During the 1950's, a New Orleans French Quarter young male cocktail pianist's life is complicated by four beautiful women; two young women from opposite poles of society who love him in their diverse ways, and two middle aged women who seek to control him for their own secret reasons. He is the center of an interracial heterosexual/gay group of entertainers who create a musical which they take to Broadway. This colorful cast is seen against a historically accurate backdrop of New Orleans landmark restaurants and nightclubs.In the final book of this trilogy (Piano Lover: The Movie, ISBN 978-1-62768-013-4) our intrepid crew take their musical to Hollywood where formulaic screenwriters attempt to circumvent the show's controversial theme at the expense of its truth and underlying message. Liberal celebrities offer hesitant support. They frequent Hollywood's famous clubs and restaurants where they mingle with glittreratzi of that era, such as Steve Allen, Noel Coward, Errol Flynn, Anna Magnanni, Federico Fellini, Vitorio deSica, Hal Prince, Frank Sinatra, and The Rat Pack . Timing deprives the Broadway production of a Toni Award, and conservatism deprives the film adaptation of Oscar nominations. They travel to exotic resort areas such as Jamaica, West Indies, and Matzatlan, Mexico. Two of the cast pass away, while a baby is born to one of the piano lover's ladies, leading to a truce between her and her parents. The ladies deal with an unexpected glitch in the piano lover's love life, and he struggles to fulfill the opportunity of a new musical. Fate turns their focus away from gay rights to the growing cry for civil rights.This trilogy is designed for intelligent adults who are not opposed to tasteful but fairly graphic sensuality, sophisticated dialogue, and exploration of the gray areas between heterosexual and gay sexuality. The period backgrounds of New Orleans, New York, and Hollywood are accurately drawn from detailed research and the author's personal experience. The collected work should be of interest to educators and researchers for its astute depiction of the era, the locations, and the pioneer relationship themes it explores.
Author Biography:
William Karl Thomas was born 1/25/33 in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, a small Gulf Coast town in which Tennessee Williams lived and wrote about in his works. In 1951 Thomas married his former high school teacher and was divorced after a four year childless marriage. His checkered background includes being a cocktail pianist in New Orleans French Quarter, serving a year of combat in the Air Force during the Korean War, being a photographer, a journalist, a feature/documentary cinematographer, a screen writer, an industrial film producer, a public relations executive, and a book author. He has worked for and with such notables as Frank Sinatra, the Rat Pack, Lenny Bruce, Shecky Green, Sally Marr, Frank Ray Perelli, Dale Ireland, Basil Bradbury, and others with whom he signed confidentiality agreements. In the course of various assignments, Thomas has lived or worked in Oxford England, Paris France, Japan, Korea, Jamaica, Mexico, Canada, and various parts of the United States. Thomas' books include a memoir of his ten year collaboration with the most controversial comedian of the twentieth century titled Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet. His memoir of his childhood in a Gulf Coast town where Hurricane Katrine made landfall in 2005, is titled "The Genteel Poor. His novel based on his wartime experiences in Korea is titled The Josan And The Jee. His novel, Cleo, is based on his media experiences in Los Angeles during the turbulent civil rights era of the 1950's and 1960's. His anthology of twelve short stories titled Hollywood Tales From The Outer Fringe reveals the relationships that arise between 'A' list celebrities and the armies of little people who work for them. His latest biographical work, "A Place For Us, is the biography of a charismatic woman and her inspiring life as a polio survivor. His latest novel, The Piano Lover, is the first in a trilogy about a colorful collection of hedonists in New Orleans French Quarter during the 1950's. His upcoming science fiction trilogy, Immortal, involves three alien archeologists a millennium in the future who try to determine how and why humans self destructed themselves and their planet, in the process reviewing the evolution of humanity and the turning points of human civilization. William Karl Thomas currently lives in Tucson, Arizona, where he occasionally teaches writing and film production at a local community college, and continues work on a variety of book, film, and media projects.
