Presented here is a digital version of a recording of portions of two Lenny Bruce performances at the Gate of Horn club in Chicago on December 13, 1962. The recording begins with a continuation of the first set, the beginning of which can be found on LB_52b. In the midst of an exchange with a man in the audience who's walking out during the bit The Clap, Bruce gets indignant about the hypocrisy regarding the disease: it supposedly only happens to poor people and Communists, while in reality it also happens to the well-off and war heroes. The set ends. The second set begins. Bruce refers to his attire, a raincoat, pants and mismatched socks. He reads from the transcript of his trial for obscenity in San Francisco earlier that year, naming some people who testified. Shuffling through papers, he says, I'm not dirty anymore, I'm just annoying. A man in the audience says he wants his $5 back. Bruce talks about the hostility in the audience during the first set. He does I Picked on the Wrong God. 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 does Doing It Is Filthy. He returns to the San Francisco trial and reads some testimony by Prof. Don Geiger that contends that some words thought to be obscene aren't if they're in a particular context. He talks about choosing jury members for that trial. With the bit We Killed Christ he explains how his arrests are really for talking about Christianity. He imagines exposing himself in court, and goes into his bit Flashers. He then does Christ & Moses, Are There Any Niggers Here Tonight? and Black Black Woman White White Woman. He imagines Socialist candidate Norman Thomas winning the presidency, to Thomas' own surprise. The recording ends during this bit. It continues on LB_42b. The performance on this file is also on files LB_44a and LB_59.
Full length copies of the recordings are available for use in the department. Please contact the Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department, Brandeis University for more information.
