Blaze Starr

I just got the movie Blaze in the mail. It is a "sizzling comedy from the creator of Bull Durham." According to USA Today it is a "funny, sexy movie!" The screenplay is based on the book Blaze Starr: My life as told by Huey Perry. The book can be found on Amazon for .01 cent. I have to admit that after reading the foreword and a few paragraphs of the first chapter I'm disappointed with how elementary the writing is.
Blaze Starr is a serious character and a living legend on The Block. She was one of the best and most beautiful (see picture) stripper of the 1950's and seduced the governor of Louisiana, and according to her own account (listen to it yourself in the clip below), President JFK as well.

Starr has a great interview easily found by typing her name into You Tube. For convenience it is also posted at the bottom of this entry. It is there that one can see in her eyes and wily smile that her life hasn't been all Cracker Jacks and romance.

Unfortunately, I have hit yet another piece of evidence that points to the misrepresentation of The Block. If one were to read only the topical stories and antecdotes surrounding this decaying hole of prostitution and drugs it would seems as if a tux and top hat were required to set foot on Baltimore Street. The Block did have its glory days of the 1940's and 50's but then quickly tumbled into a spiraling black hole similar to the one Alice falls into while chasing the white rabbit. It's no wonder to me now why the city of Baltimore has neglected this failing "Adult Entertainment Zone." City officials have built such a thick wall of denial and nostalgia that has permeated the once highly respected Baltimore Sun, local media and writers that as one city planner said to me, "There's nothing wrong with The Block, I mean it doesn't bother too many people." And maybe she was right because most Baltimoreans just try to forget that it's even there as it slowly fills with vacant buildings and "For Lease" already so familiar.