Kerouac Theater
by Jamelah Earle on Saturday, May 21, 2005 06:07 am
By now, you may have heard about a forgotten Kerouac play, Beat Generation that was recently rediscovered. The play, written the same year as On the Road, tells the story of a day in the life of Kerouac's alter-ego Jack Duluoz. The play was never published, though Kerouac did send it to Marlon Brando, who ignored it. But then, ignoring Kerouac seemed to be a habit for ol' Marlon.
Anyway, after having been shelved for so many years, the play's rediscovery has prompted some media attention, and a portion of it will appear in Best Life Magazine this summer.
How about that, huh?
(Thanks to Mob for the reminder.)
Anyway, after having been shelved for so many years, the play's rediscovery has prompted some media attention, and a portion of it will appear in Best Life Magazine this summer.
How about that, huh?
(Thanks to Mob for the reminder.)
8 reponses to "Kerouac Theater"
That's Baseball Hall of Fame writerKerouac or, more directly, Kerouac's bobblehead, has been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Apparently he's the first non-sportswriter writer recognized by the Hall.
I heard about this too -- it's a pretty big honor and I have to guess that Kerouac would have liked the idea as much as it is possible for anybody to feel good about being represented by a bobblehead doll.In combination with the fact that Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay bought the famed and expensive "On The Road" scroll manuscript a few years ago, this all seems to indicate some kind of major Kerouac inspiration behind modern American jock culture, for whatever that might mean ...
I think it's more like the sports industry has the time, money and connections to spend on these interests. Know any team owners or super-athletes?
Ignoring KerouacThe real national pastime. But seriously, Brando always ignored me too.I wonder who will be the first to stage a production of it?
Nonsense. Brando thought highly of you. Now that Jack Nicholson is buying up Brando's property, I guess this story can be told. I've taken a bit of Gonzo license here, so don't take everything as Gospel. Larry Norman, the Christian Rocker, having turned down a part in the broadway play Hair, soon played the Troubador or was it the Bitter End? Not now, but then, I mean so Jack (Kerouac, not Nicholson) over at Mike Nesmith's pad wretching, but this is maybe when Mike's mother invented liquid paper. SO, you can see, Kesey and the rest, all hell in a valley, cops usually left us alone, until that night...so Marlon and I (Perkins, not Brando) come RUNNING across Jack's tennis court NAKED, just a'swingin, dig? Well, Burt Reynolds is rumored to have been there but I can tell you, if he ignored one Jack, he ignored us all, baby.That's just the way he was.
Any more plays?apart from 'Pull My Daisy' (am I right there?) are there anymore more Jack plays I should look for?
Well, I'm not completely sure about this, but I think "Pull My Daisy" and "The Beat Generation" actually used the same script. "The Beat Generation" was supposedly about an evening at the Cassady home when a bishop comes to visit and a bunch of beatniks crash the party. I think I remember hearing that, after the play failed to be produced, it was chosen as the text for "Pull My Daisy", which illustrates the same story. So ... it does seem that this is the one and only Kerouac playscript. I don't know of any others.
As I recall from the bio, both scripts were written hurriedly while he was mostly drunk, and were not planned, but in response to requests for something specific, about which he himself was skeptical, even cynical by this time.