Bizarre semi-naked woodland Mr Freedom shoot, I was a TV, Edward Bell’s ‘The Queen Of Clapham’… Inside the infamous Curious magazine featuring David Bowie + Freddie Burretti on its cover
//Cover, Curious issue 19, 1971. Photography: Brian Ward. No reproduction without permission.This copy: Paul Gorman Archive//
//Opening spread The Queen Of Clapham. Photography: Edward Bell. No reproduction without permission//
//From The Cool Kilt vs The Hot Pant. Photographer not credited. No reproduction without permission//
//Opening spread I Was A TV. Photographer not credited. No reproduction without permission//
The British sex magazine Curious was well-named: for the duration of its near-decade long run from the late 1960s it was indeed a curiosity.
A mixture of earnest advice and prurient features on sexual matters, it regularly presented content – photography by the likes of David Parkinson, layouts by such designers David Wills, who had worked with Barney Bubbles and art-directed Oz – which broke ranks with run-of-the-mill smut publications and paralleled the experimental work of the late period underground press titles of the day.
//Bowie’s ‘general manager’ Bob Grace butches it up with Burretti and Bowie. Photo: Brian Ward. No reproduction without permission//
The most sought-after issue of Curious is number 19, published in May 1971. This is because the cover features David Bowie in a Mr Fish man-dress with his tailor friend Freddie Burretti. At the time, Bowie was pushing Burretti as the frontman of the pet project The Arnold Corns, an assembly of Bowie’s pals who had released the Ziggy songs Moonage Daydream and Hang On To Yourself as a single.
//”Right: Rudi Valentino – if his record rises as far as his hemline he’s going to be a pop star…” No reproduction without permission//
//Main image which accompanied the two- page feature on Burretti. Photo: Brian Ward. No reproduction without permision//
Then 19, Burretti was born Frederick R. Burrett in Hackney in 1951 but assumed the name Rudi Valentino for The Arnold Corns. He was also openly gay, and this combined with Bowie’s ambivalence to provide Curious with an entry point on projections of male sexuality in an interview by Bowie’s record plugger Dai Davies (credited as ‘Dai Pusher-Davis’). “Bowie says that Rudie (sic) is the leader of the whole gay scene, but Rudi himself is a little more modest,” wrote Davies.
//The story of Jacqueline. No reproduction without permission//
//No reproduction without permission//
Transvestism was a preoccupation of the magazine, so it’s no surprise to find two photo-stories on the subject in issue 19, including a fantastic portrait by Edward Bell – who would go on to provide Bowie with artwork for record sleeves, notably Scary Monsters & Super Creeps – of an individual known only as ‘The Queen Of Clapham’.
//Mr Freedom clothing partly featured in the fashion story The Cool Kilt vs The Hot Pant. Photographer not credited. No reproduction without permission//
//No reproduction without permission//
//No reproduction without permission//
There is also a weird, pastoral fashion shoot entitled The Cool Kilt vs The Hot Pant which features clothing such as the latter garment which had recently been introduced at Mr Freedom, Trevor Myles and Tommy Roberts’ pop-art boutique then situated at 430 King’s Road.
As related in Kevin Cann’s indispensable Any Day Now, Burretti was only the frontman for The Arnold Corns. His voice wasn’t up to snuff so Bowie sang on both sides of the single, which soon sank without trace as he moved onto recording the Hunky Dory album and then Ziggy.