\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> \t\t\t\t\tCynthia Albritton and friend Dianne called themselves \u201cthe Plaster Casters of Chicago.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9 The Baron Alan Wolman Collection, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tAlbritton had long talked about writing a memoir but never got past the first chapter. After she died in 2022 at the age of 74, some of her friends got in touch with the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, Bloomington. Founded in 1947, the organization tasked with studying sex and relationships at the deepest level appreciated both the humor and the history in Albritton\u2019s work. They looked past the titillating shtick and saw how, whether or not she intended to at first, her art had flipped the dynamic of rock-star groupie on its head and reclaimed power from those who might seek to take it from her. Kinsey gladly accepted her papers \u2014 years of diaries, casting notes, bindings of clippings, and a carefully packaged collection of penis-themed memorabilia \u2014 as well as more than a hundred penis casts, some in plaster, others in bronze, and all of the material she used to make them.<\/p>\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n \n\tIn April 2024, Kinsey\u2019s curator, Rebecca Fasman, invited Rolling Stone<\/em> to go through it all in detail; in the years since, I have read and reread the diaries, pored through endless archival interviews, and spoken to almost two dozen of Albritton\u2019s friends, from those she knew back in the heady Chicago days to the person holding her hand when she died. \u201cShe just thought this was going to be a great way to meet musicians. And at some point, sex would ensue. She wasn\u2019t really looking at it from anything bigger than that,\u201d says Iva Turner, Albritton\u2019s close friend since their early twenties. \u201cAnd it was obvious \u2014 it was much more than what she had anticipated.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tGrowing up in the early 1960s in Chicago\u2019s South Shore, Albritton was drawn to music and art, sketching in her diary and serving as an art editor on her school paper. In high school, she added boys to her list of obsessions, flirting with them at choir and in the cafeteria of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she took classes. She\u2019d started out drawing fashion designs, but shifted into delicate portrait work, often of her favorite bands. \u201cPeople that don\u2019t know her don\u2019t know this: She was a really, really good artist,\u201d says Joe Shanahan, who owns the Metro, a club she often went to in her later years. \u201cHer portraits are incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAlbritton was raised by a single mother, Dorothy, whom she would refer to throughout her life as the Warden. \u201cShe had a mother who would undermine her at every possible opportunity,\u201d says Turner, who first met Albritton in 1969. The Warden wanted Albritton to be a teacher, stick around the South Side, knock off the boys and the music and the teenage shenanigans. \u201cI wasn\u2019t raised to think about what I wanted to do in life because my mother told me what I\u2019d be doing: taking care of her,\u201d Albritton later said.<\/p>\n \n\tWhen Albritton was little, her mom split with her father, Curley, likely over his drinking. Curley, a postal worker, stayed in his daughter\u2019s life, taking her to the new shopping mall or to the racetrack, often slipping her spending money. She loved when he\u2019d come pick her up to go on an adventure, even if sometimes he was drunk. (His postal shirt would later become her casting uniform.)<\/p>\n \n\t<\/p>\n \u201cWe were probably the most notorious groupies out of Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n\tThroughout 1964, her junior year of high school, Albritton told her diary about her crush, a boy she\u2019d nicknamed Goolie. But by early 1964, there were only four men she cared about. \u201cRemember how much you heard about Goolie for the longest time, dear diary?\u201d she wrote the day after the Beatles\u2019 Ed Sullivan Show<\/em> performance. \u201cWell, I won\u2019t be writin\u2019 about him too much cause my latest and permanent infatuation is for the Beatles \u2014 especially Paul and George!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAlbritton adored all the bands of the budding British Invasion \u2014 and like many teen girls of the time, she and her friends were intent on meeting them. When groups came through town, they\u2019d call around to hotels in order to catch a glimpse. \u201c[We] would do it just because we could,\u201d says Sherri Kodner, a North Sider who met Albritton when they were teens. \u201cI don\u2019t know how we got all this information, but we always knew.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhen the Rolling Stones were in town that June, Albritton called up the Water Tower Hotel and asked if there was a guest by the name of Bill Wyman \u2014 asking for a less-famous member of the band, she\u2019d learned, wouldn\u2019t arouse suspicion. When that was confirmed, she and her friend Kathy shot up to Michigan Avenue. On the street, they spotted some men they knew must be with the band. \u201cOh, you\u2019re a Stone!\u201d Albritton shouted to them. A man with a blond shag and a sharp style responded \u201cYes,\u201d in a British accent. \u201cWould you give me an American welcome?\u201d He stuck his cheek out, and she kissed it. When she asked for one back, he kissed her on the lips, then nibbled her neck. She was entranced by his sexuality and the scotch on his breath. He wasn\u2019t a Rolling Stone, Kathy would later inform her, but Andrew Loog Oldham, the band\u2019s 20-year-old manager, a rising star in his own right. Either way, she was hooked.<\/p>\n \n\tSimply showing up got them pretty close to the Rolling Stones, but the Beatles offered stiffer competition. At their concert, she sat many rows back, and though she was thrilled to see the objects of her desire in person, seeing them onstage was a lot like watching them on TV. \u201cOh, Lord, I didn\u2019t meet them an\u2019 now I just feel no feeling at all,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThis day was too disappointing \u2019cos they wouldn\u2019t let me near my Beatles.\u201d The next morning, she sat in bed, under her Beatles poster, and cried.<\/p>\n \n\tBy 1966, Albritton, though still a virgin, had established herself as a groupie in the local scene. She was a natural beauty, but had a baby face and a curvy body that made her self-conscious \u2014 she often visited doctors for help with her dieting. Still, she had great style, even once getting chased down the street by some other girls who wanted to compliment her on a John Lennon-esque hat she\u2019d re-created. She\u2019d graduated high school and was attending the University of Illinois Chicago, studying art and cavorting with bands as much as she could. She was friends with a local outfit called the Flock, and had an on-off relationship with one of their members, but wasn\u2019t interested in being tied down.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tAlbritton\u2019s early sketches of Beatles George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJames Brosher\/Indiana University<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tShe\u2019d had a lost weekend with Jeff Beck when the Yardbirds played Chicago in December 1965 \u2014 best as can be gleaned from her diaries, there was a makeout, a hand job, and possibly even a visit to her house to listen to records. (Beck died in 2023.) Despite the affair\u2019s brevity, it left her shook. \u201cI can\u2019t study or think about almost anything but \u2026 Jeff,\u201d she wrote. She was crushed when she saw him at a Yardbirds show a month later and he didn\u2019t acknowledge her.<\/p>\n \n\tAt the heart of her group-chasing, though, was a deep love of music. Between stories of tracking down bands and family struggles, her diaries are full of reviews of the records of the day, gushing over Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cRainy Day Women #12 & 35,\u201d the Stones\u2019 \u201c19th Nervous Breakdown,\u201d and everything the Beatles put out.<\/p>\n \n\tShe was also digging art school. In April 1966, she was given an assignment: Make a plaster cast of something stiff that would retain its shape. Her mind immediately jumped to an erect penis. For the assignment, she casted produce \u2014 either a zucchini or a banana, she later couldn\u2019t remember \u2014 but the idea stuck. Back in high school, she\u2019d given a friend running for class president some advice: If you want to be noticed, you need to stand out. She decided to apply that to her efforts to meet groups.<\/p>\n \n\tAlbritton\u2019s best friend and constant companion in those days was a girl she called Pest, a knockout who also loved the thrill of the chase. Together, they\u2019d learned the basics of Cockney slang from a visiting band, and realized they could use it to get other British boys\u2019 attention. (Through a friend, Dianne declined to be interviewed for this story.)<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tIn the 2000s, Albritton used molds to make copies of her art to fund a nonprofit for struggling artists.(Photo by James Brosher\/Indiana University)<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJames Brosher\/Indiana University<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tWhen the Hollies were in town from Manchester, England, that April, Albritton and Pest weren\u2019t satisfied being part of the general rabble. Pest called the hotel room of lead guitarist Tony Hicks and introduced them as \u201ctwo Barclays bankers of Chicago.\u201d The hint at their intentions (the phrase was Cockney for a hand job) gave Hicks enough of a laugh that he invited them to come by. They both ended up with what kids then called \u201cscenes\u201d \u2014 makeouts, maybe a little more \u2014 with members of the band, and at some point that weekend, Albritton made a crack about her new art project. The band eagerly agreed. \u201cThey all want us to cast their rig in plaster,\u201d Albritton wrote. It never ended up happening, but Albritton didn\u2019t give up on her idea.<\/p>\n \n\tA couple of days later, Paul Revere and the Raiders were in town. Albritton adored their singer, Mark Lindsay, so she and Pest used their new Plaster Casters line to work their way into their hotel room. It was a success, and that weekend, she lost her virginity to Lindsay at the Chicago Hilton. \u201cOh, what a bod,\u201d she wrote. They planned to \u201cplaster cast his rig\u201d the next day.<\/p>\n \n\tThat cast also never happened, but her success at bedding Lindsay proved how viable the shtick could be. \u201cIt was very competitive, because there\u2019d be a lot of girls going after the same guy,\u201d explains Kodner, adding that Albritton\u2019s ability to track down bands was \u201clike an art.\u201d In September, Albritton picked up a stack of calling cards she\u2019d had made. \u201cWe are the Plaster Casters, and we want to plaster cast your Hampton Wick,\u201d they read.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cFor two years, we were probably the most notorious groupies out of Chicago,\u201d she\u2019d later say. \u201cWithout ever having made a cast.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIt was a quiet Monday night in late-October 1967, and Albritton was at home, writing in her diary. Just that month she\u2019d had a scene with the Animals\u2019 John Weider, and she was taken as much by his mind as his body. \u201cJohnny is quite an articulate thinker, to say the least,\u201d she later wrote.<\/p>\n \n\tAlbritton reconnected with the Yardbirds around that time, and though Beck was no longer a member, a Brit named Jimmy Page had taken his place. As she sat writing in her diary, the phone rang. \u201cIt\u2019s Jimmy Page of the Yardbirds,\u201d the voice said on the other end. \u201cLet\u2019s make a plaster cast.\u201d She and Dianne shot uptown, but when they got there, the band had cold feet. \u201cJimmy locked himself in the bedroom, claiming to be on the phone,\u201d Albritton wrote.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tThe original Plaster Casters of Chicago suitcase that Cynthia made in the 1960s is now housed in the Kinsey Institute archives in Indiana. (Photo by James Brosher\/Indiana University)<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJames Brosher\/Indiana University<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tA couple of days later, Procol Harum were playing, and Albritton and Dianne met them backstage. \u201cEveryone seemed overwhelmed that here was the \u2018original plaster-casters,\u2019\u201d Albritton wrote, thrilled they knew who she was. After the show, singer Gary Brooker complimented a medallion she was wearing, embossed with a penis, so she put it around his neck. He told her he\u2019d like to give her something in return. She responded that maybe he could give her his rig. Later that night, Albritton and Dianne went back to their hotel room. \u201cThis was really it,\u201d Albritton wrote. \u201cWe wanted to do it to Gary, and Gary wanted to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAlbritton prepared the alginates, but the first batch came out a \u201clumpy pink jello substance.\u201d She tried again, but it came out the same mess. Since they couldn\u2019t insert his rig into the container, they tried instead piling the substance up against his penis and pressing it in. \u201cIt just fell off in lumps,\u201d she wrote. \u201cGary groaned in disappointment and the others were disgusted. They called us a failure.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tStill, she had monumental sex with Brooker. When she and Dianne made it out of the band\u2019s room the next morning, their eyes dark from the late night, their skirts splattered with pink alginates, they ran into three girls on their way to try to get autographs.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Plaster Casters of Chicago didn\u2019t give up hope. Four months later, they\u2019d find themselves in the Hilton with Hendrix, and this time, the alginates would hold. \u201cIt\u2019s such an iconic thing,\u201d says Tim Tuten, who, along with his wife, Katie, co-owned the Chicago venue the Hideout since 1996, where Albritton had a dedicated seat. \u201cShe literally was a young woman, and she\u2019s in the room, and she\u2019s like, \u2018No, I\u2019m leaving here with your dick in my hands, and I\u2019m gonna own it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAbout a month after the Hendrix cast, Albritton was back at the Hilton, this time with the Experience\u2019s bassist, Noel Redding. \u201cNoel\u2019s was the first cast to come out twisted,\u201d she later told a friend. \u201cThat happens when they \u2026 start to lose their erection; instead of going straight down it twists around and the pressure of the alginates pushes it down further.\u201d Still, Albritton had a grand time. \u201cOne of the best days of my life,\u201d she said. \u201cIt even said in my horoscope, \u2018You rarely get what you want in life, but today will be an exception.\u2019 Holy fucking shit \u2026 I got to fuck Noel and I got the souvenir deluxe.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tNow that her casting work had become more consistent, she began building her collection. She displayed the final products in her room, but dreamed of someday showing her \u201cbabies\u201d in a more formal setting \u2014 a gallery or even a museum. And the casts were quickly adding up: After Redding came Don Ogilvie, the road manager of the Canadian band the Mandala, then Bob Pridden, road manager of the Who. Managers and roadies were often easier to persuade than group members themselves, she would find, and proximity to a great band was still proximity to a great band.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tAlbritton came up with the concept of making intimate casts out of dental alginate \u2014 and it became her calling card for years.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9 The Baron Alan Wolman Collection, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe biggest turning point in Albritton\u2019s professional life, however, came when she met Frank Zappa. Back in April 1968, Albritton and Dianne had talked their way into Cream\u2019s room to ask guitarist Eric Clapton if he\u2019d like to be casted. He said he\u2019d have to think about it, but introduced them to Zappa, the singer of the opening act, the Mothers of Invention. Though Zappa declined their offer, they ended up talking for several hours. \u201c[Zappa] wasn\u2019t scary \u2026 and loud the way I thought he\u2019d be,\u201d she later said. \u201cHe was intelligent, respectful, and very curious, and he seemed interested in my idea about having a rock-cock museum.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAlbritton stayed in touch with Zappa, who helmed a record label called Bizarre out in Los Angeles, and took her work seriously. \u201cIt was Frank Zappa who told me it was an art form,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI said, \u2018You are telling me it\u2019s an art form, so it must be an art form.\u2019\u2009\u201d She lent him her 1966 diary \u2014 he was fascinated by groupies, and wanted to help her develop it into a screenplay \u2014 and a few weeks later he introduced her via phone to the GTOs, an all-groupie band helmed by Pamela Des Barres. (Her 1987 memoir, I\u2019m With the Band,<\/em> would go on to immortalize groupie culture; her 2007 book, Let\u2019s Spend the Night Together,<\/em> would tell the story of other groupies, including Albritton.) The two young women struck up a deep friendship, and in early 1969, Albritton took an \u201cextended visit\u201d to Los Angeles, with Zappa as her patron. \u201cHe thought our ideas were hysterical,\u201d Des Barres says. \u201cHe wanted to save what he felt were important sociological elements in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBizarre would pay Albritton\u2019s rent as well as a salary of $65 a week \u2014 about $575 in 2026 money \u2014 enough for her to buy records, clothes, and the occasional meal. She packed up her belongings, including her beloved records \u2014 400 pounds in all \u2014 and shipped them out west.<\/p>\n \n\tOn April 11, 1969, Albritton touched down in California. Aside from the few short trips, this was the first time the 21-year-old was leaving home. Des Barres picked her up from the airport, and Albritton was overwhelmed by the \u201ctremendous valleys and gigantic palm trees\u201d of Beverly Hills. They pulled up to Zappa\u2019s Wilshire Boulevard headquarters, where she picked up her first check, and went along to the Hollywood apartment that had been secured for her. Then it was off to meet Alice Cooper, head to the Lindy Opera House to watch the Mothers of Invention rehearse, over to singer Lowell George\u2019s house for a little mescaline and weed, then off to Whisky a Go Go for a Flying Burrito Brothers show.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tPamela Des Barres and Albritton attend a movie premiere in 2002. <\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChris Polk\/FilmMagic<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe next couple of weeks were a similar whirlwind, which she dutifully recorded in her diary. She spent time with Zappa and his wife, Gail, and their 18-month-old daughter, Moon. She hung out with Cooper and his girlfriend, famed groupie Catherine James (\u201cTHE Cathy Starfucker I\u2019ve been looking forward to meeting!\u201d). She met Jim Morrison at the Whisky and Zal Yanovsky from the Lovin\u2019 Spoonful right there on Sunset Boulevard. She smoked opium with Warren Zevon and was fawned over by Tim Buckley (\u201cHe dropped a little dead over the fact that I\u2019m a plaster caster\u201d). She spent countless nights at the Tropicana Motel, crashing on the floor of rooms occupied by stars straight out of her record collection. There were flirtations, scenes, and three-ways. She witnessed supergroups form onstage for fleeting moments, and she saw the dreamy British singer-songwriter Dave Mason everywhere.<\/em> She was pretty sure he kept looking at her, even though they never exchanged more than a couple of words.<\/p>\n \n\tThe locals took to her Midwestern shyness, clever wit, and risqu\u00e9 art. \u201cI found [Albritton] so beautiful,\u201d says Turner, who was then go-go dancing on the Sunset Strip. Now 77, one of her fondest memories is acting as the plater when Albritton cast Anthony Newley, a Broadway star. \u201cThe whole thing was thrilling to me. I thought, \u2018It\u2019s one thing for Michaelangelo to make the statue of a guy, and it\u2019s another thing to cast a dick.\u2019 I loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tYet for all of the exciting experiences, there were times it was not entirely comfortable to be a Plaster Caster. Albritton wasn\u2019t as glamorous as the other groupies, and could feel that in her interactions. \u201cI don\u2019t consider myself a participant amongst the L.A. groupie battling \u2014 I just can\u2019t make it out here with groups,\u201d she wrote. Worse, some bands scoffed at her, or insulted her to her face. Sometimes they\u2019d see it as an invitation to take advantage of her, as was the case when she met Led Zeppelin.<\/p>\n \n\tAlbritton had spent time with the Yardbirds, and had a good time with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. But in late 1968, on a trip to Detroit, she had what she would describe as an \u201cawful experience\u201d with Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. Bonham, who died in 1980, was violent when he drank, and had a reputation for getting rough with groupies. Journalist Ellen Sander \u2014 who, coincidentally, profiled Albritton in the late 1960s \u2014 later accused Bonham of attacking her. Even though she\u2019d seen this erratic behavior, she felt protected by her status as a reporter on assignment. Perhaps Albritton felt the same way \u2014 her position in the community and history with other members of the band gave her a shield.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tAlbritton displays some of her artwork in her apartment in Chicago, where she spent most of her life.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJim Newberry<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tWithout giving details, Albritton referred to her night with Led Zeppelin as \u201cthat wretched scene-massacre on me in Detroit.\u201d In a 1990 Rolling Stone<\/em> interview, the band\u2019s singer, Robert Plant, seemed to confirm the incident, though maintained he hadn\u2019t been directly involved: \u201cShoving the Plaster Casters\u2019 cast of Jimi Hendrix\u2019s penis up of one of the girls in Detroit was \u2026 quite fun, actually. I don\u2019t remember who did it, but I remember I was in the hotel at the time. It was \u2026 free love.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThere was another run-in the spring of 1969 in Los Angeles. Albritton found herself at Thee Experience, watching Led Zeppelin jam onstage. John \u201cUpsy\u201d Downing, a legendary road manager then working with Hendrix, invited Albritton and her friend and fellow groupie Harlow, who\u2019d become her main plater, to a party at Zeppelin\u2019s Chateau Marmont bungalow. At first she declined, alluding to Detroit, but Downing promised to protect her.<\/p>\n \n\tThings turned awful almost immediately. According to her diary, she saw Bonham and other members of the entourage take another groupie into a room and begin having rough sex with her, inserting a champagne bottle inside of her. Though she wrote that the groupie apparently \u201cdug it,\u201d Albritton tried to leave. Bonham ordered her to make him a cup of tea; when she went to the kitchen to oblige, she wrote, she felt \u201ctrapped.\u201d She \u201cconceded\u201d to give him oral sex. He then \u201cdragged\u201d her outside to the pool, where, she wrote, he tried to rape her. She managed to push him off, writing that he \u201cmade me go down on him again,\u201d but after a crowd formed and she tried to stop, he tossed her in the pool, fully clothed. Once the coast was clear, she staggered to the hotel lobby, soaking wet, and asked the desk clerk to call her a cab. A few hours later, Harlow arrived at her door. She\u2019d been whipped by one of their managers.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cLed Zeppelin didn\u2019t like us at all,\u201d Harlow said in the 1970 documentary Groupies. <\/em>\u201cRichard Cole, he took this leather strap, he started beating me. And I didn\u2019t even know him!\u201d (Cole died in 2021.)<\/p>\n \n\tAlbritton didn\u2019t discuss this chapter very often. \u201cIt just made me realize I couldn\u2019t go into any band\u2019s hotel room without researching them first,\u201d she would later say. Her friends remember her tensing up around the subject. \u201cIt was like this visceral reaction she had when she started to talk about it,\u201d says Chloe F. Orwell, a Chicago musician and longtime friend of Albritton. \u201cAnd yet she still loved the band.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\tAlbritton had been trying to get a replica of a rock-star penis for two years. When she heard Jimi Hendrix was coming to town, she knew she had to perfect it. \u201cI practiced on a buddy from school and a male groupie I knew, and all within a month I learned how to mix dental mold,\u201d she said. Decades later, it remained her most famous.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\tJimi Hendrix\u2019s bassist, Noel Redding, was the object of Albritton\u2019s affection long before his cast became part of her collection. Though the cast itself came out \u201ctwisted like a worm,\u201d she bedded him after, starting an occasional romance that would last a decade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\tMC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer insisted on being cast at the band\u2019s home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, alongside drummer Dennis Thompson (\u201cI guess they\u2019re insecure,\u201d Albritton figured). Casting two at a time was a challenge for her \u2014 it took a lot just to get the timing right for both.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\tAlbritton was raised on musicals, so when Anthony Newley \u2014 who\u2019d played the Artful Dodger in the 1948 film adaptation of Oliver Twist,<\/em> and would go on to write \u201cThe Candy Man\u201d for Willy Wonka <\/em>\u2014 expressed interest in being cast, she jumped at the chance. So did Iva Turner, a friend of Albritton\u2019s, who was the \u201cplater.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\tAfter a decade-long hiatus, Albritton was pulled back into casting by the burgeoning punk scene, and Pete Shelley\u2019s band, Buzzcocks, was a favorite. She acted as both the plater and the caster for him \u2014 which turned out to be a bad idea, since trying to balance both duties ended in the cast being \u201ca failure,\u201d per her notes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n\tAlbritton carved out a life for herself in Los Angeles, running around with legendary scenesters Kim Fowley and Rodney Bingenheimer and the GTOs, hanging out at Zappa\u2019s house or on the Strip, chasing Redding when he was in town. (That crush, as well as one on the Kinks\u2019 Ray Davies, would define much of her young life.)<\/p>\n \n\tShe continued casting, scoring likenesses of Eddie Brigati, singer of the Rascals, and Keef Hartley, less than a month after he played Woodstock. She made 17 casts in 1969, according to her notes, her most prolific year.<\/p>\n \n\tShe talked to Zappa about developing a screenplay with her and Des Barres. He was convinced they could get Peter Fonda to play Mark Lindsay in the screen version of \u201cthe Groupie Papers,\u201d as they called it, but despite hours spent going through her old diaries, and even completing a handful of illustrations to go with it, she didn\u2019t seem to have it in her to sit down and write.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tRock musician and composer Frank Zappa and his wife Gail pose for a portrait in 1967.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlice Ochs\/Michael Ochs Archive\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tStill, her reputation was growing \u2014 and there was a new interest in groupies. In February 1969, Albritton had appeared alongside Des Barres in a special section dedicated to them in the fledgling magazine Rolling Stone.<\/em> \u201cA groupie is a person who regularly chases groups,\u201d Albritton told the reporter. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter the approach or purpose \u2014 to get autographs, to go to bed with them, to get to know them. Most of my friends are groupies.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOne night that June, she came home to find that her apartment had been burgled. Though her records and record player were gone, her art was unscathed; nevertheless, she decided to give her casts to Herb Cohen, Bizarre\u2019s business manager, for safe keeping.<\/p>\n \n\tShe pushed through the rest of 1969, casting as much as she could and developing a heavy flirtation with Zappa that she kept largely hidden. His wife, Gail, was fine with his groupies being around, but there were boundaries she expected them not to cross. Albritton crossed them, and then some. When she went by the office to grab her checks, Zappa would kiss her head or playfully tweak her nipple (\u201cI drop of death whenever I confront his soft brown eyes,\u201d she wrote). More than once they found themselves in bed together. \u201cShe said that romantically, the only one she truly loved was Frank Zappa,\u201d says John Kaminski, a longtime friend in Chicago.<\/p>\n \n\tIn the early Seventies, things in the casting business were slowing down. Bands were not as excited as they had once been, and Zappa, it seemed, was getting impatient with Albritton\u2019s output. But one day, she called Dee, the receptionist at Bizarre. \u201cYou\u2019re in for a surprise,\u201d Dee said. \u201cBetter get your passport!\u201d Zappa was working on 200 Motels,<\/em> a feature film that fell somewhere between a music video and a fever dream, starring Ringo Starr as Frank Zappa, and shooting outside of London.<\/p>\n \n\tBut once she got to England, she felt pushed out by the group. \u201cIt seems apparent that there\u2019s no room for me in the film,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThis is a repeat of my first year in L.A.\u201d She flew home to California, but things continued to decline. As the casting dried up, Bizarre cut her off. She was forced to get a regular job at the telephone company.<\/p>\n \n\tAs for the casts she\u2019d left with Cohen, the business manager held on to them, and told her to sit tight. \u201cHe\u2019s not going to do anything with them now, cos the rock scene is in an unpleasant way,\u201d she wrote in her diary. In a few years, they figured, demand would return. \u201cWith superstars dying, shitty music, and groups getting married and shunning groupies \u2026 Well he\u2019s perfectly right, and besides, if people forget about plaster-casting, the shock of seeing \u2019em after all these years should be effective.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one thing for Michaelangelo to make the statue of a guy, and it\u2019s another thing to cast a dick.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n\tBy the early 1970s, groupie life was losing its luster for Albritton. Though she still loved the thrill of trying to meet her favorite artists \u2014 calling David Bowie\u2019s hotel room, staking out the lobby of the hotel where Pink Floyd were staying \u2014 there was a \u201cnew breed\u201d of girls to compete with. When she got her start, the guys she and her friends were bedding were just a couple of years older than them. Now, there were 14-year-olds being passed around by men twice their age.<\/p>\n \n\tBack in Chicago, Albritton settled into a new apartment and life as a typesetter, and kept up appearances \u2014 going backstage at a Comiskey Park Aerosmith concert, running around with the Kinks when they were in town \u2014 but her casting had largely dried up.<\/p>\n \n\tBy the end of the decade, though, the city\u2019s music scene was changing, and she was drawn to this new sound, dubbed punk. In January 1978, she saw the Ramones and the Runaways and was blown away by their energy.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI managed to shake off at least two pounds,\u201d she wrote. She loved Buzzcocks, Stranglers, the Jam, Gang of Four, and the Sex Pistols. She loved the British flair, the sneers, the wild abandon. And they loved her back.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWith the new scene, there were groups wanting to embrace her as the Sixties icon, as the ultimate fan,\u201d says Giulietta Karras, who was taken under Albritton\u2019s wing as a teenage punk in the late 1970s. \u201cThat kind of welcoming and affection [from] these groups got her mojo back, her confidence back. And I think that was a kind of a revival in her career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\n\t\tThe Artist As a Young Woman\t<\/h2>\n
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<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20230217_CynthiaPlasterCaster_JB_0214-copy.jpg?w=1024\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tMaking a Name for Herself\t<\/h2>\n
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\n\n\t\tOver decades, Cynthia Albritton casted dozens of men. <\/strong>
Here are some highlights<\/strong>\t<\/h3>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/plaster-caster-sidebar-1.jpg?w=300\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tJIMI HENDRIX\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tYEAR CAST: 1968\t<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/plaster-caster-sidebar-2.jpg?w=300\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tNOEL REDDING\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tYEAR CAST: 1969\t<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/plaster-caster-sidebar-3.jpg?w=300\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tWAYNE KRAMER\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tYEAR CAST: 1969\t<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/plaster-caster-sidebar-4.jpg?w=300\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tANTHONY NEWLEY\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tYEAR CAST: 1969\t<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/plaster-caster-sidebar-5.jpg?w=300\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tPETE SHELLEY\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tYEAR CAST: 1991\t<\/h2>\n
\n\n\t\tJames Andanson\/Sygma\/Getty Images; Andrew Maclear\/Redferns\/getty images; Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images; \u201cEvening Standard\u201d\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images; Fin Costello\/Redferns\/Getty Image\t<\/h6>\n
\n\t\tThe Scene Changes\t<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-645086612.jpg?w=667\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\tFighting for Her Art\t<\/h2>\n
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