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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 23 July 2019

1960s prankster Paul Krassner, who named Yippies, dies at 87

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER at New York’s Baruch Col-
JOHN ROGERS lege, Krassner went to work
Associated Press for Mad Magazine before
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul founding the satirical coun-
Krassner, the publisher, au- terculture magazine The
thor and radical political Realist in 1958. He contin-
activist on the front lines of ued to publish it periodi-
1960s counterculture who cally into the 1980s.
helped tie together his For a time in the 1950s,
loose-knit prankster group he also appeared on the
by naming them the Yip- stand-up comedy circuit.
pies, died Sunday in South- There, he would meet his
ern California, his daughter mentor, Lenny Bruce, the
said. legendary outlaw comic
Krassner died at his home who pushed free speech to
in Desert Hot Springs, Holly its limits with routines filled
Krassner Dawson told The with obscenities and sexual
Associated Press. He was innuendo that sometimes
87 and had recently transi- landed him in jail.
tioned to hospice care af- When the counterculture
ter an illness, Dawson said. arrived in earnest in the
She didn’t say what the ill- ‘60s, Krassner was working
ness was. as a comedian, freelance
The Yippies, who included In this May 7, 2009, file photo, author, comedian and co-founder of the Yippie party as well as writer, satirist, publisher,
Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoff- stand-up satirist, Paul Krassner, 77, poses for a photo at his home in Desert Hot Springs, Calif. celebrity interviewer and
man and were otherwise Associated Press occasional creator of soft-
known as the Youth Inter- him. “People who waste He also published several ple laugh, although one core pornography. To mark
national Party, briefly be- time get buried in it. He books on obscenity, some who brought a political ac- the death of Walt Disney in
came notorious for such keeps doing one thing af- with names that can’t be tivist’s conscience to the 1966, he published a col-
stunts as running a pig for ter another.” listed here. Two that can effort. orful wall poster showing
president and throwing He interviewed such ce- are “In Praise of Indecency: He noted proudly that in Disney cartoon characters
dollar bills onto the trading lebrity acquaintances as Dispatches From the Valley the early 1960s, when abor- engaging in sex acts.
floor of the New York Stock authors Norman Mailer and of Porn” and “Who’s to Say tion was illegal in almost When he and other anti-
Exchange. Hoffman and Joseph Heller and the late What’s Obscene: Politics, every state, he ran an un- war activists, free-speech
Rubin, but not Krassner, conservative pundit An- Culture & Comedy in Amer- derground abortion referral advocates and assorted
were among the so-called drew Breitbart. The latter, ica Today.” service for women. radicals began to plot ways
“Chicago 7” charged with like other conservatives, For his autobiography, “That really was a turning to promote their causes,
inciting riots at 1968’s cha- said that although he dis- Krassner chose the title, point in my life because I Krassner said he soon re-
otic Democratic National agreed with everything “Confessions of a Raving, had morphed from a satirist alized they would need a
Convention. Krassner stood for, he ad- Unconfined Nut: Misad- into an activist,” he said. clever name if they want-
By the end of the decade, mired his sense of humor. ventures in the Countercul- His original career choice, ed to grab the public’s at-
most of the group’s mem- An advocate of unmitigat- ture,” using a phrase taken however, had been music. tention.
bers had faded into ob- ed free speech, recreation- from an angry letter to the A child prodigy on the vio- “I knew that we had to
scurity. But not Krassner, al drug use and personal editor of a magazine that lin, he performed at Carn- have a ‘who’ for the ‘who,
who constantly reinvented pornography, Krassner’s had once published a fa- egie Hall at age 6. Later what, where, when and
himself, becoming a pub- books included such titles vorable profile of him. he all but gave up the in- why’ that would symbolize
lic speaker, freelance writ- as “Pot Stories For The Soul” “To classify Krassner as a strument, only occasionally the radicalization of hip-
er, stand-up comedian, and “Psychedelic Trips for social rebel is far too cute,” playing it as a joke during pies for the media,” Krass-
celebrity interviewer and the Mind,” and he claimed the letter writer said. “He’s lectures or comedy rou- ner, who co-founded the
author of nearly a dozen to have taken LSD with nu- a nut, a raving, unconfined tines. “I only had a tech- group, told the AP in 2009.
books. merous celebrities, includ- nut.” nique for playing the violin, “So I started going through
“He doesn’t waste time,” ing comedian Groucho What he really was, Krass- but I had a real passion for the alphabet: Bippie, Dip-
longtime friend and fellow Marx, LSD guru Timothy ner told The Associated making people laugh,” he pie, Ippie, Sippie. I was
counterculture personality Leary and author Ken Ke- Press in 2013, was a guy would say. about to give up when I
Wavy Gravy once said of sey. who enjoyed making peo- After studying journalism came to Yippie.” q

Universal to release 2 new films in its

‘Halloween’ saga

Associated Press “Halloween.” The video states the saga of
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Universal says it will Curtis’ character, Laurie Strode, and villain
release two new “Halloween” films, includ- Michael Myers “isn’t over.”
ing one with the ominous title “Halloween Universal says “Halloween Kills” will be re-
Ends.” leased on Oct. 16, 2020, and “Halloween
The studio said Friday that the first of the Ends” will arrive Oct. 15, 2021.
films, “Halloween Kills,” will be released in Last year’s film set records and earned
2020 and the second film will come in 2021. $253.5 million worldwide.
A teaser video includes the voice of Jamie Curtis is also serving as a producer on the In this April 4, 2019 file photo, Jamie Lee Curtis, recipient of
the CinemaCon vanguard award, poses at the Big Screen
Lee Curtis, who starred in the original 1978 films, which are being overseen by Blum- Achievement Awards at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
film and last year’s blockbuster sequel, house Productions.q Associated Press