Presented here is a digital version of a recording of a portion of a Lenny Bruce performance at the Off Broadway club in San Francisco on August 26, 1964 at 10:05 p.m. Bruce begins by using the microphone in a gesture of benediction; in his New York obscenity trial that was interpreted as being a masturbatory gesture. He mentions his arrests for giving obscene performances in Beverly Hills, and says we should keep prayer in the schools because we need to understand people who have religious training. He discusses the reason for Obscenity law and notes the difference in the secular and the Catholic definitions of obscenity. He says there's a big difference between Christians and Jews, and that the attempt at brotherhood has merely put makeup on impetigo. He talks about how, in light of his recent legal troubles, he's tried to understand the prosecutors. He says law enforcement officials will take obscene words literally; they think that certain words and gestures on stage lead to masturbation; and they think masturbation and crime are connected. He talks about other countries' views of American race relations and does I've Never Been Inside a Negro's House. He does We Did It to Their Mothers for Chocolate Bars. He mentions a white minister being locked up for his protest in favor of civil rights (the reference is to Bruce W. Klunder). He does his bit on Barry Goldwater and his Jewish roots: that once he's elected president, he'll take off his mask and reveal himself as a Jewish pornographer. He does Dick Gregory, Las Vegas Tits & Ass, Bestiality, Chicken, and Schmuck. He talks about the prosecution witnesses at his recent New York obscenity trial, and does Art With a Little Piece of Shit in It. He criticizes both prosecutors and defense attorneys. The file ends during The Reason We Left England. This set continues in the middle of file LB_54b. There are some audio problems with this file.
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.
