Keywords:
amateur boxing, masculinity and identity, camaraderie and competition, violence and discipline, celebrity culture, memoir and anecdote
Abstract
A memoirist recalls his boxing experiences and his interactions with Norman Mailer, Ryan O’Neal, and José Torres in 1976–1984.
Author Biography
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Jeffrey Michelson
Jeffrey Michelson, Norman Mailer’s houseboy and sparring partner, designer for the Beatles, creator of the high end hardcore sex journal Puritan, and frontman for English band Max & The Broadway Metal Choir, has written his first memoir, Laura Meets Jeffrey. Mailer, who chose his Puritan interview with Michelson and Laura Bradley for Pieces and Pontifications, guided the book’s editing and wrote the Foreword. Norris Mailer, Legs McNeil and Mike Lennon continued the guidance after Norman died. The S&M romance centers on the 1980s demimonde when Michelson lived a double life with lingerie model/call girl Laura Bradley, and includes part of an Esquire piece Mailer wrote about Michelson boxing with Ryan O’Neal. Mailer suggested giving the final draft to Bradley to add her side of the story. She agreed. Michelson lives on a horse ranch in the Poconos.
