HALSTED PLAYS HIMSELF, REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION by William E. Jones
| Title | Halsted Plays Himself, Revised and Expanded Edition |
| Author(s)/Editor(s) |
William E. Jones |
| Publisher | Semiotext(e) |
| Pages | 208 |
| Dimensions | 190 x 262 mm |
| Format | Hardcover |
| Year | 2022 |
Fred Halsted's L.A. Plays Itself (1972) was gay porn's first masterpiece: a sexually explicit, autobiographical, experimental film whose New York screening left even Salvador Dalí repeatedly muttering “new information for me.” Halsted, a self-taught filmmaker, shot the film over a period of three years in a now-vanished Los Angeles, a city at once rural and sleazy. Although his cultural notoriety at one point equaled that of Kenneth Anger or Jack Smith, Halsted's star waned in the 1980s with the emergence of a more commercial gay porn industry. After the death from AIDS of his long-time partner, lover, spouse (and tormentor) Joey Yale in 1986, Halsted committed suicide in 1989. In Halsted Plays Himself, acclaimed artist and filmmaker William E. Jones documents his quest to capture the elusive public and private personas of Halsted—to zero in on an identity riddled with contradictions. Jones assembles a narrative of a long-gone gay lifestyle and an extinct Hollywood underground, when independent films were still possible, and the boundary between experimental and pornographic was not yet established. The book also depicts what sexual liberation looked like at a volatile point in time—and what it looked like when it collapsed.
The revised and expanded edition of Halsted Plays Himself includes material that came to light since the book's first publication, including details about the restoration of Halsted's films by the Museum of Modern Art, the true identities of several key figures in his life, new testimony from family members, and the rediscovery of his feature film Truck It (1973), previously considered lost.
-
Title
Halsted Plays Himself, Revised and Expanded Edition
-
Author / Editor
William E. Jones
-
Publisher
Semiotext(e)
-
Pages
208
-
Dimensions
190 x 262mm
-
Format
Hardcover
-
Year
2022
Shipping Terms
Delivery
We aim to process orders within 1–2 working days. Orders placed on a Saturday and Sunday will be processed from the next working day. If you need something in a hurry please call or email us before placing an order to ensure the item is in stock.
UK
All mainland UK orders are sent using Royal Mail, which usually arrives within 1–2 working days after despatch. We use Parcelforce and DHL on heavier or bulkier orders, which can take 2 working days to arrive. Royal Mail Signed For, Parcelforce and DHL all require a signature as proof of delivery. Please note that postage costs for addresses that are not mainland UK may vary.
European Union and Single Market
Please note that due to the introduction of the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) in December 2024, we are no longer able to ship to the EU and Single Market (including Northern Ireland). This does not affect items such as workshop bookings, Studio Passes, or Gift Vouchers.
International
Please note that LCBA cannot be held responsible for any import duties, taxes or delays in processing once your order arrives in-country. It is important that international orders include a contact telephone number and email address at checkout in the instance that the carrier needs to contact you for taxes and/or duties to be paid.
Out of Stock
We make every effort to ensure all products are in stock, but in the event of us not having your chosen product we will contact you and offer either a refund or a split- or later delivery if possible.
Returns
We hope you are happy with your purchases from London Centre for Book Arts, but if not, we can offer a refund on any item as long as it is returned in a saleable condition within 30 days of receiving your item. Please note that we are unable to reimburse postage costs for returns. For further information, or to make a return, write to us atorders@londonbookarts.org.