Beat It

A movie comes out today (in limited release, I think) that has had poets -- in this country, anyway -- buzzing for months.

The biopic Howl covers a brief period in the life of Beat meister Allen Ginsberg, shortly after a book of his poems was published by City Lights Books in San Francisco. Some people found the poem "Howl" offensive, and Ginsberg was tried on obscenity charges.

I'll let you watch the movie to see how it all turned out.

There were some misgivings about the movie early on, mainly doubts over how any movie could capture the essence of that turbulent period in the mid-1950s, since so many others had tried and failed (one, called "heartbeat," had a great soundtrack). However, there now are hopes for this one. Starring James Franco as Ginsberg, this new film also features several acting luminaries in both leading and supporting roles.

In any case, details on the movie and the text of the poem can be found at

http://poetryfoundation.org/

I remember two small-screen attempts to capture the Beat Generation's spirit from my childhood.

One was a black-and-white TV show called "77 Sunset Strip." The intro was more famous than show itself -- in it, actors in two of the three "tough guy" leading roles did star turns when their credits rolled while the third, an unknown actor named Edd Byrnes, was shown stepping out onto the Strip, carefully styling his wet-look pomade to the intro music's finale, a blaring attempt at New York "bop" -- just when West Coast "cool" was what Middle America considered modern jazz. (The poor actor's character was named "Kookie" -- which stuck and essentially typecast his career after the show went off the air, as best I recall.)

The other attempt was also B&W TV -- a half-hour comedy called "Dobie Gillis." With another stylish intro to a set-format sitcom, the show featured funnyman Bob Denver (whose career famously survived this role, only to be forever cast in his next one on "Gilligan's Island"). In "Dobie," Denver played a bongo-carrying, work-allergic beatnik named Maynard G. Krebs (that's my guess at spelling it).

Both these caricatures were just that, and it's easy to understand why the Beat era was often portrayed that way -- the movement was brief and it fragmented early. Many baby-boomers like me were small children when the Beat era actually occurred, which has made it even tougher for Big Media to pull off an accurate portrayal of the time.

To help me get a better handle on a period that has always fascinated me but left me with a huge question mark, I recently searched the card catalog for "Jack Kerouac" and scored big time.

The book Minor Characters by Joyce Johnson is one very informative and entertaining reading experience (OK, it's a "good read" -- I just hate that phrase). Written by a woman (and fellow writer) who knew all the Beats personally (and one of them intimately) when the movement was in full swing, the book offers details and insights you can get nowhere else.

Minor Characters was, I think, published in the mid-80's, and, while as unflinching an account as can be, it may lack certain historical details that since have come to light -- I wouldn't know. But I felt like I understood the Beats much better once I finished the book than when I checked it out of the public library's B stack.

Anyway, whether you plan to catch the movie or not, this brief book will take a weekend to inform you on the Beats like no other. (She also wrote a piece for the Smithsonian Magazine back in 2007, when Kerouac's On the Road received its 50th anniversary publication. The article covers the same ground, but adds material, too.)

Her book mentions the furor over Ginsberg's poem and how it affected the Beats, but how is it pertinent to The Instauration? Well, read it and see for yourself. (Hint: It contains a vital detail about Mexico City Blues.)

AFTERNOTE (10/11/10): Recent articles on line remind me someday to rent or buy or see somehow In Custody -- a Merchant Ivory production from the early 1990s.