Ethan Persoff announces the second update to the Realist Archive Project, an ongoing Internet archive for Paul Krassner’s counterculture magazine The Realist (1958-1974; 1985-2001). Four issues a month will be mounted until the archive is complete.
The main archive can be found here
More detail from Ethan:
For July / Four New Issues / Details:
1) Realist Issue #26 – May 1961
Featuring: Television as a Cause of Disease, An Impolite Interview with Hugh Hefner, For the Separation of Church and Sex, and Rumor of the Month.
Rare early snapshot of Hefner at his cockiest; predicts he will still be single and swinging into elder age. Quote: “I hope to still be very much a young man–psychologically, at least–when I’m sixty. Maybe physically, too. Charlie Chaplin fathered a child when he was 70. And I’ll have all those ‘Playmates of the Month’ around to keep my interest up.”
Also includes a searing and very funny Adolf Eichmann joke on page two. And note the article Television as
a Cause of Disease. A great early 1961 issue.
2) Realist Issue #58 – April, 1965
Featuring: Dick Gregory in Mississippi, An Impolite Interview with Woody Allen, and Three Authors in Search of Obscene Literature.
If you enjoyed the filthy cartoon character sex from the Disneyland Orgy then you’ll get a genuine overloading kick out of the Tijuana Bible flavored Exhibit A. The Woody Allen interview is everything you want it to be – and then there’s the Dick Gregory article, with cameos from Sammy Davis Jr, Muhammad Ali, and Sonny Liston. Of particular note, this might be one of the last articles to ever refer to Malcolm X in the present tense; as he was assassinated as the issue went to press, see Editor’s note on Page 24.
3) Realist Issue #69 – September 1966
Featuring: The Whitey Survival Manual, The Day the Supreme Court Banned Vaseline, An Impolite Interview with Timothy Leary, The Fag Battalion, and a Junkie Hex for City Dwellers.
Issue 69, almost a pun in itself, is a delight of offensive content. Featuring Mind Over Martyr and The Fag Battalion – both of which prompted letters from canceling subscribers in Issue 74’s letters page. However, the absolute treat here is A Junkie Hex for City Dwellers – immediately my favorite piece of heroin artwork from any comic or magazine of the 60s. Very cool interview with Timothy Leary, too.
And Lastly:
4) Realist Issue #84 – November, 1968
Issue Number 84 – Featuring: The Case of the Cock-Sure Groupies (with Cynthia Plastercaster), The Trial of Abbie Hoffman’s Shirt (with the US Government), Reporter at Small, and Crime and the Bedside Manner.
I love this issue. Contains The Case of the Cock-Sure Groupies – one of the earliest articles on Groupies, which is referenced on the back cover of the widely sampled and bootlegged 1969 “Groupies” Documentary LP. Are you getting the key word here? The other notable piece is The Trial of Abbie Hoffman’s Shirt – which reads like satire but isn’t. Not only was Abbie Hoffman charged with a crime for wearing a shirt that resembled a US Flag, he was also given hepatitis from a filthy needle while under govt custody. A document of absurd government harassment from one of the most tense times in US history. Proudly posted for July 4th.