The Six Gallery reading (also called the Gallery Six reading or Six Angels in the Same Performance) was an important poetry event that took place on Friday, October 7, 1955, [1] at an art gallery on Fillmore Street in San Francisco. It was the occasion when Allen Ginsberg first performed his poem "Howl". The reading heralded the birth of the Beat Generation as well as the West Coast literary ferment known as the San Francisco Renaissance. [2]
In 1952, artists Jess Collins and Harry Jacobus, along with poet Robert Duncan, opened the King Ubu Gallery (an allusion to Alfred Jarry's 1896 play Ubu Roi) on 3119 Fillmore Street near the intersection with Union Street in downtown San Francisco. [2] [3] Prior to its association with art and poetry, the building had been an automobile repair shop. [4]
In 1954, Wally Hedrick, a painter and Korean War veteran, teamed up with artists Deborah Remington, Hayward King and David Simpson, and poets Jack Spicer and John Allen Ryan (together they composed the original six) to rename it the Six Gallery. [5] By the following year, Hedrick had become its official director and chief organizer. [5] [6] The venue—referred to by its founders and members as "The 6 Gallery," "6 Gallery", or simply "The 6" [7] —served as both a co-op art gallery and a meeting place for poets and literati. [8]
The idea of holding a poetry reading was conceived by Hedrick. He had previously hosted literary events at the gallery, such as Robert Duncan's satirical play, Faust Foutu, in January 1955. [9]
As Allen Ginsberg recalled, "The Six Gallery reading had come about when Wally Hedrick, who was a painter and one of the major people there, asked [Kenneth] Rexroth if he knew any poets that would put on a reading." [10] Rexroth liked the idea of staging a showcase for local poets, and he recommended that Hedrick speak to Ginsberg. [4] Hedrick approached Ginsberg in summer of 1955 and requested his assistance in identifying Bay Area poets for a reading at "The 6". [11] According to Jonah Raskin:
At first, Ginsberg refused. He didn't know enough local poets, he said, and he didn't feel that there was enough worthwhile Bay Area poetry to warrant a reading. But once he'd written a rough draft of Howl, he changed his "fucking mind," as he put it. A reading would provide an occasion both for his birth as a poet and for the birth of the Beat Generation, which had been slowly germinating for years. [12]
Peter Forakis created the poster announcing the reading. [13] Ginsberg wrote the following text for a postcard advertising the event:
Six poets at the Six Gallery. Kenneth Rexroth, M.C. Remarkable collection of angels all gathered at once in the same spot. Wine, music, dancing girls, serious poetry, free satori. Small collection for wine and postcards. Charming event. [14] [15]
Starting at about 8:00 p.m. on October 7, 1955, Philip Lamantia, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Ginsberg, and Gary Snyder—who until then were known only within a close group of friends and by a few established writers such as Lionel Trilling and William Carlos Williams—presented a sampling of their latest works. [16] For McClure and Ginsberg, it was their first ever public reading. [17] They were introduced by Rexroth, a San Francisco poet of an older generation, who acted as a kind of father-figure for the young poets, and had helped build their burgeoning literary community through his weekly salons. [18] An estimated 100–125 people were in attendance that night. [18] [19]
Lamantia read poems written by his dead friend John Hoffman. McClure read five of his own poems, including "Point Lobos Animism" and "For the Death of 100 Whales"; Whalen read "Plus Ca Change"; and Snyder read "A Berry Feast". Most famously, it was at this Six Gallery event that Ginsberg first read "Howl". It was still incomplete, with only a draft of Part I available, but it electrified the audience. [20]
The attendees included a drunken Jack Kerouac. He declined to read his own work but cheered the other poets on, shouting "Yeah! Go! Go!" during their performances. Nevertheless, Kerouac was able to recall much of what occurred, and wrote a thinly fictionalized account in his 1958 novel The Dharma Bums (Ginsberg is "Alvah Goldbrook" and the poem is called "Wail"), [21] which served to memorialize and mythologize the Six Gallery reading. [2] [18]
Also in the audience were Neal Cassady, who passed around a wine jug and collection plate, and City Lights publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who telegrammed Ginsberg within a few hours to request the "Howl" manuscript for publication. [16]
The Six Gallery did not remain in existence much longer. According to Hedrick's recollection, several other galleries opened nearby, and by 1957 "The 6" closed. [2] [5] After that, the location changed hands many times. Eventually, the Fillmore Street addresses were renumbered, and "3119" stopped being used. In 1995, Tony Willard visited the spot of the original Six Gallery building, and wrote that it "houses a store called Silkroute International, whose rugs and pillows spill onto the sidewalk." [4]
Despite the changes on Fillmore, there have been attempts to preserve the history of the October 1955 event. On October 7, 2005, San Francisco Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, along with Ferlinghetti, dedicated a bronze plaque in front of a restaurant on 3115 Fillmore to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the reading of "Howl". [22]