Woody Guthrie's Daughter, Nora Guthrie, recalls her father's days at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital. Find this interview and others like it at www.greystoneoralhistory.com
At this point in his life, at age 44, Woody was suffering from the advanced stages of Huntington’s disease. Considering the symptoms of this neurodegenerative disease, it’s amazing he was able to accomplish as much as he did.
Huntingon's is mean stuff, but its more like multiple sclerocis. Ken Kesey wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1964. Makes one wonder. Nice that Guthrie wrote about that time. Now a days we are too cheap to have mental hospitals much, which is better and worse.
I know a woman slowing fading as Huntingtons disease wastes her brain away. My heart breaks each time I see her during visits to her home. Her Mother and Sister both were taken by Huntingtons disease. Devastating 😔😢
@@reason5591 There is always a treatment and cure for everything but we just don’t know what it is. There is always an opposite effect in the natural world. Microbes, viruses, amoeba,paramecium, bacterias, parasites, immunity functions,cellular respiration, toxins, poisonous chemicals…. And the list goes on there is always something to repair those things. There is always a cause and effect….. trouble is no one looks for the causes medical science is only the worlds largest drug pusher to treat symptoms…… disgusting
Wowed by this documentary about Woody,my Grandmother, Charlotte Fritts took care of Woody at Greystone and was present when Bob Dylan came to visit him , she was an occupational therapist at the time and would help him light his cigarettes because he would shake so bad ! Greystone was a great psychiatric hospital 🏥 and it’s so sad it’s closed down , mentally ill patients were very well taken care of , I as a young child went to work with my grandmother often and visited with her favorite patients, it was very memorable and I treasure the kindness of that time in history!
I loved Woody Guthrie, and always enjoyed "This Land is Your Land, this Land is My Land". I graduated from high school in 1966 and enjoyed Arlo's songs, too. A favorite of mine was "Alice's Restaurant".
In 1968 I was in High school. I produced and presented a multi-media biography of Woody for an English class. I recall that this was one of the few projects that I got really fired up about. Even this short interview with Nora bring tears to my eyes. Though I never met him, I feel a soul-catching connection to Woody. I'm glad he is being recognized as one of the voices of America.
Suzanne, although I was a few years behind you in school, I would have loved to have known someone like you back in my school days. Keep being your amazing self, and keep Woody Guthrie's spirit alive.
Thank you Nora, I take care of a 95 year old lady who taught kindergarten for 30 years. I love to sing. When I asked her what she sang with her students she replied " This Land is Your Land"! We sing it often. When memories fades music remains. We saw Arlo at a club ( Shaboo Inn) in Willamantic, CT 40 years ago! It was snowing heavy so the show was cut short but I Loved it!. Thank you for sharing your family history ❤️
What a wonderful lady! She has hair like me … wash and wear hair …. I really love her personality and how loving her nature is. An articulate, emotive sister to Woody. Some insight about music: My youngest brother has Down Syndrome and as he ages his mind has degenerated, but music remains. I’ve spent the last year getting through the third year after my daughters death using music and listing my “song of the day” on Facebook. And my bird loves show tunes, kids songs, and folk songs! Much love 💕🐝💕🇺🇸
I remember distinctly being in the second grade and having an epiphany during music class: we were singing a song I really liked and I suddenly realized that under the title in the music book was the songwriter's name, and I thought, "if I have the writer's name, I'll never lose the song," so I wrote it down. It was Woody Guthrie, "This Land is Your Land;" and it did only have the first three verses. ☺
I have 1968 memories of that song in our elementary music class taught by our very old fashion music teacher as she strummed it on her autoharp with a door stop. We would later cover it with our recorders in 5th grade. Woody, This Land and Miss Herma Burroughs always bring a tear and a smile…
Thank you , Nora. Many people in the neighborhood of Greystone Hospital were aware that Yes, the real Woody Guthrie was there. I first heard about it from a friend living in the vicinity. He was a star to everyone and everyone adored him.
Oh dear Nora, My grandmother was put in the state hospital too (with Huntingtons) and died there. When I was in college I met another student who’s grandmother was placed in the same state hospital with Huntingtons - apparently that was the thing to do. Over the past 8 years both of my brothers died from Huntington’s complications - they died in a state nursing home. What a horrible disease, being trapped in your body that you cannot control and no one understanding. I recall many times being with my mother on the sidewalk (me a small child) when she fell and could not get up and me standing there for a long time waiting for anyone to stop and help her up. It was embarrassing and traumatizing all at the same time. I recently heard that not only did they identify the gene markers for Huntingtons they might also have some medication that may be helpful. I hope so.
It sounds like a horrible disease and he must have suffered greatly. I hope he was able to enjoy making music in the hospital. Music is so comforting and healing. His music is timeless and will bring joy and healing as long as life on earth exists. It was so refreshing to hear Nora’s interview. She is a good speaker with such a lovely personality and I enjoyed hearing about her dad. I remember we used to sing This Land is Your Land in elementary school in California.
My only experience with Huntington's disease was during nursing school in 1992. We had clinicals at the Georgia State Psychiatric Hospital where there were 4 or 5 patients with advanced Huntington's disease in a separate ward that was behind locked doors with the other psychiatric patients. I can readily understand Nora's fear when visiting her father there. It was a dreary and grim place to be in. I had no idea he had this illness and it saddens me to hear of it.
Woody was from Okemah, just down the road from this old Okie. I never met him but was once by his old house and knew people who knew him. Keep on ramnblin' Woody! You'll never be forgotten!
Woody Guthrie? What can you say that has not already been said. A great songwriter his songs tell the story of life in the dust bowl, But there is a kind of humour in them. That takes the sting out of the reality of life then. L found my love of Woody courtesy of Bob Dylan. RIP Woody.
I did some of my clinical in Greystone Park, and I had not known that Mr. Guthrie had been there. Many intelligent, educated and notable people were there. For the most part, Greystone did a credible job of aiding those who had nowhere else to go for one reason, or another. I also did a clinical affiliation in N.J. Neuropsychiatric in Skillman, which seemed scarier to me.
When I was a little girl, the adults had an expression about Greystone, and we never understood what they meant. "They'd say, what's the matter with you. You need to go to Greystone". They also said "Turn off the lights, we're not related to Con-Edison. I only recently learned that Con-Edison was the utility company in NY. I was raised in Brooklyn until age 10, then we moved to NJ.
@@Emy53 Having lived in both NY and NJ, I got the reference. In addition, people used to comment that they were being "Conned" by Con Edison, because in my childhood, the rates for electricity by kilowatt hour were more expensive from Con-Edison than they were from Jersey Central Power and Light. The funny thing is, in all those years growing up, we were never out of power for more than fifteen minutes and even that happened very rarely. Now, from another state, I have a back up generator because we are out of power fairly frequently, and the outages can last weeks. The difference is that in my childhood a great deal of attention was paid to infrastructure, and it isn't any longer.
Phenomenal man! I would encourage everyone to read Joe Klein’s biography of Woody. So so so much more to this guy than I was ever aware of. Brilliant genius! Accounts of him putting on impromptu shows for frightened GIs down below deck on troop carriers during U-boat attacks while in the merchant marines brought tears to my eyes. He really came a long way from Oklahoma.
@@bethfurry7461 I’ll have to read Bound for Glory. One thing I liked about Klein’s book was that he admits in the beginning that as a “boomer” he only really had a superficial grasp of Woody’s bio and knew him as “Arlo’s father” or “the guy who inspired Dylan” or “the guy who wrote This Land…that we sang at summer camp”…etc. The more Klein researched him and his family, the more intrigued he became and his enthusiasm for his subject grows like a snowball rolling down a hill. He really lived his life on his own terms…one minute performing at Upper East-Side soirées…flirting with debutants and then heading out with Cisco Houston for a night of busking on the NYC subways. “Beat” before “beat” was invented. Playing Okie folk tunes with Lefty Lou on Sunday nights on the radio out of Los Angeles for homesick Dust Bowl refugees. A consummate “folk musician” and a genius poet and visual artist to boot…tragically brought down by a merciless disease that also inflicted others in his family including all of his children from his first marriage to Mary Jennings.
My favorite dog that I ever had I named him Arlo after Arlo Guthrie and I met a new neighbor and he had a dog that had red hair and I asked him what was his dogs name and he said Willie after Willie Nelson. We spent a lot of time drinking beer and playing guitars and old Arlo and Willie would hang with us day and night. I hadn’t thought about that for a long time…
I went on a class trip to Greystone (about 50 years ago), and from what I remember it was a very depressing place. It was a bleak environment that felt very isolated and heavy.
Psychiatric hospitals are…the forensic unit for the “criminally insane” was a uniquely interesting “pod”. That’s what the units were called where i worked. A Pod, B Pod, and so forth. Then the drs. Intersting too.
I have wondered about this for ever. This is great. I don't think that theres anyone on the planet that dosen't know who he is now. To bad it took so long for his grandeur to be recognized.
Sure there is, but it's up to today's musicians to carry the torch like tom Morello and others who value folk and Americana acustica to have a bridge from old to new
I hate Huntington's. It has taken half my family members, some of which may have carried the disease to their children. God bless Woody and all those who have Huntington's today. He was talented and his legacy will go on.
It is a horrible disease. I lost a good work friend to it. He tried to hide it as long as he could. I was the one that finally said something as I was afraid for his safety on the shop floor. Months later, He got on a motorcycle and hit another vehicle at a high rate of speed, died instantly.
Woody's 33Lp Dust Bowl Ballads purchased in the 6os was a milestone in my record collecting guitar playing high school years. Thanks Woody. Later got to Arlos Alice Restaurant. Then got drafted into the Nam war. Thanks masters of war...
@@miapdx503 yes, i like it very much. The song itself discusses a strategy. Anyway, familiar with all so much music born 15 years too late to have lived it. Glad you made it back!!
_"Hiding behind my mother's skirt like we were three ducks in a row."_ -- _"We would play under that like monkeys climbing all over the tree. My father would come out. My mother would make a picnic."_ -- As if I were there, peeking the family in the afternoon. Rustling of leaves, sunlight leaking through, ants and bees too. Flickering shadows on white-washed walls of corridors and wards, voices and clatters. So precious, sad and lovely.
One of my grandmothers had epilepsy, which was normally under control with the anti-seizure medication she had been prescribed and was living in a generally self-sufficient group home. As she got older, she went through a series of incidents where she left pots cooking on the stove, forgotten, and was otherwise less capable of being unattended. She was sent to Greystone in the 1960's. She was generally regarded as being sane by the attendants, but very medicated (the medications were very strong and dulled her personality), but periodically she had uncontrolled seizures and was placed in horrible, Bedlam-type "secure" wards. Going to visit her at the hospital left an indelible impression on me---it was like a prison with a series of metal jail doors and bars on the windows. The poor thing was completely sane surrounded by screaming, horrible noises and tough looking guards. I remember watching a female inmate playing with her feces in a bedpan in that "secure ward". I was just a little boy---you don't forget those sorts of things. I also remember that big tree on the lawn--when she was allowed out, we all sat under that same tree. Greystone was dismal, frightening, and the place of nightmare memories. She died there during a cataract operation when I was 10.
Your story is heart breaking I can't imagine how awful it would have been for her She didn't deserve to be there The good thing you can hang onto is that your family went to visit her they didn't put her there n forget about her so she knew she was loved
All that because you leave pots on the stove….Horrible.She didn’t deserve that environment no one does.People belong with their family and hired caregivers rather than putting all the ill people together in one prison. So who is really insane? Who came up with that idea? What did science do to President Kennedy’s Sister?
@@prettylady995 That was actually at the Craig House asylum in the city where I live now--in Beacon, NY. It's still there. Not only "Kick" Kennedy, but Zelda Fitzgerald and Frances Seymour (Henry Fonda's wife) were there. Gothic-spooky place it is, too.
My goodness! I’ve just lost a granddaughter to Huntington’s and I’ve actually lost my two daughters they were taken by huntingtons I do believe his wife ! Is still carrying on his legacy by way of respite help! Bob Dylan was a great story teller via Guthrie 😍😍❤️🇦🇺
My mom was a frequent patient in a state mental hospital. She would mop the floors for cigarettes. She also had several Electro-convulsive Shock Treatments, given without medication back in the ‘60s. She later recalled how painful they were with marginal success. Psychiatric healthcare has come a long way, but many facilities were shuttered in the 70s and 80s in favor of outpatient care. Big mistake. It has caused young strapping mentally ill people to be institutionalized with your grandmother in nursing homes. There needs to be another level of care for these ill-placed people.
Those shock treatments my daddy had back I the 50s and early 60s caused him to forget large blocks of times. He was bipolar. He called the mental hospital a snake pit. As awful as the shock treatments were, I wonder if forgetting some of the things he did while manic might have been a good thing. In his normal state of mind he would never have done those things and it would have horrified him to have remembered them.
@@ursalaoutrageous9249 • Nancy, my ❤️goes out to you; any family member diagnosed with serious mental illness, especially a parent, is extremely traumatic on so many levels. My mom was diagnosed and mis-diagnosed in the early years, but like your dad, her final (and apparently correct) diagnosis was bipolar disorder with psychotic features. Much of her memory was wiped out in the 60s with the ECT, but her illness remained throughout the rest of her life. She was treated with large doses of Lithium and other psychoactive drugs for years. My dad divorced her after only 10 years of marriage when I was little because of her severe illness. We know only the Lord was with her when she would disappear for days on end and come home disheveled and say she was following a light and looking for Andy Williams, who she believed was her husband. That’s only one instance out of many. She died peacefully of COPD at 74 in 2002. My oldest daughter is bipolar, but manages well. Prayers go up and thoughts go out to you and those affected by this terrible group of illnesses.
@@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043 it’s just too sad! I worried a lot about my children. One child was extremely moody, nervous and volatile as a child. Worried me half to death, but she’s grown up to be a wonderful person. Younger daughter got caught up in the drug culture for 12 unbearably long years, but she has been doing great for about 13 years now, very responsible.
@@ursalaoutrageous9249 • Praise the Lord! It’s truly wonderful to hear of your children’s success and being overcomers. No one knows what moms - and dads too - go through with bearing such burdens. I’m reminded often that Christ taught life was full of tribulations, but I’m so glad He was - and is - with me throughout. My mom, as sick as she was, first taught me about Jesus when I was a small child. Through her many zany adventures, I believe He never let go of her hand, thus I’m looking forward to seeing her again, and she’ll be well!💕
Thank you for sharing this story, I wish there were hospitals today you could take a rest from reality and get your mind straightened out like it was back then. Today it's jail and 30day rehab 3 day detoxing with cuffs
I lost my doctor & my meds about a year ago. He was the greatest doctor ever and I like to brag to people he is married to Arlo Guthrie‘s cousin. He had never met Arlo but I had met Arlo three times and somewhere there is a picture missing from one of those times. He’s terribly open and down to earth and doesn’t mind talking to you about anything. I talk to him about one of his songs, “John looked down. “Of course I’ve been listening to Woody since I was 16 in 1962 and played some of his songs. When I was a DJ for 12 years I played both Woody and Arlo
I didn't know of this disease until "13" got it on House M.D. series ... It's only TV but it kept me awake for long time ... Condolences to you and your relatives :-(
My brother and I have it. After my grandad and my mother and aunt. Woody must have had older relatives that had HD but likely didn't equate that this was hereditary like that. The bummer is we know whats coming. But if I can stop the frequent urge to kill myself from realising there may be better medication ahead. Now that human DNA has been fully mapped genomicaly it could help parkinsons sufferers as well. That's the only thing I we can hang about. Fuck death and his fickle finger.
So sad to have that. Seams like her was a fighter of it. Such a great man. Sad breaks my heart he went though that. I glad his friends stay to comfort him. Bob love him like family.
Two of Woody's children also died from Huntington's. Woody, though he was beginning to show serious symptoms of his disease by then, in 1948 wrote the words for "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)", later set to music by Martin Hoffman. Sadly, the song continues to be relevant.
In the spring of 1958 someone brought Woody to Washington square. I was passing by heard a group of people singingreubin James I wouldn't have paid attention if not for the fact that one of them was John Cohen . I saw this man with a bottle of root beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other having difficulty aiming for his mouth. It took me a few seconds to recognize him from pictures I had seen in the past. I was very moved. Nothing looks like Huntington s disease. Many years later working in a nursing home I saw a woman doing identical gyrations and the sad scene came back to me.
Excellent comment thread here . . . fellow commenters, if you haven't heard Bob Dylan's "Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie," please treat yourself to it, but be prepared for tears (the good kind). Love to all.
Hello.my name is Mark Williams, I live and breathe in Kilgore Texas. I found out, Woody lived here for a little while, with some friends of his family.
It's wonderful that this record exists. While Woody being placed into a mental hospital seems outrageous to us today, think of what the police would do today. They put people suffering with mental issues into jail (!). It's a crime in our country to have a mental illness or issue. We have sunk that low. This is why we need Medicare For All.
@@mmcgahn5948 So expanded healthcare access is not part of the answer, because you can claim not to be communist lol? I mean, you can just keep happily paying 4 times as much as the rest of the non-communist First World for healthcare and donating that money to insurance companies instead :) makes no difference to me if you want to give away your hard earned cash for less returns and an unhealthier overall nation than every other than every other First World nation. Sounds like a sucker to me. But ... don't be a communist! lol.
Mental health has not came any further in the last hundred years. My heart and prayers go out to this young lady this is very upsetting very embarrassing to try to explain to people who her father is and what happened. I hope doctors and nurses read this and understand peoples families in the patient have feelings you’re not just numbers the real people.
@@jimwulstan8592 Neuroleptics cause akathisia and tardive dyskinesia which are horrible experiences. They also increase the risks of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
I grew up in Parsippany about 6 miles from Greystone which is still in operation. I had one friend as a young adult had spent time there but she didn't really talk about it. It always had a reputation.
My aunt Marie, who's passed several years ago, had to go to greystone because she was pschizopfrenic... Sorry if I spelled that wrong. But yeah.. That's crazy...I didn't know he was at greystone as well. I believe she was there in the seventies and eighties though. Learn something everyday. Luckily before she passed she was on the right medication and living down here in FL with family when we moved from NJ.
beautifully the poignancy is almost to.Much to bear because rather than turn this a incredible gentleman into an invalid v she gives us a truly evocative feeling of .his insights , Strengh & humanity . & for someone who forest heard those ballads at Home , in 60s England then watched one ofvArlis wonderful concerts in the Shenandoah Valley in earlyn 90s & we were SP overwhelmed by his casual humour that lustening to Nancy was to see him.tell thosev" family stories ' & then those otherbfolkmsingers we heardcatnhome : Carolyn Hester , Buffy St Marie & of course Bib Zimmerman plus incredible Blues Singers & the records came across The Pond with us to be played & replayed guve me having list my Soul mate " Rememberance & amazement .at tgese talented , imaginative brilliant minds & luv ing voices .thank you for this interview so much
Sadly that iconic building pictured in the video was torn down but the Greystone hospital still exists, my friend lives near it. I remember going to see Arlo in concert at Waterloo village in Stanhope NJ. It was an outdoor venue under a large tent, after the show we wandered around in back and got to meet Arlo and get his autograph, he was very friendly and receptive, that was probably in the late eighties early nineties.
This greystone was a horrifying place, I remember driving past it in the 70s and you could feel the horror from the outside. They torture and drug people in these places, and it's still going on, maybe even worse now. I went to visit someone in a public psychiatric hospital in nyc a few years ago, I dont know how anyone could get better in one of these places. It's really sad, I wonder how many mental illnesses were actually created in these hospitals
i have grownd to feel a connection with him a bit sum. hearing songs dad played with army budies at presidential dinner event for soldiers. dad mandolin an hillfolk songs. his idol ,burl ives played but main stars were ? Jubuilee? i sit in house on old hiway i think all the greats passed by en route from Cal to Florida.hiway 90 Marfa. rip family frin billy faire? banjo playes with the early folk singers, but i not recall he met Woodie,, tho i bet he had. movie giant and many others filmed here. i first recall acor playd cannonballer also did bound for glory?? i just want to try and wander out to play my songs and see what develops. thanx.
These institutions are primarily focused on the money bottom line. They are businesses. I am grateful Woody Guthrie had lots of friends, his legacy gave him a quality of life others with similar diseases could only dream of. When trying to find a more suitable place for my brother with ALS, who was in Bradenton Florida, at Greenbriar, a subsidiary of Greystone, from across the world where I live, and was turned down repeatedly because he did not reach the age bracket, a kind woman in HR told me most people just place their family members in homes, and forget about them. We need to become more caring societies in our own communities. I have no doubt Mr. Guthrie would agree with that.
my brother worked at greystone, and said that they knocked it down really quickly when they realized the extent of the mold problem. historic building, whatev.
Planet Earth - the ash-can of all universes. Our disregard & disrespect for the poor, the sick, the mentally ill & others creates a tragic life for many.
It’s normally those with so little who actually care the most for those of us who are down trodden. It’s because we see and live in humanity while the rich are busy wrapping themselves in Bubble wrap and counting their gold bars whilst the world spins right on around them. We are richer than they.
My husband has Huntington’s. His family didn’t know what it was in his family. The just thought the family members who had it were crazy. His father had a family member institutionalized because he was”crazy”. When my husband’s brother was diagnosed with HD the family finally knew what the supposed craziness was. My husband is on medications that keep him sweet and chill compared to what he was, which was horrible. He’s doing great!
I had worked with people who had Huntingtons, some cases it was heartbreaking, for the people who had it I really loved working with the people, and all staff cared, and we made it a safe and happy place . Xxx
Huntington's is often mistaken for being drunk. I worked in psych for years. We often had accomplished patients labeled delusional and railroaded through the system. I'm sure it still happens.
Woodys song will live forever. It’s amazing how much Nora and Arlo look like him. I’ve never seen a picture of their Brother Jody. I guess Woodys Grandchildren never came down with Huntington’s.
I was there in mid 60's as a student. Some years later I talked with my aunt who had been involuntarily committed there. She was a nurse and had in the 40's been a student nurse there also. It was heart breaking to hear about her experience. She was not "psychotic"... her gentle spirit and her heart was broken. Luckily she was released and able to live in her own. Many people were placed in places like Greystone because ,yes, there were no other places to care for them. Families just could not cope and assistance of medical and social services were pathetic. It is too bad the "folk song" group were not around when Woody was locked up .
After my stay at East Orange Psychiatric Hospital Cry Freedom (To Trudy My Nurse) By John Kaniecki Cry freedom, cry and wail Awesome, awesome is your tale Steven Biko the former saint With rainbow colors so you paint Cry freedom, shout the scream Never sleep, never doubt the dream Words they fail Actions prevail Cry freedom I shall cry along Together the better in melodic song Righteousness, bliss & sweet lover’s kiss Evil is wrong CRY FREEDOM CRY! Live or die, Love is why! The chorus before us Jesus Messiah on the cross His gain our loss? Cry freedom cry NO MORE TO CRUCIFY Cry freedom cry Truth tells no lie
Greystone was indeed a very scary place. As a middle schooler in the mid '60s, our school had our school choir go there to sing Christmas Carols to the patients. I was terrified.
I became a big fan of Arlo who had more albums to buy than his Dad. But over the years I saw more and more and more Woody albums...., only problem was that most of the albums with different covers on them had the same music on them too. .... I ended up after 50 a wanted man and made a living playing 'Dementia & Alzheimer' units with a show I pieced together that was interactive and woke the 'Sleepers' up. ... I'm pretty stoned at the moment (I do pot,) but it's kind of strange that I've ended up in a shed of sorts (6ftx8ftx & 5'6"high) romancing the efforts of 60 years and wondering like WOODY if anyone is going to remember me and my work. ....... I'm so happy for Woody that it did and that he had other human beings to prove that too him...... Just like I know 'people' with sick minds and bodies working as I did how much that is worth. - m.
Ilustrativa entrevista sobre el gran Woody Guthrieen su larga estadía en el Hospital Psiquiátrico en que acabó sus días por sufrir Corea de Hungtinton.Nos ilustra de la forma en que originalmente fue internado, según se ve enesta entrevista a Margorie Guthrie, una de sus hijas. Quedaría mucho mejor si en la traducción "tazón de polvo" a "Cuenca de polvo". Igualmente al aludir al sello discográfico en vez de "ash" se dijera "Ash Records" y si al aludir al libro de Jack Keruack se pusiera "En el camino" y no, en minúsculas "en el camino". Para quienes no están versados sobre la literatura beat, se vuelve incomprensible. Saludos a Margorie.
a roughly translated gripe and description: Illustrative interview about the great Woody Guthrie in his long stay in the Psychiatric Hospital in which he ended his days for suffering From Hungtinton Korea. It illustrates the way he was originally interned, as seen in this interview with Margorie Guthrie, one of his daughters. It would look much better if in the translation "dust bowl" to "Dust basin". Also when alluding to the record label instead of "ash" it would say "Ash Records" and if when alluding to Jack Keruack's book it would put "On the road" and not, in lower case "on the road". For those who are not versed in beat literature, it becomes incomprehensible. Greetings to Margorie
Nora mentions that Admitting staff thought Woody has “delusions of grandeur”.I believe that this was considered a symptom of tertiary syphilis, a fairly common disease and cause of dementia.Obviously a misdiagnosis.
Interestingly enough I worked at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital and helped develop the “Therapeutic Community” under Maxwell Jones and Gary Tuchman in 1977!Our goal was to “deinstitutionalize patients who had been there for 5 years to 50 years!
Absolutley Brilliant, I find it quite interesting to hear these stories and or testimonies from days gone by, of these different Psychriatic Institutions. There must be some amazing stories at many of them, as well, help us to understand perhaps what these experiences were like.
As a lifelong psychiatric patient I have to say that the modern drugs are not perfect but I find them to have made it possible for me to function as a wife and mother. I remember the days of the lobotomy-type meds. Thorazine, Stelazine made me sleep, drool, and become.a zombie. that was back in the '60s. I didn't know this about Woody!!
We would go hiking in the woods behind Greystone when I was in high school. They had a metal cage behind the building. Can only imagine who they put in that cage... Or they kept a pet bear
There were few Records of Woody recordings I found after I read the book. The Grand Coulee Dam recordings hadn't be release, but when they were in the same year I think it was late 68 or early 69. I LOVED THAT ALBUM! ... Recently I found the original Dam Movies that were made with Woody music! neet.
I agree with you- I was hospitalized by the courts when I was charged with vagrantcy-C, t may not be the hotel Ritz but it was better than being vulnerable and homeless. A lot of vulnerable people are victimized, I.e. mentally ill women being robbed/ raped . The law is changed, not much good change in my opinion.
I had professional training at, and worked for a NY State Department of Mental Hygiene Hospital from ‘64-‘69 and again from ‘71-‘73. Woody’s admission paper work and initial evaluation sounds pretty typical. You have to keep in mind that until the mid ‘70s, State Mental facilities were a bit of a catch all for people who were unable to care for themselves. Each patient, especially those who came as Woody did, were blank sheets of paper. It could take days of observation and reaching out to patient contacts to fully appreciate who each person was, and arrive at a definitive diagnosis. All the time that was spent evaluating, patients were housed, fed, clothed and cared for as they needed. Today things are quite different, with homeless and many other people who were once cared for at State MH facilities are simply left on the streets. Some are criminalized for “odd” behaviors. I loved what Woody Guthrie wrote. Woody was a legend and we lost a gifted gent to his disease. Thank you for this video interview.
