This week on From the Vault we hear from English writer and visionary thinker Quentin Crisp.
In 1978, the incomparable Crisp came to America for the first time to talk about himself, his autobiography The Naked Civil Servant, and the BBC television movie of the same name starring John Hurt as Crisp. Our first audio selection is introduced by Jessica Schuman, who spoke with Crisp in Los Angeles at the KPFK studios in 1978. In this outrageous interview, Crisp talks about becoming and being himself.
Our second selection features a bit of Quentin Crisp’s one-man show, which he performed starting in 1978 until the day he passed away in 1999 at age 91. This particular audio was recorded at the London Ambassador Theater in 1978, and during intermission theatergoers were invited to question Crisp, who responds to these inquiries with the witness the wit and wisdom that audiences had come to know and love.
Finally, we’ll speak to the man who keeps Quentin Crisp’s memory and legacy alive, Philip Ward, who was Crisp’s estate executor and literary agent.
From the Vault is presented through the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, past grants from the Grammy Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the generous support of Pacifica Radio Listeners.
First broadcast on 01/28/2011.
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