ANDY WARHOL AND THE BEARD BY MICHAEL MCCLURE

back to MAY 26, 1966: THE EPI PLAYS SAN FRANCISCO

Michael McClure's play, The Beard was first performed on December 18, 1965 at the Actor's Workshop of San Francisco. It was directed by Marc Estrin, with the set designed by Robert LaVigne and costumes by Louise Foss. Billie Dixon played the part of Jean Harlow and Richard Bright played Billy The Kid.

The next presentation of the play was at the Fillmore where it was accompanied by a light show by Anthony Martin and rock music blaring from the sound system.

The third and fourth performances of the McClure play took place at The Committee, a San Francisco theatre night club in the North Beach area. The play was tape-recorded secretly by the San Francisco Police Department. During the fifth performance at The Committee, the police filmed the ending of the play and then arrested Billie Dixon and Richard Bright backstage. Initially, they were charged with "obscenity", then "conspiracy to commit a felony" and ultimately with "lewd and dissolute conduct in a public place."

The American Civil Liberties Union represented The Beard in their legal challenge. Twelve days after the bust, the play was put on in Berkeley by Rare Angel Productions to a capacity crowd, including more than a hundred invited expert witnesses such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Alan Watts as well as various clergy members and academics. Photographers and crews armed with tape recorders were invited to film and record the police who were expected to film the event themselves.

Seven members of the Berkeley Police Department and the District Attorney's office showed up two hours prior to the performance "and begun harassment of the actors, the author, and the stage crew." ACLU representative, Malcolm Burnstein and the author of the play, Michael McClure forbade taping/filming of the performance which was ignored by the police and District Attorney's office.

The performance turned into a "happening" with the attorneys, author and actors being cheered and applauded by the audience. Invited celebrities gave speeches after the performance and the police left quietly. Five days later, the city of Berkeley brought their own charges of "lewd and dissolute conduct in a public place" against The Beard.

Litigation continued for five months until Marshall Krause of the ACLU persuaded the San Francisco Superior Court that the charges were inappropriate and the charges were dropped in the San Francisco case. Berkeley followed suit, withdrawing its charges, and an important legal precedent was set. (EV40)

back to MAY 26, 1966: THE EPI PLAYS SAN FRANCISCO