San Francisco 50 Years Ago

SAN FRANCISCO FIFTY YEARS AGO (Kenneth Rexroth's columns for the San Francisco "Examiner")

During the last five months I've been posting Rexroth's weekly "Examiner" columns from the 1960s, each on the 50th anniversary of its original appearance. At this point I'd like to call your attention to what is there so far and to remind you that a new column is being posted each Saturday. Many people have told me they've been imagining being back in that period, at the very beginning of the legendary sixties, looking forward to finding out what will be happening each new week and what (invariably unpredictable) things Rexroth will say about it. Here are the columns that have been posted so far:

January

1. Here I Am [introducing himself]

February

1. New Forms of Art and Culture?
2. New Forms of Politics?
3. A Night Out in the City
4. Merits and Faults of the San Francisco Ballet

March

1. Beckett and Ionesco
2. Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg, and the Modern Jazz Quartet
3. Drama and Community [on the Jewish oratorio "Esther"]
4. In Praise of Amateur Shakespeare [with an unorthodox interpretation of "Hamlet"]

April

1. Two Questions About Modern Life
2. Signs of Change in the South [remarks on the Civil Rights movement]
3. Conversations with Southerners
4. Flagstaff versus Phoenix

May

1. New Orleans versus Pittsburgh [his conclusion is not what you might expect!]
2. Jean Genet and Ornette Coleman
3. The Execution of Caryl Chessman [denunciation of capital punishment]
4. The HUAC Riot [the now almost-forgotten kickoff of the sixties]
5. Signs of a New Youth Revolt

June

1. New American Poetry and Jazz
2. San Francisco Theater and Chicago Architecture
3. Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author"
4. Slum Clearance? [critique of "urban renewal"]

July

1. Three Poet in the News [Pasternak, Frost and Supervielle]

Coming up next week: Kabuki Theater. Check for a new column each Saturday at

As a preview of things to come, you can also explore my earlier selection of some of the more interesting columns:

• * *

BUREAU OF PUBLIC SECRETS P.O. Box 1044, Berkeley CA 94701

"Making petrified conditions dance by singing them their own tune."