ALS, signed “Abbie Hoffman, unsolicited Hayden campaign worker, Palo Alto, Calif,” three sides of two pages (one 8 x 10 and one 8 x 4.5), dated May 6, written to the editor of Crawdaddy magazine, praising an article on B. Traven, referred to by Hoffman as “the world’s greatest proletarian novelist.” On the second page, he writes, “Destroy envelope & this note…Can I be travel editor? A.H.”
Autograph letter, initialed on the second page, “A.H.,” five lightly-lined pages, 5 x 8, no date, but circa 1977, to the editor of Crawdaddy magazine. In part, “This paragraph is added to Thoughts on Hollywood 1976 by A. H. Now ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth’ is completely absorbing. It’s, in a way, the story of our lives & our fantasies…as interpreted by Nicholas Roeg, David Bowie, and their friends. It is art for art’s sake not art for the sake of a better world. That is revolutionary art and people like Mr. Roeg and Mr. Bowie are far from being revolutionaries. They are what Gore Vidal called William Buckley in a long ago famous T.V. debate. The reason I hesitate to use the word is because Vidal lost $60,000 in a libel suit. By the way, Bowie in describing himself leaves off the ‘crypto.’ Still, I’m not free to call anyone anything. Knee-jerk editors don’t allow me that freedom. Although I have been publicly called everything from a fascist by Barney Rosset to a thief that stole my own book who lives in a penthouse by Rolling Stone. So enough for free speech in a free society. A true radical is never covered by U.S. laws. I have 100 examples. Returning to the Bowie Blow Job under discussion…‘The Man Who Fell to Earth’ will be a commercial success. It will be especially popular among the people who read this magazine, the avante-guarde [sic]. Especially the bored avant-guarde [sic] with no political conciencness (sp?) [sic]….[it] is a fascist project of entertainment designed to lure counter-culture freaks back into the Hollywood mainstream….DISTRACTION is the device capitalist culture uses to continually manipulate all of us sitting in a movie theater….We all get sucked into the process to distract us from the reality of American life. The rich get rich and the poor get… well, papa use to say ‘the rich can get whatever they want… everything they can buy but—poverty.’ My father was a wise man and saw a lot of movies.”
Autograph manuscript entitled “Did Ya Hear the One About the Guy From Plains,” and headed at the top, “On the run,” 10 lightly-lined pages, 8.5 x 13, no date, but published in Crawdaddy in March of 1977. In part, “Having been a civil rights worker in Americus, literally a stone’s throw away, I find it hard to swallow all the honey-coated grits being dished out daily by the fauning media. Can we really take four maybe eight more years of that ‘good ol’ gas station, that ‘good ol’ church, and all those ‘good ol’ boys swattin flys and dispensing home-spun philosophy? Way back then (a dozen years ago) working in Sumter County on one of the toughest voter registration campaigns in the South, we had a slightly different view of all those good ol’ boys….When someone got word that a group from Plains was coming over it didn’t mean Miss Lillian’s Relief Brigade. It meant board up the windows and duck.” In fine overall condition, with uniform toning to one letter, as well as some paper loss to top of one page, and expected light handling wear.
Known for his passionate denunciations of mainstream America and his outrageous, media-grabbing acts of protest, Abbie Hoffman was a constant display of energetic rebellion. Written while ‘on the run’ from his 1973 drug arrest, this collection captures his dynamic spirit with great humor. Serving as the Travel Editor for the pioneering rock magazine Crawdaddy, his review of David Bowie and Nicholas Roeg’s film ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth’ wittily insults the film, its stars, even the Crawdaddy readership—“It will be especially popular among the people who read this magazine, the avante-guarde. Especially the bored avant-guarde with no political conciencness”—turning a run-of-the-mill review into a scathing critique on American culture as a whole.
Again, in the handwritten manuscript for the article ‘Did Ya Hear the One About the Guy from Plains,’ Hoffman delivers a sharp-witted history of newly elected President Carter’s hometown of Plains, Georgia. Having started his career in political activism with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Georgia, he denounces the “good ol’ boys” view of Plains, offering a harsh social history of a town rife with racial suppression. (Hoffman was later arrested with Carter’s daughter, Amy, for trespassing at UMass Amherst during a protest.) Later, Hoffman would be tried as a member of the Chicago 8 and subsequently acquitted on appeal. Such extensive autograph material from the counter-culture superstar is incredibly hard to come by, making this collection, which highlights Hoffman’s humor and relentlessly rebelling attitude, a remarkable find. RR Auction COA.
