I have a hunch Michael Butler isn't going to be at all pleased with a new book Arthur Fields is putting out about his Broadway production of Hair.  Lorrie Davis, for two years a member of the cast, has written a sort of diary about the show, called Letting Down My Hair.  And she does.  She claims that towards the end of rehearsals, Butler, the Chicago millionaire's son who bankrolled Hair, appeared backstage with a "Doctor Feelgood" who offered vitamin B-12 shots to the cast.  According to Ms. Davis, the "vitamin" shots caused reactions similar to those associated with "speed".  Butler's "doctor" continued to give shots to anyone in the cast who wanted them, and about half did.  Ms. Davis suggests that after eight months of the pre-curtain shots, some of the cast were addicted.  "The difference between what people looked like during rehearsals and eight months later was like going from Twelfth Night to Murders In The Rue Morgue" said a cast member.

Ms. Davis also goes into quite a bit of juicy detail on backstage "sex breaks", lesbianism, drug taking, petty thievery, absenteeism, fist fights, and the young groupie who joined the cast onstage for the final dance and then went backstage to couple with both performers and stagehands.  Since Ms. Davis names names throughout, Butler probably isn't going to be the only one miffed.

Copyright New York Magazine 1972.