1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,440 Speaker 1: All right, how about we take a wild road trip 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:06,120 Speaker 1: with a true original an episode suggested by a listener 3 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:09,119 Speaker 1: who goes by nine one one Grail. This is about 4 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: on the road author Jack Kerouac, the guy who practically 5 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: invented the beat generation. His life was messy, passionate, and heartbreaking, 6 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:22,400 Speaker 1: filled with stories that changed American literature forever. But who 7 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:25,799 Speaker 1: knew that he was involved in a front page murder story. 8 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:31,479 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. Jack Kerouac, restless, reckless and brilliant, but 9 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: unable to save himself. That's next on the backstory. The 10 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: backstory is back. We know him as the brilliant author 11 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: Jack Kerouac, But he was born Jean Louis le Brie 12 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: de Kiroac Love that on March twelfth, nineteen twenty two, 13 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: in Lowell, Massachusetts. His parents were French Canadian immigrants. This 14 00:00:55,920 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: great American author actually grew up speaking French, learning English 15 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 1: when he started school. Believe it or not, this creative 16 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:09,279 Speaker 1: offbeat guy wasn't some odd dreamy kid. By high school, 17 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: Jack was a football star, snagging a scholarship to Columbia 18 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: University in New York City. Picture it a really handsome, 19 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:22,280 Speaker 1: ambitious teenage football player pounding the pavement of Upper Manhattan 20 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: in the nineteen forties. Problem is, ambition isn't always coupled 21 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 1: with dedication. That's where the offbeat Kerouac shows up. He 22 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 1: just couldn't stick with it. He broke his leg in 23 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,759 Speaker 1: his freshman year, Okay, not his fault, but the next 24 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: year he constantly clashed with his football coach. He was 25 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: benched most of that season. So Jack decided, I'm gonna 26 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: drop out of Columbia. Sure, So next he floated through 27 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: odd jobs all over Manhattan. He wrote constantly, and he 28 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: fell in with kind of a wild crew. They would 29 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: later be called the core of the Beach Generation. His 30 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: pals and included Alan Ginsburg, william S Burrows, and Lucian Carr, 31 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:10,200 Speaker 1: all defining the counterculture. They partied, philosophized, got arrested, slept around, 32 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:14,919 Speaker 1: and wrote poetry until dawn. But then one event changed everything. 33 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: Jack Kerouac was arrested as an accessory to a murder 34 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 1: committed by Lucian Carr. It was nineteen forty four, and 35 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: Carr claimed a guy named David Kamerer had been stalking 36 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 1: him for years. Finally they were walking in Manhattan's Riverside Park. 37 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: Late one night, Carr said Camerer made another aggressive sexual 38 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: come on to him. He said Camerer began to overpower him, 39 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: so he pulled out his boy scout knife and stabbed him. Well, 40 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 1: it killed him, He panics, what do I do? He 41 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: ties Camera's hands and feet together, and then, after weighing 42 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 1: the body down with Rocks, dumps him in the nearby 43 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: Hudson River. Probably not a great choice, now what Carr 44 00:02:57,360 --> 00:02:59,920 Speaker 1: goes to the apartment of his pal Burrows and asked 45 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: for help, but Burrows tells him to get a lawyer 46 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 1: and turn himself in. Next, he goes to Kerouac, who 47 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: helps him dispose of the knife in some of his clothing. 48 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:13,519 Speaker 1: Then the pair goes to a movie. Sure. Finally, Carr 49 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:15,959 Speaker 1: goes to his mother. She tells him go to the 50 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:21,440 Speaker 1: DA immediately and turn yourself in, which he does. What's next, Well, 51 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: Burrows Andac are both hauled in by the cops as well. 52 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: They spend a few days in jail, arrested as material witnesses. 53 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 1: Burrow's dad posts his bail, but Jack's shocked father refuses 54 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 1: to help. Now it gets dicier since Jack doesn't have 55 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: the hundred bucks to get himself out of jail. He 56 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: needs a plan. He turns to the parents of his girlfriend, 57 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 1: Edie Parker. Edie has a trust fund, and Jack asks 58 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: the family if she can access a little bit of 59 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: bail money for him. Oddly, the parents say sure, as 60 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: long as you marry her first. Wow. Great parents with 61 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: detectives sirrving his witnesses, the pair gets married at the 62 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 1: municipal building and then Edie springs him from jail. They 63 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: wind up moving to Edie's hometown, Gross Pointe, Michigan, although 64 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: four years later the marriage is annulled. As for Lucian 65 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:17,360 Speaker 1: car coming from money, having a top notch lawyer who 66 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: claims that Camerer was obsessed and pressuring young Lucian, who 67 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: was straight, for gay sex, the court system goes easy 68 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: on him, as did the press. The New York Daily 69 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 1: News referred to it as an honored killing. A later 70 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: account of the trial in Carr's obituary many years later 71 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: gives a similar view, saying central to Carr's defense was 72 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: that he was not gay and that Camerer, an older, 73 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:45,039 Speaker 1: obsessive stalker, threatened sexual violence. Once the story of a 74 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: predatory homosexual was presented in court, Carr became a victim 75 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: and the murder was framed as an honored killing. There 76 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: was no one in court to question the story or 77 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: offer a different version of the relationship. Carr gets to 78 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: plead guilty to first to go manslaughter. He gets one 79 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:04,919 Speaker 1: to twenty years, but he's released after just two years. 80 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: He goes on to a long successful career in journalism, 81 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 1: and in fact, his son, calib Car was the noted 82 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:15,720 Speaker 1: author of the best seller The Alienist. For his part, 83 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:20,080 Speaker 1: Karroac struggled, but he wrote constantly on everything from napkins 84 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:24,279 Speaker 1: and coffee shops to stolen typewriters. Despite his alcohol and 85 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:28,240 Speaker 1: drug addiction, he eventually found his voice. It was nineteen 86 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 1: fifty one and fueled by Benzadorian and endless coffee, Jack 87 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: sat down at a typewriter, probably a stolen With over 88 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:40,239 Speaker 1: three frenzied weeks, he pounded out his classic On the Road. 89 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:44,240 Speaker 1: He typed the whole thing on a single massive scroll 90 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: of tape together paper, no form, just pure stream of consciousness, 91 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:52,839 Speaker 1: like no paragraphs. Nothing on the Road was based on 92 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: real road trips Kaak took with a pal. He kept 93 00:05:56,120 --> 00:06:00,120 Speaker 1: no notes, just stored all the experiences in his brilliant head. 94 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:05,600 Speaker 1: The book captured the hunger of postwar kids looking for freedom, experience, 95 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:10,480 Speaker 1: and something authentic. Interesting. Sidebar, Even though his most famous 96 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:13,280 Speaker 1: book is all about a road trip, Jack Kerouac never 97 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:17,160 Speaker 1: learned to drive in his life anyway. He submitted the book, 98 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: but publishers just didn't get it. They rejected On the 99 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:24,920 Speaker 1: Road over and over and over. It remained unpublished for 100 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: six long years, during which Jack spiraled further into poverty 101 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: and depression, as well as addiction. When On the Road 102 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:37,640 Speaker 1: finally hit shelves in nineteen fifty seven, it exploded. Critics 103 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:40,680 Speaker 1: said it was the most beautifully executed, the clearest, and 104 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: most important utterance of its generation. Jack became an overnight legend. 105 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: Just one problem. Fame crushed him. He hated being labeled 106 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: King of the Beats. He hated the early hippies who 107 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: followed him around like he was some kind of prophet. 108 00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 1: He hated interviews where people wanted him to be this wild, 109 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:03,839 Speaker 1: drunken poet, even though by then that's pretty much exactly 110 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:08,560 Speaker 1: what he was. Jack drank even more heavily, wildly. He'd 111 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 1: wander into bars, recite poems to total strangers, pick fights, 112 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: drink himself into a stupor, and friends like Alan Ginsburg 113 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: tried to help him, but he was a runaway train. However, 114 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: he kept writing. Books poured out of him, The Dharma 115 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:29,520 Speaker 1: Bums about his experience with Buddhism, Desolation Angels about his 116 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 1: job as a fire lookout on a remote mountaintop, and 117 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: Big sur which was basically a devastating account of his 118 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: mental and physical collapse. He also wrote for magazines and 119 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: for all kinds of published journals. His writing became more raw, sadder, 120 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:51,360 Speaker 1: and more fragmented. He was chronicling his own breakdown as 121 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: it happened. For a time, he seriously considered becoming a 122 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: Buddhist monk. He lived with his mom well into adulthood, 123 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: obsessively protective of her. He married three times, once for money, 124 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: once impulsively, and once out of loneliness. Jack Kerouac died 125 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,200 Speaker 1: on October twenty first, nineteen sixty nine. He was just 126 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: forty seven years old. Cause of death internal bleeding from 127 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:19,680 Speaker 1: a lifetime of alcohol abuse. He died broke, living in 128 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 1: Saint Petersburg, Florida, with his mom and his third wife. 129 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:28,320 Speaker 1: But here's the thing, Jack Kerouac's legacy isn't his sad ending. 130 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: It's the energy he captured, the yearning, the music of movement. 131 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 1: When you read On the Road or the Dharma Bombs, 132 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: you can feel that urgent heartbeat, that refusal to settle 133 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:44,760 Speaker 1: for a normal life when there's a whole, vast world 134 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 1: out there. As he wrote on the Road, the only 135 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:51,080 Speaker 1: people for me are the mad ones, the ones who 136 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 1: are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, 137 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:58,880 Speaker 1: desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who 138 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:04,080 Speaker 1: never yawn or say a commonplace thing. Jack Kerouac taught 139 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: us that the search matters even when the road ends badly. Again, 140 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 1: I want to thank backstory listener nine one one Grail 141 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:18,400 Speaker 1: for suggesting this amazing dive into Jack Kirouac. Really interesting. 142 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 1: I hope you're enjoying the backstory with Patty Steele. Please 143 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: leave a review and follow or subscribe for free to 144 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: get new episodes delivered automatically, and also feel free to 145 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 1: DM me if you too have a story you'd like 146 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 1: me to cover. Like nine one one Grail on Facebook 147 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:41,000 Speaker 1: It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm 148 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:45,599 Speaker 1: Patty Steele. The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, 149 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:49,640 Speaker 1: the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer 150 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new 151 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:56,559 Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out 152 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:59,960 Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram 153 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 1: at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. 154 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:06,640 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The 155 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:09,679 Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.