FIRST YOUR MONEY, THEN YOUR CLOTHES: My Life and Oh! Calcutta!

by Raina Barrett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 27, 1972

Just a few miserable uptight years ago Raina Barrett was Mrs. Pauline Clark, suburban housewife and school teacher, frustrated and bored' in the boondocks. Then she met Ricardo, ""brooding and virile,"" a satyr of heroic proportions whose string of conquests -- ""besides his wife and me he was seeing five other Westchester housewives"" -- makes Casanova look like a bungling amateur. Transfigured, Mrs. Clark came to Greenwich Village to become the actress Raina Barrett (Ricardo chose her stage name) and bag a starring role in Oh! Calcutta!. . .America's first theatrical venture in ""meaningful nudity."" By now utterly liberated thanks to the tutelage of Ricardo, she obviously enjoyed the self-exposure on stage and off -- though what happened in the theater where the director had unrealistically imposed a ""NFL"" (No Fucking Law) was pale indeed compared to her life with the tireless Ricardo. True he would sometimes ""bully and beat"" her but it was a small price to pay for the pleasures of living with the prick. Backstage life at Oh! Calcutta! was a ball too despite the hostility of critics, the cast's ego tripping, the jealousies, the fear that the cops would come and close the show and the belated realization that, financially speaking, the actors had been screwed by the producers. You may feel that so much naked honesty sometimes obscures her vision of both the show and her lover's true merits, but if you're looking for an orgy you've come to the right book.

Pub Date: Feb. 27, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1972

Categories: NONFICTION