(1925–66). When the hipster comedian Lenny Bruce was arrested for obscenity in New York City in 1964, he was publicly defended as a social satirist “in the tradition of Swift, Rabelais, and Twain” and as a Savonarola of black humor. Bruce himself noted, “All my humor is based on destruction and despair.” His irreverence fostered the cynical routines used by almost all the stand-up comics who developed after his death. The controversial entertainer revolutionized show business with his freewheeling improvisations that were intended to shock rather than amuse the audience. His staccato delivery was salted with lewd vulgarities—both in speech and in concept. Bruce's favored targets were blacks, Jews, religion, politics, drugs, and sex. After he was repeatedly arrested for indecent performances or for narcotics possession, his rambling monologues often deteriorated into diatribes about his court trials and audiences lost interest. Leonard Alfred Schneider was born on Oct. 13, 1925, the only child of Myron (Mickey) Schneider, a shoe clerk, and Sadie Kitchenberg. His parents were divorced when he was 5, and he lived with relatives while his mother looked for jobs as a dancer under such stage names as Sally Marr and Boots Malloy. A high-school dropout, Lenny enlisted in the Navy in 1942. After his discharge in 1946, he attended a Hollywood acting school under the GI Bill. He began his career as a mediocre impressionist. While working the nightclub circuit, which he regarded as the “last frontier” of uninhibited entertainment, he married an exotic dancer, Harriet Lloyd (Honey Harlowe), in 1951. Bruce's autobiography was titled ‘How to Talk Dirty and Influence People' (1965). He claimed, “I'm not sick. The world is sick, and I'm the doctor. I don't have an act. I just talk.” Bruce died on Aug. 3, 1966, in his Hollywood home, presumably from an accidental overdose of heroin. The stage and screen productions ‘Lenny' were based on his life. |