An amazing archive of Lenny Bruce material including annotated photo proofs, unsigned candid photos, an original, and possibly unpublished typescript of a Bruce short story entitled “The Grinder,” one of his “Stamp Help Out” homemade brochures, and a typed spiral-bound manuscript of his autobiography, “How To Talk Dirty and Influence People.”
Bruce has annotated the reverse sides of nine of the included printed photo proofs in blue ballpoint, which range in size from 6 x 8.5 up to 11 x 14, with most being 8 x 10, commenting on the occasion surrounding the photo, primarily related to his problems with the law. A sampling includes:
An 8 x 10 of Bruce and his attorney Albert Bendich, annotated in part: “Attorney at my second San Francisco trial, after appellate court granted a mistrial. This the aftermath of my second bust 4 days after the Philly fiasco. We seem to have spotted one of the ever wellcome [sic] inconsistencies in prosecution testimony. Or is it the part of the transcript where having overcome their initial revulsion and reticence, all the members of the court, judge, prosecutor, reporter, clerk, and bailiffs are intoning ‘the word,’ throwing it back and forth—’He said what? Did he say c…. Yes! He said c…. Would you read that back please! Yes, he said c…’”
An 8 x 10 of Bruce on stage annotated: “Oh! Oh! … I think I sense the fuzz. I’m going to have to quit wearing those sharp threads to the gig. In the wagon I look like a class traitor or maybe I’m slumming. Sometimes the other riders assume I’m a shyster with an in, and want me to start preparing their defense.”
A 6 x 8.5 photo of Bruce in an early school photo, attending a formal event with his classmates, with Bruce, sporting a beaming smile in the second row from the top, annotated: “The group of schoolmates who voted me most poorly dressed, reinforced their earlier judgement by all turning up on the same jury and convicting me, using words that describe an action that none of them would admit was dirty.” Above this Bruce writes: “I’m sure gonna try if you don’t send me the copy so I can’t edit it, I chose da contract calls for, Lenny.”
An 11 x 14 overexposed photo of Bruce in a black suit annotated: “As the bookings increase, I begin to experience a freeze in certain formerly hot booking areas. Could this be a slow fade for L.B.?”
An 11 x 14 head-and-shoulders photo of Bruce staring intently into the camera annotated: “Was it paranoia? Or was it shattered nerves? Or was I really a moving target shuttling from one bust to another, one alice in wonderland mock trial to the next? Jail immanently to put a stop to both soon.”
An 11 x 8.5 photo of Bruce working at a desk with both the Star of David and a Swastika behing him, annotated: “I reject the idea of a broad mass support of my stand, when I discern that the only thing universally offensive to all groups is disagreement with their point of view. This is a difficult rallying point.”
A 7.75 x 9.5 photo of Bruce in an alley looking over his shoulder with a cigarette dangling from his lips, annotated: “Every now and then though I get the feeling that some of my supporters go to far. Here I am furtively pissing on some unecessarily [sic] trite invective and garrolous [sic] graffitti [sic].”
An 8.5 x 10 of Bruce in a dark suit brandishing a pistol, annotated: “Better, perhaps, the honorable escape, rather than ignominious defeat?”
A 9 x 10.5 photo of a tired-looking Bruce having just lit a cigarette, annotated: “Having been misquoted so many times by prosecution witnesses, I embark upon a policy of getting it all ‘on the record,’ an electronic campaigne [sic] that was destined to ‘bug’ off guard Doctors, lawyers, Jurists, Judges, Court reporters, policemen, and assorted witnesses. In idle moments, I interviewed myself to sharpen technique.”
Other items include:
An original 13 page typewritten draft of an original unpublished story entitled “The Grinder.” Annotated and signed on the title page in pencil, “This I submitted twice. The first rejection was coupled by an address of a free mental clinic and the second an inquiry as to how I got the agent’s address. Good luck, Lenny Bruce,” adding “Written 1955.”
Twenty pages of what appears to be a typewritten transcript of courtroom hearing about Bruce’s obscenities, or his reconstructed recollections of a hearing.
A 142 page spiral-bound version of his later published autobiography, “How To Talk Dirty and Influence People.
A self-published 30 page brochure made to sell at his concerts, entitled “Stamp Help Out, which contained an hysterical and highly incriminating pictorial and written thesis on The Pot Smokers, illustrated with “actual photos of tortured marijuana-ites,” most of whom were him.
And finally, a total of twenty unsigned photos and printed proofs, including eight of his wife, Honey Harlow, two of a young girl, presumable his daughter Kitty, three of Bruce in the Navy, and other interesting photos.
In very good overall condition, with staining and light running of ink to the autobiography, other marks and notations to annotated and unsigned photos, and expected toning and handling wear.
Famously convicted on obscenity charges in 1964, Bruce is equally well-known as one of the 1950s and 1960s most influential, if not controversial, stand-up comedians, writers, satirists, and social critics. This amazing collection focuses on various aspects of Bruce’s personal and professional life, and purportedly were used as research material as he crafted his semi-fictional autobiography. Many of the handwritten photo captions are believed to have been penned for Playboy magazine, which serialized the book before its publication. Most notable amongst this ensemble are pieces pertaining to his trial on obscenity following a 1961 performance in San Francisco. His comment on a “second San Francisco trial, after appellate court granted a mistrial. This the aftermath of my second bust 4 days after the Philly fiasco” shows his amusement at the legal profession being required to repeat—over and over—some of his more offending expressions, with the latter part of the notation undoubtedly a reference to his arrest in Philadelphia on drug possession charges in late 1961. Law enforcement officials carefully observed the comedian in any city in which he appeared following that famed San Francisco performance. In addition to focusing on taboo subjects, the archive also bears witness to Bruce as a husband and father—facts often overlooked in discussions of his contributions to society and the world of comedy. Amazing personal thoughts and reflections from one of the entertainment industry’s most influential minds. RRAuction COA.
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