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John Vaccaro is dead

Tony Zanetta (Head of David Bowie's management company MainMain Ltd. during the 1970s):

I cannot imagine what my life would have been without John Vaccaro. His vision and wit and insanity, his cruelty, his generosity and yes, love, shaped the way I and most of us who were involved in Downtown Culture in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties see this RIDICULOUS world. Thank you, John. (FB)

John Vaccaro died on August 7, 2016 at Beth Israel Hospital in New York. He was born on December 6, 1929 in Steubenville, Ohio.

Vaccaro's gender-bending absurdist stage productions during the 60s and early 70s were a cornerstone of the gay movement and instrumental in the development of off-off-Broadway. He brought drag out of the closet and on to the stage. Many of the actors he used were also used by Warhol in his films.

After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1951 - 1955, Vaccaro graduated from Ohio State University in 1961 and soon found his way to New York. He started his directorial career with the production of two plays by Andy Warhol's scriptwriter, Ronald Tavel - Shower and The Life of Juanita Castro. (See "Conquest of the Ridiculous: Ronald Tavel, John Vaccaro and Charles Ludlam.")

Juanita Castro was a stage version of Warhol's film of the same name, also written by Tavel. Vaccaro also directed Heaven Grand in Amber Orbit by Jackie Curtis and the infamous Conquest of the Universe which featured Warhol stars Mary Woronov, Taylor Mead and Ondine.

Village Voice ad (December 7, 1967) for John Vaccaro's production of Conquest of the Universe

The NY Times review quoted in the above ad appeared in the November 27, 1967 issue of the newspaper:

Review of Conquest of the Universe in the New York Times, November 27, 1967

Other plays that Vaccaro directed included The Life of Lady Godiva by Ronald Tavel (1966), Screen Test/Indira Gandhi's Daring Device both by Ronald Tavel (1966), Big Hotel by Charles Ludlam (1967), The Moke Eater by Kenneth Bernard (1968), Cock Strong by Tom Murrin (1969), Son of Cock Strong by Tom Murrin (1970) Night Club by Kenneth Bernard (1970) and a number of productions by Rosalyn Drexler during the 1970s and 1980s. He was awarded a "special citation" Obie award in 1970.

R.I.P. John Vaccaro.

[end]

Gary Comenas
warholstars.org, 2016

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