Julien Nitzberg (born 1965) is an American screenwriter, stage writer, lyricist, theater director and film director, best known in the film world as the director of the documentary The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. In the theater world, Nitzberg is best known for writing the book and lyrics for two musicals. His first musical was "The Beastly Bombing or A Terrible Tale of Terrorists Tamed by the Tangles of True Love." Nitzberg wrote the book and lyrics and directed this musical in Los Angeles and New York. The Beastly Bombing won the LA Weekly Theater Award for Best Musical of the Year. His second musical was "For the Love of a Glove: An Unauthorized Musical Fable About the Life of Michael Jackson As Told By His Glove."
Early life
Nitzberg was born and raised in The Bronx. His mother was an Austrian Holocaust survivor; his maternal grandfather was conductor and composer Hans Knauer, who had studied under Franz Lehár and who had conducted the premiere of Lehar's opera Eva before Austrian emperor Franz Josef.
As a child, Nitzberg spent three years living in Great Britain and Vienna. Upon returning to America, he attended the Horace Mann School in New York City.
At age 16, Nitzberg became a founding member and guitarist of the notorious Lower East Side hardcore punk band Artless. They frequently played with Minor Threat, Swans, Flipper and other prominent punk bands. Mykel Board was their lead singer. Darryl Jenifer of the Bad Brains was Artless’ second guitarist. Nitzberg was known for antagonizing and getting into fights with skinhead members of the audience. Artless' self-titled first album was produced by Dr. Know of the Bad Brains. The band broke up when Nitzberg left New York City to attend college. He took one year off from college during which he drove a New York City yellow cab.
The Wild World of Hasil Adkins (1993) After college, Nitzberg moved to the Appalachian Mountains, where he was hired at the media collective Appalshop Films. While working there he directed his first documentary The Wild World of Hasil Adkins, One Man Band And Inventor of the Hunch for PBS’ Headwaters TV Series.
Known for composing songs about decapitation, abnormal sex and commodity meats, Hasil Adkins created in the 1950s a bizarre original form of rockabilly, later dubbed “psychobilly” and was a major influence on punk bands including The Cramps who covered his song “She Said.” During the filming, Adkins suffered a nervous breakdown and threatened to “kill and kick” Nitzberg, delaying the film's completion for over a year. Nitzberg had to persevere through these death threats and other psychotic episodes from Adkins, in order to finally capture the life story of a performer known just as much for his drunkenness, unpredictability and frequent arrests as for his unique music.
During the filming of the Adkins documentary, Nitzberg encountered the legendary mountain dancing White Family, whom he documented in The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. He met Mamie White in 1989 while shooting an Adkins concert; during the concert, a three-woman fight broke out which Mamie White broke up while tripping on acid. Mamie insisted that Nitzberg come meet her tap-dancing brother Jesco White at her birthday party where she promised Nitzberg that she would have a birthday cake with an image of woman's breasts and genitals on it.
He went to her rural trailer and was intrigued by the White family. He returned the following week to film the first footage of Jesco and Mamie White. This footage became the basis of the Emmy Award-winning documentary Dancing Outlaw, on which Nitzberg served as associate producer and sound man. This footage was later released as a bonus track on The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia DVD.