Various (Bryan, John (Editor); Edler, Peter; Nevens, Joe; Ridge, Sam et al.)

The Open City Press Vol. 1 No. 12 (February 24 - March 2, 1965)

San Francisco, CA: John Bryan, 1965. First Edition. Folded Sheets. "Dr. No, the secretary of war and played by Robert[sic] Wiseman, reveals to Sean Connery that he is the son of a German missionary and a Chinese Warlord. Pictures of Toshiro Mifune on the wall seem to confirm this. He confides that at the moment of Cooper's ejaculation he will be master of the world. Connery coolly orders Mickey Hargitay, a native servant, to bring the finger bowls." (excerpt, On Location in Vietnam, Peter Edler, pg. 7). Open City Press was a San Francisco weekly founded and edited by John Bryan (1934-2007). It ran for 15 issues, from November 18, 1964 to March 17–23, 1965, making The Open City Press Vol. 1 No. 12 the fourth-to-last issue. After quitting the San Francisco Chronicle in 1964, Bryan bought a case of metal type, set the copy by hand and pulled proofs to paste up for cheap offset printing. Open City Press covered San Francisco bohemian life & the Free Speech Movement, and is often called a forerunner of the Berkeley Barb. After the closure of Open City Press Bryan relocated to Southern California and started working for Art Kunkin (1928-2019) as managing editor of the Los Angeles Free Press. He relaunched Open City Press as Open City (See Item No. 9455) in Los Angeles, starting the volume numbering with vol. 2, no. 1 (May 5–11, 1967). The newspaper is best remembered for publishing the Notes of a Dirty Old Man column by Charles Bukowski (1920-1994; See Item No. 9451). This preantepenultimate issue of Open City Press features: Peter Edler satirizing the Vietnam War in On Location in Vietnam (pg. 7). Operation Rolling Thunder, the sustained U.S. bombing campaign, began March 2, and the first Marine combat units landed at Da Nang on March 8. So this piece came out just before U.S. ground troops arrived in Vietnam, when underground papers were writing very little about the war. Also in this issue: Joe Nevens asking When Will Calif. Close Green Horror Chamber? (pg. 3; quoted above). The "green horror chamber" refers to San Quentin's gas chamber. It was painted green, which is why it was commonly called "the green room." California executed 194 people in it between 1937 and 1967; recurring column Jazzville (pg. 6) by Sam Ridge wherein Ridge reviews the musical prowess of jazz organist Jimmy Smith & several entries from editor & publisher Bryan. With letters to the editor; contemporary ads & classifieds etc. For more issues of Open City Press, please see Item No.s 9457, 9459, 9461 et al. Loose sheets folded once horizontally, tabloid-newspaper format, presumed first-&-only printing. A quintessentially exemplary, very scarce issue in this highly collectible series; of greatest interest to the Free Speech devotee. In relatively quite good-to-near fine condition with inevitable moderate-to-significant age-toning to all surfaces esp. margins/edges of old newspaper-quality paper stock; mild-to-moderate wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of leaves esp. at/from fold-corners. Good-Near Fine. [Item #9463]

Price: $100.00 save 10% $90.00