Silver, Sam (Photographer); Middleton, Herbola

Original Photograph: Herbola Middleton Backstage at First San Francisco Poetry Festival (1976)

San Francisco, CA: Sam Silver, 1976. Original Developed Photographic Print. Single Sheet. “The original core group of those who came up with the idea and began to act on it were [Lawrence] Ferlinghetti (1919-2021), [Neeli] Cherkovski (1945-2024), Peter LeBlanc (b. 1930) 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 “businessman” 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 Veterans’ 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” (from The Thomas Rain Crowe Archive, p. 72). An original photographic print (measuring appx. 8 x 10” including margins) featuring the musician, Herbola Middleton backstage at the First Annual San Francisco Poetry Festival. Of Middleton, comparably little is known. However, we can say that the inclusion of Middleton’s musical outfit spoke to the well-documented cosmopolitanism of the Second San Francisco Renaissance & its authors. Whether from North Beach, Berkeley, or key localities further afield (like Marin County, for example, or the San Juan Ridge), SSFR authors (almost to a woman & man) championed an interest in global musics, and were hip to a vision of Modernism as a global phenomenon. Middleton’s inclusion at the SFPF, then, can thus be seen as another flower of this interest. Original photographic print on single sheet: the first & only printing of an incredible documentary photograph. A faded blue copyright stamp is located at verso near bottom top left-hand corner stating: “PHOTO COPYRIGHT | SAM SILVER | P.O. BOX 2001 | BERKELEY CALIF. 94702 | 415-848-0199 415-841-6500 | ONE TIME USE ONLY UNLESS | OTHERWISE SPECIFIED." Silver, like Pamela Mosher, was one among several photographer-friends that festival organizer Thomas Rain Crowe (b. 1949) kept in his Mim-Rev rolodex: that he employed or invited to capture the Renaissance action. Faded evidence that Silver initially attempted to place his stamp in the top right-hand corner of the photograph is likewise present, though faintly (see photographs). A second notation — this time, in Crowe’s hand, and in in thin, blue pen ink — is present near the rightmost fine-edge of same and reads: “Herbola Middle / SF Poetry Fest. 1976.” In Fine-Very Fine condition with only slight rubbing & mute-to-faint scratching present (and lowly) at glossy recto; a few tiny bumps to edges & corners; moderate age-toning present, throughout (with identifying notations, & related writings noted above). Very Fine. [Item #7899]

Price: $80.00