Author: The JT LeRoy Story Page #3

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LeRoy.

[ Phone clicks ]

[ Phone clicks ]

So we have the name --

JT LeRoy.

[ Cash register dings ]

So they send out

the accidental book.

And I have no idea how

it's gonna be received,

because I know

it's really weird.

I haven't seen anything else

like it out there.

And we start

getting reviews back.

And they're really,

really good.

And it's

the most exciting feeling

to get this response

from this book

that I didn't mean to write.

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Tape player clicks ]

Today we're going to be doing

"Sarah" by JT LeRoy.

JT LeRoy

is a very young American author

who burst

on the literary scene.

It made me think of

all those Southern stories --

Flannery O'Connor

and Faulkner.

Southern gothic superstars

Yeah.

There's a lot of Truman Capote

in this guy.

And I particularly like

this young boy-girl.

And the collision between

naivete and maturity.

It's like this weird little

supernova called Sarah.

Albert:

JT LeRoy is very, very shy.

He can't do readings.

So people suggest,

he can't read it?

Let us read it.

So it was

the first reading ever,

and I was there.

[ Bell dings ]

And nobody

knew I was there.

Hey, everybody.

Welcome to the reading

for JT LeRoy's book, "Sarah,"

that just came out.

"Le Loup puts in flashier

lights, but the crowds thin

as talk spreads of luck

turning malevolent

after a visit with me,

the patron saint of truckers."

[ Applause ]

Albert:
I would have died

if anybody knew

because I'm big and I am

not comfortable in my skin.

And everybody's

coming to hear

this really hip, new,

cool writer,

and I'm not it.

[ Indistinct conversations ]

All right

this is Laura again.

I just was getting

incredibly depressed,

and I knew being at home

was really f***ing me up.

And my mother was, like, didn't

know what to do with me.

So I wanted to get help.

We were going to this place,

St. Vincents.

It's a mental institution --

like a loony bin.

And we packed up my stuff

and we went.

We went upstairs to the unit.

There were these old people

just walking around

in a Thorazine daze.

It's a very scary place for

a 13-year-old to walk in,

but I felt safe

'cause I was like,

"Hey, I'm with my mom."

And then I said,

"Okay, you know, Mom,

I've had enough of this,

I want to go."

And she said to me,

"I'm going, you're staying."

So "Sarah" was out in the world

to great acclaim

and they wanted more JT LeRoy.

So we took a collection of

those old Terminator stories.

LeRoy:
All the voices

in my head scream at me.

And I can't see outside anymore.

I can only see

the huge wooden electric chair,

wired, waiting, and empty.

And the Horned One,

with his blood soaked talons,

clutching the silver-grey

switch.

[ Electricity buzzing ]

Laura Albert:
We titled it,

"The Heart is Deceitful

Above All Things."

And that became

JT LeRoy's next novel.

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Horn honks ]

JT has quite a following.

Some refer to it

as a cult following.

I came because

I really wanted to see

what all the hype was about.

He's created, you know,

uh, this buzz around him.

JT LeRoy's reclusiveness

was the buzz.

The lack of a body

at the funeral

made it that much

more interesting.

Since JT doesn't come out

and read for himself,

he's got an enormous

support group of celebrities

who will come out and read

his work because they love him.

Well, I feel like I have a --

a new good friend

because I've --

I've been speaking to him

on the phone all week.

[ Tape player clicks ]

In "Sarah," the --

the raccoon bone

is a kind of badge of honor.

It's the, um...

the hooker's equivalent

of a military sash,

or a Boy Scout's merit badge.

I just can't bring myself

to bring in, uh,

at this stage of my life...

[ Laughter ]

uh...another mammal's penis

resting on my neck.

Silverberg:
The signed

JT LeRoy raccoon penis bone

was a brilliant piece

of ephemera.

They sold! They sold.

People bought these

raccoon penis bones.

That was as close as anyone

was gonna get to JT LeRoy.

Um...Yes, I do.

I believe that I will meet him.

I do.

[ Tape player clicks ]

[ Tape player clicks ]

Laura Albert:

So the books were taking off,

especially overseas,

and you had German media

really, really wanting

to do live,

in-person interviews.

JT LeRoy

had to walk amongst us.

So one day Savannah

was over at our house,

and she was

sitting on the couch,

and she'd shaved her head

and dyed her hair blue,

and she wanted

to try on my glasses.

I had this straw hat,

and I'd given her

a raccoon penis bone,

and she's chewing on it

like a corn-cob pipe.

And I'm looking at her

and I said,

"You know,

you look like JT LeRoy."

So I came up with an idea --

just a one-off.

You wear the sunglasses,

a cute blonde wig.

We'll, like, bind your b*obs.

It'll be really fast.

You'll get 50 bucks.

[ Cash register dings ]

And she was down.

Laura Albert:

When we were on the shoot,

Savannah is standing

on Polk Street,

dressed kind of raggedy,

looking like a street hustler.

Laura Albert:

I was so scared that she

could not articulate him.

And they interviewed Savannah --

they interviewed JT.

Laura Albert:

And it was amazing to watch

how he actually

settled into her.

She just had those features

that were more masculine,

which fit perfectly

for an adolescent boy.

Savannah was perfect,

and it was this really

liberating moment

because it was almost

like in "Frankenstein,"

"Let there be life."

I was watching JT live.

Laura Albert:

Um, I was ostracized,

and people were like,

"you were in a loony bin."

You're a loony.

Laura Albert:

I felt like a misfit.

I was totally alienated.

And I found this secret society,

and it was mine.

In 9th grade, I got into punk.

It -- it helped me, all right?

I had a lot of problems,

and it helped me.

I got Stiff Little Fingers,

Generation X,

and the Sex Pistols.

I heard those records,

and my fate was sealed.

I mean it was everything.

That was it.

But I would only go out

if I felt

I'd lost enough weight,

if I could fit into an outfit

that was punk enough.

There's nothing worse

than being a fat punk.

So I would send my sister

out in the world to live for me.

Jojo was my avatar

in the punk world.

I would dress her up,

I'd put on her makeup,

I would do her hair.

I had a leather jacket.

I would put the badges on her.

I would choose a T-shirt.

I perfected her look,

which was borderline

androgynous.

Like she could be a guy,

but she also looked cute.

I would tell her

who she was gonna talk to,

who she was gonna meet,

and she had to report

back to me.

And I'd send her off.

I was as intensely

deep in the scene

as I could possibly get --

living in my head,

watching it unfold

without actually

having to be there.

[ Engine revs ]

Hey, Mikey, how long

have I been on the streets,

on this crusade?

I loved Gus Van Sant's

"My Own Private Idaho."

So when he wanted

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