M A 28 Carolyn Cassady

Remembering Carolyn Cassady today. Born on this day, 1923, in Lansing, Michigan.

For last year’s  Carolyn Cassady Birthday posting – see here

The current Beat Spotlight (newsletter of the Beat Studies Association) has a long and revealing interview by editor, Brett Sigurdson with Cathy Cassady Sylvia, Carolyn’s oldest daughter. Don’t miss it.

Among the exchanges:

BS: You mentioned how you discovered your mom’s previously unknown writings after her death. What did you find?

CCS: We knew Mom had written her memoir, Off the Road, but we had no idea she had been writing volumes her whole life. After she passed away, we discovered screenplays, novels, short stories, articles, essays, a ton of writing she’d been asked to edit for other authors, and poetry. Since she worked full-time during the day, she’d done all this in her spare time. She had jobs ranging from newspaper columnist to Art Director for the San Jose Light Opera Company and the San Jose Opera Company. She also supplemented her income by painting portraits on commission. I remember strangers posing for her in our living room and the house smelling like oil paints and turpentine. When I saw what Mom had written, I was eager to publish what I could. The first book we published through a small press is titled Travel Tips for the Timid, Or What Guidebooks Never Tell. Mom wrote and illustrated a light-hearted tale about her 1979 two-month trip around Europe with my sister, Jami. Mom had been paid as a consultant on the 1980 movie Heart Beat, based on a section of her memoir. The movie starred Nick Nolte as our dad, Sissy Spacek as Mom, and John Heard as Jack Kerouac. Mom was not a fan of the screenplay, so she wrote her own. But she said they didn’t listen to her and did not use her version, so she took the money and ran… to Europe. The next project I undertook was a book of Mom’s poetry. We had no idea she wrote poetry! I discovered a small fabric-covered journal underneath the stacks of papers and was astounded to read poems. They were poignant and mostly sad, reflecting her loneliness so far from family, her lack of friends, and the challenges of aging. We also found that Mom had boxes of “page-a-day” calendars in which she had detailed her days since the 1960s! Since Mom had dated each of her poems, I looked up on the calendars what her mindset was and what was going on in her life around that time and added descriptions to accompany each poem. Thus, the book is titled Poetic Portrait: Carolyn Cassady Revealed in Poetry and Prose. Mom’s poetry. My prose.

BS: What is the disposition of the Cassady archives, including your mom’s paintings? Where are they, and can researchers access them?

CCS: My sister Jami is the one to ask about Mom’s archives. She spent over ten years after Mom died attempting to find a home for Mom’s work. She has done a remarkable job. My understanding is that the New York Public Library has most of Mom’s correspondence and writing, which are available to researchers. Mom’s original art is still with my sister, as far as I know. Except for pieces my siblings and I want to keep, Mom’s art is exhibited at various galleries and is for sale.