Remembering Chandler Brossard

                                                 

Chandler Brossard, who some claim wrote the first Beat novel (Who Walk in Darkness, 1952), died on today's date -- August 29 -- in 1993.  Brossard appeared as Chris Rivers in Jack Kerouac's and William S. Burroughs' And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks. 

I wrote about Who Walk in Darkness HERE. I was not that enamored of the book, but then Brossard was not enamored of being associated with the Beats. A whole lot of dis-enamoring going on in that last sentence! In any case, if you're interested in the Village scene in the 40s, you may enjoy Who Walk in Darkness. Brossard wrote other stuff as well. His papers are maintained by Syracuse University -- click HERE for access.

RIP, Mr. Brossard.

Remembering Hettie Jones

 

Hettie Jones

I just learned from my great friend Richard Marsh that poet/writer Hettie Jones died on August 13. She never appeared in a Jack Kerouac work, but her husband, LeRoi Jones (later Amiri Baraka), appeared in Lonesome Traveler under his own name.

Jones published many of the Beat writers, including Kerouac, in her poetry magazine, Yugen, established with her husband. She went on to publish others in Totem Press. A brief bio and one of her poems can be read HERE. In addition to her poetry, Jones published a couple of memoirs and several children's books.

RIP, Ms. Jones.

Happy Heavenly Birthday to Gerard, Jack Kerouac's Older Brother

                                                

Jack Kerouac's brother, (Francis) Gerard, was born on this date -- August 23 -- in 1916. His death at a young age was the impetus for Kerouac to write one of his best works, Visions of Gerard. Gerard appeared as Gerard Duluoz in Visions of Gerard, Doctor Sax, Visions of Cody, and Book of Dreams; and as Julian in The Town and the City.

Did you know that Gerard was a cartoonist? According to Gerald Nicosia in Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac, "Gerard . . . had been Jack's first drawing instructor" (1983, University of California Press, p. 35). 

HAPPY HEAVENLY BIRTHDAY, GERARD!

Happy Heavenly Birthday to Poet, Lew Welch

 

Lew Welch

Poet Lew Welch was born on today's date -- August 16 -- in 1926. He appeared in two of Jack Kerouac's works -- Desolation Angels and Big Sur -- as Dave Wain.

Welch famously drove Kerouac and another friend, Albert Saijo, cross-country in 1959, composing poetry along the way that became Trip Trap: Haiku on the Road. Kerouac mentioned this trip in a Dec. 7, 1959 letter to Lawrence Ferlinghetti:

Dear Larry--

Thanx again for getting me the cash . . . We had a great enlightening trip, Lew Welch talked all the way & showed great knowledge of American subjects (dialects, lit., folk songs, logging, football, track, girls etc.) and Albert Saijo meditated most of the way. We wrote a joint book of poems called TRIP TRAP. Albert is like my guru now. (Jack Kerouac Selected Letters 1957-1969, 1999, Penguin Books, p. 265)

Welch was an accomplished poet in is own right, and we reviewed his poetry collection, Ring of Bone, HERE. He roomed with Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen at Reed College. More on Welch can be found HERE. At the latter link you will learn the name of Welch's famous stepson as well as what well-known advertising slogan he wrote.

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Mr. Welch.

Belatedly Remembering Bea Franco, Jack Kerouac's "The Mexican Girl" from On The Road

 

Bea Franco with son, Alberto
Photo/Beatrice Kozera Estate

Today we belatedly remember Bea Franco, who died on yesterday's date -- August 15 -- in 2013. We wished her a happy birthday in October 2021 HERE. She was represented as Terry in Jack Kerouac's 1957 classic novel, On The Road. An excerpt about Terry, titled "The Mexican Girl," was published as a stand-alone short story in Paris Review in 1955; you can read it here. Bea also appeared in Book of Dreams as Bea.

Also of note, author Tim Z. Hernandez found Bea alive in 2010 after a multi-year search and as a result wrote the award-winning novel about her life, Mañana Means Heaven, which we reviewed here at The Daily Beat (click here). We also curated the book twice (click here and here), and featured a guest blog by the author (click here). 

RIP, Ms. Franco.

Remembering David Kammerer

 

David Kammerer

Today -- August 14 -- was the anniversary of David Kammerer's death in 1944. We wrote about Kammerer on his birthday in September 2020 HERE. Kammerer appeared in Visions of Cody as Dave Stroheim, Vanity of Duluoz as Franz (Swinburne) Mueller, The Town and the City as Waldo Meister, Ramsey Allen in And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks, and Alfred in The Haunted Life (Source: Character Key to Kerouac's Duluoz Legend).

Kammerer was most likely a stalker if not a sexual predator, and we remember him only because he figured into the early Beat Generation -- if only as a dark presence. Regular readers will recall that Jack was put in jail as a potential accessory after-the-fact when Lucien Carr stabbed Kammerer to death for trying to rape him, and then-girlfriend Edie Parker's lawyer would only agree to post bail if the two were married (Jack's father, Leo, refused to post $100 in bail money). Which is not to say that the two wouldn't have married anyway since to my knowledge marriage plans were underway regardless of this sad event taking place.

I won't use my usual RIP closing for obvious reasons.

 

Happy Heavenly Birthday to Poet Louise Bogan

                                                 

Poet Louise Bogan shows up in two of Kerouac's works: as Leontine McGee in The Dharma Bums and as Bernice Whalen in Desolation Angels. She was born on this date -- August 11 -- in Livermore Falls, Maine.

Click HERE for a post wherein I curated her book of poetry, The Blue Estuaries: Poems 1923-1968.

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Ms. Bogan.

Remembering Herbert Huncke

                                               

On this date-- August 8 -- in 1996, Beat Generation core figure Herbert Huncke died. Huncke was Elmer Hassel in Jack Kerouac's On The Road; Huck in Desolation Angels, Book of Dreams, and Visions of Cody; Hunkey in Lonesome Traveler; and Junkey in The Town and the City.

Regular readers of The Daily Beat need no introduction to the man from whom Kerouac likely learned the word, "beat." Click on the link above if you want to read a short bio.

We curated a Huncke biography by Hilary Holladay HERE. You can listen to him read three poems HERE (at the Chelsea Hotel in 1994).

And HERE is a remembrance of Huncke from The Allen Ginsberg Project.

RIP, Mr. Huncke.

Happy Heavenly Birthday to Beat Poet Diane di Prima

                                      

Today -- August 6 -- is award-winning Beat poet Diane di Prima's birthday. She was born in 1934. I don't think she appeared in any of Jack Kerouac's works, but he appeared in hers in a randy sex scene in her Memoirs of a Beatnik. I liked that book a lot, in particular how she graphically but sensitively described her various sexual experiences.

We reviewed her 2015 poetry book, The Poetry Deal, HERE, and curated it HERE. We curated Memoirs of a Beatnik HERE.

In honor of her birthday, you can read about di Prima and find some of her poetry HERE.

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Ms. di Prima!

Jack Kerouac's Father Was Born On This Date

                                                 

Leo Kerouac, Jack Kerouac's father, was born on this date -- August 5 -- in 1889 in Saint-Hubert-de-Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, Canada as Joseph Alcide Léon Kirouack. Leo appeared in several of his son Jack's books: Emil Alcide Duluoz in Visions of Gerard, Emil (Pop) Duluoz in Doctor Sax/Visions of Cody/Vanity of Duluoz, George Martin in The Town and the City, Emil in Maggie Cassidy/Desolation Angels, Pa in Book of Dreams, Charlie Martin in The Sea is My Brother, and Joe Martin in The Haunted Life and Other Writings.

Happy Heavenly Birthday to the man without whom there would be no Jack Kerouac!

Remembering William S. Burroughs

  

(c) Ulf Andersen/Getty Images

Core Beat Generation member, writer, and cultural iconoclast William S. Burroughs died on this date -- August 2 --  in 1997. He needs no introduction to regular readers of The Daily Beat. His importance to the Jack Kerouac story cannot be overestimated.

Burroughs appeared in several of Kerouac's works: as Old Bull Lee in On The Road; Frank Carmody in The Subterraneans; Bull Hubbard in Book of Dreams, Desolation Angels, Doctor Sax, and Visions of Cody; Bull in Tristessa; Bill/William Seward Burroughs in Lonesome Traveler; Wilson Holmes Hubbard in Vanity of Duluoz; Bill Dennison in The Haunted Life and Other Writings; and, Will Dennison in The Town and the City and And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks. 

For a sense of the man, read Kerouac's February 1958 letter to Burroughs on pp. 133-135 of Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters 1957-1969 (Penguin, 1999). In part:

He is tall, with thin lips, spectacles, wears gray felt hats and walks down the street with a vigorous pump of his arms like a mad German genius of the 19th century, thru casbahs, medinas & Mexico Thieves Markets of the world.

RIP, Mr. Burroughs. You were one-of-a-kind, junky or not.

Happy 93rd Birthday to Ramblin' Jack Elliott

 

Ramblin' Jack at Sweetwater
(c) 2013 Crystal Bond

Ramblin' Jack Elliott turns 93 today (born August 1, 1931). Elliott appeared as Jack Elliot in Jack Kerouac's Book of Dreams.

Here's some Kerouac scoop from Dave Moore's excellent Character Key to Kerouac's Duluoz Legend.

In January 2013, at a live Beat Poetry event at Sweetwater in Mill Valley, Jack asked the crowd not to take pictures during his show. People didn't comply, and he then really admonished the crowd, saying he would pose naked on his horse after the show, but during the show, NO PICTURES! I don't know what his peeve was -- he didn't give a reason -- and it's sad that this is the main thing I remember about him from the show. Crystal was at the bathroom during the original warning, and what do you think she did when she came back? Yup -- she took a picture (see above).

According to Kerouac biographer Gerald Nicosia in Memory Babe, Kerouac met Ramblin' Jack at Helen Parker's in 1953. Ramblin' Jack "pulled out his guitar and started playing Woodie Guthrie songs. Reciprocating the treat, Jack spent three consecutive nights reading aloud the entire manuscript of On the Road to him" (1983, p. 456).

Happy Birthday, Mr. Elliott. I hope it's okay that I posted your picture.

3 Kerouac-Related Events Happened on Yesterday's Date

 

Gore Vidal, Elise Cowen, and Ruth Weiss (L-R)

Writer and bon vivant Gore Vidal died on yesterday's date* -- July 31-- in 2012, Beat poet Elise Cowen was born on yesterday's date in 1933, and Beat poet Ruth Weiss (<---link includes details on how Jack Kerouac and Ms. Weiss met) died on yesterday's date in 2020. Vidal appeared in Kerouac's The Subterraneans as Arial Lavalina and in Old Angel Midnight as Gore Bedavalled. Cowen appeared as Barbara Lipp in Desolation Angels. I could not verify that Weiss appeared in any of Kerouac's works.

One can read various versions of Kerouac's and Vidal's alleged sexual liaison at the Chelsea Hotel in 1953 in NYC. Something happened that night, but it's unclear to me whether it was full-on sex, just oral sex, or a failed attempt at intercourse (in Memory Babe, Kerouac biographer Gerald Nicosia states that Jack proved impotent during that hook-up). More on this encounter can be found HERE.

Given my personal history with depression, I should note here that Cowen ended her own life (not dissimilarly to Natalie Jackson) by throwing herself out of her parents' 7th floor window. Tragically, the bulk of her work was discarded after she took her own life (click HERE).

If you are thinking about suicide or just need someone to talk to about emotional distress in your life, you can text Crisis Text Line at 741741 or call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. And please share these resources with friends who seem at risk.

RIP, Mr. Vidal and Ms. Weiss, and Happy Heavenly Birthday, Ms. Cowen.

*I had been hanging out at camp and missed posting yesterday.