AMERICAN MASTERS SPECIAL, AN: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALLEN GINSBERG (TV)
Summary
One in this documentary series that explores the lives and achievements of AmericaÕs most celebrated native-born and adopted artists and performers. This documentary profiles poet Allen Ginsberg through interviews with family, friends, and colleagues; archival footage; and clips of television appearances and poetry readings. The program begins with information on GinsbergÕs family and youth. Family members, including stepmother Edith Ginsberg, brother Eugene Brooks Ginsberg, and aunt Hannah Litzky, recall GinsbergÕs happy disposition and academic achievement in spite of his motherÕs traumatic mental illness and hospitalization. Next, a segment titled "The Forties: O Tenderness In The Middle of Time" examines GinsbergÕs early years in New York City and at Columbia University, where he met fellow Beat writers Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, and Neal Cassady. Ginsberg talks of his coming of age during this period, and of his close relationships with the Beats, with other artists, and with his future partner Peter Orlovsky. The segment "The Fifties: Hydrogen Jukebox" concerns the artistic output of Ginsberg and associates, which Michael McClure defines as a resistance to the "military industrial corporate state" of America. Writers Amiri Baraka and Norman Mailer explain that the poem "Howl" captured the feelings of the younger generation and those outside the mainstream. Also included is a discussion and reading of the poem "Kaddish" for Naomi Ginsberg. The segment "The Sixties: Drunken Dumbshow" focuses on GinsbergÕs role as a founding father of a turbulent era of uprising and social change. Abbie Hoffman, Joan Baez, and Ken Kesey talk about the significant work of the 1950s Beat generation, which set the stage for the protest of the 1960s, and Timothy Leary recalls the way in which Ginsberg and Kerouac liberated him. Ginsberg discusses his travels to Cuba and Eastern Europe and his meeting Bob Dylan and the Beatles in London. Clips follow of a 1965 Dylan song, of European protest marches in Europe, and of GinsbergÕs appearance on "Firing Line" with William F. Buckley. Also included are clips of a 1965 Congressional hearing, a 1968 Yippie Press Conference with Ed Sanders, a Vietnam War protest, and demonstrations in ChicagoÕs Grant Park. Ginsberg recalls the high tensions between "hippy" youth and police and his efforts to maintain a peaceful presence through Buddhist chanting. "The Seventies: Mind Breaths" concerns Ginsberg's growing interest in Buddhism and his involvement with Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa and the Naropa Institute. Included are a clip of GinsbergÕs appearance on "The Dick Cavett Show," and Edith GinsbergÕs recollections of the close relationship between father and son -- Louis and Allen Ginsberg -- and the importance of the poem "Father Death." The program concludes with the segment "The Eighties and Nineties: Musings," featuring scenes from GinsbergÕs photography show and book signing at the Holly Solomon Gallery in New York. Ginsberg reminisces and presents his book of photography, which informally documents the lives of his loved ones. This program is closed-captioned.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by Rosalind P. Walter, 1999.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
- DATE: September 17, 1997 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:56:40
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:58356
- GENRE: Arts documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Poets, American; Poetry; Biography; Beat generation
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1986-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- For "American Masters":
- Susan Lacy … Executive Producer
- Tamar Hacker … Senior Producer
- Karen Bernstein … Associate Producer
- Thomas Wagner … Theme Music by
- For "Allen Ginsberg":
- Jerry Aronson … Producer, Director
- Karen Littman … Associate Producer
- Joan Baez
- Baraka, Amiri (See also: Jones, LeRoi)
- The Beatles
- William F. Buckley, Jr.
- William S. Burroughs
- Neal Cassady
- Dick Cavett
- Bob Dylan
- Allen Ginsberg
- Edith Ginsberg
- Eugene Brooks Ginsberg
- Louis Ginsberg
- Naomi Ginsberg
- Abbie Hoffman
- Jack Kerouac
- Ken Kesey
- Timothy Leary
- Hannah Litzky
- Norman Mailer
- Michael McClure
- Peter Orlovsky
- Ed Sanders
- Chogyam Trungpa