Appearances

Monologues

Spalding says in And Everything is Going Fine that there are 19 monologues
However it would appear this statement was made before Black Spot/Life Interrupted

Note : howl.fm was sadly discontinued but most or all of the listed audio can be found at: https://archive.org/details/spaldinggrayaudio

September, 2015 : VERY Exciting News for Spalding fans.
Thanks to Kathie Russo for the following info:
howl.fm has been lauched and includes exclusive, very rare Spalding audio content:
All monologues are complete audio recordings with many never before released:
NOTE: Credit Card Required and will auto renew after free trial if not cancelled

India and After
47 Beds
Interviewing the Audience (extremely rare)
The Crossing (Note: also known as "Nobody Wanted to Sit Behind a Desk." He was performing it as "The Great Crossing" on the West Coast)
A Personal History of American Theater
Swimming to Cambodia
Terrors of Pleasure
Impossible Vacation (extremely rare)
Slippery Slope
Gray's Anatomy
Morning, Noon, and Night
Life Interrupted

Spalding fans get a free month - here's how:
The code is good for 30 days free,
a premium account renews every 30 days. So, the coupon is good for "one renewal" meaning 30 days...
to make sure everyone gets the free trial,
you need to select auto-renew.
This is because the site gives everyone 7 days for free by default, and then when that ends it "renews"
and the 30 days for free will start after that.
So if a user did not select auto-renew, they will be moved back to free after 7 days.
Here's how to get 30 free days of Howl:

- sign up for an account at Howl.fm
- click 'start my free trial' to be taken to the checkout
- enter your credit card information,
and add coupon code GRAY in the 'coupon code' field on the right side of the checkout screen
- make sure to have auto-renew checked, or your trial will end after 7 days
- if you wish to cancel before your 30 day free trial ends,
you can cancel from the 'manage account' screen on the homepage
- if you have any questions, or need any help please email support@howl.fm
Note : howl.fm was sadly discontinued but most or all of the listed audio can be found at: https://archive.org/details/spaldinggrayaudio

Now the list of monologues

India and After - where is this one? Where oh where...besides the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts .
Point Judith - where is this one? (reportedly filmed but details unknown)
In Search of a Monkey Girl - videotaped version (unavailable) is much longer than book version - book version available for free on this site under Books. (link may be discontinued)
2 monologues - Map of L.A. and A Personal History of American Theatre - both rare - occasionally at libraries or thru www.eai.org (vhs one-day rental, $50, purchase $200) - so if anyone knows where I could get copies at a better price, LET ME KNOW...fan Keith did, thank you
Update: Map of LA (streaming)
https://www.ubu.com/film/yonemoto_gray.html (alternative to rarelust site)

Review :

"A Personal History of the American Theatre - Oct. 2008 - thank you to one of the staff of the TV show 'Alive from Off Center' for a copy of this. Very good, early monlogue shown on TV (once). Copy is mine with strict limits on copyrights and duplication. Only other known copy at a NYC library in Reserve and perhaps with Wooster. Much thanks to the fan/contributor. Spalding has all his early summer stockplays, and experimental works on large cards, shuffled. He chooses one at a time and tells an associated story. Very low key and Excellent! List of 10 plays that Spalding was in and tells stories about are listed under Stage."

jb

And also from fan Keith, :
Personal History of American Theater (short version)
https://www.ubu.com/film/alive_c.html (there is a longer version around)

Excerpts from "A Personal History of the American Theatre" by Spalding Gray
Performing Arts Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2 (1984), pp. 36-50
Published by: The MIT Press
This appears to be a longer version than the PBS version, but shorter than actual monologue
Please take note of the strict copyright/use rules
Thanks to fan Ryan Hanley, MFA Theatre for the excellent link

Spalding Gray's Map of LA 1984, 27:40 min., color, sound

"This collaboration with performance artist Spalding Gray and actors Mary Woronov and Marshall Efron satirizes the mythology of Los Angeles, juxtaposing a parodic fictional narrative with Gray's autobiographical monologues. The ironic reenactment of the New York artist's encounter with the excess of Los Angeles focuses on the Southern Californian obsession with cars as cultural and consumer icons. Gray traces his sentimental education through a series of anecdotal childhood memories that detail his romantic infatuation with cars.".

Director/editor: Norman Yonemoto; producer: Bruce Yonemoto; written by Spalding Gray, Marshall Efron, Mary Woronov, Bruce Yonemoto, Norman Yonemoto; starring: Spalding Gray, Marshall Efron, Mary Woronov, Coleen Sterritt.
Web film about Spalding - A Life in Progress - available at www.cinemanow.com - $2.95 to watch in streaming (30 minutes) - NOT SURE if this is a Monologue or not...too cheap to listen as money is a bigger obsession of mine than Spalding.
Sex and Death to Age 14(also known as SAD) - just reread the whole book, very worthwhile, and the following monologues were included in every edition except I think I remember seeing on abebooks.com, some copies of early drafts of just SAD guess - let me check - yep, the SAD's are about $14 for new (they were $1 before his death), and there is only one advanced uncorrected proof which is more or less what they were before his death - it is an actual published edition - $50.
Also, the book originally came with a cassette tape. VERY RARE. There are some boots available on CD but please be aware that if this is released in the future, bootlegs now will affect the future of his estate and children. The cassette is different from the book with parts of After India included.
Also excellent excerpt from rare tape Tellus#18: Experimental Theatre (1987)
that does not to me seem the same as the cassettes though I may be wrong.
Booze, Cars and College Girls - made up of three monologues.
47 Beds - there is a rumour that a 16mm version of this exists. I don't know anything about the rumour but would really like too...
Nobody Wanted to Sit Behind a Desk - superb - also known as The Great Crossing as performed on West Coast
Travels Through New England - the equivalent to a New England version on Basho's Narrow Road to the North - in other words, an American masterpiece.
Terrors of Pleaure: the House - this was also done as a special for HBO.
- hard to find, on VHS only
- copies do appear on ebay but tend to be in the 20 to 25 dollar level.
Also released as audio cassette and CD by Gang of Seven - both rare. Very occasionally seen on eBay. Recorded at U of Colorado, Boulder in 1991.
Swimming to Cambodia - (STC)
- if you've got this far, I doubt I have to describe the cultural, social, political and personal changes that came as a result of this book...orginal version on stage was much longer done over 2 nights (unavailable)
- generally only available on VHS - DVD very rare now. Not on DVD2 or PAL...as of 2010, DVD now extremely rare, priced at $200-$1000!
youtube clips - play in sequence to view complete film
I do not generally support boots but as Audio never released, and extremely rare,
I will report that audio from film is complete on Demonoid (difficult to obtain membership)
Monster in a Box - the only show I ever saw live...sold out 5 nights in Vancouver. Also released on audio CD by Gang of Seven. Rare.Very occasionally seen on eBay.
Spalding Gray in Monster in a Box, "a monologue about a man who can't write a book [the novel Impossible Vacation, which he did finish] about a man who can't take a vacation."
Gray's Anatomy - as per film...pre dates TV show of similar name and TOTALLY unrelated. Spalding's is shorter...and better...try watching with one eye as special effects appear to have been made for visually impaired.
Trailer
It's A Slippery Slope - yes, it is...
For part of a different version (very good, live audience), go to: www.thisamericanlife.org

- Also: Amazon (both Clarlie Rose shows with Spalding are excellent) - for free viewing of one and part of the other: www.charlierose.com.

- Appears to be a bootleg download of this CD. Caution - I have not tried this site.
Note that Amazon still has some new copies listed (discontinued item) or Amazon download mp3 for .99 cents
- a video clip courtesy the Walker Art Center and the Estate
http://walkerart.s3.amazonaws.com/calendar/pa0910/Spalding_Gray.mp4
Morning, Noon, and Night - one day living in Sag Harbor, the family days..in historical retrospect, amazing...
Black Spot - performed in NYC only
- written after the accident - about the accident - tour was canceled when Spalding went into the Hospital. 'Black Spot' is Irish expression for dangerous corner on roads, where there have been multiple accidents. See Spalding's Ireland page on this site for picture and further info.
Was Black Spot ever performed? Yes, I believe it was in NYC before hospital stay - anyone know? email me by usingContact on the site.
Life Interrupted
- revised version of Black Spot - partially complete version performed in NYC and rarely parts were performed elsewhere as an intro to a rival of Swimming to Cambodia
- tour never took place because Spalding died before the tour began
- hopefully to be included in upcoming release of unpublished works by a major NYC publisher in early 2005...(was released in edited form, unpublished works not included except for minor additions)
- now published as Life Interrupted:the Unfinished Monologue
-Thank you to fan Lance for the following important info and links to NPR: excerpts of LI monologue read by Spalding, Nov. 30 2003 at PS122, available at NPR. Scroll down and you will find a RealPlayer link with Spalding performing LI at PS122 in what must surely be one of his last performances. (Sam Shepard does released CD version). Spalding also reads The Anniversary further down the page.
This American Life CD, Spalding Gray, NPR - very rare - an exerpt from It's a Slippery Slope
in last chapter of book Orchards - Spalding's fav. play by Chekhov, followed by a short monologue by Spalding - unrelated to Chekhov's play called Rivkala's Ring as far as I can tell ...performed in 2008 by Richard Wenzel: www.sfbaytimes.com
Clean & Sober & Profoundly Disturbed by Spalding Gray (unavailable on the web)
GQ - June, 1993
I include this as it reads as a monologue or part of a monologue. Also hilarious!
As fan Scott writes: "Not only is it a really funny article, but it’s a fairly clear example of the way he developed his monologues—a lot of material went in, and then ended up on the cutting room floor, or in other projects."
GQ, April 1988 - Radio Daze – GQ, April 1988 - one page story by Spalding (with wonderful pic)
So call #22 a bit of a stretch for a mono. but I'm just playing with numbers as well as it's a great short personal story, as in seeing how many monos I end up with. Spalding says in
And Everything is Going Fine that there are 19 but that was probably before Black Spot and
Life Interupted - so maybe 21...
The Anniversary - Part 1 and 2 (in print in Life interrupted)
Someone one the web reads them out loud. Any one have it taped by Spalding???
Amazing...

Note:The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts(see link for address) has many of the unreleased Monologues on reserve.
A fan tells me that they spent 2 days viewing these tapes.
Following is a list supplied by the Library:

SEX AND DEATH TO THE AGE OF 14
Part of A SPALDING GRAY RETROSPECTIVE. Seven monologues performed by Spalding Gray, presented by the Wooster Group at the Performing Garage. Videotaped on October 29, 1982. VHS, 65 min

BOOZE, CARS AND COLLEGE GIRLS
Part of A SPALDING GRAY RETROSPECTIVE. Seven monologues performed by Spalding Gray, presented by the Wooster Group at the Performing Garage. Videotaped on November 7, 1982. VHS, 65 min

INDIA AND AFTER (AMERICA)
Part of A SPALDING GRAY RETROSPECTIVE. Seven monologues performed by Spalding Gray, presented by the Wooster Group at the Performing Garage. Videotaped on November 14, 1982. VHS, 65 min

NOBODY WANTED TO SIT BEHIND A DESK
Part of A SPALDING GRAY RETROSPECTIVE. Seven monologues performed by Spalding Gray, presented by the Wooster Group at the Performing Garage. Videotaped on November 21, 1982. VHS, 70 min

PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN THEATRE
A Part of A SPALDING GRAY RETROSPECTIVE. Seven monologues performed by Spalding Gray, presented by the Wooster Group at the Performing Garage. Videotaped on November 28, 1982. VHS, 95 min (note longer length than PBS version)

FORTY SEVEN BEDS
Part of A SPALDING GRAY RETROSPECTIVE. Seven monologues performed by Spalding Gray, presented by the Wooster Group at the Performing Garage. Videotaped on December 3, 1982. VHS, 95 min (note length - much longer than book version)

IN SEARCH OF THE MONKEY GIRL
Part of A SPALDING GRAY RETROSPECTIVE. Seven monologues performed by Spalding Gray, presented by the Wooster Group at the Performing Garage. Videotaped on December 10, 1982. VHS, 95 min. Note length compared to book version (available free on this site under Books).

MONSTER IN A BOX
Written and performed by Spalding Gray, directed by Renee Shafransky. Videotaped at the Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi E. Newhouse on January 15, 1991. 3/4" U-matic videotape, 105 min

GRAY'S ANATOMY
One-person play written and performed by Spalding Gray, directed by Renee Shafransky. Videotaped at Lincoln Center Theater's Vivian Beaumont Theater on June 27, 1994. 3/4" U-matic videotape, 111 min