The Committee: Watts Translator 1965

John and Mel

John Brent and Mel Stewart. Photo by Fred Ross.

A while ago Alan Myerson lent us some reel to reel tapes and audio cassettes for use in our documentary project. WIth the help of the Bay Area Video Coalition, we digitized a number of reel to reel recordings from 1965-1967. We’ve found many gems, including recordings of workshops with Del Close, live shows, live sets, and rehearsal recordings.

One piece of material was particularly relevant in a year that was marked by a summer of uprisings against systems of white supremacy. We’re proud to present you The Committee from December 1965, looking back on the Watts uprisings from the previous summer. With John Brent, Mel Stewart, Jessica Myerson, and Scott Beach – and music by Ellsworth Milburn and an introduction by Garry Goodrow – we give you: The Committee: Watts Translator 1965.

We hope this brings you a smile or two.

Have a safe and healthy holiday season.

Sam Shaw and Jamie Wright

 

Who Says Satire Has a Limited Shelf Life?

Forty-Niners quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s refusal, in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, to stand for the National Anthem reminds us of how The Committee depicted a similar instance of non-violent resistance. As spot-on today as it was almost 50 years ago, The Committee’s “Star Spangled Banner” scene is emblematic of their vision of American nationalism, the militarism at the heart of our national identity, and what happens to protesters who won’t stand up and salute the flag. This clip is from 1969’s “A Session with The Committee”, but the scene goes back with the company to 1966 at least.  Featuring Peter Bonerz, Barbara Bosson, Carl Gottlieb, Christopher Ross, Garry Goodrow, Howard Hesseman, Jessica Myerson, and Mel Stewart. #respect #Kaepernick #nationalanthem

Digging Deep.

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We’re grateful to Jeremy Paz, John Brent’s son, who lent us a number of audiotapes that feature interviews with several Committee members, many of whom are no longer with us. We thought this one might be a nice tease. The labels are a little hard to read, but the tapes read, from top to bottom, “Garry”, “Mimi Farina Interview”, and “Committee Weekend”. There are several more. Thanks, Jeremy, for entrusting these valuables with us. They are being stored under armed guard in a climate-controlled former salt mine near Area 51.

Garry Goodrow: 1933 – 2014

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We were so sad to hear that Garry Goodrow passed away this week. He is such an important piece of The Committee’s story, and while we did get some strong footage of him when he visited SF for last year’s reunion, we didn’t get enough. We look forward to learning more about him, and we will tell his story, but we can no longer get more from him firsthand and that, frankly, sucks.

Garry was an original member of The Committee. He was hired after some success with the Living Theater (he played a major role in the original stage production and film adaptation of Jack Gelber’s Beat era classic, The Connection). Alan Myerson originally wanted Alan Arkin. When Arkin was cast in a show on Broadway, he suggested Goodrow take his place.

If The Committee was a collective of comedian-activists, Garry embodied the role perfectly. He was on the streets as a leader/emcee for the Vietnam Day march in Oakland in 1965. He was a go-to emcee for every kind of counter-culture benefit and rock show throughout the sixties. In the early seventies, when Jane Fonda started the Fuck The Army (FTA) tour, Garry signed on to replace the overworked, burned-out Elliott Gould. Lindsay Goss, a graduate student who is studying the FTA tour, provided us with a package of research that she compiled, which included this gem from the May 10, 1971 edition of the Monterey Peninsula Herald:

Goodrow, formerly of the San Francisco cabaret troupe The Committee, listened to a jet taking off from Monterey Peninsula airport and commented “In many places in the world, that sound means you have to take cover, you have to get your children in this bomb shelter or they’ll be bombed or strafed or napalmed. That’s why I’m in the show. You have to do something.”

After The Committee, Goodrow was cast in National Lampoon’s Lemmings, the pioneering stage show that brought him together with John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Christopher Guest, Tony Hendra, Sean Kelly, and others. With that show, he achieved a track record that no one could really match at the time.

Of course he kept playing hard in his later years, reuniting with old friends in Sills & Company shows and spots on WKRP in Cincinnati, and establishing a solid career as a character actor in Dirty Dancing and other films throughout the eighties.  Garry lived the role of a comedian embedded in the world, reacting to current events, and simply giving a shit; and that inspires us. The 21st century needs more activists like Garry Goodrow. We hope, as we help tell the story of Garry and The Committee, that more people start to give a shit, do something about it, and start to live in the world.

The man was an original and he is missed.

– Sam Shaw & Jamie Wright

goodrowdarepolaroid

(Michael Dare polaroid used with permission.)