Lawrence Lipton
Lawrence Lipton was born in 1898 in Lodz, Poland, and immigrated to Chicago with his family in 1903. Following the death of his father when he was fourteen, Lipton faced significant emotional and financial challenges that led him to self-educate and pursue a career in journalism, contributing notably to the Jewish Daily Forward. Throughout the 1920s, he mingled with prominent American writers such as Carl Sandburg and Sherwood Anderson. Lipton's personal life included multiple marriages and a son, with whom he navigated both personal and professional upheavals. In the 1950s, he settled in Venice, California, where his home became a hub for artists and writers, hosting literary salons and fostering a vibrant arts scene. He was instrumental in merging poetry and jazz, evident in his creation of the West Coast Poetry and Jazz Festival and the recording "Jazz Canto." Lipton's 1959 book, "The Holy Barbarians," celebrated the Beat Generation and solidified his legacy, while his later work focused on sexual liberation and social commentary. Lipton's life reflected a deep engagement with cultural movements and a commitment to exploring social issues through literature and journalism until his death in 1975.
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Lawrence Lipton
Writer
- Born: October 10, 1898
- Birthplace: Lodz, Poland
- Died: July 9, 1975
- Place of death: Los Angeles, California
Biography
Lawrence Lipton was born in 1898 in Lodz, Poland. His parents, Abraham and Rose Lipton, moved their family, which included Lipton and his two siblings, to Chicago, Illinois, in 1903. Lipton’s father died when he was fourteen, precipitating an emotional crisis that led him to feel a discontinuity with his past. His father’s death also created a family financial crisis that forced Lipton to educate himself while attempting to earn a living. He worked as a graphic artist, winning an award for illustrating a Passover prayer book, but he soon turned to journalism, contributing regularly to the Jewish Daily Forward, a newspaper based in New York. Lipton also associated with the important American writers of the 1920’s who were based in Chicago, including such literary luminaries as Carl Sandburg, Edgar Lee Masters, and Sherwood Anderson.
Lipton married his childhood sweetheart, Dorothy Omansky, in the early 1920’s; she died several years later and he married Betty Weinberg soon after. In 1926, Betty gave birth to Lipton’s son, James. Lipton divorced Betty in the 1930’s, and in 1940 he married the unstable but gifted mystery writer Georgiana Randolph Craig, known professionally as Craig Rice; they lived together in a large house in Santa Monica, California. During this time, Lipton wrote two novels. After divorcing Craig in 1947, Lipton married Nettie Esther Brooks the following year, and this marriage lasted until his death in 1975.
By the 1950’s, Lipton had settled in Venice, California, a bohemian community located near the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles. Here, his house became an informal arts center, attracting numerous poets, writers, and artists. His regular Sunday evening literary salons, which included poetry reading and freewheeling discussions, were attended by accomplished poets as well as his own protegees. Lipton also became associated with the movement to encourage poetry performances; collaborating with professional jazz musicians, he began to experiment with the integration of modern poetry and jazz into a free-form genre. He also published essays on poetry and the vocal tradition and a volume of his own poetry. In 1957, he created the very successful West Coast Poetry and Jazz Festival in Los Angeles, and in 1958 he produced a recording, Jazz Canto, which integrated poetry and jazz.
In 1959, Lipton published The Holy Barbarians, a celebratory examination of the Beats, the literary free spirits of the 1950’s whose ranks included Allen Ginsberg, Kenneth Rexroth, Jack Kerouac, Kenneth Patchen, Gregory Corso, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Although Lipton was from an older generation, he deeply identified with the social rebellion and visionary idealism of these younger writers, many of whom he came to know personally because of his association with the poetry- and-jazz movement and because Venice was a mecca for the countercultural Beat Generation. The Holy Barbarians became a best-seller, making Venice a magnet for both tourists and journalists, and remains his most significant achievement.
In the 1960’s, Lipton concentrated on sexual liberation, publishing The Erotic Revolution: An Affirmative View of the New Morality, in which he called for greater sexual freedom and the repeal of punitive laws against abortion and homosexuality. During the last years of his life, Lipton wrote a column of political commentary for the Los Angeles Free Press.