Ken Kesey Merry Pranksters collection, (bulk 1964-1969).

ArchivalResource

Ken Kesey Merry Pranksters collection, (bulk 1964-1969).

The bulk of the collection contains home movie footage taken during The Merry Pranksters cross-country road trip on the day-glo painted school bus nicknamed Further. The footage consists of The Merry Pranksters painting the bus at Kesey's home in La Honda, California, the bus leaving La Honda in June 1964, down into Berkeley, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Big Sur, through Arizona, the Southwest, Louisiana and New Orleans, through Pensacola, Florida and up the East Coast into New York City, in which the Pranksters are seen arriving by way of the New Jersey Turnpike in July 1964. Featured are the numerous wild adventures inside the bus, including Neal Cassady at the wheel. There is also footage of the Pranksters' arrival on the bus Further (without Kesey) to the 1969 Woodstock music festival, acid tests at the Kesey home in La Honda and other California venues backed by music played by the Grateful Dead (before LSD became an illegal substance in 1966). Participants featured in these tests include the Hell's Angels. There is footage of Further and the Pranksters at Lake Tranquility in Canada, footage associated with the Springfield Creamery in Oregon (owned by Ken Kesey's brother, Chuck and his wife, Sue), Yellowstone National Park, Oregon beaches, "Wikkicup," footage taken at Easter, and a bullfight in Tijuana, Mexico. There are also home movies of the Kesey family and a promotional film labeled "Red Cross footage--James Stewart," a CD titled "Best of William S. Burroughs," and a reel-to-reel audiotape of the music from the Broadway production of West side story.

495 film reels (176 sd., 16 mm. safety mag track, 256 si., col., 16 mm. safety reversal positives, 21 16 mm. safety preprint, 9 si., col., 16 mm. safety A/B rolls, 24 col. 16 mm. safety original pic negs, 2 mag sd., b&w safety comp dupe negs, 4 si., col., super 8 mm. safety work prints, 2 si., 16 mm. safety pic neg, 1 opt sd., 16 mm. safety track neg)8 sound tape reels (analog, 1/4 in.)1 CD (digital, 4 3/4 in.)1 videoreel (mag sd., 2 in.)

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7448899

University of California, Los Angeles

Related Entities

There are 5 Entities related to this resource.

Cassady, Neal

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j39mk9 (person)

American author. From the description of Neal Cassady Collection, 1947-1965. (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRC); University of Texas at Austin). WorldCat record id: 122632902 ...

Grateful Dead (Musical group)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64569mv (corporateBody)

The Grateful Dead was formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The founding members were Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann....

Kesey, Ken

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ft8qwh (person)

Ken Kesey was a uniquely American author and cultural figure. His interest in the outdoors, the extraordinary, and experimental drug use inspired his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Equally vital as a member of the Merry Pranksters, the 1960s counterculture group, Kesey expressed and embodied an uninhibited individual's need to resist corrupt authority. His literary output was sparse, as he preferred experience to authorship, but his mantra of being different without being a threat...

Hell's Angels

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cg3g8k (corporateBody)

Woodstock Festival (1969 : Bethel, N.Y.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6387zth (corporateBody)

Woodstock was a music festival held between August 15–18, 1969, which attracted an audience of more than 400,000. Thirty two acts performed outdoors at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York. It was one of the biggest rock festivals of all time and a cultural touchstone for the late 1960s....