Lenny Bruce

11-29-07 Lenny Bruce

(Re-run from August ’02)

I don’t remember how I got turned on to Lenny Bruce, but it was in the very early 1970’s. Probably, when I first heard him, I had very little idea about his ‘notoriousness’. I just knew he sounded extra sharp. I probably didn’t even know he was dead. His book, “How To Talk Dirty and Influence People” affected me greatly when I first read it – even if I didn’t understand it completely! He was definitely the first person I’d ever heard of who offended people.

This particular album ("The Real Lenny Bruce") was only the 2^nd or 3^rd ‘collection’ of Mr. Bruce’s work. I believe it has some material not available elsewhere. It also has a nice ‘jail cell’ poster of Lenny in it, as well as some nice long liner notes (Ralph J. Gleason, perhaps?). This is probably the best of the ‘collection’ LP’s of his work, as it’s a double! As I recall, it was given to me from somebody at a radio station here in Long Beach, as they were unable (or unwilling) to give air time to anything on it.

For my money, Lenny is still the coolest of the stand up ‘comedians’. There’s no denying he spawned a tide of imitators, none of whom are anywhere nearly as entertaining to listen to. Lenny is as close as comedy ever got to jazz, in my humble opinion. Later in life, his ‘comedy’ turned very political in nature – some of it on disc is a little difficult to follow, unless you’re familiar with the times (the early-to-mid 1960’s). For most of his work, his playful use of the English language is sheer entertainment…or education. Not everything he did was comedy.

I wonder how his stuff would look in translation? It would probably lose a lot. I never saw the bio-pic of Lenny Bruce with Dustin Hoffman, but there’s no way anyone else could ever harness his zeitgeist effectively, I suspect.

If you are not familiar with any of Mr. Bruce’s work, I would suggest getting either of the Fantasy Records CD collections, “Originals” (Volumes 1 or 2), or try finding some of his original red vinyl Fantasy LP’s, notably “The Sick Humor Of Lenny Bruce” (which also has one of the most classic ‘bad taste’ LP covers of all time – Lenny having a picnic in a cemetery!).

For deeper ‘study’, try one of his complete shows on CD or LP, such as “The Berkeley Concert” or “Live At The Curran Theatre”.

2007 addendum: The 6CD boxed set that was released in ’04 “Let The Buyer Beware” is excellent, just amazing. Time has done nothing to dim Mr. Bruce’s irreverent humor. Too bad he was ‘too early’ – as so many others have made much better livings than he ever did – off of stuff he was nearly crucified for, in the 60’s. And to this I must add, please try and find a copy of his book, “How To Talk Dirty and Influence People”. The older I get, the more I understand it.

Rap Reiplinger

I had a vacation in Hawaii in 2002 and there wasn’t really any time to look for records – in fact, there weren’t many to be had at all! There were big chain stores (that have no vinyl – now out of business) and a few locally-owned stores, but none of them had what I will call a decent selection of (used or otherwise) vinyl.

The only records from Hawaii that I ever sought out to collect came from a 1970’s comedian called Rap Reiplinger. A friend got me one of the ‘Best of’ CD’s that was issued a while, but until I started thinking about it during my visit to Honolulu, I hadn’t realized that he had a few more records out that I had somehow “missed”.

He doesn’t have a Wikipedia page. And I have virtually never seen any LP’s of ‘Hawaiian origin humor’ for sale in Los Angeles. I’ve got:

LP CRAB DREAMS MTN AP MAC 1007 1979 11 TRKS

LP DO I DARE DISTURB THE UNIVERSE? PARADISE PR 2001 1979 16 TRKS

LP POI-DOG MTN AP MAS 1002 1978 11 TRKS

LP STRANGE BIRD PARADISE SLP 2002 1981 11 TRKS

LP TOWED AWAY PARADISE SLP 2003 1982? 10 TRKS

CD POI-DOG WITH CRABS MTN AP MACD 2020 1992 22 TRKS

Rap was a busy man in his lifetime – he was in a comedy trio in the early 70’s called “The Booga Booga Trio” (I don’t think they ever made records) and he made an Emmy-winning video (or so I read on the internet), “Rap’s Hawaii” (from 1982, which I also couldn’t ever find in Honolulu). You have to have a bit of ‘local knowledge’ to get some of the jokes on his stuff, but the LP’s I have are all slickly produced and genuinely funny. Do I detect a “Cheech & Chong” influence?

I was saddened to read of his death in the liner notes of the CD I was given (and again on the internet) – he passed away in 1984, supposedly from drugs. Comedians and drugs really seem to go together – maybe this is why I never took up either practice?

The 1978 LP “Poi Dog” looks just amazing – he’s dressed up as a half-man / half-woman, making the ‘shaka’ sign while dipping his hand in (presumably) a plastic bowl of poi. My guess is that the copies of this LP that made their way to California were brought home by happy vacationers…and sold to the used LP store as soon as rent was due. Back in the late 70’s / early 80’s, it was cool to drop tracks from the “Poi Dog” LP into mix tapes, and wait for the confused reactions to arise!

If you’re tired of ‘typical’ (English-language) comedy LP’s, try one of Rap’s on for size. If you can find one, that is. It’s in English…but it’s as difficult to understand as some English (or Canadian) comedy. Hawaii is it’s own thing, after all.

Mahalo, Rap Reiplinger! Aloha, Steve & Danno! Harry Owens! Duke’s Hula Pie!

Hawaii Calls!

Murray Roman

Murray Roman (1929 – 1973)

BLIND MAN'S MOVIE, A TETRAGRAMMA T-120 LP 1968 11 TRKS

BLIND MAN'S MOVIE, A TRACK UK 613 015 LP 1969 11 TRKS

BLIND MAN'S MOVIE, A promo TETRAGRAMMA T-120 LP 1968 11 TRKS promo, white label

BUSTED U.A. US UAS 5595 LP 1972 18 TRKS

OUT OF CONTROL EVEREST US LPBR 9005 LP 1960 9 TRKS

PROMO SINGLE (1-Sided) U.A. US SP 75 7" 1972 1 TRK no pic sleeve, promo (interview?)

YOU CAN'T BEAT PEOPLE UP… TETRAGRAMMA T-101 LP 1968 16 TRKS blue back cover, autographed by Murray Roman (see the photo!)

YOU CAN'T BEAT PEOPLE UP… TETRAGRAMMA T-101 LP 1968 16 TRKS white back cover

YOU CAN'T BEAT PEOPLE UP… TRACK UK 613 007 LP 1968 16 TRKS stereo

(also re-issued as a Track Record “Backtrack” series LP)

I discovered comedian Murray Roman in the 99 cent bin at a hippie record store in downtown Long Beach in the late 60’s/early 70’s. His 3^rd album, “A Blind Man’s Movie” was available to me for 99 cents – how funky, a black cover, with a black insert with no printing on it – OH, I get it. “A Blind Man’s Movie”! Comedy & rock music together! I turned up his 2^nd album in a used bin, “You Can’t Beat People Up & Have Them Say I Love You” – it seemed really quite “revolutionary” to me, mixing comedy with rock music. His debut LP was “Ski Humor” – as I recall, it was just a stand-up comedy album.

I was paying attention when his 4^th (and final) LP came out in 1972: “Busted” – on a major label (United Artists), and Side One was super long – over 30 minutes. Side Two seemed to be a “Best Of” – with cuts from mostly his two Tetragrammaton albums. Next thing I remember, it was mentioned in probably the L.A. Free Press that he had died. As there were not really any books about contemporary culture at that time, it took a few years before I found out a little more about him.

He had been a writer for The Smothers Brothers Show, on TV, on CBS. I also read that Keith Moon of The Who had been quite a fan of his two Tetragrammaton LP’s, insisting that they be released in England on Track Record (The Who’s label!). I have also read the he used to be an opening act for Julius Wechter and the Baha Marimba Band (!). I guess I should try to talk to Tommy Smothers about Mr. Roman. Recently, I was writing about Chickenman (the WFCL 60’s radio comedy serial) and I got comments from a man named Dan O’Day – who mentioned on his website meeting Mr. Roman, when Roman was a writer for The Smothers Brothers.

It’s true – some of the comedy on Roman’s records is not 100% ‘politically correct’…but a lot of it is funny – in a ‘1968’ kind of way. He had a marvelous (Brooklyn, I presume?) speaking voice, good comedy timing – and some very ‘out there’ ideas. As far as I know, there are no CD’s available of his work. I do not know his cause of death, and I would be curious to find out more about Murray Roman.

Know anything more than what I’ve written? Please let me know!

Chickenman

This glorious Atco label comedy LP was of a radio show originated for WCFL radio (in Chicago?) in 1966, released as Atco 33-207 in 1967. The artist should actually be Dick Orkin - and the two other primary actors are Jane Roberts and Jim Runyon. I know about this stuff because the cover of the Atco Chickenman LP was on many an innersleeve from Atco Records. I do not think I ever saw this LP for sale "new" - all three copies of it that I have were found 'used'.

There is a little bit more to the Chickenman discography...in 1976, "The Chicago Radio Syndicate" presented "Chickenman Returns" - not so much a released record, more a syndicated radio show in LP format. Same cast, still neat stuff.

The last LP I found with Dick Orkin's name on it is called "Puffy Sleeves and Other Exquisite Foolishness" from 1978 - "The Compleat Home Treasury of TIME Radio Commercials" - and it looks to have been presented by no less than the "Dick Orkin Creative Services" (in 1978).

I wonder if Mr. Orkin is still alive? I'd love to hear his post-Chickenman radio series, "The Tooth Fairy". Wikipedia seems to intimate that he's still alive (it doesn't say he's passed away - just that he was "Award Winning" etc.) - Hmmm...advertising comedy guy - and I am a huge Stan Freberg fan, too (I'm lucky enough to have met Mr. Freberg!)

- Ron