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Revision as of 21:09, 9 September 2007 by Founders4 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Carolyn Cassady (b. April 28, 1923) is an American writer associated with the Beat Generation by her marriage to Neal Cassady, her friendships with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg and her association with other prominent Beat figures. She became a frequent character in the works of Jack Kerouac, who wrote extensively about Neal Cassady.
She was born Carolyn Robinson in Lansing, Michigan on April 28, 1923, the youngest of five siblings. Both of her parents were educators, her mother a former English teacher and her father a biochemist, who raised their children according to strict conventional values. She spent the first eight years of her childhood in East Lansing, then the family moved to Nashville, Tennessee where Carolyn attended the Ward-Belmont Preparatory School for Girls. Although she enjoyed the school, she never felt at home in Nashville and spent her summers in Glen Lake, Michigan.
After the move to Nashville, Carolyn began her lifelong interest in the arts and in theater. She began formal art lessons at age 9, sold her first portrait at age 14, and continued her interest in portrait painting as an adult. At age 12 she joined the Nashville Community Playhouse, where she won awards for set designs and became the head of the make-up department at age 16. She secured a scholarship to Bennington College, an exclusive women's school in Vermont, where she initially studied art then switched to drama.
In 1943 Carolyn was allowed to study for six months in New York City. Until she and her roommate could find an apartment of their own, they were hosted by Robert Sherwood, playwright and author of FDR's speeches. By day she worked for Dazian's fabric company, by night she studied at Traphagen School of Design, and on weekends she browsed the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art for little-known prints of period dress. She also attended Broadway stage productions, witnessed the beginning of the American Ballet Theater, and took in performances of the biggest swing bands of the era. Both she and her roommate became air raid wardens as auxillary members of the NYPD.
At Bennington, Carolyn took classes with Martha Graham, Erich Fromm, Peter Drucker, Francis Ferguson, Ted Roethke, and other noted teachers in their fields. She obtained her BA degree in Stanislavsky Drama in 1944.
After graduation, Carolyn became an occupational therapist for the U.S. Army and served at Torney General Hospital in Palm Springs, California. When the war ended she returned to Nashville to continue her work at the Nashville Community Playhouse, paint and recover from her war experiences.
In 1946, Carolyn moved to Denver, Colorado to study for her MA degree in Fine Arts and Theater Arts at the University of Denver. She worked as a teaching assistant and began a Theater Arts department for the Denver Arts Museum.
In March 1947, Carolyn met Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Allen stayed in her residence hotel apartment for two weeks before finding an apartment of his own and Jack accompanied her to rehearsals at the University. In the evenings Carolyn, Neal and Jack attended Denver's nightclubs to dance and hear music. It was during this period that Carolyn and Neal began their love affair, though at the time he was still married to his first wife, LuAnne Henderson. In August 1947 she discovered LuAnne, Neal and Allen naked, in bed together. She thought her brief romance with Neal was over, departing for Los Angeles to work as a costume designer.
Carolyn moved north to San Francisco to live with her sister when she could find no work in Los Angeles. But five weeks after she left Denver, Neal re-entered her life and resumed the romance. His marriage to LuAnne was annulled and on April 1, 1948 Carolyn and Neal were married. On September 6, 1948 Carolyn gave birth to a daughter, Cathleen Joanne, the first of their three children. Carolyn fully expected life to settle down, but was shocked when, in December, Neal bought a new Hudson and declared he was going to be taking a short trip to New York to pick up his friend Jack Kerouac.
Neal drove to Denver to pick up ex-wife LuAnne, and then picked up Kerouac in North Carolina. The story was immortalized in Kerouac's On the Road. Believing the marriage was finished Carolyn moved with her infant daughter to an apartment near Mission Dolores in San Francisco. At the end of January of 1949, Neal dropped Jack and LuAnne off on a San Francisco street corner and was back.
In July, Jack Kerouac arrived in San Francisco at the Cassady home. Kerouac would visit them in San Jose and Los Gatos, California where Jack and Carolyn would begin an affair that had Neal’s tacit approval.
Neal would continue his infidelities and road trips for the rest of his life. On February 4, 1968, Carolyn got a call informing her that Neal had died in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Neal was 42. Carolyn, who was 46, moved to London, England where she now lives.
Bibliography
- Heart Beat: My Life with Jack and Neal. Berkeley, CA: Creative Arts, 1976; St. Albans: Granada, 1980.
- Off the Road: My Years with Cassady, Kerouac, and Ginsberg. New York: Morocco, 1990; London: Bloomsbury, 1990; London: Black Spring Press, 2007
External links
- Official Neal Cassady Site Authored by Carolyn Cassady and Family
- Literary Kicks - Carolyn Cassady
- Carolyn Cassady, an Interview
- On the Road to Desolation - BBC Film
- Women of the Beat Biography Page for Carolyn Cassady