In Search of the Monkey Girl

by Spalding Gray, Randall Levenson (Phtographer)

Shows carnival people, including those who work in side shows, and briefly tells some of their stories

70 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Spalding Gray was an American actor, screenwriter, performance artist, and playwright.

Reviews

[Rick West · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's all the glamour of carnival life...torn canvas smelling of mildew and urine mixed with the scent of cotton candy and stale beer, piles of tangled electrical wiring, deafening PA systems blaring recorded grind show speils that compete with the rock music blasting from the rides, and the most interesting ingredients...the broken equipment and broken people. You gotta love it!

[Bill Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Striking photographs by Randal Levenson, taken on carnival grounds in the Midwest, accompanied by Spalding Gray's darkly playful text, weave a picture of America's disreputable, recent past. It strikes me that we no longer need carnivals because we have the internet -- no talkers or pitchmen but plenty of, god help us, "influencers" to sell us the sizzle of the day and invite us into the tents. No freaks of nature but plenty of anti-vaxxers, neonazis, clueless yokels, and a broken rainbow of marginal identities, all magnified to the size of giants, bigger than life, like everything at a carnival. And look at all those ads for food that may not even be as nutritious as a candy apple or a funnel cake! And there's no end to the number of adorable performing animals.

Aside from the uncomfortable similarity, the pictures walk a line between disturbing our sense of normality and our outrage at what may have been exploitation (a hard line to draw since most of these folks found structure and identity in this strange world) and Gray's text is amusing. Recommended, unless you're easily offended.