Works by
Jessica Harper
(Actress, Writer)

Writing

• I Forgot My Shoes (1999) with Kathy Osborn, Illustrator
  You’d forget your head if it wasn’t attached? Well, imagine what happens when the whole family is having one of those days. Mom dashes out of the house without her purse, and Dad leaves his coat behind. It must be catching, because the school bus forgets to pick up the kids, and the soccer team forgets how to play. But worst of all, the little girl of the family forgets something very essential: her shoes. Will tomorrow be any better?

  Award-winning composer/performer Jessica Harper brings us rollicking verse to accompany Kathy Osborn's richly colored, lively artwork in a collaboration that reminds us that today's hectic pace will turn into the opportunity of a new day tomorrow. Ages 4 - 8.

• Rhythm in My Shoes (2000)
  Audio

• Nora's Room (2001) with Lindsay Harper duPont, Illustrator
  What's going on in Nora's Room? Is it a moose on the loose? Is it a game of duck, duck goose? Read it and find out!  Baby to Preschool.

• I'm Not Going to Chase the Cat Today! (2000) with Lindsay Harper duPont, Illustrator
  The dog who chased the cat who chased the mouse who chased the lady invites you into the story to see, just who is chasing whom today!

• Four Boys Named Jordan (2004) with Tara Calahan King, Illustrator
  When four boys in one class all have the same name, taking attendance is a mess, asking for scissors is overwhelming, and don't even think about what can go wrong on the playground. Being in class with four Jordans is enough to drive anyone crazy!

• I Like Where I Am (2004) with G. Brian Karas, Illustrator
  Moving is tough. Especially when you like your house and you like your school, and you live real close to a swimming pool. And your best friend lives just around the block. Why move to a place called Little Rock, anyway?
  
  But moving happens, like it or not. And guess what? Things can work out better than you expected, just as they do in this gently humorous and reassuring story.

• Lizzy's Do's and Don'ts (2002) with Lindsay Harper duPont, Illustrator
  It seemed to Lizzy, all her mother ever said was DON'T!
  
  Will she ever say DO?  Baby to Preschool.

• Lizzy's Ups and Downs: NOT An Ordinary School Day (2004) with Lindsay Harper duPont, Illustrator
  The Harper sisters show a school day's ups and downs with verve and warmth. The doings of Lizzy, Ruby, Claire, and Ray will give you lots to talk over–and lots to laugh about too!  Ages 4 - 8.

• A Place Called Kindergarten (2006) with G. Brian Karas, Illustrator
  The animals in the barn are in a tizzy. Tommy didn’t show up at his usual time! The dog tells them Tommy is gone—a big yellow bus took him to a place called kindergarten. "Where is kindergarten?" they exclaim. "What will happen to Tommy there? Will he ever come back?!" Eventually Tommy bursts into the barn with tales of all he learned in kindergarten including: A is for apple, B is for biscuit, C is for corn, and D is for dandelions (the treats he brings for each animal), and everyone is happy Tommy is going to school.

  A charming, tender story that’s sure to reassure any child heading to kindergarten and everyone waiting at home to hear all about it.  Ages 4 - 8.

Acting

• Big Man On Campus (Date?)
  VHS
  In this version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", a hunchback is found living in the bell tower of UCLA. He is put on trial and made to go through tests. One of the research doctors falls for him, and he falls for her in the end.

• The Evictors (Date?)
  VHS
  A young couple just being married rents a house in a village in Louisiana. But they are not welcome because the inhabitants of the village look at them with distrust - in the house they rented were happening strange things in the past...

• Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
  DVD  VHS
  Rock Opera version of Phantom Of The Opera with elements of Faust. Record producer Swan steals both the music and the girl (Phoenix) from composer Leach. Disfigured Leach plans revenge on Swan and his rock palace, The Paradise, and becomes The Phantom. Leach signs _contract_ with Swan to complete rock opera based on the life of Faust for Phoenix. Double crossed by Swan who hires _heavy metal_ singer Beef. Leach destroys himself and Swan.

• Inserts (1976) with Richard Dreyfus
  DVD  VHS
  A once-great silent film director, unable to make the transition to the new talkies, lives as a near-hermit in his Hollywood home, making cheap, silent sex films, and suffering in the knowledge of his sexual impotence, and apathetic about the plans to demolish his home to make way for a motorway. His producer and his producer's girlfriend come by to see how he is doing (and to supply heroin to the actress as her payment). The girlfriend stays to watch them filming, and is deeply impressed by his methods. When the actress goes to the bathroom, and dies there of an overdose, the girlfriend takes her place in the film. Then the producer returns...

• Suspiria (1977)
  DVD  VHS
  A young American dancer travels to Europe to join a famous ballet school. As she arrives, the camera turns to another young woman, who appears to be fleeing from the school. She returns to her apartment where she is gruesomely murdered by a hideous creature. Meanwhile, the young American is trying to settle in at the ballet school, but hears strange noises and is troubled by bizarre occurrences. She eventually discovers that the school is merely a front for a much more sinister organization.

• Stardust Memories (1980 ) with Woody Allen
  DVD  VHS
  Sandy Bates, a successful filmmaker, attends a festival conducted to honor his work. During the course of the weekend he reconsiders his cinematic accomplishments as well as his past relationships.

• Pennies from Heaven (1981) with Steve Martin
  DVD  VHS
  It's the depression era and Chicago. Sheet music salesman Arthur Parker is trying to sell his products but it's not easy to convince unwilling music store owners to buy them. Although he's already married to the somewhat drab Joan, but when he meets school teacher Eileen in a music store, he fall in love with her.

• Shock Treatment (1981)
  DVD  VHS
  Following on from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", this musical is set several years later in Brad and Janet Majors' hometown - which has become a giant TV station; residents are either participants or viewers. They are married now, but their romance has fallen on the rocks. Ostensibly to fix their marriage, Brad is imprisoned on the program "Dentonvale" (the local mental hospital) while Janet is conscripted to become a new star. As Janet is entranced by the high life, she forgets Brad. Who is trying to woo her away?

• My Favorite Year(1982) with Peter O'Toole
  DVD VHS
  Benjy Stone is the junior writer on the top rated variety/comedy show, in the mid 50s (the early years). Its a new medium and the rules were not fully established. Alan Swann, an Erol Flynn type actor with a drinking problem is to be that weeks guest star. When King Kaiser, the headliner wants to throw Swann off the show, Benjy makes a pitch to save his childhood hero, and is made Swann's babysitter. On top of this, a union boss doesn't care for Kaiser's parody of him and has plans to stop the show.

• The Blue Iguana (1988)
  DVD  VHS
  Two overzealous psychopathic US tax collectors blackmail bounty hunter Vince Holloway into stopping an illegal transfer of 20 Mio. dollars from a Mexican tax paradise into the USA. So he arrives in Diablo, where life isn't worth a penny. It seems impossible to raid the heavily guarded bank. He has to assure himself of help of the barwoman Dakota and a little boy.

• Mr. Wonderful (1993) with Matt Dillon
  DVD  VHS
  Electrician Gus gets the chance to fulfill a childhood dream by buying an old bowling-alley with some of his friends. Unfortunately, due to the alimony payments he has to make to his ex-wife Leonora, the bank refuses to loan him the down payment. Knowing that when she marries again she loses her alimony rights, Gus tries to speed things up by bringing Leonora together with all the potential husbands he can find. Although this approach isn't very successful, it awakens feelings in both of them they didn't know they still had.

• Boys (1996)
  DVD  VHS
  Patty Vare has a secret she is hiding. And after the police come to her door asking her questions, she tries to leave the area on her horse. But she falls off her horse and is knocked unconscious. She is later found by John Baker and two other boys that go to the nearby prep school. John and Patty develop a relationship, and in this relationship John finds a way to leave his verbally abusive father and the school that he hates.

• Dario Argento - An Eye for Horror (1997)
  DVD
  Brilliantly mixing gore, vivid colors, and twisting stories filled with black-gloved murderers and dashes of the supernatural, Dario Argento's films have combined the best of horror and art house cinema. For over thirty years Argento has produced one classic shocker after another, such as Deep Red, Suspiria, Tenebre, and Opera. Now go behind the scenes and learn the dark secrets behind Argento's movie alchemy, including his striking rock-influenced music, groundbreaking special effects, dizzying camera work, and haunting imagery, from his early mystery masterpieces to his latest thriller, Sleepless. Features interviews with John Carpenter, Alice Cooper, Keith Emerson, and actresses Jessica Harper and Piper Laurie.

• Minority Report (2002) with Tom Cruise
  DVD  VHS
  Based on a Philip K. Dick short story, Minority Report is about a cop in the future working in a division of the police department that arrests killers before they commit the crimes courtesy of some future viewing technology. Cruise's character has the tables turned on him when he is accused of a future crime and must find out what brought it about and stop it before it can happen

• "It's Garry Shandlings Show" (1986)
  DVD