Some of the information in this essay was originally reported in “The Nine Lives of a Topless Bar: Complaints Hit a Wall of Law” by Michael Brick (New York Times, May 31, 2006) and “Strip Parlor Closes as Part of Plea Deal” by Michael Brick (New York Times, June 21, 2006).
The author of this report, Jess Korman, is a shy person. He is of the same quirky generation of television writers as Neil “Doc” Simon, with whom he shares two impulses: recounting life experience comedically, as a means of relieving pain through laughter; and hiding behind alter egos. In writing his memoir, Jess Korman employs assorted aliases. In the case of “The Creamflake Kid,” a true tale (though some names have been changed), the character Larry Sloan, né Scharfsky, a.k.a. Loo-Loo, is indeed the alter ego of a shy person.