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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2005)
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There are many obvious markers on which saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy,” to hang an exciting narrative—the publication the censorship was no surprise.) He was also of his seminal poem “Howl” in 1955, his role well out of the closet by now, taking “a vow of as the merry prankster of the Beats, his celestial heavenly fidelity” with Orlovsky. If the 1950s saw Ginsberg as Beat superstar, unabashed advocacy of LSD before Congress, his assumption of the mantle of Walt Whit the 1960s brought him new fame as a counter man as the poet laureate of homosexuality, his culture guru. Rare footage shows him testifying well-publicized nonviolent protests and his eventual can onization as the patron saint of freethinkers and a closet-free life. And unlike Whitman, there’s an enormous amount of filmed material available, from Ginsberg’s innovative 1950s poetry readings to quirky tele vision appearances in the ’60s and ’70s. But, as Jerry Aronson’s The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg shows, Ginsberg was more complex than the popular image of a prankster and provo cateur. (An updated director’s cut of the 1994 documentary is now playing at HollywtxxJ Theatre.) Aronson spent 10 years working on the film, gaining the cwperation of Ginsberg’s family and friends and excavating a wealth of rare footage. His purpose was to remind us of Ginsberg’s impor The patron saint of freethinkers and a closet-free life, Allen tance as a poet and cultural fig Ginsberg is remembered in an informative documentary now ure. The film sometimes errs playing at Hollywood Theatre t<x) much on that side, losing some of the wild man in the process of redeem before Congress about the salutary effects of ing him. But that’s a minor complaint given LSD, inspiring Timothy Leary to tune in and what Aronson has accomplished overall. drop out (Leary calls him “the cosmic public The film is structured by decades—an defender”) and deftly demolishing William appropriate decision given that Ginsberg Buckley’s curdled pose in an interview in w’hich seemed to reinvent himself every 10 years or so. Ginsberg plays the harmonium and giddily It begins with a bittersweet portrait of his describes writing poetry “under the influence.” beginnings as the grandchild of Russian Jewish The ’60s also sparked Ginsberg’s political immigrants. Young Ginsberg is seen in photo consciousness, bringing him to protests in graphs wearing a crown of leaves, an early hint Prague, and most notably to the infamous 1968 of the eccentric self to come. Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He was devoted to his parents, which must Ginsberg was unwavering in adv<x:ating peace have been difficult in the case of his mother, ful protest, refusing to march with the Yippies, Naomi, a paranoid who was institutionalized who planned violent disruptions. He also for much of her life. Ginsberg’s stepmother calls reveals himself an astute political observer him a “cheerful” kid but adds, “Allen bore the when he says that the left didn’t vote in 1968 bnint of his mother’s illness.” Yet Ginsberg was “and Nixon squeaked in by half a million able to reconcile this tragedy decades later, votes, and the war went on for another six making Naomi rhe centerpiece of his brilliant years, with more murder and devastation than long poem “Kaddish.” ever before." By the 1940s, Ginsberg found a group of The film continues more or less chronologi simpatico souls with whom he formed a kind of cally, vividly highlighting Ginsberg’s tragedies second family: William Burroughs, Neal and triumphs. Among the former are the death Casady, Jack Kerouac and the Beats. Ginsberg of his beloved father, Lxiis, and his attempts to was still finding his way as a gay man, trapped deal with his lover’s alcoholism. in the closet and filled with a sense of solitude. But Ginsberg’s last years appear to be gixxl But not to worry—he ended up in bed with ones, filled with art, friendship and widespread the decidedly hetero Casady, whom, he says mis acclaim as one of the leading postwar voices in chievously, “gave me love.” Such were the times. poetry. He had gallery shows, published Kx>ks Eventually he would find his lifelong lover of photographs, traveled and continued to write among this group, the painter Peter Orlovsky, and read his poetry. His stepmother recalls that and begin to create his role as probably the most Louis “died a happy man,” and the film gives us important pre-Stonewall gay liberationist. every reason to believe that Allen did, too. jrn Ginsberg became famous—and notorious— in the 1950s, hammering the sexual and philo G ary M orris is a Portland free-lance writer sophical status quo of that decade with his who recalls many a mad night sitting on groundbreaking “Howl,” which the film Ginsberg’s... knee. A