Kyle
Taylor is the author of Wildflower, Exposition and Billion Dollar Dreamer.
The Kyle Taylor character debuted in Billion
Dollar Dreamer as a journalist who was assigned to write a story
about high school history teacher cum overnight billionaire John
Driskil. He resides in New York—and of course he is a work of
fiction! You can contact Kyle at BillionDollarDreamer@gmail.com.
What is your story's heat level? How do you approach the sex
scenes?
Barbette came into his sexual maturity during the Roaring Twenties
in Paris, which was undergoing quite a sexual revolution at the time. Of course his act challenged the very notion
gender identification and stereotypes, so there is a sexual mystification and
eroticism to his act that was tantalizing.
Historians note that Barbette and famous French writer and artist,
Jean Cocteau were lovers for a time, but the depths of their relationship is
lost. Because I could find documentation of the two connecting over the years,
I decided to make those times a points of intimacy.
Intimate scenes in Wildflower
are about Barbette discovering his own sexual orientation is a world where his
type of love is taboo—and even deeper, his need for connection.
Barbette was arrested in London for indiscretions with a man back
stage at the Palladium, notoriously then banned from Great Britain for life. So
some of the intimate scenes were ‘historical’ even.
How do you maintain activity as a writer when sitting at a desk all day?
For the past few years, I hit on this manic jag to write. I’ve
written three major novels under the Kyle Taylor moniker in that time, plus
articles, and several other books. The
ideas for stories kept popping into my head compelling me to write. Barbette
was looking over my shoulder on this one for sure, pushing me on!
What is it that you loved about the main characters in your story?
The more I learned about Vander Clyde Broadway, a.k.a. Barbette,
the more I grew in respect and admiration for his work as an artist. That was
what he was. He created this aerialist fantasia out of nothing. When stricken
with polio, after twenty years on the stage, you would think he was through.
But he had a tremendous creative vision. He went on to direct the aerial
ballets for Ringling Circus as well as a host of feature films and productions.
He was a perfectionist – a hard driving visionary who pushed himself and others
to be fabulous entertainers.
What do you feel is your strongest type of writing? Humor? Angst? Confrontation
scenes? Action? Sex? Sensuality? Sweet Romance? And why?
I’m not sure, but I like the tension in moments where two lives
intersect and there is a wondering, will the two hit it off, or will it all
dissolve? In Wildflower, when
Barbette is in his late teens and in the circus performing as one of the
Alfaretta Sisters, a male dwarf, who isn’t much older than Barbette himself,
comes onto our aerialist. It’s wonderfully awkward. Awkward is fun to write.
Are you social media savvy? If so what do you suggest for others? If not, why
not?
I suck at media stuff. These days, I feel like I write these
wonderful confections of novels and put them in a bottle and toss them out to
sea. Will they be read and maybe enjoyed? I hope so!
What are some things from your life or things you have observed that you've infused
into your stories?
I write in the beginning of Wildflower,
that the book is a work of historical fiction. It’s my interpretation of
Barbette's life, focusing on things I found compelling about him. Other
writers, I suppose would tell his story differently – that is the nature of the
art.
In Wildflower, there is
an undercurrent of the theme of death. Barbette had to face it every time he
attempted his act on the stage without a net for twenty years. He confronts it
when he is diagnosed with polio. Later, he takes his own life when he is much
older. As I researched my existential wondering about the meaning of it all
became infused in the book. By chance, I
found some interesting comments from Jean Cocteau and even Orson Welles about
death. I added bits and pieces.
If you had an unlimited budget, where would you like to visit for story-related
research?
Of course I would want to build a time machine so I could see
these things from a hundred years ago in the present. But then, using one’s
imagination to visualize and then transcribing the vision into the story, is
very engaging for a writer.
Any fun facts about the research for your book?
I’ll give you two: The tag
line for the book – “More fun than a sex party!” was really a sarcastic quip from
Barbette after a young aerialist gushed about her performance. It reveals so
much about Barbette.
The other was that Barbette and Jack Lemmon got in to a hissy fit
of confrontation in the rehearsals for the comedy classic, Some Like It Hot. Barbette was brought in to train Lemmon and his
costar Tony Curtis on how to do drag. Billy Wilder said he wound up buying off
Barbette to get him off the picture, offering him a trip to Europe on the Il de France.
Finally, tell us a little about your newest release!
Wildflower tells
the story of the story of a sensational drag queen aerialist, Barbette.
Barbette was a real person who became a scandalous attraction in Europe,
especially Paris, during the Roaring Twenties. He grew up in a tiny piss of a
town north of Austin, called Round Rock. (Today home to Dell Computers, btw! –
and where I have a residence.)
The novel covers about sixty years of his life. My hope was to do
Barbette justice in the presentation. He was a passionate, creative, brilliant
artist who deserves to be rediscovered in our time.
(All of the rights for these images remain with their owners.)
Below:
Barbette the performer and in his street clothes
Barbette by surrealist photographer Man Ray:
Later in
life Barbette choreographed and directed many circus aerial acts. Circus folks
even referred to the flying women, as ‘Barbettes’. Here he is with some of his
performers.
Blurb:
Long
before Ru Paul eyed his first pair of six inch stilettos or Boy George
donned his colorful caftan, a handsome, young man from the small town of
Round Rock, Texas barnstormed the stages of Europe’s most lavish
theaters and night clubs as Barbette, a beautiful aerialist, drag queen
who became a scandalous sensation throughout the Roaring Twenties.
Performing
his erotic, high wire and trapeze routine in lavish, ostrich-plumed
feminine regalia, Barbette shocked audiences by revealing the true
nature of gender at the very end of his act.
From a child who
picked cotton and walked his mother’s clothes line to headlining at the
Moulin Rouge in spectacular drag,Wildflower reveals long-forgotten
secrets of this enigmatic performer: his arrest in London on morals
charges, his bout with polio, his infamous collaborations with some of
Hollywood’s greatest stars – Orson Welles, Vincente Minnelli and Judy
Garland, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as well as his hidden affair with
French surrealist Jean Cocteau.
Wildflower
captivates with every page, dramatically revealing the startling and at times
heart-breaking story of Round Rock’s first and greatest drag queen.
Excerpt:
With all his might, Vander swung the
trapeze as high into the air as he could tolerate, the muscles in his feet
screaming out. As he reached the apex, he released his feet, tucked into a
tight ball and did a backward somersault. In an instant, he was bouncing on the
safety net, thrilled by what he had just done!
Bobby
Fuller stuffed his cigar into his mouth and applauded loudly. Audrey too was
impressed. From the platform, she did a swan dive, turning onto her back at the
right instant for a soft landing on the safety net. She then walked over to
where Bobby and Vander were standing.
“Now,
son, I need you to be honest with me. You’re new to this aren’t you?” Bobby
asked as he stared intently at Vander.
“I
did shows in my back yard—on the wire. I’m good!” Vander said trying to sell
himself. He wanted more than anything to get back up to the trapeze.
“You
a run away?” Audrey asked with her hands on her hips.
“No.
My momma sent me off today on the train, from Round Rock.”
“He’s
got balance,” Audrey said. “It’ll take him time to train.”
“I’m
a fast learner! I even doubled up my studies and finished high school two years
early!”
Bobby
rubbed his chin. “We’ve only got a week, ten days tops, to get him trained. If
we don’t get this act back on track, they’ll can us and then where’ll we be?”
Audrey’s
pale blue eyes looked serious. “Did you see, how he moved his arms? He sure
looks the part. He’ll look sweet in a dress.”
Vander’s
mouth dropped. “A dress?”
Bobby
Fuller scowled, “The part’s for a female
trapeze artist. Didn’t y’all read the advertisement?”
“We’re
the Alfaretta Sisters!” Audrey
interjected. “World famous aerial queens.”
Vander
Clyde was trying to absorb what they were saying.
“He’s
got a good figure, not quite a man yet,” Audrey said looking over Vander’s
body. “A little taking in here and letting out there and Lydia’s costumes could
fit.”
“You
ever put on a dress, boy?” Bobby asked. “It’s no big deal. Wouldn’t be the
first time a boy in a trapeze act did it.”
“You
look better in a dress, up on a trapeze,” Audrey encouraged. “More beautiful,
the dress flows, you know.”
Vander
remembered Miss Nelson told him all the actors during Shakespeare’s time were
men or boys and they played the female parts as well.
“Like Shakespeare, you mean the way the
boys played the girl’s parts?” Vander asked.
Bobby
and Audrey laughed.
“Yes, son, just like ol’ Will
Shakespeare!” Bobby chuckled. “You’ll get five dollars a week—no pay until we
get the act back up. Deal?” Bobby extended his hand.
Vander
Clyde couldn’t believe it was all happening so fast! He enthusiastically
extended his hand. “Deal!”
Buy Links:
Ann W. Jarvie has a B.A. in journalism and more than twenty-five years’ experience as an award-winning writer in advertising and public relations agencies, both in South Carolina and Chicago. She now lives near Phoenix, Arizona, where she spends part of her time as a freelance copywriter and the rest writing fiction. 
way to be whole again.
