Forty years after the fact, Lenny Bruce is pardoned on obscenity charges:
- Bruce was charged after a performance in 1964 during which he was said to have used more than 100 obscene words.
He was convicted after a six-month trial. But he died of a drugs overdose in 1966 before serving any time.
State governor George Pataki said the pardon represented New York's commitment to freedom of speech.
Undercover police
"Freedom of speech is one of the greatest American liberties and I hope this pardon serves as a reminder of the precious freedoms we are fighting to preserve," Mr Pataki said.
Stars, including Robin William and the Smothers Brothers, had petitioned the New York governor earlier this year for the posthumous pardon.
Bruce was convicted of "giving an obscene performance" after a show at Cafe Au Go Go in New York City's Greenwich Village which was attended by undercover police who counted the swear words he used. [BBC]
![Performance Film [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/11H5J7QEFKL._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - Hal Pawluk
Yeah, way ahead.
Even today there aren't many people that want to shoot up and kill themselves before age 40.
2 - he who is known as sefton
Maybe, just maybe, you're wondering how come you're so privileged as to receive this communiqué. Well, answer is simple, thanks to www.google.com and through the search words "blog" and "'Lenny Bruce'", I found the u.r.l to your website.
After perusing your website, I conjectured you'd be interested in my post titled, "sweetest nookie". In this post, you'll find some notions about how Lenny, were he around today, might comment about the recent kerfuffle in the Middle East.
toodles
3 - A Alexander Stella
well, I hope you don't mind my re-visiting your blog... anyway, I think I have something totally new to offer...
I mean the best cropped photo of Lenny Bruce frisked. So, I'm hoping you'll return to read the rest of this comment, after clicking on the enclosed url.
Please return to this e.mail, after perusing the promised photo of Lenny Bruce. The photo can be brought up by clicking on the hyperlink just below. click here first = Lenny Bruce frisked And thank you for returning. As the old bromide goes, "it ain't braggin', ef'fen you can do it."
First off, I must acknowledge that none of the academic institutions I attended ever awarded me a degree in aesthetic photography. Nonetheless, I want to elucidate the structures that infuse that photo with such power.
In the upper right hand corner, the eye spots the cop's badge. Seemingly, it furnishes the illumination for Lenny's wry face. In the lower left hand corner, his left hand is shown "bleeding" off the picture. Unprompted, the eye is impelled to regard those three points of interest as vertices of a triangle. By the way, even as geometry, a triangle confers intense power.
The three silvery buttons on the cop's sleeve, in the parlance of painters, "answer" the dark button on Lenny's jacket. Between those two points of interest, the eye is impelled to draw a line. Here's the thing. That line crosses a side of the aforementioned triangle, forming an "X", squarely centered on Lenny. ...nobody should be surprised, when this photo starts showing on kids' tee shirts.
Oh, by the bye, this is something I was told by a couple guys, who make their living as advertising illustrators. The attitude of Lenny's illuminated face with his outstretched arms is reminiscent of Renaissance crucifixion paintings.
...oh, alright (!) already, maybe I did take the scenic route to get to the hyperlink I'm hoping you'll click on next. My only defense, I was advised to provide the reader with some credentials. Anyway, here's that second hyperlink.
toodles
.../he who is known as sefton