He calls Lyndon Johnson is a shitkicker, but says Kennedy was sophisticated. He talks about Bela Lugosi and his son, does How Negroes and Jews Became Entertainers, talks about his scenario for a movie about Christ and the Good Thief, then continues to Custody/Get Even, Divorce, and Deny It. He holds up a picture of a woman in a nudie magazine and says the name Hugh Hefner will be in the history books for taking the stigma away from nudity and sex. He mentions his obscenity trial in New York (the Caf Au Go Go trial). He talks about Hugh Hefners intentions with Playboy. He does Ive Never Been Inside a Negros House, Dick Gregory and Goldwater Talks to Negroes, Las Vegas Tits & Ass, The Best Man in the Tribe (St. Paul), Schmuck, Flashers, Custody/Get Even and Deny It, and The Reason We Left England. Bruce reads from transcripts of the preliminary hearing and the trial. He riffs on the TV series The Millionaire. He speaks fondly of an Atwater-Kent radio he had, and sings the theme song from the Uncle Don show from Detroit. He does We Did It to Their Mothers for Chocolate Bars, Unscrew You, Never Cop Out, Custody/Get Even, Stag Film vs. King of Kings, Jimmy Hoffa and Would You Sell Out Your Country (Francis Gary Powers). He wonders if the name Pope Pius was, like Rip Torn, dreamed up by Hollywood talent agent Henry Willson. He reads a newspaper review of his opening night show at the club. He tells Catholics theyre lucky to have confession. Bruce begins by riffing with some audience members. "She was the most diverse and tolerant woman I've ever . Tending bar at the Mudd Club never promised visibility. Information about and brief clips of the majority of these recordings can be found below. Menu. As comedy relief, Bruce tells an anecdote, using a W.C. Fields voice, about the judge. "Oscar's Blues" is a dazzling display of his tap dancing backed by Breau, while "Joey's Solo" finds the dancer accompanied only by the cadence of the audience's clapping. The tape ends during a passage in which the band is playing and Bruce is interacting with an audience member. He mentions that journalist Dorothy Kilgallen is in the audience and talks about her. He does The Origin of Bestiality Laws. It makes no sense to restrict our ride because of what was. Years before, Bruce who was a civil rights activist, said in a performance You have a choice of spending 15 years being married to a woman, a black woman or white woman, a simplified skit that showed how ridiculous any anti-miscegenation argument was, and flattened it in just 30 seconds. He reads from a letter to Steve Allen, riffs on the Adam and Eve story and tells Gleason not to give anything to Max Weiss. The Air Force is JewishKool Aid? He does short jokes about Liberace, Richard Nixon, Paul Robeson, Sammy Davis Jr. and Sophie Tucker. He remarks that people are now walking out of the show. Names mentioned include Tony Viscarra, the friend who was with Bruce at the time of the arrest, police Sgt. Bruce talks about the fantasies that come to mind as he faces a Carnegie Hall audience for the first time. Schwartz tells Bruce about his meeting with New York City License Inspector Herbert S. Ruhe. He gave zero fucks. Worn down by the repeated arrests and trials, Bruce turned away from general satire and talked more about his personal battles with the law and society. Politics. He discusses aspects of his trials. He does his bit on blind pianist George Shearing. Opened in 1952, the Purple Onion ran for roughly 60 years before closing its doors in 2012. He talks about his San Francisco obscenity trial. Bruce makes comments about the man "stuck up there in the booth" and talks about the jacket he has on. He does Ive Never Been Inside a Negros House, Dick Gregory, Goldwater Talks to Negroes, Las Vegas Tits & Ass, The Best Man in the Tribe (St. Paul), Schmuck, Flashers, and Custody/Get Even and Deny It. He explained that Bruce is not a comedian who just told dirty and foul jokes, but instead; He deals with [the] subject matter which many people consider off limits. Bruce King, "From the Editor: How to Lose Customers," Gay Scene 5, no. Bruce mentions protesters demonstrating against policemen, and does How the Law Started/Craphouse. The recording ends in the midst of his bit To Is a Preposition, Come Is a Verb. In it, Bruce acts out multiple roles including host of a late-night radio show and an irate senior citizen caller. He does the bits Las Vegas Tits & Ass, The Clap, Gypsies, and Christ & Moses. A preface to the performance on the tape is the repetition of the recorded voice one gets when calling a phone number to get the time of day. Bruce talks about doctors and says hes done a lot of hospital time in the last couple of years. Bruce says he is in Saranac, New York, convalescing (from pleurisy). Out of prison on bail, soon he would die. Bruce notes the set is being recorded by Max Weiss of Fantasy Records, and starts repeating a phrase so that the tape editor will be confused. For example, the word nigger, represents a time of slavery, extreme racism and social injustice at a basic human rights level. The place is unknown, but is possibly the Off Broadway club in San Francisco. Mentions Leopold and Loeb. Please email us at [emailprotected], subject line republish, with any questions or to let us know what stories youre picking up. He talks about Chicago columnist Paul Molloy, does Custody/Get Even, Stag Film vs. King of Kings, History of Obscenity, Las Vegas Tits & Ass, The Clap, Father Flotsky, Chicago Corruption, Shelley Berman and Chicago Shtarkers, Barney & the Hecklers, Italians Were the Enemy, Adolf Eichmann, and Communism & the Phone Company. Once again Bruce was hauled off and arrested. Were happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. The singer tells a joke between songs, and for an instant it is 1961. and Filipinos. He mentions Judge Clayton Horn from his second San Francisco obscenity trial and Judge John Murtagh from his current New York trial (the Caf Au Go Go trial). He gives a rundown of persecuted groups, does Ten Thousand Asses (Tigers & Lions), then Shelley Berman & Chicago Shtarkers. (1) The first recording is from June 26, 1964 and captures Nassau County New York Assistant District Attorney Norman Levy warning Lenny Bruce not to violate the obscenity laws of the state of New York during his engagement at The Cork N Bib Restaurant. He does Christ & Moses, sings a bit in Yiddish, and closes the set with Ben Hurs mother & sister. Lenny Bruce - How To Relax Your Colored Friends At Parties (1961) Reelblack One 1.17M subscribers Subscribe 1.5K Share 165K views 4 years ago Classic comedy bit from controversial satirist. . A lawyer that advocated for First Amendment freedom of speech rights, Albert Bendich, represented Bruce in court. Interview by journalist Gary Shenfer of Lenny Bruce in Miami (or Miami Beach) at the El Patio club. Bruce says that he was arrested for obscenity for using the word "fressing" (fress in Yiddish means to eat, but its slang use implies oral sex). He reiterates what Allen stated, that his current litigation was surrounded by a four letter word that started with an S and ended with a T. Words such as; shit, fuck, piss, cu I could go oneven the word schmuck was labelled as obscene and landed him in jail, but Lenny Bruce didnt care. Jimmy Hoffa, Jewish bigotry, Would You Sell Out Your Country (Francis Gary Powers), Custody/Get Even, Stag Film vs. King of Kings, Transvestites Posing as Police, We Did it to Their Mothers for Chocolate Bars and Bad Toilet Training, Australia, Thank You Masked Man, Ivan Bunny, Bobby Kennedy. He performs the bit How Negroes and Jews Became Entertainers, then talks about Hugh Hefner's strategy in putting out Playboy. Bruce is introduced by booker Don Friedman. Bruce is in the midst of Shelley Berman & the Chicago Shtarkers. Class. George Wallaces reaction to Pygmies. The set is in progress. Bruce got progressively weaker. The first is a variation on Chicks Are Boss. The tape ends during an exchange between Bruce and Gate of Horn owner Alan Ribback about Jackie Mason having just criticized censorship (this was witnessed by Ribback, but its unknown whether it was live or on television or radio). He refers to his 1962 obscenity trial in San Francisco, and that he was acquitted. Instant potatoes? I speak of a personal experience. He flips through a magazine with stories about celebrities and lady-kinda ads. He reads the ad for the Mark Eden Method Bust Developer. He does Goldwater Talks to Negroes, talks about prejudice and Lee Harvey Oswald. He calls the Johnsons the biggest non-Jews in the world. It begins while the show is in progress. He talks about when Norman words took over for Anglo-Saxon ones, providing euphemisms (such as mutton for the meat of sheep). Upload, livestream, and create your own videos, all in HD. Therecording ends abruptly. He does his bit on Barry Goldwater and his Jewish roots. Bruce performs his bit about the history of obscenity law and Entrapment by Cops. From Indecency, he goes into the bits Custody/Get Even and Stag Film vs. King of Kings. He starts his bit The Clap, then has an exchange with an angry man in the audience who wants his money back ($5). He mentions his arrests for giving obscene performances in Beverly Hills, and says we should keep prayer in the schools because we need to understand people who have religious training. He does the bit We Killed Christ. By Philip Eil He talks about Las Vegas, Shelley Berman, Alan King, George Gobel, Pinky Lee, Bert Parks and Alexander King. He talks about race relations and does Dick Gregory, Ive Never Been Inside a Negros House and Goldwater Talks to Negroes. Bruce then makes his own comments about what is in the letter. He does I Picked on the Wrong God. The set ends. Recorded by Lenny Bruce in the days before his death on August 3, 1966, plus a song written and performed by Tim Hardin after Bruces death. Bruce talks about undetected perverts, generational differences in sexual practice, and does his bit Chick Singer With a Gimmick. One of my favorites is Tea for Two. He does Communism/The Phone Company. As Bruce gained fame and popularity, he moved on from doing stand-up comedy at small strip clubs to performing in larger mainstream halls. He does his bit about Jack Ruby and Melvin Belli. The announcer says, "Ladies and gentlemen, we now have a new star of our show." Dec. 23, 2003. The clientele was mixed, but author David Rosen called the Village Purple Onion a "mob-run gay hangout." . Its clear that his demographic audience existed, people who wanted to see him and listen to what he had to say. Bruce asks the lighting man to turn out all the lights, and says its fun in the dark when were together, but not alone. As Spector and Ginsberg exit the house, Ginsberg leaves the recorder on during the walk. The set is in progress as the tape begins. He challenged the status quo, the hypocrisy and corruption of his own government. Things that will shock you. Steve Allen. The next section is a montage of very short clips of bits involving drug use. Bruce is known to have had engagements at The Den in April and during the fall of 1959. Why was Allen making such a big deal about this? The file ends during Shelley Berman & the Chicago Shtarkers. The first clip begins as the set is in progress, with Bruce imagining that Pope Pius XII would sneak in one night to see him. Bruce refers to his attire, a raincoat, pants and mismatched socks. (1) Bruce talks about his trial, mentions Leopold and Loeb, his arrest for obscenity days earlier, the abundance of police cars in front of the Gate of Horn at the previous nights performance. He does Flashers, then Midgets, wonders whether Pygmies are midgets, and imagines Gov. Bruce suggested Mrs. Kennedy wasnt trying to get help for the president in the photo, but instead was running to save her own life. Performance by Lenny Bruce. The sixth section is Tim Hardins song Lennys Tune, a.k.a. His performance at Carnegie Hall took place two years before his 3rd appearance on The Steve Allen Show. Conspiracy to interfere with the fourth amendment const Lenny Bruce. Bendich tries to ascertain whether the precedent of Gascon v. Superior Court 1959, an unlawful search and seizure case, could apply here. He does The Best Man in the Tribe (St. Paul). He refers to his bust at the Gate of Horn (during the early hours of December 5). He praises Hugh Hefner, who is making it so that the nude female body is no longer filthy. Another bit described men as oversexed beings willing to have sex with anything that moved, including a chicken. The truth is what is, and what should be is a fantasya terrible, terrible lie that someone gave to the people long ago. Lenny Bruce. In the first section, Bruce riffs on what he is doing, testing the Sony Dynamic Microphone. And nobody paid a higher price for alleged obscenity crimes. He does The Romans Segregated Christians with Lions and Black Black Woman White White Woman. and Black Black Woman White White Woman. He does Barry Goldwater and his Jewish roots, Ive Never Been Inside a Negros House, Goldwater Talks to Negroes, Men Are Carnal, Bestiality Law, Custody/Get Even, Deny It and Hotels Are Dirty. He talks about changes in Miami and an absurd kidnapping there. He asserts that chicks are the boss. who was involved with narcotics. Literary experts were called as witnesses to support Bendichs claim. Upon returning to stand-up comedy, things got worse for Lenny Bruce over the next two years. Bruce imagines Jesus Christ and Moses dropping in on modern-day Manhattan. He does his bit on Barry Goldwater and his Jewish roots. The secondary goal is for Spector and Bruce to discuss Bruces upcoming engagement, financially backed by Spector, at the Music Box theater in Los Angeles. The recording continues with the beginning of the second set. He does the bits Jewish vs. Goyishe and (Chicago columnist) Paul Molloy & Christianity. Bruce performs bits How Negroes and Jews Became Entertainers, Barry Goldwater, Lyndon Johnson, Bobby Kennedy, Jack Ruby & Lee Harvey Oswald, Jackie Kennedy Hauled Ass, Would You Sell Out Your Country (Francis Gary Powers) and I Picked on the Wrong God. He does his bit The Clap. He does a bit about "chick singers", a bit about how its a myth that agents can make your career, talks of his recent obscenity trial in New York (the Caf Au Go Go trial). This collection contains sixty-five recordings on reel-to-reel audio and compact cassette tapes, all of which have been restored and digitized thanks to a grant from The GRAMMY Foundation Grant Program. Bruce riffs about razor blades, his recent legal troubles, obscenity, how he got in trouble for part of his bit The Reason We Left England, the difference in the secular and the Catholic definitions of obscenity. The second set begins. Lenny Bruce was a controversial American comedian during the 1950s and 1960s. Religion. August 5, 2016. Bendich called Bruces biting political and sexual humor the latest in a long line of social satire, going back to literary greats such as Jonathan Swift. Race. May be from different sets and may not be in chronological order. He uses the word shit and says the Supreme Court ruled that its not obscene if youre talking about narcotics. Remaining free while appealing his Chicago conviction, Bruce attempted to do a show in Britain. The performance ended in Bruce's arrest for obscenity. He says that in light of this, his upcoming gig in Detroit was canceled. He uncharacteristically tells a joke with a punchline, and inserts JFK into it. Speaks of daughter Kitty, James Joyces Ulysses, Judge Murtagh. Bruce is talking about a D.A. He does Thank You Masked Man, We Killed Christ and Christ & Moses. Lenny Bruce walks on stage. He refers to Tab Hunter's arrest for allegedly beating his dog. Second part (of three) of a conversation among comedian Lenny Bruce, attorney Albert Bendich and journalist Ralph J. Gleason. The show is known as The Berkeley Concert. He does his bit about wanting to give the audience members lie detector tests about infidelity and homosexuality. Even up to his last moments, Bruce never backed down from fighting for what he believed in. However, the appeal was never completed. Bruce gives permission for Levy to tape his show. He was walking on to that stage, knowing that his shocking four letter word could land him behind bars the moment he walked off stage. Bruce speaks of his arrests in Los Angeles both for obscenity and for possession of narcotics. He does Marijuana, Guys Can Detach, Bestiality, and the recording ends during the bit Chicken. The Purple Onion is a nightclub in San Francisco, opened in 1952. He does We Did It to Their Mothers for Chocolate Bars. (1) Bruce does the bit Flashers, then Snot. He talks about the double standard in depicting sex vs. violence. He does the bit Chicks Are Boss. Among the items recorded by the inspector was Bruce describing the famous Jacqueline Kennedy photo of her crawling on to the trunk of the car after her husband had been shot. According to The JC, his body was found in his bathroom with a syringe in his arm. Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site. He reads from the transcript of his trial for obscenity in San Francisco earlier that year. At the time of recording the episode, he was restricted by the authorities for using obscene language during his acts. He does some of his bit on Leopold and Loeb, then interacts with the audience. The audience reacted positively. Bruce does Christ & Moses before being arrested, as was audience member George Carlin, who refused to show police his ID. He says men will have sex with anything. Bruce says he is in Saranac, New York, convalescing (from pleurisy). (2) Phone letter by Lenny Bruce to Ralph J. Gleason. A large portion of the collection is photographs of Lenny Bruce, Honey Bruce (his wife), Kitty Bruce (his daughter), Sally Marr (his mother) and Myron Schneider (his father), among others. He speculates on Rock Hudsons sexuality. In the '90's things were changed from comedy to music. Although. He refers to the fact that the previous Sunday hed only sold 500 tickets for a show at the Curran Theater in San Francisco, leaving 1100 empty seats. He talks about the fallout from a joke about Cardinal Spellman, then does The Postman. A lady cant go through a plate-glass window and go to bed with you five seconds later. He does Las Vegas Tits & Ass, then Would You Sell Out Your Country (Francis Gary Powers), Doing It Is Dirty and We Did It to Their Mothers for Chocolate Bars. Kennedy was assassinated later in the day. But it comes down to society and yourself as an individual to take that powerful word that is currently suppressed, and change it so that it becomes normalised, just like the word shit. He claims hes Ralph J. Gleason (the San Francisco Chronicle writer who was a friend and supporter). The third clip is his bit on a Jewish mother in Miami whos the only one who doesnt know her son is gay. Bruce discusses the Maryland Hotel cleaning service, the Captain Howdy Show, and singer Gary Crosby. First part (of three) of a conversation among comedian Lenny Bruce, attorney Albert Bendich and journalist Ralph J. Gleason. The defense brought in media critics, psychiatrists, and religious figures that supported Bruces right to speak. The Purple Onion is another great release from Art of Life. He directs remarks at the police in this shows audience. and People Dont Talk That Way to Judges. Bruce says "It's the first time they've made a bust right in an audience" and imagines he's "Superjew" who can fly out the back way. He does his bit The Christian God Has a Face, the Jewish God Doesnt. He says hes noticed that most of his audiences are male. Bruce does his bit about Barry Goldwaters Jewish roots, which suggests that it is 1964. Here are a few clips that show the range, depth, and volatility of a man Complex magazine calls the most. He does a bit on the history of obscenity law, his bit Tits & Ass, he interacts with audience members and with accompanying musicians. And as a society, we continue to go around in circles. He says he was hip to the Bay of Pigs before most people. This may be the third set of the night. He expresses frustration with the police. In these voices he makes reference to beatniks on the Sunset Strip, a used car salesman who has a dog on the hood of a car in commercials (most likely Chick Lambert), a Senate investigating committee, Steve Allen and Phyllis Diller. However, that episode of the Steve Allen Show was eventually shelved by the censors, it was never aired. [2] Bruce does his bit Christ & Moses. He calls Gene Norman, owner of The Crescendo in Los Angeles, insane. Most of these recordings are of Lenny Bruces stand-up comedy performances, and many are whole or partial recordings of the same performance (with variations in audio quality), or combination clips from various performances. Let me tell you the truth. The recording begins with the show in progress. He does his bit Custody/Get Even, inserts a little of King Kong, and goes into Stag Film vs. King of Kings. It all comes down to context, not the word. He went on to influence future comedians such as; Bill Hicks, George Carlin, Jon Stewart, Marc Maron, Louis C.K, Richard Pryor, the list goes on. (3) Phone letter by Lenny Bruce to Ralph J. Gleason. Bruce riffs that he was late because hed been kidnapped. Read another story from us:The Comedian who Passed Away Live on Stage. He does his bit of George Washington interviewed by Mike Wallace. The place might be Los Angeles, where Bruce lived, or San Francisco, where Bendich and Gleason were based. Others still crackle with raw energy. Lenny Bruce was going to do his performance and say that four letter word, no matter what! The trio's approach to standards is a bit unusual. Levy introduces Inspector Vicviolo, head of the District Attorney squad. 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