Show Notes
Dennis is joined via Zoom by author David Ciminello to discuss his delicious debut novel The Queen of Steeplechase Park which is the story of an irrepressible Coney island burlesque queen and meatball entrepreneur named Belladonna Marie Donato. David talks about how the character is inspired by his larger-than-life great aunt Emily who was, in fact, a burlesque performer on Coney Island and actually won a trophy for Best Bust for her 38 DDDs. David also talks about how he got the book published, how he chose the mouth-watering recipes that appear throughout the book and the spontaneous reading that unfolded at a recent extended family gathering where his cousin's daughter read the role of young Belladonna Marie. Other topics include: why David chose to make Belladonna Marie so sex and body positive, working as an actor in L.A. and playing a barber in a classic episode of Seinfeld, writing a movie that Shirley MacLaine directed called The Dress Code and working alongside her on set and why it was important to him to write a book that was "chock-full of queer optimism."
Dennis will be interviewing David at LA's Book Soup on Sunday, November 10th at 3 PM.
https://www.davidciminello.com/
Listen On
Also Listen
-
Actor Marc Samuel (The Merry Gentlemen): "I Call It The 'Hold In A Fart' Look"
Dennis is joined via Zoom by actor Marc Samuel to talk about his two new Netflix -
Alexis Spraic & Prudence Fenton from the documentary The World According to Allee Willis: "If It's Not Blowing Your Dress Up, Go Get Ice Cream"
Dennis is joined via Zoom by two women from the documentary The World According -
Excerpts from The MisMatch Game: 20th Anniversary Show
This episode features excerpts from Dennis Hensley's THE MISMATCH GAME: 20th Ann
Comments & Upvotes