Guinan Biographer Takes Wing

Madonna’s “Lightbulb” Dons Wings
Flying to NYC is a Biographer Whose Lawyer-Grandpa Kept Prison Stripes Off Diamond Divas

New York, NY (PRWEB): Actress-manqué Madonna felt a lightbulb go off when she discovered the blazing trail of Marie “Texas” Guinan, singer, actress, equestrienne, sharpshooter, speakeasy hostess, multi-millionaire, and daredevil. The Material Girl contacted Louise Berliner, who wrote the biography Texas Guinan: Queen of the Nightclubs [University of Texas Press, 1993], and optioned this book for a film, hoping that good material might help bullet-proof her next movie.
• • “I always had the illusion that I inherited Texas Guinan, like a family heirloom, or that we were somehow related,” noted Louise Berliner, who graduated with honors from Yale. Her grandfather Maxwell E. Lopin was the lawyer who kept prison stripes off Guinan, and who recorded the story of the infamous trial in New York, a manuscript that lit a fire under his granddaughter.
• • The award-winning author, who now lives in Boston, Massachusetts, is flying to New York City on Tuesday August 29, 2006 to see the exhibition “ONSTAGE OUTLAWS: Mae West and Texas Guinan in a Lawless Era” at Village Restaurant [62 West Ninth Street], around the corner from Guinan’s former West Eighth Street duplex.
• • Also viewing this colorful narrative of New York history on August 29th will be a representative from the office of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer; attorney Michael Pantaleoni, whose niece is the actress Téa Leoni; and other visitors.
• • "These historical images depict an impressive narrative of America's political life during the Prohibition Era," said Arturo Garcia-Costas, Manhattan Community Representative to Congressman Jerrold L. Nadler, who toured the installation August 25th. These notables toured the same exhibit recently, too: actress Jessica Lange; dramatist Sam Shepard; New York Yankee Steve Karsay; Supreme Court Justice Edwin Torres, who wrote “Carlito’s Way”; broadcast legend Joe Franklin; Broadway producers Pat Addiss and Sandi Durell; David Chang, Legislative Aide to Senator Tom Duane; Gregory Brender, Community Liasion, from the office of Assemblywoman Deborah Glick; attorney Maria Passannante Derr, Chair, Community Board 2; and hundreds more.
• • New Yorkers can feast on these rare archival images — depicting Mae West’s legal woes and careers highlights — at Village Restaurant [62 West Ninth Street, NYC] during a free exhibition through August 31, 2006: “Onstage Outlaws: Mae West and Texas Guinan in a Lawless Era.” There is NO charge to view this historic installation curated by playwright-journalist LindaAnn Loschiavo. Info: 212-505-3355.
• • The Annual Mae West Gala always takes place in a venue that the actress had frequented. Images: maewest.blogspot.com — texasguinan.blogspot.com — please request permission before using photos. Media inquiries are welcome.
• • COURTING MAE WEST, LLC, based in Manhattan, is an off-Broadway producing outfit whose mission is to increase opportunities for women and female-driven plays.
• • Source: Village Restaurant • •
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Texas Guinan
• • Photograph: archival image of Texas Guinan • •
NYC
Texas Guinan.