Bond Clothing Stores merchandise manager. The marriage lasted six months^[36] and was annulled on the basis that Sanger did not want children and had not informed Rivers before the wedding.^[37] Her second marriage was on July 15, 1965^[38] to Edgar Rosenberg, who committed suicide in 1987. Their only child, Melissa Warburg Rosenberg (now known as Melissa Rivers), was born on January 20, 1968. She has one grandson, Melissa's son Cooper (born Edgar Cooper Endicott on December 1, 2000)^[39] who is featured with his mother and grandmother in the WE tv series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?^[40]

In her book, Bouncing Back (1997), she described how she developed bulimia and contemplated suicide. Eventually, she recovered with counseling and the support of her family.

In 2002, Rivers told the Montreal Mirror that she was a Republican.^[41]

Rivers is open about her multiple cosmetic surgeries and has been a patient of plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin since 1983. Her first procedure, an eye lift, was performed in 1965 as an attempt to further her career.^[42]

Awards[link]

• In 1990, Rivers won the Daytime Emmy Award (a TV citation) for Outstanding Talk Show Host. The same year, a star in her name was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[43]

Books[link]

• Having a Baby Can Be a Scream (1974, Self-Help/Humour)
• The Life and Hard Times of Heidi Abromowitz (1984, Humour)
• Enter Talking (1986, Autobiography)
• Still Talking (1991, Autobiography)
• Jewelry by Joan Rivers (1995, Non-Fiction)
• Bouncing Back: I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too! (1997, Autobiography/Self-Help)
• From Mother to Daughter: Thoughts and Advice on Life, Love and Marriage (1998, Self-Help)
• Don’t Count the Candles: Just keep the Fire Lit! (1999, Self-Help)
• Men Are Stupid...And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery (2008, Non-Fiction)
• Murder at the Academy Awards (R): A Red Carpet Murder Mystery (2009, Fiction)
• I Hate Everyone...Starting With Me (2012, Humour)

Filmography[link]

• Once Upon a Coffee House (1965)
• The Swimmer (1968)
• Rabbit Test (1978) (also director and writer)
• Uncle Scam (1981)
• The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
• Les Patterson Saves the World (1987)
• Spaceballs (1987) (voice)
• Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special (1988)
• Look Who's Talking (1989) (voice)
• Public Enemy # 2 (1993)
• Serial Mom (1994)
• Napoleon (1995) (voice)
• Goosed (1999)
• The Intern (2000)
• Whispers: An Elephant's Tale (2000) (voice)
• The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family' (2002) (documentary)
• Hip! Edgy! Quirky! (2002)
• Shrek 2 (2004) (voice)
• First Daughter (2004)
• The Last Guy on Earth (2007)
• Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010) (documentary)
• Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) (uncredited)
• The Smurfs (2011) (uncredited)
• Tower Heist (2011) (uncredited)

Television work[link]

• That Show starring Joan Rivers (1968–69) (syndicated daytime talk show)^[11]
• The Electric Company (cast member from 1972–1977) (voice)
• Here's Lucy (1973)
• An Audience with Joan Rivers (1984)
• Joan Rivers: Can We Talk? (1986)
• The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers (host from 1986–1987)
• The New Hollywood Squares hosted by John Davidson (center square from 1988–1989)
• The Joan Rivers Show (1989–1993)
• How to Murder a Millionaire (1990)
• Lady Boss (1992)
• Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story (1994)^[44]
• Can We Shop? (1995–present)
• Another World (cast member in 1997)
• E! True Hollywood Story: Joan Rivers (parody episode of show aired April 1, 2001)^[45]
• Jack Dee Live at the Apollo (cast member in 2004, guest host in 2007)
• Nip/Tuck (2004–2005–2010)^[46]
• The Joan Rivers Position (2004–2006)
• An Audience with Joan Rivers (2006)
• 8 out of 10 Cats (2006–2007)
• Joan Rivers: Before Melissa Pulls the Plug (2006)
• Dawn French's Girls Who Do Comedy (in-depth interview BBC 2006)
• The Graham Norton Show (2007)
• Straight Talk (2007)
• Shrink Rap (2008) – With Dr. Pamela Connolly – More4
• Celebrity Family Feud (2008)
• Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack (Celebrity Hijacker) (2008)
• Loose Women (2008)
• The Graham Norton Show (2008)
• Z Rock (2008) – Aunt Joan
• Spaceballs: The Animated Series (2008) (voice)
• Arthur (2008, 2010) (voice) – Bubby (Francine's Grandmother)
• Celebrity Apprentice (2009) – Herself
• How'd You Get So Rich? (2009) – Herself
• The Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers (2009) – Herself
• Celebrity Ghost Stories (2009) – Herself
• The Graham Norton Show (December 31, 2009)
• Celebrity Apprentice 3 (March 14, 2010)
• Fashion Police (September 10, 2010 – present)
• The Graham Norton Show (November 5, 2010)
• Joan and Melissa: Joan Knows Best (January 25, 2011 – present)
• Louie S02E04 – Joan (July 14, 2011) – Herself
• The Simpsons S23E08 – "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution" (December 4, 2011) (voice) – Annie Dubinsky

Theater work[link]

The following is a selected list of theater work performed by Rivers.

• Broadway Bound by Neil Simon (replacement for Kate, 1988, Broadhurst Theatre)^[47]
• Sally Marr and Her Escorts, a play suggested by the life of Lenny Bruce's mother (co-written with Erin Ladd Sanders and Lonny Price), May 1994, Helen Hayes Theatre, Broadway.
• Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress By A Life In Progress (February 2008, Geffen Playhouse)
• Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress By A Life In Progress (August 2008, Edinburgh Festival Fringe)
• Joan Rivers: A Work In Progress By A Life In Progress (September 2008, Leicester Square Theatre, London)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Joan Rivers

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Joan Rivers

• Official website
• Joan Rivers at the Internet Movie Database
• Joan Rivers at the Internet Broadway Database
• Joan Rivers at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• E! Entertainment Bio
• BroadwayWorld.com interview with Joan Rivers, February 19, 2009