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Lenny Bruce & the Post-War Counterculture

PBA Galleries, 1233 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94109, United States
pba@pbagalleries.com · +1 (0)415 9892665 · +1 (0)415 9891664

Date of the auction: 13.06.2019

Lot number 1
Lenny Bruce's address books

22x16 cm (8¾x6½") or smaller, flexible covers. The entries include business contacts, other...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$2,000 - US$3,000
Price realised:
US$2,700
Lot number 2
Vintage audio tapes of Lenny Bruce performances

Reel-to-reel tapes in original boxes, with typed labels. 8 are 5" in diameter, 4 are 7" in diameter...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$5,000 - US$8,000
Price realised:
US$3,000
Lot number 3
Lenny Bruce's bar tabs

Each approx. 20x10.5 cm (8x4¼"). Lenny drank well and tipped generously...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$510
Lot number 4
Lenny Bruce's bar tabs

Each 18x10.7 cm (7x4¼"). Lenny seems to have been a generous tipper...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$228
Lot number 5
Lenny Bruce's bar tabs

...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$240
Lot number 6
Lenny Bruce writes to Melvin Belli

One page, retained typed carbon, unsigned, on Bruce's South Doheny Drive letterhead. Bruce begins...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$1,000 - US$1,500
Price realised:
US$600
Lot number 7
Note from Lenny Bruce to lawyer Melvin Belli

Unsigned file copy, with Bruce’s original handwritten draft on a brown paper bag, and the original...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$2,000 - US$3,000
Price realised:
US$1,200
Lot number 8
Melvin Belli & Lenny Bruce's 1962 L.A. trial

Typed correspondence with some holographic notes by Lenny Bruce. Comprises: a) Typed carbon from...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$1,500 - US$2,500
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 9
Lenny Bruce plans gig at Berkeley Community Theater

Autograph letter in red ink, an unsigned draft, possibly incomplete as the letter ends abruptly...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$510
Lot number 10
Lenny Bruce's Kennedy routine during election campaign

5 leaves, on rectos only, with numerous pencil holograph corrections and annotations by Bruce...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$2,000 - US$3,000
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 11
Carbon typescript for Lenny Bruce screenplay

[4], 93 leaves, carbon typescript on rectos only. Plus 13-leaf typed & handwritten budget for the...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$1,500 - US$2,500
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 12
Transcripts for Lenny Bruce breakout performances, 1958

59 pages on leaves typed on rectos only, comprising 17 pages for June 13, 1958 routine; 21 pages for...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$7,000 - US$10,000
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 13
Honey Bruce's tell-all memoir of her marriage to Lenny Bruce

309 pp. Quarter cloth, in dust jacket. Third Printing. Honey Bruce's tell-all memoir of her marriage...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
US$120
Lot number 14
Lenny Bruce's business records

Housed in a banker's box, with not much room left over. Of the 60 or so with Bruce’s holographic...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$5,000 - US$8,000
Price realised:
US$3,000
Lot number 15
Check signed by Lenny Bruce as Leonard A. Schneider

Printed check filled out in ink, for $1,000, payable to Lenny Bruce, in Bruce’s hand and signed by...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$390
Lot number 16
Lenny Bruce check returned for insufficient funds

Printed check filled out in ink, for $20, made out to Cash. Lenny Bruce seems to be facing financial...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$720
Lot number 17
Lenny Bruce sells records at S.F.'s City Lights

Typed letter serving as a contractual agreement, signed by McBride, and also signed by Bruce in...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$500 - US$800
Price realised:
US$420
Lot number 18
Lenny Bruce's breakout at Chicago's Cloisters night club

Printed contract filled out in pencil. 11x8½". Printed form contract completed in pencil, including...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$800 - US$1,200
Price realised:
US$480
Lot number 19
Copies of Lenny Bruce letters with rare content

12 pp. total. 3-page draft letter from Bruce to an unknown recipient explaining why Bruce voted for...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 20
Love letter to Lenny Bruce

Autograph letter, signed Lynn, 2 pp., on rectos of 2 sheets of writing paper. Handwritten love note...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 21
Letter to Lenny Bruce from a fan

Autograph letter, in ink, signed with initials. A one-page holographic letter and mock basketball...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 22
Significant performances by Lenny Bruce

Letters, invoices, etc., relating to significant performances by Bruce. Includes: a) 440 Club [San...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 23
Birthday poem to Lenny Bruce

One page, in ink, signed Sheila. “What does he look like this man on the hill / with his books of...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 24
Letter to Lenny Bruce c.1961

Typed letter, 2 pages on 2 leaves, stapled. Provocative letter referring at various passages to...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 25
Lenny Bruce writes about error in trial, 1964

Two pages, on single sheet folded in half, being the back of a photocopy of a court document from...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$1,500 - US$2,500
Price realised:
US$1,320
Lot number 26
Lenny Bruce tries to get out of record contract

Autograph letter, signed by Lenny Bruce. Two pages, on both sides of single sheet. The letter...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$500 - US$800
Price realised:
US$570
Lot number 27
Lenny Bruce buys a drum set

Pink NCR purchase receipt, signed by Bruce in blue ink at the bottom. 28x21.5 cm (11x8½"). Purchase...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$400 - US$600
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 28
Eulogy service for Lenny Bruce

One page. On Spector Productions letterhead, signed by Phil Spector in the plate. The Eulogy Service...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
US$120
Lot number 29
Agreement for Lenny Bruce concerts in 1964

Typed 1 page agreement for three concerts in May 1964 in Boston, Philadelphia and Detroit. Signed by...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$500 - US$800
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 30
Judy Garland attends Lenny Bruce act in Chicago

Autograph letter, one page, in ink, on The Croyden hotel letterhead. Bruce writes that he “Will be...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$700 - US$1,000
Price realised:
US$420
Lot number 31
Lenny Bruce writes to heroin-bust cops

Typed carbon, unsigned retained file copy. 11x8½". Undated but probably Spring 1963 as trial...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$800 - US$1,200
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 32
Lenny Bruce writes to his Heroin trial lawyer

Handwritten notes, in pencil, comprising text and instructions to his secretary Jan Matthews for a...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$2,000 - US$3,000
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 33
Lenny Bruce's 1963 drug conviction

Vintage photocopy of a letter to Judge Landis with approximately 100 pages of photocopied excerpts...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$1,000 - US$1,500
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 34
Lenny Bruce describes manufacture of Heroin

One page. Typed carbon retained file copy, unsigned. Important letter discussing manufacture of...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$1,000 - US$1,500
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 35
Lenny Bruce & Max Weiss at "hungry i"

Black & white glossy photograph. 10x8". Accompanied by original menu for the hungry i, and by a...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$180
Lot number 36
Lenny Bruce at Jazz ala Carte, 1960

[20] pp. Illustrated from photographs. 30.5x22.8 cm (12x9"), color pictorial wrappers. Printed...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
US$120
Lot number 37
Letter from Lenny Bruce to LBJ about amphetamines.

Typed letter, with numerous interlinear corrections and additions, most secretarial but some in...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$3,000 - US$5,000
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 38
Lenny Bruce letter to his roommate

Autograph note, signed by Lenny Bruce. On half sheet of paper. Albert Goldman later was author of...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$720
Lot number 39
Notes by Lenny Bruce about various legal matters

Mostly scattered notes, on various scraps of paper and manila folder. Ink, pencil, & felt pen. One...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$500 - US$800
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 40
Lenny Bruce to play London

Two typed & signed letters from Nick Louard to Lenny Bruce, plus two handwritten drafts by Bruce of...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$1,000 - US$1,500
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 41
Letter to Lenny Bruce from his mother

Autograph letter signed, one page, on sheet of yellow lined paper. The purpose of the letter is to...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 42
Lenny Bruce repays mother for legal expenses

Printed check for $800, filled out in ink, from the North Beach Branch of the Bank of America...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$400 - US$600
Price realised:
US$570
Lot number 43
Lenny Bruce's stage microphone

On telescopic stand, so extends from 44" to 72", with cord. Most clubs provided their own PA systems...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$2,000 - US$3,000
Price realised:
US$3,600
Lot number 44
Lenny Bruce busted in Philadelphia

104 pp. Vintage photocopy but with several inked annotations by Bruce and others. Transcript for...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$1,000 - US$1,500
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 45
Newslippings covering Lenny Bruce's career

Housed in a black binder. About half are original tear-sheets and newspaper clippings; the other...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 46
Lenny Bruce's night club bookings

Printed, typed, and typed carbons. Includes: Theater Productions 25 Nov 59 [Initialed by Bruce in...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 47
Bail bond for Lenny Bruce obscenity conviction

Printed notice filled out in ink with date and time stamps. 14x22.8 cm (5½x8½"), stapled to...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
US$120
Lot number 48
Lenny Bruce's notes for obscenity trial

Approximately 25 leaves, most written on rectos only, in red or orange felt pen. Plus an additional...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$1,000 - US$1,500
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 49
Lenny Bruce pleas to defend self at obscenity trial

13 leaves, mimeographed typescript on rectos only. Retained file copy, unsigned. 28x21.5 cm...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$500 - US$800
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 50
Lenny Bruce appeals 1963 obscenity conviction

Approximately a dozen vintage photocopies of exhibits and approximately 140 mimeographed pages...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 51
Lenny Bruce busted for obscenity in Greenwich Village

Approximately 350 pages in all, some with annotations in Bruce’s hand. Housed in a banker's box...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$2,000 - US$3,000
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 52
Lenny Bruce appeals obscenity conviction

21 pp. 21x17 cm (8¼x6¾"), printed wrappers. With two very brief annotations in Bruce’s hand -- one...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$204
Lot number 53
Memos for Lenny Bruce's LA obscenity trial 1962

Each 6x4", one with pencil ms. draft by Bruce with his instructions to Matthews attached. Unsigned...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$500 - US$800
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 54
Lenny Bruce doodle on note from Olympia Press

Typed noted, signed illegibly. 11 lines. The note regards returning to Bruce a copy of his trial...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 55
Lenny Bruce's copy of New York penal law

505, 70 (index) pp. 26.7x22 cm (10½x8¾"), printed wrappers, inside an attached manila folder labeled...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$500 - US$800
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 56
Lenny Bruce at the Strand Theatre 1948

10x8". One of the earliest photographs from his stand-up career, shortly after winning Arthur...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 57
Photomontage of Lenny Bruce

35.5x28 cm (14x11"). Accompanied by a tear-sheet of the printed page on which it appeared. Zero was...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$180
Lot number 58
Family photos of Lenny Bruce & daughter

Various sizes. Includes one of Bruce with microphone, two apparently taken during his service with...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$240
Lot number 59
Lenny Bruce in Italy

Gelatin silver prints. Approx. 12x16 cm (4¾x6¼"), 2 are tipped to backing boards. Photographs taken...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
US$120
Lot number 60
Publicity stills of Lenny Bruce

Approx 25x20.5 cm (10x8"). One with editorial crop marks...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
US$240
Lot number 61
Lenny Bruce & Sammy Davis Jr.

Each 7x9" including margins. Eric Miller was a jazz guitarist that Lenny Bruce sometimes used as a...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
US$120
Lot number 62
Lenny Bruce arrested for Obscenity in Los Angeles

Each 23.5x14.5 cm (9¼x5¾"), held together with metal clip. Lenny Bruce's file copies of the police...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$216
Lot number 63
Lenny Bruce's last concert - at the Fillmore

Poster on vellum paper after a photograph by Edmund Shea. 50.8x35.6 cm (20x14"). Signed by artist...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$500 - US$800
Price realised:
US$420
Lot number 64
Lenny Bruce steals another comedian's act - Not!

Autograph letter signed by Lenny Bruce, in ink. 2 pp. on both sides of single sheet. Lenny Bruce...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$500 - US$800
Price realised:
US$570
Lot number 65
Lenny Bruce collaborates with comedian Frank Ray

47-page photocopy typecript, in blue paper binder. Plus 5 treatments for other projects, etc...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$500 - US$800
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 66
Lenny Bruce's Puerto Rico vacation

Brown envelope, 22x28.8 cm (8½x11¼"). Addressed in ink, with four 5-cent airmail and one 30-cent...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
US$120
Lot number 67
Lenny Bruce in The Realist

8 issues, monthly, broken run, No 15 (February 1960) to No. 65 (March 1966). 28x21.5 cm (11x8½...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
US$144
Lot number 68
Vinyl recording of Lenny Bruce's obscenity trial evidence

Vinyl record. 10" in diameter, with plain paper sleeve and cardboard cover. LB-9001. The front of...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
US$132
Lot number 69
Orders for “Confessions of a Dirty-Talking Dope Fiend"

With several pages of typed carbon address labels for the approximately 200 people who ordered the...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 70
Lenny Bruce plans to do Chicago

Three typed letters: two from Lenny Bruce to Alan Ribback, on Bruce's memo letterhead (unsigned...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$400 - US$600
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 71
Lenny Bruce's copy of early rock concert handbill

Printed handbill for rock concert featuring Big Brother and the Holding Company, Quicksilver...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$420
Lot number 72
Lobby cards for Lenny Bruce's Rocket Man

Each approx. 28x35.5 cm (11x14") One is signed by stars Anne Francis and John Agar...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$200 - US$300
Price realised:
US$300
Lot number 73
Three items signed by Lenny Bruce

Includes a counter check, a hotel cashier's voucher, and a receipt for a checking account deposit...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$570
Lot number 74
Lenny Bruce writes to his agent Jack Sobel

Approximately 50 pp. of typed carbons, with some handwritten annotations.29x22 cm (11½x8¾"), in...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$3,000 - US$5,000
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 75
Lenny Bruce plans daughter's financial security

3 pp. Retained typed carbon, unsigned, but with holographic pencil sketch. Stapled. Lenny Bruce is...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 76
Lenny Bruce negotiates appearance in London

Autograph letter signed by Lenny Bruce, in pencil, on single sheet. Two lines of the letter are...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$500 - US$800
Price realised:
US$600
Lot number 77
Lenny Bruce calls Hugh Hefner mentally ill liar

Four telegram sheets. Each 15.5x21 cm (6¼x8¼"). Bruce telegraphs his agent and manager Jack Sobel...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$700 - US$1,000
Price realised:
n. a.
Lot number 78
Jack Sobel opines on Lenny Bruce's financial problems

Typed letter, signed Jack. 5 pp. Stapled. A great and lengthy synopsis of money problems and...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$300 - US$500
Price realised:
US$180
Lot number 79
Lenny Bruce's first book, Stamp Help Out

2 copies, 1st and 2nd printings. Unpaginated. Illustrated from photographs. 28x21.5 cm (11x8½...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$700 - US$1,000
Price realised:
US$420
Lot number 80
Switch-blade from Lenny Bruce's film debut

Measures 5½" long when closed, 10½" long when open. Knife wielded by Lenny Bruce in the movie...

PBA Galleries, 13 Jun 2019
Estimate
US$500 - US$800
Price realised:
US$300
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