Kerouac, Jack (Amram, David; Frank, Robert; Leslie, Alfred et al.)

Pull My Daisy: Text by Jack Kerouac for the Film by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie

New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc./ Evergreen Books Ltd., 1961. First Printing. Softcover. With loose sheet inscribed & signed by David Amram to Robert Zaidman. "Here is the complete Kerouac text, with photos selected by Robert Frank from the film Pull My Daisy- a short cinematographic exhibition of "Beat" life in a Bowery "pad" on New York's Lower East Side, with spontaneous performances by poets Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and Peter Orlovsky, painter Larry Rivers, composer David Amram, and other characters drawn from the highest echelons of Beat society. It is directed by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie in a departure from a screen play by Jack Kerouac." (from back cover) Among the most well-known, exemplary artifacts of the Beat Generation is the short film, Pull My Daisy, released in 1959 & with a tie-in book published a few years later in 1961. With the iconic Swiss-born American photographer Robert Frank (1924-2019, just deceased as of this writing) behind the camera & co-directed by the artist Robert Leslie (whose NYC loft is where the filmed action takes place), Pull My Daisy depicts some of the most important, influential figures of mid-20th century literature, art & music in a casual (albeit with an element of surrealism) setting as if the camera is among the participants looking directly at their doings. As Jerry Tanner, the late critic-editor of the legendary Village Voice, puts it in his introduction: "I suspect...one reason I like the movie: it shows me people I know doing the things they do. It shows me David Amram, for instance, whom I know the best of any here, exactly as David always is, all optimism and courtesy and unfaked sweetness..." (pg. 14) There is no recorded dialogue, & throughout the film is a narration by Jack Kerouac, along with its famous title poem by Ginsberg & Kerouac, an excerpt of which is sung by Anita Ellis to music by Amram. Kerouac's narration was initially based on the third act of his then-unproduced play, The Beat Generation, but became a spontaneous, ad-libbed performance. All of the above is transcribed in this book version, followed by many captioned still images from the film. Published as an "Evergreen Original" by the great, courageous Barney Rosset's Grove Press in association with Evergreen Books Ltd. (which published the first British edition a few months later), this copy is a first printing as stated on copyright page. Trade-format softcover original in sewn binding (see Kerouac bibliography by Charters, A16, pgs. 39-40; Ginsberg bibliographies by Dowden, Section B, pg. 34; Morgan, B14 a1, pgs. 104-105). Included here is a single white sheet, folded vertically in half, with this hand-written inscription & signature by David Amram on front panel: "For Bob Zaidman/ Pull My Daisy/ was our chance/ to be our own/ anthiropologists (sic)/ to document our/ good times/ together!/ All joy!/ (signed) David/ Amram." Robert Zaidman is an acclaimed musician from whom we obtained this. A most rare & canonical collectible of the Beat Generation, especially with this outstanding association & provenance. In near-fine condition with only moderate rubbing, scratching & occasional spotting to front, back covers & spine; mild wear, some tiny bumps & short, faint creases at edges & corners of same; two small areas of staining at lower spine & lower left edge of back cover; mild browning & rubbing at edges of text block. Interior fine with mild browning esp. at blank margins of page leaves; tiny bumps at corners of same. Loose single, folded sheet in fine condition with only light creasing esp. at edges & corners. Near Fine. [Item #3316]

Price: $900.00 save 20% $720.00