Jack Kerouac on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1959)

Taken from Daybreak Films/Mill Valley Film Group's documentary "Kerouac, the Movie" (1985). Edits were in the footage already.

Wanted: this complete interview and other Kerouac footage. Message me if you can help!

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  People & Blogs

[Gordon James]

I saw this when it was braodcast in 1959 (I was 21) It didn't make any sense then and it still doesn't

[2lostbikes]

I can see where this could not make sense if you're used to straight-forward storytelling. Still, this must have left some impression on you for you to be looking it up all these years later.

[superfob54]

Not necessarily. Might not've made any impression at all. Maybe, all these years later, he's still just wondering "what's so great about it?"

[2lostbikes]

Yeah, you can read his reply here. I was just being hopeful, I guess.

[giorgiobello1]

watched this video over and over and ended up going to NY, Amsterdam, Croatia, UK, Italy, France, Turkey in one year. Just bought a ticket to Brasil, Argentina and Uruguay...this Kerouac changed my life :)

[Janelle Sadler]

God, our world has dumbed down since this era...Steve Allen, an incredible pianist accompanying Jack K...reading out of his book....unbelievably, COOL.

[Socratic469]

Can anyone write like him nowadays, "Sleeping in their raw bed and stupid" ?

I doubt there're tragic hands now to type something forlornly equivalent.

[Matt M]

Im in love with how nervous he is at the start, barely mumbling how long it took to write, and he starts reading and he's instantly at home, instantly a master of his domain.

[aperfectarmenian]

wonderful to hear Jack live, reading his own work. I can see why he is so mesmerizing.

[drinkingpoolwater]

the high-water mark of a generation.

[PhilMcFly87]

7. "And nobody, nobody knows what's gonna happen to anybody besides the forlorn...RAGS of growing old..."

And of course....8. "I think of Dean Moriarty. I even think of OLD Dean Moriarty, the father we never found. I think of Dean Mor-i-ar-tyyyy..."

Jack knew, man. Jack knew.

[Alex Ewing]

Say this sounds likes shit, but go write something and see how it turns out. It may be beautiful, just stop with the ridicule... BUD UMP CHHHH

[Simmon Park]

I made a supplication in this dream. Haha my fucking goodness what paradox.