The Guardian explores the lost television play "The Madhouse on Castle Street," which starred the 21-year-old Bob Dylan as Lennie, "an archarchic young student who wrote songs."

The play [was] screened on the BBC on 13 January, 1963, pitched against Sunday Night at the Palladium on ITV (a bigger ratings success). Barring a brief appearance on the Cynthia Gooding radio show in New York in February '62, this was his first broadcast experience. Five years later, in an act of possibly deliberate cultural vandalism, the corporation destroyed the tapes of the recording, and no copy of it has ever yet surfaced. It is only now that any cogent picture of the making of the play has emerged, along with shaky audio recordings of the four songs that Dylan performed in it, including 'Blowin' in the Wind'.

BBC Four's Arena plan to make a documentary about Dylan's first London visit and the story of the play, and are "keen to hear from anyone who may have a copy of the programme or knows of the whereabouts of one." Anyone?

ASSH0LE

Las Vegas, NV

June 2003

SEP 18, 2005 02:32 PM

I think they meant to say "an anarchic young student who wrote songs and sounded like a congested rabbi."

SocietysPliers

Ocala, FL

October 2004

SEP 18, 2005 04:20 PM

Interesting. I have most of Dylan's broadcasts, even the unaired nes, on DVD but was unaware of this one.

And I think "Congested Rabbi" was one of the names Robert Zimmerman considered when he was trying to decide on a stage name. I don't know why he chose "Bob Dylan" instead.

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NEWS: Erased

Dr_Frank

Oakland, CA

May 2005

SEP 18, 2005 11:09 AM