New York Pressed to Pardon Lenny Bruce

Associated Press | 5/27/03 | Larry McShane

[theoverseer]

New York Pressed to Pardon Lenny Bruce

By LARRY McSHANE

Associated Press Writer

Here's a six-letter word rarely associated with the late comedian Lenny Bruce: Pardon.

Supporters of Bruce, the foul-mouthed comic convicted of obscenity charges in 1964, have launched a campaign to win him a legal reprieve - 37 years after his tragic death.

The goal is to "correct a grave injustice - the prosecution and persecution of comedian Lenny Bruce for nothing more than speaking his mind," said Ron Collins, co-author of "The Trials of Lenny Bruce: The Fall and Rise of an American Icon."

The movement to win Bruce a pardon boasts an impressive roster of backers, from 25 First Amendment lawyers (including Floyd Abrams) to 10 artists and writers (including Robin Williams, the Smothers Brothers and Penn and Teller).

"A pardon now is too late to save Lenny Bruce," read the artists' letter to Gov. George Pataki. "But a posthumous pardon would set the record straight and thereby demonstrate New York's commitment to freedom - free speech, free press, free thinking."

Pataki would have to sign off on a Bruce pardon, and a gubernatorial spokeswoman did not return a call for comment. New York state has never granted a posthumous pardon, although nine other states have, said Robert Corn-Revere, the lead attorney for the Bruce forces.

Bruce's daughter, Kitty, and his former wife, Honey Bruce Friedman, both sent along letters of support for the campaign, which was launched last week.

"I truly believe my father's soul can rest in peace with this," Kitty Bruce said.

In life, her father became a troubled soul. His last years were consumed by legal and financial problems. In August 1966, the 39-year-old Bruce died of a drug overdose.

While Bruce was considered a pariah by some in the '60s, he's generally viewed now as a groundbreaking performer who totally changed the stand-up comedy business.

"Every night when I get onstage, I thank God or whoever's up there for Lenny Bruce," said comedian Lisa Lampanelli, who joined Collins at a recent news conference. "He has become my hero."

During a November 1964 performance at Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village, Bruce used more than 100 "obscene" words - most of the four-letter variety, although one contained a dozen letters. Undercover police detectives attended the show, and later testified against Bruce.

"The cops did the act for the grand jury and it stunk, and I got busted," Bruce observed wryly at the time. He was convicted following a six-month trial. Bruce mishandled his own appeal, and died with the conviction still on the books.

The owner, Howard Solomon, was convicted along with Bruce - although his conviction was eventually reversed.

Any pardon for Bruce would be as much a symbolic victory as a legal win.

"By posthumously pardoning Lenny Bruce, the state of New York declares to the world that it is a safe harbor for creative minds," said Corn-Revere. "It would serve as a public monument to liberty."

[theoverseer]

The obscenity trials of this genius forerunner of comedians like George Carlin, Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy shows how difficult it is to define the term legally.

Because he pointed out the truth in many things, and used four letter words, the blue-noses wanted him silenced. Yes, for the most part his convictions were overturned, but no nightclub owner wanted the liability of the local vice squad kicking in the door and charging obscenity.

It goes to show you how the true meaning of tolerance means letting people do what they want with their free time as long as they don't hurt anyone else.

[Fred Mertz]

New Yorkers would stone him to death these days, with Pataki and Hillary at the helm.

Jim Robinson would send him to the smokey backroom and he'd still be alive.

[RLK]

Take your mission to Playboy magazine and its juvenile-minded readers. Bruce was about as funny as a case of AIDS.

[KC_Conspirator]

Bruce was before my time, but I have seen clips and movies of him and think he was not funny at all. Everytime I listen to him I sit stoned-faced because he is so unfunny.

[gcruse]

Bruce was about as funny as a case of AIDS.

And that deserves jail time?  You aren't one
of those adults who uses baby talk words
like 'potty mouth,' I hope.

[RLK]

And that deserves jail time? You aren't one of those adults who uses baby talk words like 'potty mouth,' I hope.

-----------------------------

When angered I curse with proficiency in five languages and with enough force to clear entire football stadiums in minutes. I don't do it to amuse other people.

I also realize that there must be some respect for civilized standards or we will have the type of society we are getting wherein all trashiness is trivialize and we end up with presidents engaging in oral-anal sex in the Oval Office. You decide what kind of world you want to live in and tell me what shock-hustler Lenny Bruce contributed to it.

[gcruse]

I like the world we have right now and Lenny Bruce did his share to break down the barriers of what adults can say to adults. We still have a ways to go, but the trend is good.

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

...after his tragic death.

A school bus flipping over on an icy road is tragic. Killing yourself through the deliberate abuse of drugs is not tragic.

[RLK]

I like the world we have right now and Lenny Bruce did his share to break down the barriers of what adults can say to adults.

-------------------

He broke down the barriers between pathology and healthy civilization. But if you like the world the way it is now, you've said it all.

[Mr. Mojo]

Lenny Bruce - written by Bob Dylan

Lenny Bruce is dead, but his ghost lives on and on
Never did get any Golden Globe award, never made it to Synanon.
He was an outlaw, that's for sure,
More of an outlaw than you ever were.
Lenny Bruce is gone but his spirit's livin' on and on.

Maybe he had some problems, maybe some things that he couldn't work out
But he sure was funny and he sure told the truth and he knew what he was talkin' about.
Never robbed any churches nor cut off any babies' heads,
He just took the folks in high places and he shined a light in their beds.
He's on some other shore, he didn't wanna live anymore.

Lenny Bruce is dead but he didn't commit any crime
He just had the insight to rip off the lid before its time.
I rode with him in a taxi once,
only for a mile and a half, Seemed like it took a couple of months.
Lenny Bruce moved on and like the ones that killed him, gone.

They said that he was sick 'cause he didn't play by the rules
He just showed the wise men of his day to be nothing more than fools.
They stamped him and they labeled him like they do with pants and shirts,
He fought a war on a battlefield where every victory hurts.
Lenny Bruce was bad, he was the brother that you never had.

[ladyinred]

Isn't he dead?
Is Trent Lott getting a pardon too?
How about Anita Bryant?
Dr. Laura?
Newt?

[RLK]

Lenny Bruce - written by Bob Dylan

----------------

One piece of dung eulegizing another piece of dung.

[ladyinred]

I hope you visited his home page.

[RLK]

Whose home page? As far as Bruce, I had it with him when he was a pseudocause developed by Hugh Hefner probably before you were born.

[Qwerty]

I hope he gets a pardon...

[headsonpikes]

"He broke down the barriers between pathology and healthy civilization."

He kicked open the doors of the self-sanctified whited sepulchers of contemporary American 'civilization' and shamed them publicly.

That was Lenny Bruce's unforgivable crime.

[onyx]

LB was an obnoxious, smelly and un-bathed junkie, and that's only his physical description.

That his number one follower is Robin Williams, speaks volumes for the dead creep.

[RLK]

He kicked open the doors of the self-sanctified whited sepulchers of contemporary American 'civilization' and shamed them publicly.

-----------------

Say that in terms of specifics instead of romanticised abstraction so I know what you mean.

[headsonpikes]

The primary target of his humor was the hypocrisy of pillars of the community, who hired black hookers, and overlooked drug use by elites, and sanctimoniously disparaged the 'primitive' and 'criminal' behaviors of Bruce's chosen milieu.

I, too, was shocked by his coarseness at the time(early 60s). But his humor was so effectively disestablishmentarian that I had to grudgingly admire him.

After his death, I realized he was a brilliant, but flawed man. He deserved a better life than he had - that's partly his fault, and partly the fault of those who persecuted him.

All imho.

[Chi-townChief]

If Lenny was around today, he'd rapidly be silienced like Andrew Dice Clay for being too politically incorrect and culturally insensitive.