Stories Behind the Paper

These are some stories attached to rolling paper booklets we have auctioned on Ebay

FRITZ THE CAT ROLLING PAPERS:

Fritz the Cat rolling papers were American Dream’s first attempt to produce a branded retail product to complement our custom products. I had recently moved from my Shutesbury mountaintop cottage into a small commercial space in the Knickerbocker Apartments in Amherst.  A friend named Todd had joined the company as a partner and both of us were devoting our full time to American Dream. Todd had heard about the upcoming Fritz the Cat movie, billed as the first x-rated cartoon. The movie was being produced by Steve Krantz and directed by Ralph Bakshi.  Todd had connected with a hotshot young licensing agent from Viacom named Jamie Kellner who was handling the licensing for Fritz. Jamie was a vibrant, clean cut, very energetic young guy we easily connected with.  He was happy to license us the rolling paper rights, however as I learned very early in the relationship, had absolutely no interest in exploring the virtues of smoking them or being in the presence of the smoking of them. Thus, Todd and I were already very relaxed when we would pull up in front of the Viacom tower in New York to pick Jamie up for an end of the day meeting.  We preferred to meet after hours when he was able to chill out a bit with a Bloody Mary as we drank Cokes. After several meetings, we had our license, despite the fact we were broke after its acquisition.

We managed to raise the funds necessary to get the papers produced and were off to the races. In those days, we were unable to get the paper mill to manufacture extra wide rolling papers, so Fritz papers came out as a double window single wide paper. The packs were in beautifully printed, full color sets of twelve booklets, each featuring Fritz on the cover and an image from cells of the movie on the back. Back in those days, we did not have automatic rolling paper interleaving or packaging equipment, so we sent our papers to the local handicapped workshop to do our part to help others who needed work. We’d send them batches of interleaved papers and printed covers and receive them back stuffed into the packets and boxes.

We only printed a few hundred sets for our first printing in order to test the market but were so happy with Fritz’s acceptance in the market that, in November of 1972, we printed another 3,000 sets for the second production run. The initial success of Fritz was a real shot in the arm for American Dream and we decided to celebrate by contributing to a fine Thanksgiving feast on November 23.  A good number of us were pigging out, and of course Fritz was helping to keep spirits high in his own way.  But Todd was not himself and told me that a terrible feeling was arising from within and he was becoming so ill that he had to leave, something quite atypical of him.
The next day the news was very bad, the local paper had a picture of a fire that burned out the handicapped workshop that had just picked up our papers and covers to assemble.
Our entire inventory was burned out, a thief had entered the warehouse and thrown a burning cigarette into some boxes, and the workshop’s insurance company refused to pay us. Fritz was dead. We were barely alive. But our custom papes were still holding us afloat while I worked feverishly to produce a new invention, CooLeaf Mentholated Rolling Papers, the world’s first mentholated papers.

RIP-OFF PRESS ROLLING PAPERS:

Rip Off Press was one of the more successful alternative comix companies of the 1970’s with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Fat Freddy’s Cat leading their roster of characters. The company was started by renowned comix artist Gilbert Shelton, Fred Todd, and two friends. Their two friends left by the time American Dream produced a rolling paper business card for the company which sports the names of Shelton, Todd, Baumgart and Follet.  Philosophically aligned with Rip Off Press and Gil, we produced other booklets featuring the Freak Brothers and Fat Freddy’s Cat. Those packets will be displayed at www.americandreamrollingpapers.com but are not for sale due to their rarity.  This packet was produced ca 1978 is one of less than 25 that exist in the American Dream Founder’s Collection. An historic find for 70’s alt comix enthusiasts.

WINTERLAND PRODUCTIONS ROLLING PAPERS:

This Winterland Production booklet has a story that traces back to the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. The Fillmore Auditorium was a legendary icon for the San Francisco music scene in the mid to late sixties, and particularly during the 1967 Haight-Asbury Summer of Love.  Located on Fillmore Street, not too far from the Haight district, the auditorium was owned by Bill Graham, another icon of the 60’s who produced many shows at the Fillmore as well as concerts at other locations around the country, including the Winterland Arena.  Bill was a mentor to many groups and he discovered, worked with, or hosted bands such as The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin with Big Brother, and many other legendary acts.
My own connection with Bill Graham and the Fillmore Auditorium began in 1967, four years before American Dream was formed. I was living in San Francisco during the 1967 Summer of Love, a period when Haight-Asbury garnered international prominence as the center of the peace and love movement of the late sixties. During my stay, the Fillmore was presenting its "Opening the Fillmore: Summer Sonics," concert series between June 20 and 25, 1967.  I spent three dollars for my ticket, headed down to Fillmore Street at 8PM, and jumped in line with a group of other freaks. Upon entering the Fillmore, one walks up a wide flight of about ten wooden stairs at the top of which the entering crowd often encountered Bill Graham himself, passing out apples. I bid him “hello”, took my apple, then entered the not very large auditorium, and took a seat on the wooden floor not too far from the stage.  Bill eventually made his way to the microphone, thanked the audience for their attendance, and informed us that some of the acts who were booked for the evening, including the Jefferson Airplane, had to cancel so Bill had asked some of his friends to stand in and assured us we would be happy with the show.

The first act on was a jazz group named the Gabor Szabo Quintet. Jazz is not my favorite thing, but this was a very good group. The second act, however, was one of the greats, Jimi Hendrix, who came out and did an hour set playing his immortal tunes with his hands as well as mouth, not to mention while starting his guitar on fire with lighter fluid. Hendrix was fantastic and would have been the singular highlight of the evening had a new local San Francisco act not stepped out on stage upon Hendrix’s exit. So out she came, a smallish young woman with a huge voice, none other than Janis Joplin. As an emerging local act, she stole the show only days earlier at the Monteroy Pop Festival, and she and Big Brother brought the house down that evening too! After Sbazo, Hendrix, and Joplin had each done a one hour set, they each came out and did another hour set each! Those were the days before the standard 40 minute single set became traditional. (That is until Springstein came along doing four to five hour shows!)

I was so blown away by Janis, that after her set, I walked up and introduced myself in my capacity as one of the student leaders at UMass Amherst in charge of producing concerts for Homecoming Weekend, Winter Carnival, and whenever else we could pick up good acts.  At the time UMass was one of the premier venues in the northeast hosting many of the greats of the times. I asked Janis if she would be interested in performing at UMass and she answered in the affirmative and gave me the name of her manager.
Upon returning to UMass at the end of the summer 1967, I had Janis Joplin booked for a concert in October, 1968 for Homecoming Weekend. By the time that date rolled around, Janis had become a national star, particularly with the release of the Cheap Thrills album in August of 1968, and was doing her first east coast tour.  The evening of the concert rolled around, Janis’s tune “Piece of My Heart” was at the top of the charts, and I had the honor to introduce "Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company" to a screaming audience of 5,000 kids packing the Curry Hicks Cage auditorium.  Janis was beyond great, brought the house down again, but despite a phenomenal concert, was not quite happy with her show, was a bit tipsy (Southern Comfort), and just headed out for her next venue with no time to socialize.

It was years later when Bill Graham had opened the Winterland Arena to stage concerts too large for the now shuttered Fillmore. His administrative arm was Winterland Productions which not only produced concerts, but also promoted or managed groups, sold posters, and other activities.  I am not sure exactly when we did this booklet for Graham, but it was an honor to do it considering my own personal history within his world.  A very rare booklet. There are only three  in my collection and this will be the only one sold.