Death of a crusader
Lenny Bruce's champion was 75
The New York club owner convicted on obscenity charges after allowing Lenny Bruce to play his club has died at the age of 75.
Howard Solomon became a cause celebre for the free speech movement after he was arrested in 1964.
Vice officers had recorded Bruce’s controversial, groundbreaking but obscenity-littered act at his Cafe Au Go Go club in Greenwich Village and arrested the comic and the owner just before the following week’s show.
The day after his arrest, Bruce returned to the café to perform his set again, this time spelling out the contested words rather than pronouncing them in a bid to wind up the authorities. Three days later, he was arrested for the second time.
Solomon, then 35, was convicted and fined $1,000 – but he appealed and his conviction was overturned nearly four years later.
Bruce contested his conviction, too, but died of a morphine overdose before he could clear his name.
Only last year did current New York state governor George Pataki grant him a posthumous pardon. (Story)
Solomon died of a heart attack in his California home two weeks ago, although his son Jason has just released the news.Published: 17 Jun 2004
