Author: James Weis

THE BOY IN THE HEMLOCK TREE——THE END

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I’ve penned those cherished words that every author rejoices in putting onto paper: “THE END.” Remarkably, this marks the fourth time I’ve declared it! However, as of today at 6:00 PM, I can truly proclaim that I’ve meticulously refined, added, subtracted, and skillfully woven both moments of elation and sorrow into the lives of my characters. This, my friends, is indeed THE END. Tomorrow, The Boy in the Hemlock Tree embarks on its journey to literary agents, and I hold out hope that one of them will embrace this work and usher it into the world of publication. It’s been a daily odyssey, spanning three and a half years, spent hunched over my computer for up to fifteen hours a day, with only about thirty days of respite scattered within that timeframe. Regrettably, I’m unable to share complete chapters to avoid the appearance of self-publishing. Nonetheless, I’m thrilled to offer a few tantalizing teasers until the stories of Mackey McGillacutty, Dink Westergaard, and David Holcombe step into the light for all to witness. (Fingers crossed!) …

CAPPUCCINO ON THE HORIZON

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My partner, Billy Knight, and I owned a small luxury hotel on the island of Vieques off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico from 1994 until 2005. Our elegant hotel, Inn on the Blue Horizon (google it), appeared in more magazine articles than we could count. Conde Nast Traveler celebrated us many times, Travel & Leisure many times, American Vogue, In Style, Bazaar, all the foreign Vogues, and many newspaper Arts & Travels sections. The most delightful memories of three Puerto Rican housekeepers come to mind every morning when I make my Cappuccino. Let’s call the ladies Luz, Carmen, and Clarita, not to embarrass them, my lovely housekeepers. Our restaurant, Café Blu, offered a gorgeous breakfast to our guests each morning, and my three extraordinary ladies began the day by making breakfast, clearing tables, washing dishes before changing rooms, doing the laundry, and folding towels. I am a stickler for style. The Wedgewood Strawberry pattern dishes had to be perfectly placed, much like the footmen at Buckingham Palace, who use measuring sticks for perfect balance. …

WHY DID I WRITE THE BOY IN THE HEMLOCK TREE?

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I spent twelve years as the most often booked, highest-paid makeup artist worldwide. A pretty bold statement, yes? You may ask why I am not famous outside the fashion industry. Easy. Those who became famous, Kevin Aucoin, Garren, Way Bandy, Orbe, Frédéric Fekkai, and others you may have read about, worked for high fashion magazines for covers and inside editorial features for fame but little money. The American magazines thought me too clean, not artistic looking—too preppy! I once worked for The Fashion of The Times, the fashion periodical of The New York Times, with famous editor Carrie Donovan. The service (story in lay terms) was to shoot the five most famous women in fashion alongside their daughters. Polly Mellen, then editor at American Vogue, sat before me, extolling my talent as I painted her face. “You don’t know me, and you don’t know if I am telling the truth, but you are one of the best makeup artists I have met. (All in a fake, throaty, mid-Atlantic patrician accent.) “Come see me at Vogue—I will …

NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART

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Writing a novel is not for the faint of heart. I have been at it for three and a half years, have written nineteen drafts, and thought I was finished four times so far. At long last, I searched for and found a remarkable literary coach who works with successful novelists. I took a chance and submitted my work to him in November, and to my delight, he liked my work and took me on. With his guidance and excellent pair of eyes, my book has ‘grown up.’ Mark Malatesta has helped me evolve to the next level and a subliminal suggestion has led me to add a surprising, creative  murder. When your emails look like this as you enter the home stretch, one has to feel pretty good. “I love (I mean I LOVE) the changes you have made.” And “Part two was so easy with a payoff at the end.”

MORE FROM THE BOY IN THE HEMLOCK TREE

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From 1980 through 1994, I was a renowned fashion makeup and hair artist who took a captivating journey through the 80’s and 90’s countercultural epochs of high fashion, where I got an intimate glimpse into the glamorous but tumultuous world of the industry. While others spiraled into expensive rehabs, I took notes. After two decades of journaling, I have sharpened my pencil to take you to the darker and brighter sides of the radical wave of the hedonistic Sex, Drug, and Rock and Roll era of the 1980s and early 90s. Studio 54, Area, Danceteria, and Paris’ Le Bain Douche were the epicenters of this glamorous chaos, where agents exploited underage models and fees for paradigmatic photographers, models and makeup artists fees skyrocketed. Linda Evangelista’s infamous declaration, “We don’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day,” epitomized the excess of the time. My novel tells story of one person from these iconic times, Mackey McGillacutty, who experiences a profound and painful loss during his teenage years, a mystery that takes twenty-five years …

EXCERPT: “THE BOY IN THE HEMLOCK TREE”

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Mackey McGill remains the funniest person I have ever known since we were kids in 1962. Even then, he was still McGillacutty, a carefree, freckle-nosed, redheaded teenager charming girls and their mothers from the top of the three-meter board with his colossal cannonball splashes and half-gainers—long before he became the most famous fashion photographer in the world.   Even then, Mackey used his camera as I used my pencil, capturing moments in time that otherwise would have been lost. He spared no one from his lens, like when he caught Narcissus covered in flour, making her famous chocolate chip cookies in her kitchen. Or when Mrs. Mac concentrated on a heated bridge match, and he immortalized me with my face contorted in pain due to an ill-fated belly flop from the high dive. But it was a fateful event, a chain reaction akin to a domino run, that forced all of us to confront the inevitability of growing up. It all began when Mackey hatched that hair-brained scheme to photograph Dink Westergaard from inside the …

Arts, Food, Travel, home and manners…

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Theatre and dance… I have long been a supporter of the arts in every city where I have lived and I can tell you that number is not small! It all began when I was six years old in Louisville, Kentucky at a time I was courting a favorite Aunt. I was enrolled in a tiny dance school for tiny people. There was simple tap, Shuffle ball tap, shuffle ball tap only with a teddy bear to the strains of “Me and my Teddy Bear”. Sweet, right? Amy Grimes was my mother’s just older sister who was not able to bear children and married a highly successful business executive with the L M Berry Company. They were the sole advertisers for the Yellow Pages at the time. Having no children and plenty of disposable income the couple was the height of glamour to all of the nieces and nephews. It was my goal to squeeze in and become her surrogate child. As soon as I thought I had my dancing and singing role down pat …

Changing horses!

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It has been a while since I have posted to my beauty blog, but changes have taken place and now I am writing novels fifteen hours a day and loving every minute! My first novel, “The Boy in the Hemlock Tree,” stems from my makeup career and is a natural segue on this blog for you to enjoy. The Boy in the Hemlock Tree is a gripping suspense novel of love, loss, and the pursuit of the truth about an abortion, and a father on a mission to destroy a young man with an irrepressible spirit searching for twenty-five years to find a child he believes to be alive.  Stay tuned for more…………….

James Weis, Author

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I have been posting about beauty, varius arts, manners, food and entertainmentfor many years. For ,the past three and one half years I have been tucked away in my office, fingers to keys, creataing the story of a wonderful, yest precocious character named Mackey McGillacutty. Let me tell you a bit about myself as an author and I will soon share a small insight into one of the greatest fashion photographers of all time. Renowned fashion makeup and hair artist and writer James Weis takes readers on a captivating journey through the 80’s and 90’s countercultural epochs of high fashion, offering an intimate glimpse into the glamorous but tumultuous world of the industry. ‍ In his engaging narrative, Weis delves into the darker and brighter sides of the countercultural wave of the hedonistic SEX, Drug, and Rock and Roll era of the 1980s and early 90s. Studio 54, Area, Danceteria, and Paris’ Le Bain Douche were the epicenters of this glamorous chaos, where agents exploited underage models and fees for paradigmatic photographers, models and makeup …

Laundry, Lunch and a Show

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Dad offered multiple times to purchase a brand new Hotpoint Automatic Clothes Washer and Dryer for my mother. I remember the commercials on our black and white television. A very sincere looking man in a gray gabardine suit who had pomaded short hair looked directly at us from the television screen. “Just drop dirty clothes in the open top and all the work is done for you. Your clothes get much cleaner too because Hotpoint’s famous agitator action and over flow rinse combine to remove all the dirt. You can set Hotpoint’s exclusive wonder dialfor your heavy things and you can turn it to low for Orlon, Nylon and Dacron. And when you are finished with the miracle wash simply place the damp clothes in the Hotpoint dryer for a few minutes and they come out dry, fluffy and sweet smelling. What a work saver this dryer is!” I could not understand why Mother never reacted positively to Dad’s offer.   Of Mother’s three sisters she was the only one of them who did her …