Collection Information
Size: 75 Pages, Transcript
Format: Originally recorded on 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hrs., 25 min.
Summary: An interview of Fred McDarrah conducted 1971 June 15-July 15, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
McDarrah speaks of his early family life and extreme poverty during the Depression period in Brooklyn; family influence; his first photographic efforts in the 1930s; his U.S. Army service; going to photography school at New York University; life in Greenwich Village in the 1940s and 1950s; his involvement with rock and roll music; getting his work into publications; the comparison between the "hippie" and the "beat" cultures; working as a photojournalist for Village Voice; his techniques and equipment; experiences covering public events; his philosophy on photography and its uses. He recalls Bill Littlefield, Philip Pavia, Cyril Nelson, and The Club.