Robert Frank, Alfred Leslie (directors) PULL MY DAISY (1959) Set of 4 photos

[New York: G-String Enterprises, 1959]. Set of four (4) vintage original 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm.) black-and-white print still photos. Three have the title written in ink in lower blank margin, two have marginal chips and one has a staple hole. Near fine.

Based on an incident in the life of Beat icon Neal Cassady and his wife, the painter Carolyn, this short film tells the story of a railway brakeman whose wife invites a respected bishop over for dinner. However, the brakeman’s bohemian friends crash the party, with comic results.

Originally intended to be called The Beat Generation, the title Pull My Daisy was taken from the poem of the same name written by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Cassady in the late-1940s. Part of the original poem was used as a lyric in musician David Amram’s jazz composition that opens the film.

The Beat philosophy emphasized spontaneity, and the film conveyed the quality of having been thrown together or even improvised. Pull My Daisy was accordingly praised for years as an improvisational masterpiece. It was filmed in co-director Alfred Leslie’s loft at Fourth Ave. & 12th St. in Manhattan. (Wikipedia)

Any original photos from this film are exceedingly scarce, and these are the only ones which I have ever seen. No available documentation allows me to state with certainty who shot these still images, but it is very possibly the work of Frank.

Out of stock