Ginsberg-Corso continuing – 8 (Photography)

Ginsberg caption: “Robert Frank, studio in his red-brick Bleecker Street house near Bowery. I’d asked him to take formal portrait for my Collected Poems 1947-1980 dust-jacket back, old Polaroid 195 gives big negative. Tho’ he’d quit most still-camera work long before he mused, “Well I guess it’s continuing a project we started long ago”, Peter Orlovsky present wandered in back of the floor with my pocket-sized Olympus Y4, this is what he saw, New York  January 1984″

Gregory Corso and Allen Ginsberg’s 1989 taped conversation continues – comtinuing from here 

GC: Well, what ground have we touched now. The photographs,  I’d say, yeah, they’re there for themselves, they speak for themselves. And we spoke about most of the people there. Robert Frank we haven’t.. much of.. a lot of your pictures..

AG: Oh Robert, my guru..

GC:  Let me get the photographs.. talk about him…yeah there you are.    Robert Frank was your teacher in photography.

AG: Well, you know the funny thing (is), I knew Robert, we all knew Robert, from Pull My Daisy days

GC: Right.

AG: ..and then Robert..  and then when I got back from India, I just so thought he was a photographer. You know, I didn’t know he was big photography-genius and an historical character, in that way. And, so, actually, his photography, I didn’t think that was very much (compared to the writing)

GC: You know any of the great San Francisco photographers, like Imogen Cunningham?

AG Yeah

GC: Do you know her?

AG:  I never had too much respect for her.

GC: Oh, get out of it Allen!

AG:  I didn’t know her very well.

GC: Well she was with Mark Green, right?

AG: Mark Green is a good photographer

GC: You better believe he is, I know he is, but Imogen was the other one, you don’t  (hear of them anymore)

AG: (to GC) Did you ever know that Robert was a great big genius?

GC: Yes, well of course, Robert Frank’s great

AG: I didn’t know that

GC:   So the book called The Americans, right?

Frank The Americans

AG:  Robert was just a photographer,I didn’t know how interested in photography he was, and how much he depended upon genius chance But.. you know.. then..
Besides which, he was hiring us, so I thought we were the stars!

GC: No

AG: And then, it only took me about twenty years to realize he was a star, actually.

GC: Well they say a lot, in movies that the director makes the film, like, it’s his film, but a lot of time it’s really the writer, it’s the writer’s film, you know (tho’ the director’s setting it up, so there you go, it’s his film).

AG:  In which case, I think it was Frank’s. Anyways about 19…

to be continued

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