ASHLEIGH BRILLIANT: All Is Lost, Save Honor And Peanut Butter.

Recently, I have been wondering about the location of some documents from my college days. With my ever more noticeable memory loss, I just couldn’t remember where I had put them. Yesterday, they turned up – inserted in my copy of “Howl”. Which segues to the story that I wanted to share with you. 

Back in the ancient time of my college leisure at the University of Oregon, the powers that be, a combination of students and administrators, decided that in the interests of open discussion and tolerance, there should be a designated “free speech” area on the campus. And shortly, there appeared a brick podium structure outside of the student union where both intellectual and unwashed were encouraged to give forth with “free speech”. And many took advantage of the likely audience of loungers and passersby from this strategic spot. Some were scheduled speeches and some were impromptu.

In 1965 or thereabouts, an unfortunate history teacher at Bend Community College (in Bend, Oregon for all of my readers from the East) named Ashleigh Brilliant found himself in trouble for having read publicly Allen Ginsberg’s filthy and sometimes banned poem, “Howl”. As it happened, a regressive troglodyte named Don P. Pence, president of this bastion of learning, was among those who had banned the poem. Brilliant was not offered a renewal of his contract.

In this time of student activism, Brilliant was invited to present his case to the soap dodgers at the University of Oregon’s Free Speech Platform. I and my extensive hoard of six or seven bohemians vowed to support this brave freedom of speech effort.

Brilliant gave what I am certain was a passionate and inspiring presentation in defense of freedom of speech and a  rousing condemnation of the banning of works of great literature! In truth, I don’t remember a word of it. But I must have had a great time adding my support to this worthwhile effort.

What I do remember is that Brilliant distributed a mimeographed flier to interested listeners, entitled “Some Unpoemed Titles”. I have kept it all of these fifty years, and am pleased to share it with you.

Brilliant subsequently turned his unpoemed titles into a lucrative business, eventually transmorgrifying into a syndicated cartoon called “Pot-Shots by Ashleigh Brilliant”. I’m sure you all remember seeing it in the daily newspapers. Here is a 1979 example of Pot-Shots.

Brilliant was indeed brilliant, taking short snips and bon mots from the public domain and adding a cartoon to the then copyrighted product. On a few occasions, he had to go to court to defend his copyright, but seems to have been successful. He apparently became known as a professional epigrammatist. You will note that some of his 1965 “titles” are a little explicit. In his syndication years, he seems to have been much more constrained. I guess Brilliant is still alive and living in the Santa Barbara area of California. He was born in 1933 in London, England. So he would be about 84 now. So here’s to the good health and even longer life of Ashleigh Brilliant whose defense of free speech left an indelible imprint on my life.

November 2016 update: Since this post, I found a 2002 lecture which Brilliant gave in Bend, describing his free speech experience. It's worth reading. Go to https://www.ashleighbrilliant.com/writings.html#FreeSpeech

July, 2017 update: Here is some correspondence with Mr. Brilliant:
Me: Hello Mr Brilliant. Here's hoping you are still with us. I wanted to share with you that I heard you speak in Eugene Oregon back in 1965, and a little while ago I wrote about my expreience in my blog. You can see it at grumblingatwill.blogspot.com . I hope you can forgive any infringement on your copyrights, but it is too good a story not to share with my grandchildren. Roger Doherty

Mr. Brilliant:
  
Hello Roger,
I'm touched by your tribute.
Thanks so much for this long delayed, but therefore all the more welcome, recognition.

Just one point:  None of my words (as opposed to the accompanying images) ever knowingly came from the "Public Domain,"  but were and are all original.

All best,
Ashleigh Brilliant

Roger Doherty