E-Book Overview
This book focuses on New York City-based actors and comedians who are self-acknowledged heroin users. Barry Spunt examines a number of hypotheses about the reasons why actors and comedians use heroin as well as the impact of heroin on performance, creativity, and career trajectory. A primary concern of the book is the role that subculture and identity play in helping us to understand the heroin use of these entertainers. Spunt captures the voices of actors and comedians through narrative accounts from a variety of secondary sources. He also examines how New York-based films about heroin relate to the major themes of his research.
E-Book Content
Heroin, Acting, and Comedy in New York City Barry Spunt
Heroin, Acting, and Comedy in New York City
Barry Spunt
Heroin, Acting, and Comedy in New York City
Barry Spunt Department of Sociology John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY New York, New York, USA
ISBN 978-1-137-59971-1 ISBN 978-1-137-59972-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-59972-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017948081 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover Photo © cscredon / GettyImages Cover Design by Emma Hardy Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Nature America Inc. The registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY 10004, U.S.A.
Acknowledgements
A number of John Jay colleagues provided various types of wisdom and guidance as I was working on this book. A special thanks to Olga Teploukhova and Danny Kessler, and also to Ric Curtis, Dave Brotherton, Jayne Mooney, Lou Kontos, Andrew Karmen, Marcia Esparza, Henry Pontell, Kathleen Collins, Bob Garot, Paul Brenner, and Simon Baatz. I also sincerely appreciate the comments and advice that researchers extraordinaire Peter Marina and Travis Wendel gave me as I was working on drafts of the book chapters. I want to thank all the graduate students who helped me compile and also interpret much of the data: Lucy Freeman, Cailey Hennessey, Peter Sutton, Leo Dominguez, Ian Stuart, Jesus Santana and especially my favorite grad student—my daughter Sarah. I truly appreciate all of the very solid work you did for me. Thank you Alex Steers McCrum and Sherry Diminich for your impressive editing work, and Rachel Nishan of Twin Oaks Indexing, who can always be counted on to do a superlative job. To Chris Farhood: thanks for your continuing emotional sustenance. And to Alexis Nelson and Kyra Saniewski from Palgrave: thanks for the support and the extra time. Funding for this work w