This week on From the Vault, we celebrate the 90th birthday (July 18th) of Nelson Mandela by paying tribute to three prominent South African leaders.

Rhodesia came into existence as a colonial slave state, established during the halcyon days of the British Raj. A quick glance at a modern world map, however, attests that the powerful colony would eventually assert the right of self-rule… that from the belly of Rhodesia, the independent nation of South Africa would be born.

National independence, however, is not synonymous with freedom. Was it possible that the oppressed could set a new standard for freedom-fighters the world over? In the face of modern technological warfare, could they succeed? And if so, how without the gutters of Johannesburg running red with blood?

Stephen Biko, a soon-to-be martyred activist, Desmond Tutu- a catholic priest from a township parish, and Nelson Mandela, and imprisoned social activist, would inform history of a new process of emancipation. Together they would prevail upon the state and the world to recognize humanism as the true basis for national sovereignty, and demonstrate a method whereby, for the first time in history, the slaves would free their masters.

This week, From the Vault explores the stories of three heroic South African leaders, woven together by the songs of Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba, and the recollections of Pacifica’s own Eva Georgia and Bridgette Ramasodi, women who grew up in South Africa under Apartheid.

From the Vault brings you the inspiring story of South Africa’s struggle for freedom and social justice - South Africa: A Lesson of Freedom

From the Vault is proudly presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

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“The day I graduated from high scool I was asked what I wanted to be and I said a clown… I was saying a great truth because I think there is a lot of the clown in me… to laugh at yourself is a great thing.”
~Henry Miller (1891-1980)

Henry Miller is best known for his novels Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, as well his controversial reputation for writing about sexual experiences in explicit detail. But perhaps few would ever consider this great American author’s creativity to be rooted in humor… recently remastered recordings from deep within our vault may change that perception.

Here at Pacifica Radio Archives, we are fortunate to have numerous documentaries on Henry Miller, each with extensive interviews with and recordings of Miller speaking with friends and reading from his work. What emerges from this historic audio is a surprising portrait of an incredibly funny man with living in the company great friends, abound with tales of adventure and wild drunken nights. In the episode of From the Vault, we’ll get to Henry Miller on a very personal level through intimate conversations with the author himself.

In the second half of From the Vault, we turn to an interview with Henry Miller conducted in 1956 by Ben Grauer. The interview covers everything from Miller’s happiest memories to why he admired French prostitutes so much. Throughout the interview, we’ll also hear excerpts from a variety of Miller’s works. This is Henry Miller as true as can be!

From the Vault is proudly presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

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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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This week, Pacifica Radio Archives and From the Vault celebrate the life of groundbreaking comedian and 1st Amendment-champion George Carlin, who passed away on June 22, 2008

“And bastard you can say, and hell, and damn, so I have to figure out which ones you couldn’t ever — and it came down to seven, but the list is open to amendment, and in fact, has been changed; by now, a lot of people have pointed things out to me, and I noticed some myself. The original seven words were: [expletives omitted]. Those are the ones that will curve your spine, grow hair on your hands, and maybe even bring us- God help us- peace without honor and a bourbon.”
~George Carlin (1937-2008) performing his “Filthy Words” routine in 1973.

At 2:00 pm on Tuesday, October 30, 1973, WBAI 99.5 FM host Paul Gorman broadcast, unedited, George Carlin’s “Filthy Words” monologue, and Pacifica Radio listeners in New York City were treated that autumn day to a bold and controversial test of the First Amendment. Rich- very rich- with expletives, that first unedited public broadcast of “Filthy Words” would be become the genesis for one of the most important landmark Supreme Court decisions on free speech in the last 30 years. The fallout from that historic broadcast, as documented and preserved in the vault of the Pacifica Radio Archives, provides the inspiration for this week’s episode of From the Vault.

F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, or the ‘Carlin Case’ as it is now commonly called, was really born from the action of a lone radio listener who filed a complaint with FCC some weeks after the original “Filthy Words” broadcast in 1973 on WBAI. After a volley of threats from the FCC, Pacifica Foundation (which owns and operates WBAI) dug in its heels and fought back, in the name of protecting its Mission and the interests of free speech in the United States. After an initial court victory by Pacifica, the FCC appealed to the Supreme Court, which in 1978 rejected Pacifica’s arguments and effectively established itself as a moral authority on what’s decent and what’s not.

In the first half hour, we’ll dig through the vault and explore our wonderful collection of ‘Carlin Case’ interviews, produced for WBAI in 1978 by Joe Cuomo and Mickey Waldman. The interviews are with host Paul Gorman, former FCC Commissioners, a lawyer for the National Association of Broadcasters, and a minister. Then, we’ll hear a reading of the letter that started it all, followed by a healthy dose of Carlin’s “Filthy Words” (edited for language, of course!).

In the second half hour we will hear from George Carlin himself, in excerpts from two wonderful interviews he gave - one in 1970 before his “Filthy Words” routine was broadcast on WBAI, and the other conducted by Larry Bensky at KPFA in June 1997, nearly 30 years later. Together, they provide an interesting time-lapse perspective of one of the more controversial and brilliant comedians to ever entertain America.

From the Vault is proudly presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

LISTEN to this episode.

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.

Our exploration of historic recordings featuring great film talents of Hollywood continues on this week’s episode of From the Vault — this time, we’ll hear from Alfred Hitchcock, Dame Edith Evans, Anthony Harvey, Seymore Cassell, and Alan Arkin.

The man who became known as the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, filmed many of his masterpieces just down the street from Pacifica Radio Archives’ vault, at Universal Studios. Archives’ collaborator and BBC journalist Joanne Griffith speaks with Hitchcock biographer Patrick McGilligan, who describes Hitchcock’s genesis in the film industry and places Hitchcock’s artistic contributions in historical perspective. Then, KPFA programmer Colin Edwards takes us back to 1957, as he sits with Hitchcock at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. At the time of the interview, Hitchcock had just completed filming of perhaps one of the greatest mystery movies ever made, Vertigo.

We then present 1968 recordings with actors Alan Arkin during the run of his Academy Award nominated performance in The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, the exquisite Dame Edith Evans on her film The Whisperers, and Seymore Cassell on his Academy Award nominated performance in the John Cassavetes film Faces. Finally we’ll hear from director Anthony Harvey and actress June Merrow about their work on the Oscar winning film The Lion in Winter.

We hope you enjoy this week’s episode of From the Vault, featuring amazing sound from the glorious yesteryears of Hollywood, courtesy of Pacifica Radio Archives.

From the Vault is proudly presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

LISTEN to this episode.

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.

This week on From the Vault, we decided to explore the art of cinema from the perspective of the Pacifica Radio Archives; as we began research for this program some time ago, we intended to explore the thoughts of every film director recorded within our collection; of course, we found some of the most important film directors of the 20th century – greats like David Lean, Alfred Hitchcock, Mel Brooks, Francis Ford Coppola, and Robert Altman to name a few. But, the more we listened, the more we kept returning to one interview in particular… in 1960 legendary Pacifica reporter Dale Minor recorded a very animated, opinionated and charming Jean Renoir, reflecting on his films as he perhaps approached the twilight of his career. Renoir, who was a son of master impressionist Pierre-August Renoir, was relatively unknown in the United States, yet undeniably influenced the art of film with such iconic pictures such as Grand Illusion (1933), Rules of the Game (1939), Diary of Chambermaid (1946), and The River (1951). After this interview, which is considered to be one of the treasures in our collection, Renoir went on to direct only two more films before his death in 1979.

This week, we also debut our newest Revolution Rewind Moment featuring the greatest film critic of all time, Pacifica’s Pauline Kael.

From the Vault is proudly presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

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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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Hey, Curtis Metcalf here — we’re gonna have some fun on this edition of From the Vault… When I began volunteering at the Pacifica Radio Archives in 2002, I saw an opportunity to contribute to Pacifica by helping make important programs from Pacifica’s rich broadcast history available to a wide audience. In that first year I discovered a shelf of old recordings from the San Diego Folk Festival that caught my attention– it just so happens that I have a personal interest in many types of folk music, including country blues, 1950’s country western, African and reggae. When I took a closer look at the musicians performing at the San Diego Folk festival I noticed some amazing names like Rose Maddox, Patsy Montana, Lydia Mendoza,and The Balfa Brothers — all names that made me want to take these programs off the shelves and have a good listen. And when I listened, I just knew that I had to share…

This week, I’m happy to present some of the songs that would amaze me if I heard them on the radio today… so please - sit back and enjoy this priceless collection of live recordings from thirty years past, courtesy of the Pacifica Radio Archives.

(Originally broadcast on June 22, 2007.)

From the Vault is proudly presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

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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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Robert F. Kennedy, affectionately known to all as Bobby Kennedy, against the advice of his brother Senator Ted Kennedy and many of the leading Democratic Party leaders, entered the Presidential race on March 16th, 1968. Pacifica Radio was there to record his meteoric rise from late comer to his murder in the early morning hours following his victory in the final and most coveted Primary of the race, California on June 4th, 1968.

We begin by playing one of Bobby Kennedy’s early speeches of his campaign in late March 1968 on the Campus of San Fernado State Valley College later named Cal State Northridge in 1972. He begins by playfully taking a jab at Richard Nixon, who Kennedy believed would be his opponent in the 1968 Presidential election. After his speech he fielded a handful of questions; we’ll hear him respond to one concerning the belief of Ted Kennedy and other Democratic Party leaders that Bobby’s entrance into the race would split the vote of the Democratic Party, and hurt the Party’s chances of defeating the Republican nominee in November.

Many thought that Bobby Kennedy’s support of the Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and the United Farm Workers in their Delano Grape Strike would hurt his chances of winning the California Primary — a concern that would prove to be untrue. We’ll listen to Bobby Kennedy state his position on the Farm Worker Struggle.

By 1968, the United States’ involvement in Vietnam was increasingly unpopular due not just because of the resulting cost in lives, money and resources, but because it was thought of as an “immoral war” — a war we had no business being involved in. We’ll listen to Bobby Kennedy address these concerns.

The question that may have been the most difficult to answer for Bobby, was the question of whether he would open the National Archives, which contained the sealed information on the murder of his brother President John F. Kennedy.

A few weeks later Bobby Kennedy was back in Los Angeles to speak in front of a gathering of business and financial leaders at the Biltmore Hotel on April 19th, 1968. Again we’ll hear Kennedy’s charm even when facing a hostile audience.

The death of Robert F. Kennedy marked the culmination of one of the most tragic years in United State’s history, preceded by the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a few month’s earlier, student protests and rioting in major cities around the country, and the increasing death toll of US soldiers in Vietnam — not to mention the assassination years ago of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. There was an unease in this country that was articulated in this recent interview with USA Radio Networks White House Correspondent Connie Lawn, who was a young journalist getting her first major work covering the Presidential campaign with Robert F. Kennedy. She spoke with the BBC’s Joanne Griffith about her experience on the campaign trail with Kennedy and the relevance of the historic events of 1968 today. Woven into this interview as she describes the evening of Bobby Kennedy’s shooting by Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan is event actuality from the Pacifica Radio Archives.

From the Vault is proudly presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

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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.

From the fields of the rich California farm lands to the gritty landscape of urban reality, there was a growing Movement in 1968 within the Mexican American community. Many Mexican Americans have felt at one time or another a foreigner, or an uninvited guest in the United States.

As the Civil Rights Movement lead by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. showed the world the strength of the African American spirit and capacity for organization and solidarity, The Mexican American community began to recognize their self worth and value in American society.

There was a growing consciousness that they did not sail across an ocean and establish themselves in a foreign land. The truth is they were always here, for thousands of years. This renewed sense of value translated into demands for equality and justice in the workplace, in the schools, in society. We see the establishment of the name Chicano to capture the renewed sense of pride and identity in the community.

Thanks to leaders like Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta in the fields and Rodolfo Gonzalez, Reis Lopez Tijerina and Bert Corona in the cities, we saw a renewed sense of value in the Latino Community spread across of the entire South West United States. With events like the 1968 United Mexican American Student’s Symposium at UCLA, and the work of activist and producer Moctezuma Esparza, the discouraged were given hope. This week on From the Vault, we’ll pay special tribute to those leaders and activists, in their own words.

From the Vault is presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

LISTEN to this episode.

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.

In 1968, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was planning The Poor People’s March on Washington D.C. as part of the War on Poverty. Dr. King was adamant that the Poor People’s March and campaign did not focus just on poor African Americans but included poverty-stricken people without deference to race, creed or color. Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Asians, Native Americans, and Caucasians, particularly from rural Appalachia were recruited to join the campaign. He planned to lobby congress for an Economic Bill of Rights which would include affordable housing and a guaranteed annual income for the poor of this country.

Dr. King would not live to see the March. But thanks to the efforts of the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, who took over the leadership role of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and others such as Jesse Jackson, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, poor people from around the country began their trip to Washington, DC by any way they could manage. For most of these poor people, this trip was an enormous financial sacrifice, yet a necessary burden - they would hand-deliver their message to Washington. Some of this journey was recorded by Pacifica producer Arthur Alexander along the road from Memphis Tennessee to Washington DC.

Once in Washington DC, activists constructed an encampment on the Washington Mall dubbed Resurrection City. This was used as a base camp for strategy meetings, teach-ins and speeches. On May 13th, 1968, the first sojourners arrived at Resurrection City, and Pacifica producer Ellen Kohn was there to record the events as they unfolded and to interview those who were there. Kohn captured the opening ceremonies, where the new president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (Abernathy - now dubbed ‘Mayor of Resurrection City’) delivered a moving address. But perhaps the most powerful moment of the campaign was when the Reverend Jesse Jackson lead the €œcitizens€ in his call and response anthem I Am Somebody.

Mid-June of 1968 saw the population of Resurrection City peak at 50,000 people; but after heavy rains, dampened spirits, confused agendas and the assassination Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy, Resurrection City was closed on June 24th, 1968. Although the campaign is viewed as a failure, the experiences of those who took the journey– recorded, preserved, and made accessible by Pacifica Radio Archives — is critical to the dialog of race and poverty in America.

From the Vault is presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

LISTEN to this episode.

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.

In 1968, the war in Vietnam, United States imperialism, and the racial divide were all part of the impetus that saw students raising their voices in protests, rallies, and demonstrations around the world. Predating NPR, PBS, and modern public broadcasting, Pacifica Radio was there to record and document the experiences and philosophies of these young people during this tumultuous year. In this episode of From the Vault, we revisit the May 1968 student protests in Paris, France through archival recordings recently digitized from the Pacifica Radio Archives collection.

It began in March of 1968, when students at the University of Paris (among other schools in France) spoke out against class discrimination in French society and the bureaucracy of University funding. By May, in hopes of quelling the student unrest, university officials made moves to close the school — and ordered a massive police mobilization on campus to help see this through. It had quite the opposite effect, as over 20,000 highly-charged students, together with the teachers’ union and other supporters vigorously marched to the school to protest the university’s abrupt closure. A riot ensued as police attacked the advancing protesters with batons and tear gas, and the protesters retaliated by throwing rocks and bottles — setting the stage for a series of events that would nearly bring the French government to its knees.

Today, we feature historic recordings of participants and eyewitnesses to the 1968 Paris student uprising, like National Secretary of the Young Socialist Alliance, Mary Alice Waters; chairman of the student Communist Revolutionary Group, Jean Dubé; and student leader Yves Salesse. Also, we’ll hear an interview with French artist and poet Jenny Batlay, who discusses the 1968 dynamic between artists and their turbulent environment; and the recollections of longtime Pacifica producer and National Correspondent Larry Bensky, who was living in Paris at the time of the student uprising.

From the Vault is presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

LISTEN to this episode.

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.