Photo/Article Upload Dump: Vintage 1960's Torrance CA Newspaper BB content

[guitarfool2002]

Here are just some of the vintage clippings and articles related to The Beach Boys that were uploaded from a local Torrance California newspaper called The Daily Breeze. Ian Rusten already posted the one photo, here's some of the other articles with BB's content. Some cool, long-unseen stuff here.

Starting with 1962.

Posted for scholarly purposes and research only...

January 14, 1962


January 24, 1962


January 28 1962


March 22, 1962


March 30, 1962


May 9, 1962


May 12, 1962

[guitarfool2002]

For better viewing resolution, right click on each image and click "open in new window", you won't need to scroll left-right to read these. Sorry the sizing of these isn't good for viewing in messages.

[guitarfool2002]

Part 2: Odds and ends, including a Rich Sloan interview, Dennis getting stuck in fog on a boat, and Brian making the honor roll...

December 22, 1963 pt 1


December 22, 1963 pt 2


October 20, 1964


October 4, 1965


March 18, 1966


March 26, 1969


January 4, 1981 pt 1


January 4 1981 pt 2


January 24, 1960


April 14, 1960

[juggler]

Fascinating stuff!! Many thanks for collecting all this.

One other comment...   To many of us on this board, it's probably unsurprising to see Brian on Hawthorne High's academic honor roll in 1960.   But it is indicative of the falseness of the narrative pushed by some observers that Brian was some kind of "idiot savant"--- a man with great musical ability but not much else in the way of intellectual capacity.   I mean, just a few weeks ago, there were comments even among some alleged "fans" insinuating that Brian wasn't smart enough to understand Van Dyke Parks' Smile lyrics.  The fact is that Brian was a very intelligent guy.  The man's raw intelligence was perhaps masked by his eccentricities and, later, mental illness, but we're talking about a very bright guy.   He wasn't born into an academically-oriented family like VDP nor was he educated at expensive private schools, but frankly it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Brian's IQ was actually higher than Van Dyke's.

[guitarfool2002]

Fascinating stuff!! Many thanks for collecting all this.

One other comment...   To many of us on this board, it's probably unsurprising to see Brian on Hawthorne High's academic honor roll in 1960.   But it is indicative of the falseness of the narrative pushed by some observers that Brian was some kind of "idiot savant"--- a man with great musical ability but not much else in the way of intellectual capacity.   I mean, just a few weeks ago, there were comments even among some alleged "fans" insinuating that Brian wasn't smart enough to understand Van Dyke Parks' Smile lyrics.  The fact is that Brian was a very intelligent guy.  The man's raw intelligence was perhaps masked by his eccentricities and, later, mental illness, but we're talking about a very bright guy.   He wasn't born into an academically-oriented family like VDP nor was he educated at expensive private schools, but frankly it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Brian's IQ was actually higher than Van Dyke's.

That is a great observation, you see through the fog of previous discussions and get it, for lack of a better term, along with a lot of fans here. I also put in the baseball clipping not just because it's a cool find but also to show here was a guy who made the honor roll, was a decent if not good baseball player (probably better than football but he was still a backup QB), and then of course there is the music he was soon to create which is beyond category. I'd say that's a pretty well-rounded student, right? Definitely not the unsophisticated rube some have tried to paint Brian as being. Make sure to read the later article where they interview Rich Sloan, Brian's teacher, his former coach, etc. That's really fascinating and a look into who he was as a teenager.

To the best of my knowledge, I don't recall seeing any of these articles or interviews reprinted in full or even in part, until this upload of that paper's archives. That article and interview from January 1962 is really cool, as is the one where the interviewer visited the Wilson home and spoke to the family...I've never seen those really early interviews reprinted, but I could be wrong.

I'm a little surprised there isn't more interest or discussions about these things, to be honest, considering it's "new" material for perhaps 99% or more of the fanbase. Maybe interests these days among the fanbase falls elsewhere, who knows. Anyway, it's here for everyone to read and digest, and it's an awesome discovery for fans.

[SMiLE-addict]

Is there any way to make these smaller?

[guitarfool2002]

Is there any way to make these smaller?

Either right-click on the image and then click "open in new tab", or right click and "save image as" and you can control the size on whatever device you're using, then resize it however you choose. Unfortunately I couldn't resize them here without losing the clarity of the words.

[guitarfool2002]

If someone wants to take a try at resizing them, uploading them to their image host, and reposting them here, feel free.

[Don Malcolm]

Fascinating stuff!! Many thanks for collecting all this.

One other comment...   To many of us on this board, it's probably unsurprising to see Brian on Hawthorne High's academic honor roll in 1960.   But it is indicative of the falseness of the narrative pushed by some observers that Brian was some kind of "idiot savant"--- a man with great musical ability but not much else in the way of intellectual capacity.   I mean, just a few weeks ago, there were comments even among some alleged "fans" insinuating that Brian wasn't smart enough to understand Van Dyke Parks' Smile lyrics.  The fact is that Brian was a very intelligent guy.  The man's raw intelligence was perhaps masked by his eccentricities and, later, mental illness, but we're talking about a very bright guy.   He wasn't born into an academically-oriented family like VDP nor was he educated at expensive private schools, but frankly it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Brian's IQ was actually higher than Van Dyke's.

That is a great observation, you see through the fog of previous discussions and get it, for lack of a better term, along with a lot of fans here. I also put in the baseball clipping not just because it's a cool find but also to show here was a guy who made the honor roll, was a decent if not good baseball player (probably better than football but he was still a backup QB), and then of course there is the music he was soon to create which is beyond category. I'd say that's a pretty well-rounded student, right? Definitely not the unsophisticated rube some have tried to paint Brian as being. Make sure to read the later article where they interview Rich Sloan, Brian's teacher, his former coach, etc. That's really fascinating and a look into who he was as a teenager.

To the best of my knowledge, I don't recall seeing any of these articles or interviews reprinted in full or even in part, until this upload of that paper's archives. That article and interview from January 1962 is really cool, as is the one where the interviewer visited the Wilson home and spoke to the family...I've never seen those really early interviews reprinted, but I could be wrong.

I'm a little surprised there isn't more interest or discussions about these things, to be honest, considering it's "new" material for perhaps 99% or more of the fanbase. Maybe interests these days among the fanbase falls elsewhere, who knows. Anyway, it's here for everyone to read and digest, and it's an awesome discovery for fans.

I think that a number of the photos in the articles have been published in various other places over the years, GF, but the articles themselves seem to first-time things for us.

I'm betting, though, that Jim Murphy probably got his hands on them when he was researching BECOMING THE BEACH BOYS.

Regarding Brian's intelligence: we are all sometimes persuaded that someone with great verbal facility is highly intelligence. That's often true, but it's by no means a foolproof indicator. It seems that Brian evolved into a more passive speaker due to circumstances related to his upbringing, and that he cultivated such an approach because it suited the situations that he encountered as the band became successful. We know had no problem communicating his musical ideas to the band or to the Wrecking Crew, and he could easily absorb ideas from literature and philosophy, even if some of what he read was considered lightweight by some associates who fancied themselves as great intellectuals. It's pivotal to note that VDP, who is indeed a true intellectual, has never suggested that Brian was incapable of absorbing and understanding his ideas (and his lyrical and musical contributions), or that he was some kind of "idiot savant." I get the sense that the further "deterioration" of Brian's verbal facility as manifested in public was roughly equal parts put-on and survival mechanism, which may have become more "real" during the years that he was overmedicated by Landy. In his recent update to BB&TCM, David Leaf makes it clear that Brian isn't a big talker, but that he has always possessed an astonishing talent to sum up several simultaneous concepts in impressively brief utterances.

That is a very special type of intelligence.

[CenturyDeprived]

Amazing stuff, thanks GF!

Truly, newspapers.com is a gift from the heavens above.