Silver, Sam; Alegria, Fernando

Original Photograph: Fernando Alegria at First San Francisco Poetry Festival (1976)

San Francisco, CA: Sam Silver, 1976. Original Photograph. Single Sheet. Inscription by photographer Sam Silver. “The original group of those who came up with the idea and began to act on it were Ferlinghetti, Cherkovski, Peter LeBlanc and myself. Over time others became part of the organizing dynamic in one way or another…Neeli was the bullhorn, the provocateur, for the event—talking up the idea and later doing PR work by just enthusiastically talking with people one to one about it. LeBlanc volunteered to create a large poster for the event, which was pasted all over the Bay area. This wonderful large poster is now a collector’s item. Lawrence was sort of the figurehead for the festival by being its “editor” during the process of creating a list of headliners. I was the nuts-&-bolts man. The workhorse doing the daily business of setting things in motion, making schedules, contacting poets, bringing necessary assistants onboard, etc. I was also the “business man” of the group…along with John Ming Lee…Lawrence felt that San Francisco needed a major festival to put it on the international map and that the timing was right, as we had more or less proven from the overflow attendance to all our previous events…Was it a success? Most definitely…The Veteran’s Auditorium held upward of 3,000 people. On the first night we filled the auditorium to capacity. On the next night, we not only filled it to capacity but had people standing in the isles and in the foyer and up on the stage, breaking the fire code with staff at the venue calling the backstage phone, threatening to call the marshals and close down the event. Luckily, this never happened…We made a lot of money and were able to pay the poets a nice stipend, raise money for Beatitude Press, and also leave a little in the bank for future ideas and events.”--Thomas Rain Crowe, Thomas Rain Crowe Archive, pg 72. Offered today is the original photograph, Fernando Alegria Reads at the San Francisco Poetry Festival (1976), taken by Sam Silver. The picture features a late-middle-aged Fernando Alegria (1918-2005), the Chilean poet, writer, literary critic and scholar. The poet is pictured mid reading, framed in profile—the photo taken from his right—in the foreground, while a number of seated individuals captured in rapt attention makeup the background and fade into the darkness. Although very little information is available on Sam Silver, it's safe to assume that he was one of several photographer-friends Crowe had in his Ginsbergian Rolodex that he employed or invited to capture the Renaissance action. From the archive of Thomas Rain Crowe (b. 1949), the legendary American poet and co-authorial founder of the Second San Francisco Renaissance. For more information on the Thomas Rain Crowe archive (assembled & curated by Third Mind Books), see our book Starting From San Francisco: Thomas Rain Crowe in Conversation with Third Mind Books (item #3071) & the catalog for the Crowe archive (see item #1010), which contains several excerpts and quotations from the book as well as a full listing of the archive’s contents, which are now being offered for sale individually on the Third Mind Books site. Original photograph (approx 10” x 8” including margins). On verso, in thin blue ink is an inscription (presumably in Silver's hand) reads: “Fernando Algeria (Chile) / SF Poetry Fest, 1976.” As well as a faded blue stamp that reads: “Photo Copyright / Sam Silver / P.O. Box 2001 / Berkeley, Calif. 94702 / 415-848-0199 / One Time Use Only Unless / Otherwise Specified.” In Very fine condition with minor wear to fine edges, slight smudging and scratching to front and back, and light streaking/staining at back. Very Fine. [Item #7870]

Price: $90.00