Detailed Screenplays and Stage Plays by Ronald Tavel
Archive
Click on the works below to download the PDF copies.
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Dedication
Two one act gems to the memory of Harvey Tavel
Stage Plays
Gorilla Queen
James Hilbrandt (Clyde Batty) and Norman Thomas Marshall (Queen Kong) in Gorilla Queen
The Understudy
Ronald Tavel at 27 St. Mark's Place, 5th floor, during the writing of his first screenplay, eventually only presented on the stage, Tarzan of the Flicks, circa 1962. Click here for a PDF of The Understudy in Mandarin.
Gorilla Queen - Cast
Images of the cast of Gorilla Queen. Property of Ronald Tavel Estate, courtesy of Norman Thomas Marshall.
The Life of Juanita Castro
Mario Montez and Bibbe Hansen in the theatrical version of The Life of Juanita Castro at the "LIVE FILM! JACK SMITH! Five Flaming Days in a Rented World" Festival in Berlin (2009).
Boy on the Straight-Back Chair
Ronald Tavel and two actresses from the American Place Theater's production of Boy on the Straight-Back Chair (Katherine Squire is the actress on the right).
Line/Birth, Play/Birth
Ronald Tavel in his bedroom, St. Nicholas St. The French Quarter, New Orleans, 1992. Photo: Robert Girard
Boy on the Straight-Back Chair - Cast
The cast of Boy on the Straight-Back Chair. Property of Ronald Tavel Estate, Courtesy of Norman Thomas Marshall.
My Foetus Lived on Amboy Street
Ronald Tavel and actor Joel Markman in a famous Jack Smith study, circa 1963-64. Click here to hear the radio play starring Harvey Fierstein.
Kitchenette
Mary Woronov as "Jo" and Tony Abatemarco as the "filmmaker" (originally played by Harvey Tavel on stage) in the film version of Kitchenette. "Mary Woronov made my play Kitchenette her own, and is the actress most associated with my name." - Ronald Tavel
Carmen Miranda: The Musical
Carmen Miranda, the Brazilian Bombshell.The foremost Brazilian folk singer of her day and later a 20th Century Fox film star (1909-1955).
How Jacqueline Kennedy Became Queen of Greece
Ronald Tavel on a Hudson pier during the mid-1980s
The Life of Lady Godiva
Members of the cast of the original 1966 production of The Life of Lady Godiva
Success and Succession
The Tavel brothers, Harvey and Ronald, on the Circle Line, 1965
Notorious Harik Will Kill the Pope
Ronald Tavel in Chicago, 1980
Gazelle Boy
Sketch of Ronald Tavel, age 18, by Joe Singer
The Pied Piper
Illustration of The Pied Piper by Kate Greenaway
Arenas of Lutetia
Frank Dudley, Mary Woronov, and Harvey Tavel in Arenas of Lutetia
The Ovens of Anita Orange Juice
Anita Bryant peddling orange juice on television
Vinyl Visits an FM Station
On the set of the film version of Vinyl
The Nutcracker in the Land of Nuts
Actor Agosto Machado, photo by Vasseux, 2006
Screenplays
Harlot
Andy Warhol's first sync-sound feature (Introduction; transcript of the soundtrack)
Fifty Fantasticks
Famous double image of Tavel from Fifty Fantasticks (Introduction; no script)
Screen Test I
Also known as Phillip's Screen Test (Introduction; script)
Screen Test II
(Introduction; script; and the stage play based on the Screen Test films)
Suicide
(Introduction; notes taken during an interview with the performer for the writing of the script; the script itself)
The Life of Juanita Castro
(Introduction; script)
Bitch
(Introduction; no script)
Horse
(Introduction; script)
Vinyl
(Introduction; script; printed version of the script; some notes; Tavel/Malanga poem; program for the stage version with cast credits; flyers for 1965 screenings of the film)
Kitchen
Plus Buzzards Over Bagdad – a Jack Smith film (Introduction; script; intertitles for the Smith Film)
Shower
(Introduction; script - printed as a stage play)
Space
(Introduction; script; additional script with pencil lines through the dialogue later used in the stage play, The Life of Lady Godiva)
Kahuna!
(Introduction; script for Kahuna!; also outline for Our Lady of Paris)
Hedy, or The Fourteen-Year-Old Girl
(Introduction; script; excerpts from the soundtrack of the trial scene in Hedy)
Withering Sights
(Introduction; script)
Hanoi Hanna, Radio Star
In The Chelsea Girls (Introduction; script)
Their Town
In The Chelsea Girls (Introduction; script)
Movie Talk for Mary Woronov
(Introduction; script)
Jane Eyre Bare
(Introduction; script)
Jail
(Introduction; no script)
Bigfoot
Harvey Tavel in the Obie-Award-winning original production of Bigfoot
Shower
Norman Glick and Harvey Tavel in the 1968 revival of Shower
Independent Film Screenplays
Poetry
Right Clever
Poem, October 2003
Poetry
A collection of Tavel's poetry
Essays
Ronald's Essays and Articles
A collection of Tavel's essays
Novel
Street of Stairs
Tavel's novel, complete and unabridged