“We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single on of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell… We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, ‘Stop it, now!'”

~ Molly Ivins (1944-2007)

This week on From the Vault, we mark the end of Women’s History Month with a special tribute to Molly Ivins, syndicated columnist and best-selling author, using materials from deep within the vault.

In her own words, Molly Ivins takes a Texas slant on the press and presidents that make up America’s political roadmap. With wit as dry as a bleached cow skull and an eye fixed firmly on hypocrisy, Ivins recalls the landscape of the long trail traveled, and assesses with a clear eye the way forward. Her unique brand of humor brings the welcome warmth of a fireside yarn to the hard-nosed reality of a rocky political landscape.

Pacifica Affiliate Programmers can find this program available for broadcast download at www.audioport.org. Password required.

Archival recordings used in this program, Molly Ivins:

PZ0300.16 Voices of Pacifica: Molly Ivins MORE INFO

KZ1930 Journalists in an Environment of Oppression MORE INFO

BB4094 What Happens to a Democratic Society when Fear is Rampant / John Henry Faulk MORE INFO

KZ1701 Populism, Feminism, and the Old Boy Institution / Molly Ivins MORE INFO

KZ2010.04 KGB in London and Molly Ivins’ Politics MORE INFO

PZ0688.86 Democracy Now! 01/29/2007 MORE INFO

PZ0688.89 Democracy Now! 02/01/07 MORE INFO

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

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From the Vault continues to celebrate Women’s History Month with a special episode dedicated to women’s poetry and prose. With literally hundreds of poetry readings by women in our collection, it was quite a challenge to decide who makes the cut for this special show, and who does not; we screened material from the likes of Rita Dove, Elizabeth Seargeant, Adrian Mitchell, Josephine Miles, Barbara Holland, Gwendolyn Brooks, Alice Walker, Adrianne Rich, Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton, Claudia Rankine, Marilyn Waniek — the list goes on… ultimately, though, we settled on five of the greats: Grace Cavalieri, Anais Nin, Anne Sexton, Marianne Moore, and Maya Angelou.

Grace Cavelieri is the author of fourteen collections of poetry, and long-time producer and host of the Library of Congress’ radio show The Poet and the Poem, originally broadcast on Pacifica station WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington, D.C. Today, we will hear Grace hosting her radio show in 1989, and reading her piece Going South. She has been called one of America’s greatest living poets.

Marianne Moore was a prolific poet from the 1920’s until her death in 1972, winning in her career the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the Bollingen Award. In 1956, Marianne Moore was recorded in KPFA’s studios, in what we’ve come to realize is an extra-rare voice recording of this amazing poet. We’ll also hear a 1968 recording in which Moore reads her piece What Are Years.

Anne Sexton, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for for her third book, Poetry, Live, or Die, was regarded as a tragic poet for her often confessional poetry; it was her ‘night-time’ poetry that set the stage for Robert Lowell and Sylvia Path, among others. After Sexton’s death in 1974, Pacifica station KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles produced a documentary on her life, and featured a 1965 poetry reading for the Young Men’s Hebrew Association in New York City.

Anais Nin, feminist author and diarist, visited Pacifica stations KPFK and KPFA regularly, as early as 1966. The Pacifica Radio Archives holds over 20 recordings of Ms.Nin, but one stands out in particular: a 1972 KPFK recording entitled An Evening with Anais Nin, in which feminist artist Judy Chicago interviews Nin, and Nin reads from her work, The Diary of Anais Nin, Volume 4. We play this treat for for your listening pleasure.

Maya Angelou is only the second poet to ever give an address at a Presidential inauguration, for Bill Clinton in 1993. Hugely popular and widely honored, Angelou, nearly 80 years old, continues to be a force in the literary world, with recent talk of her hostiing a satellite radio poetry program. We go back to 1982, to an adress Angelou gave at the Los Angeles Community College entitled Sheroes and Heroes.

Pacifica Affiliate Programmers can find this program available for broadcast download at www.audioport.org. Password required.
PZ0673.046 From the Vault: Women’s Poetry and Prose MORE INFO

Archival programs used in this recording, Women’s Poetry and Prose:

BB5145 Marianne Moore: A Reading at the University of Texas MORE INFO

BB1922 Marianne Moore at Berkeley MORE INFO

BC2207 Anne Sexton MORE INFO

WZ0217.117 The Poet and the Poem 09/18/89 MORE INFO

BC0619 An Evening with Anais Nin MORE INFO

KZ1207 Maya Angelou: Our Sheroes and Heroes MORE INFO

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

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This week on From the Vault, in celebration of Women’s History Month, we’ll spend some time with three women who helped shape the nature of women in the film business: Shelley Winters, Ruth Gordon, and Bette Davis. This week’s episode also serves to highlight the results of our recent collaboration with the San Francisco International Film Festival; the Festival having approached Pacifica Radio Archives in 2006 about obtaining copies of what appeared to be relatively rare recordings of notable film personalities from the 1960’s and 1970’s addressing large SFIFF audiences over the years. Upon further investigation, Archives staff discovered some real treats- magnetic audio tapes only recently rescued from a flooded basement in Berkeley, California. These recordings are part of a larger collection of recordings from the San Francisco International Film Festival, which in May 2007, celebrates it’s 50th Anniversary.

So, this week on the show, we’ll feature the Women of Film, as they appeared on stage in front of welcoming audiences in San Francisco. First, we’ll hear Shelley Winters, who passed away recently in early 2006, talk about her marriages, her unconventional looks, and her love of the craft in a memorable appearance at the Festival in 1976. Then we’ll laugh with Ruth Gordon as she chats about her playwriting, the controversial romance depicted in Harold and Maude, and working with Thornton Wilder. Finally, Bette Davis takes us out as she brings down the house with her spitfire wisecracks and wistful reminiscences of old Hollywood. Throughout the program, we’ll be joined by Marion Rosenberg, O.B.E. from the Women in Film Foundation, and Millie Gregory, author of Women Who Run the Show: How a Brilliant and Creative New Generation of Women Stormed Hollywood (published by St. Martin’s Press, New York).

Pacifica Affiliate Programmers can find this program available for broadcast download at www.audioport.org. Password required.

Archival recordings used in this program, Women in Film:

AZ1181 Bette Davis, San Francisco Film Festival 1969 MORE INFO

AZ1196 Ruth Gordon, San Francisco Film Festival 1973 MORE INFO

AZ1192 Shelley Winters, San Francisco Film Festival 1976 MORE INFO

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

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Dr. Helen Caldicott is perhaps most influential environmental activist in the past 35 years. She has fought tirelessly against nuclear proliferation and industrial overconsumption, helping to found numerous groups in her home country of Australia, the United States, and Europe to address environmental and nuclear issues; one group, International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. Dr. Caldicott is an articulate speaker, and has made many public addresses concerning the causes she is so passionate about — in the mid 1990’s, she even hosted a weekly radio show on Pacifica Radio’s WBAI in New York City to champion her causes.

Dr. Caldicott’s passion is well documented on audio tape within our vaults, and in an original Pacifica Radio Archives documentary, An Audio-Biography of Helen Caldicott, this material is showcased. You will hear memorable addresses from Dr. Caldicott such as “If You Love This Planet – 1993,” “Pretense of Reality: Creation of Ideology – 1988,” “Is the United States a True Democracy? – 1988,” and “Let’s Be Hot – 1990.” Also included is Dr. Caldicott’s address from the ‘Shut ’em All Down: A No-Nuke Rally’ in Washington, DC, 1979, and speech given at the Woman’s International Democratic Federation in Moscow, 1987. These special recordings, when woven together, presents a compelling and truly passionate human being.

Pacifica Affiliate Programmers can find this program available for broadcast download at www.audioport.org. Password required.

Archival recordings used in this program, An Audio-Biography of Helen Caldicott:

PZ0507.01-02 An Audio-Biography of Helen Caldicott MORE INFO

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

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As the United States entered the 1960’s, perhaps no other city in America was as segregated as Birmingham, Alabama, and this basic condition expected the likely conclusion of a civil rights flashpoint. In early 1963, events came to a head, and Pacifica Radio reporters were there to capture it all on magnetic audio tape — producing recordings that have been the charge of Pacifica Radio Archives ever since, and represent the very best of Pacifica’s mission and creativity.

This week on From the Vault, we jump back to 1963, to the volatile and unforgiving streets of Birmingham, and experience the sounds of an era unvarnished, within earshot of history unpurified, through the brilliant documentary Freedom Now! produced by Chris Koch, Dale Minor, and Robert Kramer in 1963. Freedom Now! documents the struggle for for racial equality that tore this troubled city apart, and the demonstrations that led to an agreemnet between citizens of all colors. Includes actuality of of the rally, riots, and the voices of Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy, and Birmingham’s Mayor and Sheriff.
This recording was preserved through a generous grant from the Ford Foundation in 2006.

Archival recordings used in this program, Freedom Now!:

BB0385a-b Freedom Now! MORE INFO

Click here to purchase a copy of this program or learn more about and purchase copies of the historic archival recordings used within this episode. To purchase a CD copy of this program by phone, please call Pacifica Radio Archives at 800.735.0230 x 262.

Click here to send an email to From the Vault.

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