Jenni (Starsky & Hutch story)

Fanfiction
Title:	Jenni
Author(s):	Charlotte Frost
Date(s):	1996
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Starsky & Hutch
External Links:	online here
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Jenni is a slash Starsky & Hutch story by Charlotte Frost.

It was printed in Heart and Soul #3 and later online.

Summary

"S&H expand their relationship while involved in a case centering around the possible murder attempt on a rock star and have to deal with Hutch’s mysterious nightmares."

The Author Comments

What I’ve always thought of as “the Alice Cooper story”.

How can I say this concisely? To me, Alice Cooper represents the whole exterior-vs-real-person dilemma of the human experience. I was a fan of Alice Cooper as a young teen in the 70’s before I even knew any of his songs. One week, he was a young, long-haired rock star on the Hollywood Squares game show, which was dominated by aging comedians, TV personalities, and stage actors. And he was obviously accepted by them. They “got it”. They knew the whole Alice Cooper stage persona was just an act.

But most of the public bought into the whole idea that Alice Cooper the human being was the exact same gruesome person as Alice Cooper the stage character. I could relate. I was a blond-haired, blue-eyed daughter of an M.D. (back when there was such a thing as “family doctors”). My life was perfect, of course. Everyone had decided it was.

In reality, I was utterly miserable and thought about suicide constantly.

So, Alice Cooper meant so much to me, because he had that dilemma too. As a teenager, I read this incredible book called “Billion Dollar Babies”. A Chicago journalist traveled around with the Alice Cooper stage show for a few weeks – even participating on stage as Santa Clause – and wrote a fascinating look into the inside workings of a major rock and roll band. Who was the real Alice Cooper? Yes, an alcoholic. But someone so mild-mannered that he got upset when, on his *private* jet, other band members started smoking marijuana. (“It’s illegal, you know.”) He was the kindest, gentlest, ultimate nicest-guy-you-could-ever meet.

But I have never had fellow human beings react to me so negatively, as when they found out that I liked Alice Cooper. One co-worker seriously told me that he was going to have to think about whether he could still be friends with me. Another co-worker once nearly fainted upon finding out that a goody-two-shoes like me liked such an “awful” person as Alice Cooper. After all, didn’t he worship the devil?

Huh? I don’t think so. He was once a guest star on “The Muppets”, for godssake. He was the son of a minister who married the daughter of a minister (and who was one of the dancers on his stage show.)

All these years later, Alice Cooper is still married to his one and only wife. He’s raised two children, one of whom is following in his footsteps. He was rumored to be highly active in his church and PTA meetings while his children were growing up. He still plays the Alice Cooper role, is still one of the most articulate people to ever grace a rock and roll stage. He’s putting that articulation to good use, as he has a popular radio show each weeknight on FOX.

He left the alcoholism behind a long, long time ago.

Yet, even as recent as last Thanksgiving, I brought up that I was a fan of Alice Cooper, and my sister-in-law curled up her lip and said, “I want to throw up whenever I see him. What a disgusting, doped-out druggie.”

Huh?

(I’m not being concise, am I?)

Okay, so I always wanted to do something about Alice Cooper in a story, focusing on the “not the awful person you really think he is” theme that was so important to me. Hence, “Jenni” was born.

I liked the story, but for years I didn’t think anyone else did. It was originally published in HAS 3, which was a zine that, compared to my prior zines, didn’t get much reaction at all. (In retrospect, I think that S&H fandom, which was small at the time to begin with, was in a lull.)

It’s still not a story that people gush over, but I think a few have mentioned liking it over the years.

I like it because it makes me think of Alice Cooper. And that makes me smile.

Reactions and Reviews

This fic packs a huge emotional and physical wallop. On the surface, this is about S&H following a rock star around, but underneath, Hutch is having difficulties with his emotions and his love for Starsky. There is a lot of great writing in this story, and a lot of great h/c. Not to be missed! This is a story that comes up in fic searches a lot; it's memorable, definitely, and that's why people always want to read it again.