TIMOTHY LEARY PLAYBOY INTERVIEW ARCHIVE

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/31/2006

A fascinating archive, comprising hundreds of pages, all directly related to or part of Drug Guru Timothy Leary's first interview with Playboy Magazine, compiled in 1966. The social impact of this interview is difficult to measure, but it should not be underestimated. At this critical time in America's history, when the country was trying to deal with the Civil Rights and Women's movement along with the escalating "Police Action " in Viet Nam, this interview gave Leary a national platform from which to broadcast his views to the American Public, and was probably the first "pro - drug use" article to be published in a major magazine. This extremely lengthy interview discusses all aspects of what one experienced from taking L.S.D., the impact it had on many people's outlook on life and why this change occurred, and the various physical and mental sensations produced by the drug. Of course, because this was a Playboy interview, the effect of LSD on sex was discussed, and Leary unquestionably increased the number of LSD users by claiming the drug was a profound aphrodisiac. In the interview, Leary makes it very clear that he expected the growing use of LSD to bring about a new era in Human society, beginning with the young. As stated in the interview:"…To middle aged America, it may be synonymous with instant insanity, but to most Americans under 25, the psychedelic drug means ecstasy, sensual unfolding, religious experience, revelation, illumination, contact with nature. …THE HORIZONS OF THE CURRENT YOUNGER GENERATION, IN TERMS OF EXPANDED CONSCIOUSNESS, ARE LIGHT YEARS BEYOND THOSE OF THEIR PARENTS. THE BREAKTHROUGH HAS OCCURRED. THERE'S NO GOING BACK.THE PSYCHEDELIC BATTLE IS WON." Instead of concern for the younger generation taking drugs, Leary encourages it, in part:"…it doesn't concern me at all that young people are taking time out from the educational and occupational assembly line to experiment with consciousness, to dabble with new forms of experience and artistic expression. THE PRESENT GENERATION UNDER THE AGE OF 25 IS THE WISEST AND HOLIEST GENERATION THAT THE HUMAN RACE HAS EVER SEEN. AND, BY GOD,INSTEAD OF LAMENTING, DEROGATING OR IMPRISONING THEM, WE SHOULD SUPPORT THEM, LISTEN TO THEM, AND TURN ON WITH THEM…" One of the most fascinating aspect of this archive is how much of what Leary said was left out of the interview, and also how much of what he did say was modified to better fit what Playboy wanted to print. One often forgets that interviews are much like movies, in that as a result of editing massive amounts of information end up on the cutting room floor. Though Leary was only interviewed once, the archive contains at least half a dozen versions of the complete interview, along with numerous portions of the interview either cut out or kept with the intention of splicing it in at some point. The interview was conducted before the invention of the word processor, which now makes the creative mangling of someone else's thoughts invisible. All the drafts of the interview, particularly the earlier versions, are heavily censored, with many portions of the interview either completely removed blacked out. The changes went from as small as changing one word for clarification to the rewriting of entire sections of the interview. On one of the drafts A.C. Spectorsky, evidently the chief editor, has attached a note to the editor working on the interview stating that:"…This is most encouraging, but not all it might be…I want to discuss what we need in addition. It's not too much, but it's critical". Some fascinating but unpublished material can be found in two manila folders. One is identified as :"CAPTIONS, LEARY LEFTOVERS" and the other is titled:"LEARY, LEFTOVER QUOTES". From the astonishing amount of modified and completely changed sections of the interview drafts, as well as the unused material found in "Leary's Leftovers" and other folders in the box, it seems almost certain that Leary's statements in the finished interview are far different from what he intended. The buyer of the interview will have the unedited version, with Leary "in the raw" and be able to observe the polishing process up to the finished product. It is a fascinating group of material, all the more so because one can speculate upon the article's impact had the large amount of material left out remained in the article. Overall very good.

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