don't call me madam
the life and work of ray bourbon
The
Autobiography:
About the Manuscript
Near
the end of his life, as Ray Bourbon waited in prison serving a life sentence,
he worked for hours each day on his autobiography. His lawyer recalled
purchasing a small manual typewriter for Ray to work on the manuscript.
Unfortunately, Ray passed away before the manuscript could be completed.
But, around 300 pages survive, covering his experiences growing up in
Texas, attending school in England, and his career in film and nightclubs.
The manuscript is like a series of short stories, each looking at the
many people and characters -- famous and not so famous -- that Ray encountered
throughout his life.
The manuscript was accompanied by letters and other documents attesting
to the fact that it was written by Ray and explaining the circumstances
under which it was written; included were flyers, ads and publicity
photos from Ray's personal collection. The manuscript owner also
provided a recorded interview with Ray's lawyer on various aspects of
Ray's murder trial.
In Spring 2001, I contracted with the owner of the manuscript to edit
it for publication. A working outline of the
list of chapters is available here.
More
recently, the manuscript owner turned over the original typewritten
document and all copyright ownership over to me. If you are interested
in use of the manuscript for publication, film or stage rights, or for
a research project, please send me an email and
I'll be happy to discuss possible projects with you. The
manuscript and all of my research materials will be turned over to an
archives in the future.
9.26.09/rand@coolcatdaddy.com