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Everything you wanted to know about Alice Cooper but wouldn't believe if he told you

"I Lost My Virginity In A Coffin!"

He began a concert by carrying onstage a doll — and taking it apart limb by limb. He climaxed a television appearance by throwing a can of garbage at the camera. He wears more mascara than a hooker on the prowl. Yes, Alice Cooper has been called the King of Shock Rock for good reason. The mothers of the world welcome Alice with the same enthusiasm they'd extend to the bubonic plague. Yet underneath that grotesque exterior lurks a pussycat whose favorite recreation is watching TV cartoons by the hour. Alice's fondest wish would be to spend the rest of his life playing golf and guzzling beer. Yet Alice is so closely identified with his stage persona that when he appeared on Hollywood Squares, and was sitting in the key square that would have given one housewife a sure-shot win. Did she choose him? Not on your life!

Vincent Furnier was born in 1948 in Detroit. But somewhere along the road to L.A. he transformed himself from All-American teenager (would you believe he was a track star and wrote for the school paper?) into Alice Cooper — the eccentric who slept in a coffin, dressed in women's clothing and wore makeup when glitter rockers were still in grade school. Yet it was five years before Alice met the man who would be responsible for the production of his first smash hit, "Eighteen." Since then Alice's records and tours (Welcome to my Nightmare and Alice Cooper Goes to Hell are the more recent) have grossed millions. Although he is still in his twenties (and admits he looks like he's in his forties), Alice has already published his memoirs, Me, Alice. Last year, after breaking up with long-time girlfriend Cindy Lang, Alice married a dancer in his show, Sheryl Goddard, in an impromptu ceremony in Mexico. The newlyweds exchanged onion rings. Hollywood Exposed's Las Vegas correspondent, Dick Maurice, recently had an opportunity to talk to Alice. We hope you'll find the "real" Alice as interesting as we did.

What's the best thing about being a celebrity?

The money! The bread I get from records and concert appearances goes along with the glory of being a celebrity. And I like money!

Is It true you first arrived In L.A. In a Dodge station wagon with only $40?

Yes, I remember the first thing we bought was cheese. I remember the band and I had an argument as to what kind of cheese we should buy, because we were going to have cheese sandwiches that night in our one room hotel room.

I was a pretty good student, but I was extremely lazy. I have a bachelor's degree in fine arts... I finished in two years.

We understand that you're into television trivia?

Yeah, I can tell you anything about Dobie Gillis. I'll tell you a good one about Dobie Gillis. This is one that you can win a lot of money on betting on trivia. Do you remember the guy who played Milton Armitage, the letterman who was always after Thalia Meninger? Do you know who that good looking guy was? It was Warren Beatty. It was his first acting role. And nobody knows it.

Would you like to be an actor? There has been some talk that you might become a producer/director.

I'd rather direct than act to be truthful with you. I do not like acting in films at all. I find it very impersonal. I enjoy performing in front of an audience because you get a reaction. On film you never know what the audience is thinking.

You seem to be a very down-to-earth person, not at all like you appear onstage. How would you describe yourself?

Offstage I'm Fred MacMurray. I'm really very average. I watch football and play golf and drink beer. One of my passions in life is playing golf. To me Alice is a product. If I ever got to be Alice, I would have real problems. Alice onstage is a whole different thing. You may not believe me but offstage I'm the guy next door. It's like Jekyll and Hyde to me.

Your success has enabled you to meet a lot of famous people. Has there been anyone who has really impressed you?

I'll tell you two or three of the most impressive people I've ever met in my life. I remember when I met Salvador Dali. We really got along very well, because I didn't understand a word he said. And he didn't understand a word I said. That's probably why we got along so well. His philosophy is that confusion is the greatest form of conversation or communication. Fred Astaire really dazzled me. And I flipped over Groucho Marx. But Dali, without a doubt, has to be the most bizarre person I've ever met. I remember I was a little nervous about meeting him. And he came into the room and announced, "The Dali is here. Everyone leave!" Nobody left, of course. He just liked to say it for effect. He walked in and sat down. He was wearing a giraffe skin coat, purple velvet pants and his sideburns were in pin curls. And his wife was wearing a man's tuxedo with a top hat. When he sat down he ordered everybody's drink without ever meeting them. He ordered for himself and his wife a glass of hot water. Then he took a jar of honey out of his pocket. As he began to pour it, he took a pair of scissors and cut the honey off. And I thought to myself, weird man, weird! Every other word he spoke to me in a different language — Portuguese, French, German. And I kept telling him I have no idea what you're talking about. He would keep screaming, "Perfect, Perfect!"

Do you think people think of you as being bizarre?

Well I don't think I'm that bizarre. The character I play of Alice I leave onstage. I never take him offstage. It would be crazy of me to be Alice all the time. If I did, I'd be in jail or dead. Alice has to be an experience.

We're glad you mentioned experience. Do you remember your first sexual experience?

At the time I was living in a two bedroom house in L.A. I was 19 years old and still a virgin. I came from a religious background. I had this thing built that was fashioned after a coffin. It had a lid on it. The very first time I lost my virginity I was with a girl who told me she was terrific and that she had been around, but she was also a virgin. All night the guys I was living with heard the lid flopping up and down. It was the only form of privacy that we could have because there was a triple decker bunk bed in that room.

How do you feel about the drug scene?

I'm probably the straightest thing around. I don't do any drugs: I don't even take aspirins.

If Alice Cooper could be remembered for any one thing, what would you like to be remembered for?

In reality, and I'll be perfectly honest with you, I would like to be remembered for bringing theatre into this era of music, of rock music. We were the first to do it way back in 1964. And I'm not just patting myself on the back. It's just that it is a great success story for me to look back and remember that we were starving and people hated us back then and now they're saying, "Hey, we knew that you were going to do it all along." And I just sit back and smirk to myself and think yeah but I knew it back then.