Born On This Day- December 25th... Denis Charles Pratt

When I arrived in NYC in the late summer of 1976, I didn’t even know how to get from the airport into Manhattan. I was 22 years old & one of another hundred people who just got off of the plane, ready to become a Broadway star & recording artist. I ended up taking a taxi into the city to the Tudor City Hotel, which I had chosen to make a reservation because it was in the same area as Truman Capote’s apartment. My room at the hotel was the size of the bathroom of my L.A. apartment & had one tiny window that looked at an air shaft.

I checked in & immediately headed down 42nd street to Time Square to imagine my name in lights. This was Time Square of the mid-1970s, so very different than the Disney-ized Manhattan today. I was so overwhelmed to find myself alone with 2 pieces of luggage & my dreams, but no plan, that I called the only person I had any connection to in the city. My mother’s cousin- Michael, whom I had met when I was 10, lived on Central Park West at 80th Street. I called him & confessed that I was a bit freaked out at finding myself in NYC. He turned out to be a very handsome sweetheart of a guy & he invited me to stay in his apartment’s maid’s quarters until I could find my own place.

I took him up on the offer, but stayed my one already paid for room at the Tudor City for one night. I turned on the tiny black & white TV in the room & watched a moving & mesmerizing film- The Naked Civil Servant, starring John Hurt, about the early life of Quinton Crisp, of whom I knew nothing. The film was unlike anything that I had experienced. Like me, Crisp had arrived NYC not knowing a soul, but he arrived with a plan. Crisp was ready to become famous.

Quentin Crisp was born Denis Charles Pratt on this day in 1908. He was the author of the classic & flamboyantly eccentric coming-of-age memoir The Naked Civil Servant. The award-winning film version made him an instant international celebrity. Crisp also wrote many books & articles about his life & his opinions on style, fashion, & the movies. Crisp was famous for his concise, compact, & dare I say it, crisp witticisms.

He performed his one-man show- An Evening with Quentin Crisp, to acclaim in theaters around the world, all the while spreading his unique philosophy: "Never keep up with the Joneses; drag them down to your level. It's cheaper." During the second part of his show, Crisp answered questions from the audience & gave advice to audience members about how to find their individual style & live a happy life. I saw him twice in this vehicle, in the early 1980s & again in the late 1990s. He was always in the "profession of being."

Crisp was Oscar Wilde's perfect descendant. With his calculated caustic confabulations, open homosexuality & witty, winning obstinate opinions toward any kind of conventionality, Crisp caused a bit of a stir in the traditional Britain of the 1950s, 1960s, & 1970s. In 1981, Quentin Crisp moved to NYC, bringing along his familiar & witty remarks & his eccentricity. Quentin Crisp charmed the city & became the essence of the modern rebel.

During his 2 decades in Manhattan, Crisp wrote books, reviews, appeared in several movies, including playing a touching & dignified Elizabeth I in Sally Ann Potter's Orlando & The Bride, where, during filming, he became friends with Sting who was playing Dr. Frankenstein.

Crisp remained fiercely independent & unpredictable into old age. He caused controversy & confusion in the LGBT community by jokingly calling AIDS "a fad", & homosexuality "a terrible disease". Crisp commented after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales: "She could have been Queen of England & she was swanning about Paris with Arabs. What disgraceful behaviour! Going about saying she wanted to be the queen of hearts. The vulgarity of it is so overpowering." He was always in demand from journalists needing a sound-bite, & throughout the 1990s his commentary was always in demand.

He entertained publicly & privately with his inimitable decorum, dignity, dexterity, drollery & drive. Crisp spent his 90th birthday performing his show. He died on the eve of touring his one-man show in Manchester, England, a few weeks shy of his 91st birthday in 1999.

Crisp was the inspiration & subject matter of Sting’s song Englishman in New York. Crisp: “I had looked forward to receiving my naturalization papers so that he could commit a crime & not be deported." In l986 Sting visited Crisp in his apartment and was told over dinner, & the following 3 days, what life had been like for a homosexual man in the very homophobic Britain of the 1920s -1960s. Sting was both shocked & fascinated. The song includes the lyrics:

"It takes a man to suffer ignorance & smile, Be yourself no matter what they say."

Sting: "…it's partly about me & partly about Quentin. Again, I was looking for a metaphor. Quentin is a hero of mine, someone I knew very well. He is gay, and he was gay at a time in history when it was dangerous to be so. He had people beating up on him on a daily basis, largely with the consent of the public."

Essential Crisp: The Naked Civil Servant (1968), How To Have A Lifestyle (1975) How To Become a Virgin (1981) & The Wit & Wisdom of Quentin Crisp (1989).