Mi'.

~M-liJEBSTER

INC.

TEL No.413-731-5979

Jun 27,91 15:22 No.015 P.01

Facsimile transmission f r o m : - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ....... ""--

-----

Merriam-Webster Inc.

47 Federal Street

P.O. Box 281

Arnor1ca's firs! PtJblisher of dictionaries

a(ld fine refer~nce hooks

Springfield, MA 01102

Fax: (413) 731-5979

Telephone: (413) 734-3134
Telex: 981608 (MWEBSTER)

Esquire
---'~-=~------......... FAX #:
21 2 8 7 4 1 91 5
------------ ---
Attention:
JOHN BERENDT
---------Company:

- - - - - - - ...........

From:

----coL:..:ec_:~l__:\___t/!'J..!.l.93..12.,<.';f_'.?. .. ___ - - - -

-~U-~ber ~I pages (incl~:n~ thi:pa~e):

1

- -

.. ,..... _4
_ __

_ _Plea9e let us know if all pages are NOT received.

- J.-------

------------...

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. Date: ... _ _-'6/'--27 /_9__

1 __ ..... -----

------. - - - -

Message:
Dear John,
The following two pages contain citations from Merriam-Webster's
file pertaining to the words "garbology" and "garbologist."
1~e third page has the Oxford English Dictionary's entry for the
word "garbology."
''Garbologist'' was entered in 9 1 000 Words, the addenda to Webster's
Third Nev International Dictionary which we published in 1981.
"Garbology" has not yet gained entry in a Merriam-Webster
dictionary, but we do h~ve several citations of it, and our
editors are continuing to track its usage.
-

hope this
questions arise, please call.
I

Sincerely,

(/rok wrwusCwc~
I.eslie Manganaro
Publicist

'

'

Garbology
The 1naterla/ 1or Wiiliam RatriJe's sem-

inat .at thti University of Ad:.::onB. srn~Os

-li1era.l!y. 'fhars because It's

garbage. And the course-called

"Garbage Archeology," or "IJw;Dol"'"

:if" for short, or "Le Pro/et du
Garbihge" for eleoance-cons!sts of
analyzing re!use lo find what It reveals

"Teacher"
Sue Ellen Jares

.about a culture.>

p. 102

RRjeotad For Aade~dn 1981

R[JECTED FOR$ GOU
EOPL

E Vol,6, No.21
22, 197.6

Nove!!lb~r

----

SIEJSEIM

JAll Z 9 1991.

--~------

- - - - - -----gmbology
"

.
-
<:::........Archaeology has come
a long way

fEince the disco1ery of Pompeii. Aerial

:Pholography, radiocarbon dating, ele<:'.tronic devices and new techniques help
!today's archawlogist dig up and identilh the past. One of the newer aspects is
~<garoolog:y," which archaeologist Wil1!Jam Rathje describes as scrounging
,through garbage for clues about

oow

treople Uve in conten1porary :iociety)

Joyce Lain Kennedy

p.

24

Rslectcd For Addondr1 l9Bl

--

"

RDECTED FGR 9

cou

---

-- --

THE NORJHNG UNION

Springfield, Ma:;s

Dec. 4, 1976
s1CTSS'./A

jt,N 2 ;.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

WL.LIVJt..K

lI'lL.

------------------------------ -----------Jun 2?,91

TEL No.413-?31-59?9

15:22 No.015 P.03

(, ,E<rb0lor,ist

/
know the
Al1811 'di!lker Reud

p.

42

S'i t. Re\'i c:v; or Li t.e.n: till'<:

'
\..

JUii :2 U 194f;

..

' ~ '"'

----.
........

.. ''

H, sn:nrt !i'M Io
~-------- --"------~-

..l'l'll'L111Jogl~t.

ri.

..,

------- -- -----

culli(tor.

g1b;1irt

ss

Cun1paro;-

Sr\J\IT,\TJCi!\M 4.t,
.Sl!m!;itil'n \\"!1rhr.

Uvt1~!d \\'hallt}. lia~ >:.Olf.E.t.<l~<l ~

,.,,.1,

ii1!(- for ,,,..url-.10 i11 hi~ prof.,11~ivn-"(;;ir!1t1lvt'.i~t;." Tlit

N\'/1 }'fir/; J'imr.1, S\"/il. /ti, 11!6~. /' -17
()1w du:<!111lll1 ir, c1H1rt ],.~.\ ri("d: <';iJ!~d
hnluf:i:1!. 1\'111 S~i<'llli.cr, Ju11. 13, l'J(,1;, 1 Yi

him~,..Jr" f:~I

ffu1111 garb<t~.r
t'.tr.:

+ 11logis1, ;1.~ in ldofoNhl, t11nfogls1,

pi::r/1ap.~ lnftucnt.d by Austri\li,Hl F.ng:Iii:;l1

e.;orlu:i gnrb11}:1 1:n]k<;t1.1r)

~!t~:

ld~ewda

!01

REJtcn:v

fO.R

1981

s COLL

TllE BAHt;fiAHT DICTIO;:P.RY OF r'.Ei1' ENGL[SH

SlNCB l9b3

Clarence L, Barnhart,

Sol StHn::ictz,

--8arnhart/lforFor

Robert

K. !!arnba,-t

Ro:--197.0f'irst Ed.
FOR REF O<'LY--DO NO'.r COPY

----~---~~~.--------- ,

__

----.

&

.... ----;-------- .. __ ..

_________:_,_ -- _.-. ..._.

~arboJof:lr.:t (g_;';..Jb(1lr:id3i!>t). A !sn garblolo_"ist.

tf. (;1.}(ft.-'.(".F. !.h. + 0Luw1sr.J A duslnian.
1<;65 i\'.Z. H'm.ii1'1 Hffi<IJ'-; Oct. l (13_/1 RCA td!~ u~

of t!1C1r !rrr.;il 'i.:,.1l1!nl~~i~l;.'. ry(.6 /\'fw.StlMli:l.lj J1<n.

<:>ih 011r- dustni~H In ~.our.I. ).a\ ';"ttk ('.~l!r1"l hn.u~df ~
i;J.rt".)Cf,l~t. 19.&E Nad10 11"':($ ."r' S;pt. _13};, \\:i.'S!t'.. ls
no\v 11h: tc.r.hnitl)!~f:k;.I bu;.wo:~~- l"\L \.rl)oi(!r.1 Dr!ll'>h
du~t111-:11 "rr. c;i.m)';1ir,:ur.~ l'..l hMr. th<m~~ht; nffia~l!)"

rcn;im~l.I e~rbolo,:i}l~',

">

(
I.

")

"

"

'"'
G

:i

'"'

r~C

"
h<

: .:. L:l:d.e:sd:l 1981

l<EJECTE!J fOR 9 COLL

OXFORD ENGLISH OICT ., Supplement

~
or/
hit
;' 1
b1.

Ct, I

;;1.

llllllllllllllllllllllll.............v.oj1~~LA~-.Q;..~R~-.w~.;.,;B~u~r~c.n!i~e~l~d~,...ea...,.........~~~.......~~~---~~"1

llf"Mr~on (~11.rd),

&.erving-m"n, Wll.it

in .. French hotel
!'70 A. YouNU Jur

tho<.>j'ht only <>f nl)'

nHnP-1 ~ht il:1t11-Jln

t.~tV<n, hd tffec1 mo
(..'<m.j><nl. le> Tlualtrt t

rctruhmtfll, for 1ohid

~n Of th(' tltntrr, tn
..... i.hc1 t>( tht cvmp'nl
ne din.d 1 and "'t'.Tc cl
o-0u to the ~ri;on.
Lut)"n b.~ ;~ flr~ir
.JI th" 11.. ri;nn1, ch1m
N.J.rrfrfil St. iii. :i.o Geo
J ~.:.urk of nffiei1\.. i..11
b, Al?<o u~c.d at

~hart

tYrc: of

hlli

crop.

1956 A. \\'JL60~ ;
"'om1n with bhcl.; 1

ii 1lA.t<f.-0nn.J.(:t'C (t,:
rc1-0n1i< or fiat.
l'Y-t1 /\!.tW St.,tn....i1

h!i

~p-c:rca..i!.cic hut i1
,4.p.~/>{IJ <-f /Nfo.flj iii.

~ut.h

1hln"

~ ~ri

;,.,r,

BrUn/itild Rfi. . itilti

,.lrh .... ho ~\urc.d ~ t ..

'vrcop~r.

OJ

refined

ready,

copper.
\~'.

I79'9

Too.:1 I

rc-c\:(>ni 011ly fron1 1

i"*rcrow, ob-.. fr

~lil..rd 1 Obs. (11

&CC GUhRP 1b.] i
the object of On{
.a l,6-tt 1-i'..!~Ol'l<-MYI
cud, h.; ....... till bu1
the IHn\, the deoJt,

i'lilrCc (~o:~)- Also i>tn.<:. ['-. Telugu g4t/SO

(Yule).] 'A cubic nH:~urc for ril:-.e, etc. in u11-c on
the t-.li::.dra'l coaet 1 1t \.U.U~l "'ll.rying much in
v,;lue. Buch~ni<n (lni'r-11.) tre:ot~ h u a wdghr'

(Yuk).

tr ,\fwr. E. J..J, 6 Ori.in

lbo. o {>1, Avr.irJupoii<. l7!.,. fr,
A. D11'Jn'lt:'l' ()fir+..1. Rrprrl. (17~3) !. r.:i.o Rice m)' (>(
l:.oug:ht for ob-0-111 !;t P~j.W.u C1.tc('. fJ-0/ F. HUCHf\~A~
17,!;:l T. fb.Di.I>:.> ft'r(fhlr

Mc.uunL. t 0.lfi.c,

prb-#rd ('ga:b).'.ld). Also 7 garb-ell, -bl. (app.

4D1,1. 1aarboord (ob!,), explained b)'
't\-'mi-chootcn (168t) aa f, gar-en lfhOJ't fr,r
rJ11r11 10 Of.TH~k -! boord ~O"'-RD 1b. Cf, F.
~d (1 ~18 in HJJ.~2.-Darn1,).) The fir..,t range
rJ r!1nks' laid upon a 11hip'~ b{i~tom, next the:
~l; the; C\Jrr~-spondi.n~ range of plate6 in ii-11 iron
1~~-d. Al110 aun'b, a._. i.n 4ri><Kr-Yd--Plan.k, -PW,,

-1"1:

2arb<ard-~tn1.JLe or: ~arboard,

""4-CArT. $1>i!T~ rf,yiJ, Y"j. S<ilrf'l<lt S Thr 0Hk-"'ll

'".;..,- l: the (\J\~i<it_p\~n.~.\(e ~,eY:_t the k=!~. 16-r] --
J..,..... ' C'r,J,.,., 11.1 T}K D Jrb<>tc\ u 1he fint p!onh Kl<l I h~
l+tk ~n !ht. r,!Jlhl<, 16,91 T, H[,\Pl) Au-; New lrr1Xn/, ~Q
/',<t+nl hirrl UP<Jn thoulfhh (11.d it lxen pru:tk<.bld uf
....it!n~ r,,,_, Cnbki-trO:c thnc, 17i'? G. KAT~ l'dcio f</,
!)l n.e ~.f-rpo:oler got on.e of the phnk of 1he L_rbou-d
" 1J_t c.r,, ii~ M, Si:on Cr~iu ,',fidiu: {1 8.StJ) 1{9 'fl"c hot
W l"n"ll}'<limi.gcd N'op!Mli:. of the _gubo..rJ j.\f("/ic
l,j., w~ITN.t:'' c;,,~'flJ<>tllt)J 1. 172 The hrbouJ ,t;.r(-vJ-r
-.,. clfrl.t by the ~1t!'I, h;.d <:>p<;:r,cd, I~ Sli:: E, f\yr.n

,:M>J

~i/d, i, 7 An <"~ltrtitl lTH1 \l.c.;1,. \U. pp!inl, o.tid

th('. (>ri1dn1! At l<.c~I by 11~rt.nHdpltu. J/,iJ,
~r:rtl pl~tu w.:r.: ,.1-<:o;11r.. J lx!ow rn the irmn

~uJ to
~

r <. <8?) ll;;ii/;r N~w~ J6 June 5/S Th(. ~o.rbord1, i.nd

om r.rt C<f th.., tu.n1ver..., fro.me.

li,\o-J

Juir11. ,\1 >'H>rc .. tc, ! , (, The pnip<;: nl~ivt. "'(:ijhu.., o.rt , , 1'-0
"li~:ru .. y. {C~dieo) I G1Jr4y, ct.lkd br tht Eol'!ih G .. n.c,,
Tht. Qui.c .[i} norly 1105 !bi. l~[l P. K~\.l.'t' U .. iu.
C:<1""1Ji1t r. Ii I ,.1 ... dr 'Tht. G~rc-c:, com a"Lct.t\ir<o, o;'Qnta..ina
!Iv f'1th or {IX> M1rt!1, fhd., /Thdl"U Tht Gv.ru)'
(cd!~d by ih.; F.n.ilhh Gnc-t) c.ora ... iru :io B.o.ru ... p.

xx111. lx. (16<::-;l} +7

upon hlrr\ ~kioe, .,.,[,,

t j'~rd'. O/u,
(Cotgr.).} 1'hc 1
1.sJ"li Tti""'-"\" !
hiodrr ch,,.tf Vf J,
from nothn,
wrinldn ~.

''I'

n.c ..

i.11.rd... (ga.;d) . .:
1&.oi CA~J,'\'' C'w

the bn.otN- tlttt..:,

1he b..ottom' o( 1},,.

rhty cuU th ortr

ternlt' ft.rd. J14! !-',

Cle.in ,..11

th~

plrtr

giirce, var, u.. R&E 1b, ObJ.

i'~rd,

prclnla. (go:'.sru::i). Bot, [mvd.L. (Linn:;cu?<

Grn<-rfl Pfa11tar1.1m (i7;17) 343), f. the nJ<rne of
I~&.Urcnt Garcin (1683-1751), Frefl.Ch botanht
and 1r~vel1er 1 -t ~u.. ) A men-1bcr of the genui. i.D
named of tropit.'nl, -c:vcrgrccn trcei., h<longini; tO
rhc f;,mily G untfcr~ .. nd faund in A"'i'. _,'.\ f nca,
and Polynet'ic: ~ornc ~pccice produce i:t1mbogt,
and \l.f\Othcr ia the rn,_nzofl.tccn.
<:M l.iu.: frr.tr ...J. B~t. x!. ~5 ln n.. p-:-cl !l> Ill,</"'" <>r
Tep, ii /t. th" c.. l)"xj i dthtr /IC-Mil, 1harp, in p,/,.;IJ]o .
OOhJ1(, b/w<r, in .'>y,.,pf.,.,w inJ (;<lrli~ta: or.,.,..ith&M' Clfi\~
Indent fut>prJ off, u in Vrr~, iJM C. N!CHC'U><)/'l

Varda Ciu.:d~J

l//11rtr, I.>Ur, G.irJ.~j"f 'll. ~:>/:1 Guoiniu thriv in .. ix-1

;.nd \oun c<omp-'!11, l"9<> V.'. j. C.:tJ.I>OJ< ffftJ.Jry nb T'ht
v~rclni th~t y1ld~ tht. iiinOO.-- l'J.P [J.f(r. c;.,,J~i~ {R.
Hori.~-)
compMI o

Cl.

li~iJ/1

Jc,.m nd

G;.rciniu nc.:d

~toto <':(>r>di1ion1 o.nd

f'<'I.

OF. gMrun (1 tth c.). ;ilrct'cm 1

rarion 1 earchDt1, etc, (mod,F. rarr011) - Pr.
garsa, ruarzon, Sp, ffl'f,.i:m, Pg. gat~/Jo, It.
rariora:, med,L. (i1th c.) garciiint11'1, for whlch
f:'Rrw-On.

(11.

g'}-rt:ife:r1.1m (f. the -.n~1oIT of IC1.uiftru-,.;;) occur"'

The norn. form. (mcd,L. gatcia) ia rcprcJChted
tiy OF. gau (mvd.F, rau ln jocuJ.r Ut.e, 1 b.d'),
&nd pcrh, by Pr.gart-x ;.dj. 'b11.d', The print1<r'}'
t.ensc i~ 't!"\'1tnt, ancnd:1.nt' (often u&c<I
contcmpn.1ou'1y, like 'krt<1.vc' 1 ~v;;r.rlct'): the
nHx:f.Fr, &cn.&et 'boy' 1 ~ba.chd(>r 1 , tLrc of h.tcr
devdopn1cnt,) A *f\'inR-n1an, ireo-0-rn: c1p.
young m"'n or boy M:r1nt.
tj

K, .tfli.i. l5<>J And d .. rn<.-+<:tl~ 10 , .. n.ounc, Thrr

rn .. J .. J r-0m\ln~. i;i. Sir Bru.n (A.) 1YQJ Hi. -on< )'ii w

proud ,11J.r><:..,ir,. i'v1en him d(1H'd-c ik1.1""m. l)., Sn.y"
S.:;.r. [\.\",) t~ifl \\'h.ccltcrl.ord ot L~tw.Jn, c.J.'4!-" J.frrln. IQJ
jl ;'1 i'fevou...: thlt1t tll \ ... to h,..u.. t t_uck><i ~q\x. 1.oc-dc out.1
v~ o.Jk. i,.:1 J, Hnwoon Pr""-' !Y Etir (11167) qc L-Onw:
"'~)'htynz .. nd 1m11! ""''ii.,. mUth p6UN' l:'-'*"n. 1~';-S
HAKJ,IJYT Vo)', [. t<,1. H-.H!nj h<l1 find< .:11.
ln ~ucQ
~hi

.Ir

n>Cll, ..nd .. 01rcivn, or Bo,

'

(~c:rhe

hi.,.,
which r.

~a.lied

..

-c...m:i;~her

b)

G.-.r~

gu.1i.rd,}- a. 'l"hc l

of lrcland 1

r'.1Ct

the Go.rd.a Si
!Q.1.3. Abo otfr

-'p1'DJl/-"!JiH~

ct1 ..h\11h in Swnd

l>I'. \'.t.l!e.:l the Ch-ii'

Hil ... 1l1v1e

Gi.n:h I

"''""'l .._..:o.

l<}4J

19:H Jb-<J. ~Mu. i

thu "'rH no m
rce<>irni..:: ..o 1},e ol
f

13

1h Fnnhit.,

f.ire

formed tht

c_,

Hid e<1nuol of l

i{

i.a1/'1

ts:arclop., j'ar.on. Ob.t. (after r6th c. chicf!y

l.fiu.). Aho 4 g:u..aun, Ji:il..rtt0'1"'nc 1 7 i'artion,

~~

iard-:

r"""''

Ddrnd

(19<

~Vlhority

R~Ji, ll5 Cc...tcl

!t~d0eJ'ih~'bo~f~:

Mioiotq of J\Hti

1/7 ln Vrvk'h"
1ll'r\(~I 70 men, v
Rjlln~ +/t 'l"be ri
G1.rt"Jl~r Red "

ttm~nt dd.:-d

C....-d,

1,..tdli..,~n

JM tO J'>IJfCh.....e

b. A

merr\
po!ir;eITHIJ1,
.19'-\J [JJU fr

t.h. Brn\ot.

.,,.c~

propvo-eo 10 ln..cr
Ciry ~d C(l.un
'h1. HA Gor,.,.L
rcfu...,.d to tern<>
/'>'fV' Yrr.lo-31
t.fr..cr he'd pf..1-U:
,_h E!fon, to
fl'\.i',!e hvt 1-:l

1vn lJ/J"'" T

nt't.1

church

... n)' vth.or ci

Af"r'll/IT f:><Prr

U..!.nh T-crry

Before you can ask, let's tell you. Yes, this is the A . ] . Weber
man famous for his critical exegesis of Bob Dylan. Yes, this
is the A.]. Weberman who went through Dylan's garbage in
search of knowledge. Yes, we have hired him to look through
the kitchen middens of the notable. Yes, we're about to show
you what lie found. No, nothing is sacred.
ESQUIRE: NOVEMBER

.T aclc

'

Anderson Mr::rry-G<;>- Round

ON:~.y J~UMA~'f,

J . EDGAR HOOVER 1 S TRASH CAN REVEALS HE 1 S

FBI CHIEF NEVER DRI NK$

I N PUBLIC, HE TIP?LES AT HOME;

FILM AGNEW AT'I'ACl\ED' I S BLACKLIS 1rED BY P OVEHTY AGENCY

By Jac k Ande rson

WASHINGT ON--We pave dis c overed tha t FB I chief J . Edgar Ho over , behind

hi s stern visag e,, is a s human a s t he rest of u s .

He s uffe r s from

i nd i ge s t ion , brushes his teeth with Ultra Brj..t e t oot hp as te a nd drinlrn

I r ish Mi st a f t er d inne r.
We f ound the evidence, frankly, i n h i s trash .

We had de c i de d tha t

t he 76 - year- ol d G- ma n should be sub j e c te d t o some of the same

inv e s t i gative practice s h e 0as be en us ing on s b many oth e rs .

In FBI

f ash1on:1 t h e r efore , we h a v e b een t ai l ing h i m, que s ticning his neighb ors

and inspecting his trash .
(])

It ' s unset t ling to tr,in k of a living l egend lik e th e g r eat Hoover

Bu t the: (;',-i cl e nc e s eems indispu table .

having gas p a ins .

Each day_, he spel l s out in care f u l l onghand pTecisely what he wants

is housekeepe r , Mi s s Anna Fields, t o prepa r e for his mea l s .
wri ttE:n on n ote paper un der t he

illlpr~s;J.:Lv e

hc D,d i n g :

11

The menus

Fro111 t .h e

offic e o:f 'I'he Dire c t or . 11

One discard ed menu d ire c ted Miss F ie l ds to serv e th e f o llovr ing
del(-'Ctab l e s at 6 : 15 p . m.:

crab bisque_, spar:!;he-Ct:L with meat b a lls,

tomatoes, sl iced onj_on::; , bibb lettu ce , p epp ermint

e,sparagus , sliced

st ick ice cream and s trawb e rri e s .

The great G- man sp e cified i.n wr iting , morEover, that t h e crab bis que
should. be purchased fr om the

Ha mp t on Genera l

- - HOOVER 1 S

St o1~e .

I NDIGESTI ON--

Fo r bre akfast, which h e instructed should be s e r v ed

.a~

10 : 1 5 a . rn . ,

Anothe r

J;e ord8.red frutt, h ot cake s , coun t r y sausage , eggs an d c off ee.

I
(

menu c a ll ec1 for " h o t c akes for Mr . T. 11

Mr. 'I '._,

~10

JJ

'

presumab ly~

t alces most

01~

is h is ai l i n g,

1. . :

.. -

~(0-year-old

h i s meals with The Director. .

d eputy , Clyde Tolson,

.. ; .. .

To counteract the inte s t:Lnal 'havoc caus ed by such combina

ti ons. .a s
.
'
.,,., .

s~ i ce d

onio ns _, p e pp ermint s tick i c e cream and strawb erries , our trash

a.nalys is revealed,

H o ov~r

t a ke s Ge l u s il antacid pil.l s.

----

He al so soothes

h i s th r oat with Cepac o l throat l ozenges__,_......-

,~

J A C K

A N

D E .,R

S 0

16 12 K S t ree t, N.W. Wasl1iH}!tv n, D.C. ,2()00 6

FBI chie f, mi nd f u l of h is r espons::. oi.Lity as .11.::,._,

vv J!, ;,,\. __\.., ... ...,

red - blooded youth , is careful never t o be seen drinld ng in pub l i c.

~1 i s

trash :cev eals that he tj_pples at

home .

r~ Black La bel Whiskey and Irish Mist liqueur .

,l,~pty

bottles of club soda,

_E.or what lt 1 g

ginge~

~'Ort1T; Hoover

b right but washes with

He fav o:.-.1

J~.c lc

But

D<:..n i els

His t rac.!1 a l ao produced

a l e and Coke .

n.ot only brushes his t e eth wi t h ultra-

Palmol~ve

s oap and shav es

wit~

Noxzema shaving

c ream.
--AGNEW SCORES-Vice President Agnew's attaclc up on the CBS documentary, "Hunger i n
Americ a., 11 du:cing his re c en t Boston tea party brought t mme d iate r esults
i n Washington.

--

The Office of Economic Opportunity., which had been u s i ng t h e film

f'or t wo y e .J. --.::s to dramatize the nat ion 1 s hunge r problem, abruptly
blackl i s t ed i t .
In his a.ssault upon CBS, Ar;ncw c:cicicized -Che edit i ng and p r oduc tion
of the h ung er documenta ry .

OEO had been showing the f ilm at t rain i ng

ses sions and high school l e ctur es t o depict how Americans starve ami d
plenty .

After Agnew 's blast, OEO Assoc tate Director Louis Ch urchvi l le hastily
reviewed the fi l m.

He got up from his viewi ng t o announc e t o aides :

"If people want to se e this fil m, t hey should GO to CBS . "

was out of date and no longer

11

u s 1~ fu l

He s aid i t

tra i n ing tool . 11

So sudd en was Churchvi lle' s ruling cho.t one OEO of f i e i n. l wac c au.gh c
j us t a s he was on t he way to a lecture t o show the hunger fil m.

IIe l eft

the controve rsia l documentary behind .

The ca pab le Churchville expl ained to us that he wasn't pulling the
fil m out of t he OEO l ibrary but confirmed that he "did not want our
t wo pri n t s d istributed .

It does n ot s er'!e any useful purpose . "

--NAVY GOOFS --

J:'he

,!) l

mi l l i on flash fi r e . that recently swept through the US8 Roarke

might have been avoided if the Navy had paid any attention t o its own
r ecoaunendatj_ons .
As f a r ba ck a s July 5, 1952, a similar fire broke out aboard the
USS Ros e .

Both fires started when oi:L from a lubricating oi l s t ratner

splashed on h ot pipes .
the 1952 dtr: o.nte r that

An official i nqu iry urg ently recommGnd ed a f ter

11

1ube oil s t ra.:lners should bc:i shi8ldcd f rom hot

surf a c e s of machine ry or r Glocated from h ot surfaces . "

( MOl i~ )

;g;gyptian Suspicions-:-American diplomats in Cairo_report that

Egyptian leaders suspect e. secret deal between the U.S. and Russia.
They believe that Russia doesn't interfere with U.S. military
operations in the Far East and, in return, the U.S. condones the growing
Soviet presence in the Middle East.

--?

Ho{iver.' s Trash--Our i!lspection of FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover's trash

has outraged FBI fans.

They are highly offended that we would stoop

to searching the great G-man 1 s. garbage, 'Where we found .evidence that

---

-----he

suffers from gas pains.< Of course, they misurfdersfand our motives,

-

----

It is because we 'disapprove of trash inspections that we have rummaged

through Hoover's trash cans.

By using the FBI's own methods against

its director, we hoped to discourage government gumshoes from continuing

the garbage game.
Bees Poisoned--The overuse of pesticides is endangering the nation's
bees.

This not only ale,rms beekeepers but also worr.ies agricultural

experts.

For bees, in addition to producing honey, pollina.te crops.

An estimated $3,5 billion worth of crops benefit from bee 'pollination.

(END MGR FOR RELEASE SATURDAY, .APRIL 3, 1971)

31AJW3710

------ ----- ----

-- - - - - ---..,.-------=--___ __.oo.-.--- -

'

-----

INTERSTATE FLIGHT TO AVOID COLLECTION

VIOLATION OF CANN ACT ..

mJllfi11Jllf1JDID
RICHARD NIXON'S GARBAGE
DESCRIPTION
AGE - ?
EYES - none
HEIGHT - ?
COMPLEXION - ?
WEIGHT - ?
RACE - white
BUILD-?
..
OCCUPATION -

j
i

. .

EX-PRESIDENT
HOME ADDRESS142 E 65 ST

CAUTION

!'

REPOR TE DLY HOARDS HIS TRAS H "AND HAS

BEEN ARRESTED bN SEVERA L OC C AS IONS FOR POSS !
ESSIO N OF A DEA DL Y SHREADERll' HE WIL L GO T O
ANY LENGT H TO PROT ECT HI S TRASH SO

<INSIDER DANGEROJS!!! !

Reward: $20 perload

IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION CONCERJllNG THI S
GARBAGE PLEASE CONTACT YOUll LOCAL FBGI OFFICE.

i1

6 BLEECKER ST 477-6243

1/( Qu&, ff0l~,.__

D I RF.C~R

F ED 6RAL BUREAU OF GARBOLOG ICAI. IN VES T IGA TI ON

NFW YORK I/ T Y

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HOWARD HUGHES GARBAGE

ALSO KNOWN AS HUGHES REFUSE, HUGHES HEAP AND "THAT Mil LION OOLLAR TRASH"

------

'.

---~-

DESCRIPTION
AGE- - ?
EYES - none
HEIGHT-?
COMPLUION-?
WEIGHT - ?
RACE- White
. BUILD - ?
HATIO~ALITY- multi
OCCUPATION - BILLION~IRE RECLUSE
SPECIAL CHAR.~CTERISTICS - HUGHES GARaAi:Ji:_
MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF FINGERNA-JL DIRT SINCE SUSPECT
rs RUMORED TO HAVE TEN INCH FINGERHAILS. MAY ALSO
CONTAIN ANTIS-EPTIC DEVICES LIKE SURGICAL GLOVES-AND

MASK SINCE HUGHES IS DEATHLYAfRAID OF GERMS!

CAUTION
HUGHES REPORTEDLY HOARDS HJS TRASH :AHO HAS
BEEN ARRESTED b~{ SEVERAL OCCASIONS FOR POSSJ. ESSION OF A DEADLY 5HREADER!!l HE WILL GO. T._O_
ANY LENGT.H TO PROTEC_T HIS TRASH _SO

. -

CTNSIDER DANGERO'JSI!!!
- -- - - __..
--~.

A FEDER

HUGH~S

~f ~DAT

layeO'r~

_.

1J 111'"1\gobage--undct'
AL WARRANT WAS JSSUED FFDR
HOWARD
.
REFU51Eronspor..,
ON JA,_N :10.,..,
LAS VEGAS NEVADA
old for Jmmorol
CHARGING
pur
THE
CANN
ACT (interstate

1
HIM WITH MULTIPLE VIOLATtONS 00 AVOID COLLECTION (TITLE 36 SEC. 69 NIG-coDE & TITLE l SEC J FBGI CODE)
P""') AND INTERSTATE FLIGHT T
---. _
_
_ ...
.
.
, .

:
YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION GOHCERMING. THIS
GARBAGE
- CONTACT YOUR LOCAL FBGI OFFICE.
lF
- PLEASE

~--

v(. QuA~ ~lv~.

DIREC~R

FED5RAL BUREAU OF GARBOLOG/CAL INVESTIGATION

NEW YORK CITY

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

. ....
"
AJ WEBERMAN , expert on famous people's garbage, wi11 hold a press
conference . tommorrow (MONDAY NOVEMBER 6, 197.2.) at. 11 :-0.0 'AM. in front of
BELLA ABZUG ' S GARBAGE CAN at 37 BANK STREE'r in 'I1he Village .1'here he 1 11
present the media with some 1muck 1 he 1 raked-up' while shifting through
Bella's Barrel in the course of researching his book titled YOU ARE WHAT
YOU THROW AWAY.
It seems that ALTHOUGH BELLA IS ONE OF THE MOST VOCAL DOVES IN CONGRES
SHE OWNS THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS '1/0RTH OF STOCK IN t!TTON 1NDUcl'l1RIES AND

AMER!KAN MACHINE FoONDARIEs (two ma j or weapons -systems producers)as evidenc

by some ~eports and
G iscarq .....

reciep~s

sorreone in her fami lly was foolish enogh to

After a brief rap on the HOW and WHY of garbology A.J . will distribute
copies of ' the evidence' so that the media : cart evaluate -it, and, 1
they so desire, PRESENT IT TO THE ELECTORATE BEFORE ELECTION DAY (Bella is
running for Congress again)

xero~ed

for more info call

The National Institue of Garbo

212-477-6243

Wliat's Hi.s Bag!

a__
e_
."Y ou.r Gltrba.
.
.v
By ANN IIENCF~EN
Abocictlcd Press

NEW .YORK - "Lcl's go on o.

garbage hunt tonight - al David

. Rockefeller's. Maybe we 'll find

' some used money," su~ccstcd
Alan .J Wcbcrman, 26-ye;irold
sell-styled garbnec an alyst.
"You Ci!il tell a lot al;out a
. person from their garh;-rrc U1cir 110H/ics, lhcir ;tilncl;rcl of
<.)jvini." sayi; Wcl:crm:rn. ;\ Yi;!.
pi<: will1 a Grour.lio .Marx !lcnsc
of humor, J1c is be:~t J;r;own for
his $.lt1dy and triticis::1 of Inc art
n, I , ~.,..,

I ,... ; ., , ,.

t,

~.

.'>:'

----------------

' J

NEW YORK 1 NEW YORK 10021

THOMAS

(21 2) 4 7 2-140 0

JOHN GODFREY SAXE (190 9 1<10 3 )

A. BOLAN

COUNSE L

ROGERS H . BA CON ( 19 19 1 9&2)

ROY M. COHN
SCOTT E . MAN LEY ( AD MITTED I LUNO IS AND INDIANA)
DAN I EL J . DRISCOLL
M ELVYN RUBIN

April 17, 1973

M ICHAEL ROSEN
HAROLD L . S C HWAR T Z

.. '
Mr . John s. Schlesinger
Schlesinger Centre
Braamfontein, Johannesburg
South Africa
Dear John:
It was nice hearing from you.
Our law practi~~ has been enormously busy and
have not had much time for m~s e lf.
Things are going very
well, although politics over here is somewhat messed up at
the momen t. You certainly predicted what would happen to
the dollar.
I did want to mention that Sam's son is running
in the Democratic Primary for President of the City Council.
I know they would we~coroe a contribution, and I also know that they
would never want to embarrass you bey asking directly.
If it is
possib l e, send a check to "Fri en ds of Tony Di Falco" and I will
get it to him.
I think he stands an excellent chance of winning
-- his two opponents are Paul O'Dwyer, the former Mayor's brother,
who is very Left Wing, particularly foran I r ishman, and Sandy
Gare lik, who presently holds the job, but wants to run for Mayor
and then pull out.
As soon as I figur e out the sununer schedule, I will
be in touch with y ou, as I am anxious to see you all.
I have some very funny stori es to tell you about
the antics of your former in-laws, etc.

My love to Rita and to you.

As ever ,

ew

Roy M. Cohn

:~..-

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.... ::. :. .. :.:.-.:..: : ........... '-/:..:

Stop - Best Web Sites - Baby Boomers

http://www.suite l 0 l .com/5top.cfin/Boomers

Baby Boomers
Chuck Nyren

5top (pronounced Five Top or Stop) is part of Suite 101, our service which
helps you find the best of the web, fast. We are a community of intelligent
and passionate individuals dedicated to helping you surf. We love
answering your questions, sharing knowledge and engaging you in
meaningful conversations. But first and foremost, we help you enjoy the
web. www.suite101.com

This document
Copyright 1997, i5ive communications inc.

5 TOP SITES

ARTICLE

Vietnam Veterans Memorials

A haunting site commemorating soldiers
who lost their lives from around the globe,
including Canada, Austrailia, and New
Zealand. Also updates about the traveling
'Wall'.

August1, 1997

My Life in Garbology

nd here I thought I'd be clicking

on a site hosted by Rush Limbaugh!
Oh, well. A web page glorifying Bob Dylan's
just as good .

garba~e

is

A.J. Weberman apparently spends his time ransacking

other people's rubbish. He's sort of an up-to-the-minute
archeologist. I guess he can't wait for future generations to
catalog our muck.
What he has to say about famous garbage is fascinating though his site is as tough to navigate as a city dump.
I had a rousingly good time there, however, blithely
wallowing in the mounds of slime..

The Music Festival Homepage

A beautiful, well thought-out page
honoring the Woodstock and Monterey
Pop Festivals, among others. Some
stunning pictures.
National Civil Rights Museum
A humbling page. So much was
accomplished -- yet there is so much
further to go.
Disinformation
The '60's social and political
consciousness is alive and well in the
'90's. Who'll like this site? George Will
won't.
RockNet
Chns Bartlett has put together the best
assemblage of links honoring the Sixties
and Seventies Rock Bands.

Surprise Link of the month/

Archived Article Update: Tracy Nelson
More Boomer articles can be found here.
Upcoming articles:

More Sixties TV Shows,

Timothy Leary.

I of I

8/5/ 1997 8:36 AM

Censor the Garbage!J

By ANN HENCKEN
Aasocla~

PJess

NEW YORK - "Let's go on a

garbage hunt tonight - at David
Rockefeller's. Maybe we'll find
some used money," suggested
Alan .J Weberman, 26-year-old
self-styled garbage analyst.
" You can tell a lot about a
person from their garbage their politics, their standard of
Jiving," says Weberman. A Yippie with a Groucho Marx sense
of humor, he is best known for
his study and criticism of the art
of poet-singer Bob Dylan.
Weberman prepares for a garbage raid with the dignity of a
surgeon, as he paces arounci his
immaculate Bowery apartment.
He puts on a clean white shirt.
He pulls his halo of red curls
back into the semblance of a
Paul Revere ponytail and adjusts his gold-rimmed glasses.
He folds a fresh plastic garabage bag and pockets a scnl>bled address and $50 in cash for
emergencies.
Uptown, the street is dark and
deserted. It is 1 a .m. Weberman
calmly approaches the home of
David Rockefeller, president of
the Chase Manhattan Bank and
brother of Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller. No lights are on. He
looks around for a policeman.
"Keep watch," he says, slipping past the iron fence and lift.
ing the lid of the garbage bin.
He e~tracts a small brown paper

f-rt?-: ~ - _.

Yippie garbage snooper Alan J. Weberman.

bag, spotted with grease, and
holds it up, grinning.
Once away from the scene, he
paws through the stuff, which is
spread on the plastic sheet.
But the Rockefeller take is disap~inting a few gnawed
chicken bones and a halffinisbed jar of pickled beets.
"Garbage hunting is an unobtrusive method of sociological
research. People have done
worse things for science," he
says.

Weberman does it for curiosity

- and money. He says he received $900 for a recent Esquire
magazine s tory about garbage.
His interest in garbage sprung
from his obsession with Bob Dylan. Calling himself a Dylanologist, he spent several years organizing .a two-volume companion book to Dylan's poetry and
collecting rare Dylan t.apes.
Still hungry for more scraps of
information, Weberman s trolled
past the Dylan house last fall.

"I reached in the garbage can

and pulled out a half-finished
letter to Johnny Cash. I said,
'This is no garbage can, it's a
gold mine !'
"After two weeks, Dylan got
wise. He began to censor his
garbage."
Weberman has worked his
way into the garbage pails - if
not always thehearts - of bpxer
Muhammad Ali , playwright Neil
Simon and Yippie leader Abbie
Hoffl-.ian.

..

NEW YORK POST,

J I ,,

MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 1997

Ivana and Mick get trosJa;trolled

Page
Six

By RICHARD JOHNSON
with Jeane Macintosh

and Sean Gannon

Just asking
WHICH heavi ly bandaged New
York-Los AngC'les socialite was
trying to 1menk out of her plastic
surgeon's office unrecognized
when she nm into somebody who
knew her un iv loo well - the
maid of 14 yeim:i she'd JUSt fired
an d who'd landt~d a new job in the
doctor's onlcl'? Sweet revunge ...
WHICH NBA s uperstar Mtmt a
signed photograph of himsPlf to
his accountant with the inscri~
tion: ''Keep the IRS off my back!'?
. . . WHICH big restaurateur is
getting behind in his wor k becaul'E! he's holl'd up m his penthouse partying with a nubile
nymphet?

Beagle watch
EVEN though Yamanouchi USA
offered to nlt>nse the 40 beagles
that were g'o1 ng to be used in
2_r:ug-~sli!1g- ' \o n!1im~ I advocate

The bulk of the income, $91,342, is listed as

coming from public appearances. Two other
sources of income are listed as ''Dear Ivana"
<$14,9991 a nd speeches ($14,885).
Lyman cautioned that the materiaJ found by
Weberma n "pertains to a very limited portion
her business operations." "How much crediWhile lvana's garbage, collected from out- of
bility does one have if they stoop to the level
side her Manhattan home by Weberma n's of going through anyone's garbage?" he asked.
sidekick, yippie pie-thrower Aron Kay, is a
Indeed, Weberman's commentary on what
rich melange of artifacts, far and away the
most intriguing find is a statement labeled he unearthed from the dumpsters goes beyond
"Profit and Loss" for "IV Inc." for the first six tasteless. Of several half-empty r erfume botmonths of this year. According to lvana's law- , tles, he states, "It would be coo if homeless
women went through her trash and got the
yer, Gary Lyman, that company, Ivana Inc., perfume. Then they wouldn't smell so bad."
handles the bouncy Czech's public appear- Less offensively, he wonders if a pincushion is
ances and "Dear Ivana" column for the tabloid full of pins because Ivana was thinking of her
Globe. It is distinct from House of Ivana, the ex - although he doesn't say whether he
clothing and jewelry operation.
means Donald or Riccardo Mazzuccbelli.
The income for the six-month period is listed
The financial data collected at J agger's
as $151,050; expenses are listed as $116,888. Manhattan place, which is more of an office
Tha t leaves a net ordinary income of$~4,163. than a residence - was less fascinating: por-

SHREDDERS may become the next celebrity accessory. A.J. Weberman, the guy who
made his name going through Bob Dylan's
trash in the '70s, has a new website devoted
to celebrity trash . Hie first vit:tims: Mick
Jagger and Ivana Trump.

tions of a Nynex bill ($16.69 for optional services), part of an invoice from a pest exterminator, and one from Mountain Valley Wat.er
to "Michael Jagger." Somebody - the account
holder 's name is missing - sold 60 sha res of
Texaco stock for $112.37 each on May 5.
Other tidbits evoke low drama. "Mick arrived in N.Y. last night and is at the Pierre. I
don't know what name he is staying under,"
says a handwritten note on J agged Films stationery. A fax from somebody named David to
somebody na med Elton thanks Elton for the
"lovely plant which arrived just as I was papering the bathroom." Unfortunately, "Wilfrid
tried to eat it," a nd a light fixture blew.
Weirdest finds: two letters from a smitten
woman who believes Mick returns her affections; it appears she's gleaned thiH from
watching him on TV. There are also lots of
stamps. Weberman wonders if "the butler"
throws fan letters with sclf-addrei;sed
Htamped envelopes in the trash.
Jagger's office had no comment.

sn.rp

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sneer 10 .1&1.1~

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'

NEW YORK POST,

J.

' ,,

h.

iU0l{l

SJ"ll!:>WO ,(q pea.1 aq}r.

MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 1997

Ivana and Mick get trasli-trolled

Paga
Six

By RICHARD JOHNSON
with Jeane Macintosh
and Sean Gannon

Just asking
WHICH heavily ba ndaged New
Yor k-Lo11 A11gC'le1:1 1:1ociali tc was
t rying to sneak out of her plastic
surgeon's office unrecogni zed
when 1:1 hc ran into somebody who
knew her only too well - the
majd of 14 yen rs !'he'd j ust fired
and who'c.1 landed o new job in the
doctor's oflicc'? Sweet revenge ...
WIIlCH NBA supers tar sent a
signed photograph of him l:!t>lf to
his accountant with the inscri~
tion: "Keep the IRS off my back! '?
.. . WHICH hig rtstauratcur is
getting bl'hind in hi s work because he's holed up in his penthouse partyin A' with a nubile
nymphet'?

Beagle watcl1
EVEN though Yamanouchi USA
offered to rckasc the 40 beagles
that were g'o111g to be m1cd in
~ug-~sti!"'g to a!nm~l advocate

SHREDDERS may become the next celebrity accessory. A.J. Weberman, the guy who
made his name going through Bob Dylan's
trash in the '70s, h as a new website devoted
to celebrity trash. His first vi'ctims: Mick
Jagger and Ivana Trump.
While I vana'a garbage, collected from outside her Manhattan home by Webcrman's
sidekick, yippie pie-thrower Aron Kay, is a
rich melange of artifacts, far and away the
moat intriguing find is a statement labeled
"Profit and Loss" for "IV Inc." for the first six
months of this year. According to lvana's lawyer , Gary Lyman, that company, Ivana Inc.,
handles the bouncy Czech's public appearances and ''Dear Ivana" column for the tabloid
Globe. It is distinct from House of Ivana, the
clothing and jewelry operation.
The income for the six-month period is listed
as $151,050; expenses are listed as $116,888.
That leaves a net ordinary income of $34,163.

The bulk of the income, $91,342, is listed as

coming from public appearances. Two other
sources of income are listed as 'Dear Ivana"
<$14,9991 and speeches ($ 14,885).
Lyman cautioned that the material found by
Weber man "per tains to a very limited portion
of her business operations." "How much credibility does one have if they stoop to the level
of going through anyone's garbage?" he 81.!ked.
Indeed, Weberman's commentary on what
he unearthed from the dumpAters goes beyond
tasteless. Of several half-empty perfume bottles, be stat.es, "It would be cool if homeless
women went through her trash and got the
petfume. Then they wouldn't smell so bad."
Less offensively, he wonders if a pincushion is
fu11 of pins because Ivana was thinking of her
ex - although he doesn't say whether he
means Donald or Riccardo Mazzucchelli.
The financial data collected at J agger's
Manhattan place, which is more of an office
than a residence - was less fascinating: por-

tions of a Nynex bill ($16.69 for optional services), part of an invoice fro m a pest exterminator, a nd one from Mountru n Valley Water
to "Michael J agger." Somebody - the account
holder's name is mjseing - sold 60 shares of
Texaco stock for $112.37 each on May 5.
Other tidbits evoke low drama. "Mick arrived in N.Y. last night and is at the Pierre. I
don't know what name he is staying under,"
says a handwritten note on Jagged Films stationery. A fax from somebody named David to
somebody named Elton thanks Elton for the
"lovely plant which arrived just as I was papering the bathroom." Unfortunately, ''Wilfrid
tried to eat it," and a light fixture blew.
Weirdest finds: two letters from a smitt.en
woman who believes Mick returns her affections; it appears she's gleaned this from
watching him on TV. There are also lots of
stamps. Weberman wonders if "the butler"
throws fa n letters with self-addressed
stamped envelopes in the trash .
J agger 's office h ad no comment.

Arman:
The Parisian Avant-Garde in New York
JAN VAN DER MAACK

With revolutionary fervor and utopian slogans,

the Nouveaux Realistes aimed at
replacing and transcending traditional
pictorial conventions, whereas
Johns, Rauschenberg and the Pop artists,
for all their ingenious scrambling,
remained faithful to these conventions.
Encreoragie: india ink & glass in polyester. 65 x 80", 1968 (collection oJ the artist).

In the si x years between The New American Painring's European

debut at Basel in April 1958 and Robert Rauschenberg's bid for
top Biennalc honors at Venice in June 1964, the art world 's center
of gravity shi fted decisi vely from Paris to New York . It was the
tough luck o f the Parisian avant-garde, baptized by Y ves Klein's
presen tatio n of the Void at Iris Clert 's in Apri l 1958, and institu tionall y enshrined in N ieuwe Realisten at the Haags Gemeentemuseum in June 1964, 10 coincide with the demise of Paris and the
ascendency of New York . In the scuffle for internatio nal attention ,
" Frenchness" became a liabil ity. and young American artists
believed that the tradition from which it drew was bankrupl. In
o ne o f those historic iro nies , anemic abstraction was their common
target and Dada their common source. Highly original ideas,
gestures and in ventions by Klein , Tinguely, A rman , Spoerri and
Christo were prej udic iously compared by A merican critics to the
more familiar ideas, gestures and inventions of artists at home.

was alien to Americans . This hampered a just appraisal of the

radical Nouveaux Realistes stance w ith its innovative balance
between the conceptual and the material . This stance did not spring
from or respo nd to proto-Pop trends in American art of the late
1950s; the elemental mo nochromes, motori zed junk metal s and
serial repetitio ns o f Klein , Tinguely and Arman anticipated similar
or related approaches in the work of o ur ow n artists. The Nouveaux
Realistes hardly deserved the bandwagon reputation with which
some American cr itics branded them .
The shift in the art w orld 's pow er structure led these artists to
seek the tougher c hallenges and greater rewards this country could
offer. In thjs headlong rush toward transatlantic recognition , early
gain s and legitima1e priorities remained obsc ure or barely exploited. Nervo us abou1 his American audience's response, the
European artist some1imes outdid himself. Tinguel y's Homage 10
New Y ork was resen ted by New Y ork artists to whom the Museum
-.. f

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A- ' ~

...... ......,.. : .. . ........... ,,....,,..,. .. :_... .....

.-.. I' r. . . - ~ - ~-

- - '" -- -- _ tr _ _ _ : ___ .

Cachet ink on paper, 10 x

a,

Burnt Cello: mixed media, 58 x 43", 1970 (De Montaigu. Paris).

1956.

Yves Kle in made bad blood in New York art circles w ith his
pseudo-philosophical verbiage; Arman , w hose 1961 exhi bition at
Cord ier & Warren had the same mixed reception his friend Klein 's
had at Castell i's , was put down by Rauschenberg w ith the curious
claim that "automatic repetition is not creation . " 1 An undi sguised
effort was made to di scourage the French from com ing to New
York and competing for a s hare of the vanguard market by the
Americans, who, between 1959 and 196 1, had shown their work
at Jean Larcade's and othe r ga lleries in Paris . Larry Rivers was
the exception who confirmed the rule .
Welcome e ncouragement came from Virginia Dwan in Los
Angeles, whose new gallery , which ope ned w ith an A rman ex hibition in May 1962, was a haven for the No uveaux Realistes Kle in,
Ti nguely , Arman and Raysse. Yet she may have unw ittingly
contributed to keeping these artists at a distance from the fray,
although in the fall of that year Tinguely and Raysse coul d be
seen at lolas in New. York. Arman rece ived an offer from S idney
Janis to show in Jul y. In 1962 the same ga llery rel ied on Pierre
Restany , spokesman for the Nouveaux Realistes, to organize an
ioternational survey of Pop-oriented tre nds. This exhibition , with
Arman, Christo , Ha ins, Klein , Raysse. Spoerri and Tinguely

An exhibition docume/lfi11g Ar111a11 's gestures and projects. Selected Acti vities 1960- 1973, is 011 view at the John Gibson Gallery.
New York, thro11gli November 21. A sma ll retrospective of his
work is scheduled at the Andrew Crispo Gallery. New York ,
November 14- December 28. The La Jolla Museum of Contemporary A rr is planning a tra veling retrospective to open in August
1974. Tile first English-language monograph 0 11 A rman, by Henry
Martin , has just been pub/is/red by Harry N. Abrams.

making up the Paris -based contingent. was held in November and

became the rallying cry for the new a rt . Arman's inclusion was
due to Sidney Jani s. because h is work quite c learly related to the
classic Cubist and Surrealist traditions wh ich Janis admires. An
analysis in that conte xt is necessary for the understanding of
Arman 's contribution to contemporary art .

t has been c ustomary to relate Arman's use of common objects

to Duc hamp 's Readymades; Pierre Restany suggests that Arman
has artic ulated the monosy llabic Ready made into ' sentences .'
Duchamp , o f course. he ld o ut a possibil ity fo r the fou nd object
as art, unthi nkable unti l that date and unforget table si nce. But
Ducham p's idea had been thoroughly assi milated ; artists used
materials " foreig n ' to art as a matter of course. The relati onship
w hic h ex isted, on many leve ls , between Duchamp and Arman
postdated the latter' s move to New York . by which time his basic
vocabulary had been firml y establ ished . Though quite spec ific about
what did affect his early work , Arman wasn't very much aware
of Duchamp in Nice and Pari s. It has ne ver bee n the object as
such or its shock e ffec ts tha t moti vated Arman , but a desire to
devise a struc tural frame for the object . To that end , he borrowed ,
consciously or unconsciously. from the Cubists and Constructivis ts.
The Constructivist declaration of purpose was called the Realist
Manifesto. George Rickey claims that in Russian the word " realist " -presumabl y from the French " real iser" - has a connotation
of " getting things done . " 2 In I 957 Naum Gabo , aulhor of rhe
Realist Manifesto. explained " real ist" as that which cou ld be
touched and fe lt in contrast to Malevi ch ' s metaphysical ideas: "The
word 'realism' was used by a ll of us constant ly because we were
convinced that what we were doing represented a new reality. "
Typically , a year before Pierre Restany coined the term No 11 vPn11

'

'

11

Die Wise Orchid: exploded MG, 97 x 194", 1963 (Charles Wi!p).

ambitious as that of the Constructivists, spoke of "le r6alisme

d'aujourd 'hui," meaning a ne\v collective perception of the contemporary \VOrld. It would seem, therefore, that Nouveau Rtalisme
\Vas less a return to figuration and the object in the face of School
of Paris abstraction than a new grip on and presentation of everyday
reality. With revolutionary fervor and utopian slogans, the i'louveaux Rtalistes aimed at replacing and transcending traditional
pictorial conventions, whereas Johns, Rauschenberg and the Pop
artists, for all their ingenious scrambling, remained faithful to these
conventions. Since it is impossible to escape or \York outside
established conventions, the more "realistic" Americans had a
critical advantage.
But fortunately for the l'louveaux Rtalistes, their rhetoric-and
that of their spokesman, Pierre Restany-was backed by a method
\Vhich, in the case of Arman, demonstrated a Cartesian grasp on
the logic of form. Trained in art history and archaeology, interested
in oriental and primitive arts, \Videly read in anthropology, philosophy and surrealist literature, Arman came to his mature style
prepared as few of his contemporaries. G. R. Swenson \Vas the
first American critic to recognize ''a filter of sophistication \vhich
gives the work as a whole a complexity which the parts or objects
do not seem to have. " 3 This complexity is not sculptural, as some
may think, but graphic in origin.
n the early 1950s Arman came across reproductions of the work
of the Dutch master printer Hendrik Nicolaas \Verkman4 and,
in 1953, he sa\V the collages of Kurt Schwitters at Heinz Berggruen
in Paris. Both artists used lettering in a manner related to the
freestyle typography introduced by the Constructivists. Arman,
\Vho \Vas working in an office at the time, started to make, from
rubber stamps, on the same intimate scale, \Vhat came to be kno\vn
-- i..:_ ---r.-fo ,.,,_.,.. <>+omn-ina~ nf"r-idedlv structured in appearance,

they \Vere modest essays in the margin of the artist's tachist

paintings in the manner of De Stael and Poliakoff. Arman refers
to everything he did before 1958 as student work. Yet, as early
as 1956 he was exhibiting at the Galerie du Haut Pave in Paris
under his first name "Armand," dropping the "Fernandez." At
one of Iris Clert's Ivficro Salons, t\VO years later, the printer of
the catalog dropped the last letter of his first name by mistake,
and the artist settled for it. Pierre Restany, initially a friend of
Yves Klein's, helped Arman make his first gallery contacts. A
champion of "Inf0rmel," a form of lyrical abstraction of that time,
Restany wrote
of Arman's 1957 sho\v at Iris Clert that it \vas a
1
pity to see an artist of such talent restrain himself to the limited
scale of needlepoint and boudoir painting. Although Arman, encouraged by these comments, went out to buy the materials that
would allow him to work on a bigger scale, the cachets that
followed no longer showed the tight Constructivist composition,
but the expansive sweep of the School of Paris painters already
a\vare of Jackson Pollock. Arman himself first saw Pollock's work
at the Studio Facchetti in Paris in 1954. The American artist's
allover technique left an indelible impression and, more than
anything else, is responsible for a recurring tendency in Arman's
\VOrk toward atomization of image and a concurrent submergence
in texture.
Pollock's physical grappling \Vith picturemaking means fascinated Arman, \Vhose intellectual bent \Vas healthily balanced by
a knack for judo and deepsea fishing. He dre\V permissions from
Pollock's style not unlike those of Allan Kapro\v 5 at the time,
though it \Vas Yves Klein's action-orientation, rooted in an extended stay in Japan and exposure to the activities of the Gutai
Group, that edged the more reticent and introverted Arman tO\Vard
public gestures and events. Another factor, no doubt, was Arman's
close association through his first wife, the composer Eliane Radi-

,
91

Toccata and Fugue: mixed media, 65 x 52 x 15", 1962 (Albrigh t-Knox Gallery, Buffalo).

gue , with expe rimental musici ans and composers , s uch as Pierre
Schaeffer and Pierre Henry, at the Radiodiffusion et Television
Franc;aise. Found and electronicall y gene rated sound , feedback,
synthesizing , distortio n and repetit ion can all be seen as equi valents
in mus ic to w hat preoccupied Arman during the period he was
gestating his repertoire of inte rventional gestures. While Dali 's
pranksterism a ppealed more to Yves Kle in and George Mathieu ,
the chance a nd transfer techniques of Max Ernst were still a nother
influence. Arman has ne ver hidden his adm iration for all those
sources.

he artist's gestural style made the effect of the stampings more

important than their readability . In othe r words, it no longer
matte red what Arman used to make the imprint with as long as
the overall effect was satisfactory. Thus the cachet almost literally
led to the allure d'objet, or tracing, in 1958. First Arman used
a fe lt hat dipped in paint, the n rags , but they lacked a partic ularized
shape and made ind iffe ren t imprints . So he resorted to objects

springs, cam wheels , bicycle c hains, strands of pearls , bottles,

pistons , safety pins, nail s , ball bearings. Fragile mate rials li ke
glass, china or eggshells would break in the process , making more
of a splatter than a n imprint. As the idea of repetition or , more
prec isely, accumulati on was co ntained in the stampings , so that
of destruction was contained in the tracings. In hurling inked
objects across paper or dropping breakables containi ng paint on
a canvas, Arman did not allow chance to cake over altogether.
He maneu vered his image-creating devices through subtle controls.
as Hokusai o nce coa xed ink -covered c rabs to cross his paper. But
the means are full y subsumed by the ends and all we arc aware
of are hints , glimpses a nd allus ions .
Traci ngs of objects were formally well established before Arman
grasped their conceptual potential. He the n , however, turned from
the object's tracing or scatte ring to the multiple or fractured
rende ring of the object itself. This art of direct presentation consti tuted a breakthrough in Arman 's development and set the precedent
for all the later work. Pierre Restany called it the " appropriation
,,., & t i...

-- I

1-

,,

Click, Clack. Kodak, Hourrah: mixed media, 20 x 293/.t'' 1963 (Locksley Shea Gallery. Minneapolis)

Jn order to e nhance the ex pressiveness o f the object and confer

structure on its presentation. he had recourse to inverse processes
of accumulation and destruction. The element of accident provoked
by breakage in the tracings of objects is first frozen-i n 1959
Arman affi xed a teapot and two cups in smithereens 10 a black
background and called it Tea for Two--the n repeated at will
fo r its ow n sake. Objects to be destroyed need to have a strong
identity and. if possible, a perfeci,t. form . After the artist is th rough
with them they can still be recd.snized and enjoyed . T hat's why
musical ins truments, Victori an statuary, domestic utens ils and
im itation period furniture figure prominently amo ng the objects
smashed, sliced or burnt in Arman's fo rmal vocabulary.
Because of the aggressiveness of his gestures , Arman speaks
of his coleres or tantrums. Since nobody gets hurt in the process.
they fun ction as carefull y orchestrated ritual, or shadow-play, for
the world's brutality . Catastrophe is prompted and the inevi table
effects of ti me hastened. Arman's sense of im pending disaster has
undoubtedly been sharpened by personal brushes with his country's
colonial wars and their troublesome impact at home. Though it
is rare for Arman to turn his form aJ tantrums into public spectacle,
the most spectacular were public. In 196 I he destroyed a contrabass
in the impasse Rons in in Paris before NBC ca meras. T hat same
year, at the Abbaye de Roseland in Nice, Arman broke a set of
imitation He nri II furniture. In Gstaad, the next year, he we nt
into a musical rage and smashed a grand piano, call ing it Chopin 's
Waterloo. With a few sticks of dynamite he gulled a white MG
near Essen in I 963 , and between 1966 and I 968 he burnt both
mus ica l instruments and furni ture in the open. lf o ne is tempted
to call these Happenings, it shou ld be remembered that the spectacle was gratuitous -the remains were what Arman was after.
Invariably , they have been conserved , as object or picture. like
an arrested anecdote , in the same way as Spoerri's Snare Pictures.
the end resu It of a repast.
As destruction can be orderly or brutal, so accumul ation can

be random or precise. According 10 O uo Hahn, !he same impulse-the will to possess and dominate-is at work in both
hoarding and destroying: what cannot be kept sho uld be kept from
others through destruction. Precise accum ulatio ns are conservati ve;
random accumulations connote di scard and waste, !he preliminaries
of destruction. To waste, in conte mporary army s lang. is to destroy
and kill. All Arman's works reflect the dia lectic of possession and
death . Dried flowers in a herbarium or butte rflies under g lass are
the perfect real-life parallels. Arman , ii sho uld be noted, always
has accumulated or destroyed man-made, i.e. crafted or machineproduced , objects. Products of nature are multiple by definitio n,
can be ofte n seen in that state, meel their e nd naturally , and do
not need the art ist's intervent ion .

Arman makes an exception for the end product of both industry

/-\. and nature-the garbage can . This, which has preoccupied
h.im from I 959 until the present , is the purest re flection of man
and his ci vilization; you are what you throw away. To garbage,
Arman's attitude has been--depending o n the e ffect he sought to
attain-pervasive (he signed an accumulatio n o f garbage at the
stage door of 1he Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1962),
architectonic (he filled the Galerie Iris C lert w ith a wide variety
of urban casto ffs in October I 960 and called it L e Plein) or specific
(he made "port raits " of his friends that consisted of so many days'
worth of their emptied wastepaper baskets. garbage cans and
persona l discards). The sealing powers of po lyester combined wi th
the compress ive powers of the Tras h Master have allowed Arman
to use relat ively larger amounts of any gar bage he likes , acti ve
as well as inert. The effects may be less personal, but they are
more varied in color and texture, two o f hi s more recent concerns.
The habit of judgi ng matlers by how muc h or how many is
ingra ined in Western civi li zatio n. Bigness is eq uated with beauty;
s tatistics. those purely quantitative measuring devices, serve to help
us make qualitative decisions. Even art ists have put a premium

Accumulation Sp iral Renault 4 accumulation of side panels. 87" high, 1967.

on quantity and si ze; witness the massiveness of earthworks, the

expanses of canvas. the weight of sculpture , the s ize of editions
and the endlessness of certain musical compositions . Arman and
Warhol have produced works with the unabashed feeli ng that
"more is better," and they were destined to do so because
accumulation and repetition were a function of the manner in which
they had chosen to ex press themse lves. Parallels between these
two arti sts crop up again and again.
Arman 's firs t accumulation, a box fu ll of old-fashioned radio
tubes behi nd glass, dates back to 1959. The tubes, bought at the
flea market , were covered with ink or paint, then smashed on paper
or canvas. It suddenly daw ned on Arman , as important insights
often do , that the casual line-up of radio tubes was better than
any pictorial e ffect he could wrest from their breakage . On a larger
scale , Arman proposed for an exhibition at the Galerie Breteau
in Paris one cubic meter of toothbrushes . Since a large enough
suppl y could not be found at a price he could afford , this second
of Arman 's accumulations was never realized . However, it did
not take long for thi s idea to be carried through ; the first accumulations were random stas hes of si milar but not necessarily identical
items , boxed and windowed for frontal presentation . Used and
sometimes pathetic looking, they had a compell ing but ill -defined
sense of history . Their titles, then as now , favor pun and poetic
reference, for Arman is a voracious reader of those acerbic masters
of the incongruous and the absurd , Stendhal a nd Rimbaud , Jarry
and Lautreamont. lf selection is the fi rst and presentation the second
of Arman's creat ive operations , then naming his work is an
important third ; in perfect sequence. they de ri ve from Dada,
Constructivism and Surrealism .
Proper presentation is central to Arman 's work achieving its
OA

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p ffprt

ainrt rfi f' t 'l t Pc

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niques. It was only natura l, therefore , that the artist should gravitate
toward the more controllable nature of surplus over de tritus and
fixing over compacting. Canal Street gradually took the place of
the Parisian flea market. and polyester, as early as 1963, s tarted
to dissolve the problem of grav ity. Arman has explained that the
American environment had the effect of " cooling" his style.
lnstead of insisting on hi s N ou veau Realiste identity and challenging Pop-as did Martial Raysse , with dubious results-Arm an
gorged himself on a greater abundance of materials and techniques .
This set him free. in a se nse , to concentrate on the formal aspects
of his work. The materials Arman used in 1963 and 1964 were
new , generally small in s ize and clearly industrial in orig in.
Inherent color and close c rowding contribute to the allo ver effect .
The embedding in clear polyester is still crude , but gradually
improves between 1964 and 1967 . A teaching stint at UCLA , in
1967-68 , gave Arma n the opportunity of bringing some of California's virtuos ity with plastics to bea r on his own work . The last
traces of human facture fell victim to intentionally anonymous
finish . Bu t by 1970, in an attempt. no doubt , to return to the
primiti ve virtues of roughness , Arman introduced concrete to hold
his objects together. These works may also have prompted Arman
to make freestandin g accumulations of objects of one kind welded
together, as he d id in 1963 and is now prepared to do again . It
is typical for Arman to rehearse ideas and materials employed in
the past whenever new methods and techniques suggest a n e ncore.
ince 1966 Arman has embalmed burnt objects, especially mus ical instruments , in polyeste r. arresting them in the penultimate stage of incineration before they crumble into ashes . He offers
the viewer a last flash of pleasure before annihilation, stopping

Civilization No. 1: accumulation of. garbage in polyester, 48 x 36 x 4", 1971.

fatal and irreversible turn. No material but polyester allo\ved the

artist to conserve the effects of fiery destruction, and it took several
years before he could move from ax to torch in his ritualized display
of anger. By the same token, paint pots and tubes could not be
spilled or squeezed-and thus create a startlingly novel effectuntil liquid plastic could envelop and solidify those pastes and
pigments. As he loves to reprocess art and culture after his O\Vn
fashion, Arman found the ideal subject in accumulating and
squeezing (a form of destruction) the contents of the art supply
store. The third important preoccupation of the late 1960s, the
free or encased accumulation of identical automobile parts, resulted
in an invitation from the Renault factories to apply his peculiar
genius to their assembly-line symbols of bourgeois status and
mobility. As he \Vorked \Vith manufactured objects, it was only
logical that his endeavors should, someday, lead him to the
''church of his \vorship,'' the factory. The results, predictably,
\Vere \vhat the Russian Constructivists must have dreamt of doing,
i.e. working directly with the methods and facilities as \Vell as
\Vith the cornucopia of materials of modern industry.
Arman's work maintains a balance between the presentation of
the physical substance of external reality and the representation
of the emotional substance of interior reality. He is never so bland
as not to allow us to attach meaning and never so pat as to give
us chapter and verse. There thus remains room for formal and
iconographical ambiguities that raise the art \vork's visual stakes.
Arman does not make us see objects for the first time or create
sights that instill a sense of \Vonder. Rather, he makes us see things,
as it were, for the last time, distilling in us a sense of resignation.
The emphasis, quite properly, is on seeing, as the artist has,
throughout his career, striven for pictorial before sculptural effects.
Even though many of his \Vorks are volumetric, Arman has never

Untitled irons in concrete, 34 x 22 x 10", 1970 (Durand-Ruel, Paris}.

claimed to be inventing three-dimensional forms. There is an

interesting parallel benveen Arman's \vork and Cubism, that earlier
two-dimensional art form suggestive not only of the third, but the
fourth dimension of time. Arman has given a literal and mechanistic
interpretation to Cubism: Analytical Cubism, to him, can be
equated \Vith the slicing or smashing, Synthetic Cubism with the
accumulation of form. There is a sense of simultaneity, a transgression of reality, yet formal entrapment, in both Cubist painting
and in Arman's accumulations and tantrums. They thus define
traditi6n itself as something to be destroyed and reconstructed with
an acute respect-for its shapes and processes.

i. This was a year before Andy Warhol's first exhibition at the Stable
Gallery. On that occasion this writer sa\V Tinguely indignantly express
the view that Warhol's serial repetition of soup cans and Marilyns
had ripped off Arman, Arman, though he does not believe in conscious
imitiation on Vlarhol's part, admits to noticing the latter's presence
at the Cordier & Warren exhibition preview. While Arman and \Varhol
share certain quantitative notions (Arman '\VOuld have loved to "Raid
the Icebox" at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art
and considered it a gesture more appropriate to him than to \Varhol),
it should be clear that the latter works with cliches while Arman \Vorks
with common objects, and that Warhol accumulates images not bound
by any particular scale while Arman accumulates things that have their
own scale.
2, George Rickey, Constructivism, Origins and Evolution (Ne\.: York:
George Braziller, 1967), p. 25.
3. G. R. Swenson, "Arman and esthetic change," Quadrum (Brussels)
XVII (J 964): 87-96.
4. W.J.H.B. Sandberg, "Werkman (1882-1945)," Arts d'Aujourd'hui (Boulogne-sur-Seine) III, 3/4 (1952).
5. Allan Kapro\V, "The Legacy of Jackson Pollock,,,- Art News (New
York) 57,6 (October 1958).

.i ~

.,
95

MAGDA v. BENSON
Cite a s 536 F.2d 111 (1976)

111

2. Searches and Seizures :::;>7(10)

J ohn George MAGDA,
P etitioner-Appellant,

v.

C. L. BENSON, Warden,
Respondent-Appellee.
No. 76-1036.
Uni ted States Court of Appeals,
Sixth Circuit.
Submitted May 7, 1976.
Decided :\lay 13, 1976.

Proceeding was imtituted on motion of

petitioner to vacate sentence. The United
States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, E astern Division, Leroy J.
Contie, Jr., J., denied motion, and petitioner
appealed. The Co~rt of Appeals held that
findings of fact to effect that at time garbage placed for collection on a tree lawn
next to a street adjacent to defendant's
apartment buildjng was seized and searched
by postal inspector, it was not \dthin curtilage of defenda nt's residence and that defendant bad abandoned it were not clearly
erroneous, that existence of ordinance prohibiting unauthorized persons from rumm~ging through garbage of another was a
matter of local municipal law, not federa l
constitutional law, and did not operate to
preclude findi ng of abandonment, that
search warrant subsequently obtained in reliance upon fruits of garbage search was
not tai nted, and that even if information
was obtained by federal officers when they
accompanied local police at time a municipal search warrant was executed, it could
not have affected the federal warrant
which had been issued previously and was
t:?xeculed the following morni ng.
Affirmed.

I. 'earches a nd Seizu res <:= 7(10)

Garbage placed fo r collection on a tree
law n next to a street is abanclonerl and no
longer protected by Four t h Amendment.
l'.S.C.A.Consl. Amend. -1.

Rule that gar bage placed for collectio n

on a tree lawn next to a street is abandoned
and no longer protected by Fourth Amendment applies when an apartment dweller
mingles his trash with that of others in his
building. U.S.C.A.Const. Amend. 4.
3. Searches and Seizures G=3.3(9)
Findings of fact to effect Lhat at time
garbage placed for collection on a tree lawn
next to the street adjacen t to defendant's
apartment building was seized and searched
by postal inspector, it was not within cur tilage of defendant's residence and Lhat defendant had abandoned il were not "clearly
erroneous," but to the contrar y were supported by suostantia! e~idence. Fed.Rules
Civ.Proc. rule 52(a), 28 U.S.C.A.; U.S.C.A.
Co nst. Amend. 4.
4. Searhes a nd Seizures C=7(10)
Th:.l.. a local ordinance prohibited unauthorized persons from rummaging t hrough
garbage of another was a matter of local
municipal law, not federal constitutional
law, and did not operate to preclude a finding tha1. garbage placed for collection on a
tree lawn next t o a street was s ubject to
being searched by postal inspectors \~ithout
a search warrant. U.S.C.A.Const. Amend.
4.

5. Searches and Seizures G=3.6

Search warrant obtained in reliance
upon fruits of warrantless search of g arbage placed for collection on a tree lawn
next t o a street was not tainted where it
was determined that garbage \\'as abandoned and no longer protected by Fourth
Amendment. U.S.C.A .Consl. Amend. 4.
6. Searches and Seizures C=3.4
Even if information was obtained by
federal po:;tal inspectors at ti me they accompanied local police when municipal
search wa rrant was exe:cu led, it could nol
han! a ffec ted the federal warrant \\ hich
had been issued pre,iously and \\'a;; executed the following morning.
C.S.C.A.
Const. Amend. 4.
William K. Teeguarden, Terre Haute,
Ind., for peti tioner-appellant.

't

112

536 FEDERAL REPORTER, 2d SERIES

Frederick M. Coleman, U.S. Atty., Cleveland, Ohio, W. F . Spicer, Akron, Ohio, for
respondent-appellee.

ing and entering a post office and theft of

government property in violation of l ~
U.S.C. 2115, 1361 and 641.

Before PHILLIPS, Chief Judge, and

PECK and LIVELY, Circuit Judges.

[l, 2] Magda contends that the warrantless search of his garbage by postal inspeetors violated his reasonable expectation of
privacy and that evidence so obtained cannot be the basis of a valid search warra nt
under the Fourth Amendment. District
Judge Leroy J. Contie rejected Magda',
contention. His decision is supported Li~
federal case law, which holds that garbagi;
under such circumstances is abandoned and
no longer protected by the Fourth Amendment. See United States v..\fustone, -! 69
F.2d 970 (1st Cir. 1972); United States I".
Dzia/ak, 441 F.2d 212, 215 (2nd Cir. 1971 ),
cert. den., 404 U.S. 883, 92 S.Ct. 218, 30
L.Ed.2d 165 (1971); United States v. Stroble, 431 F.2d 1273, 1276 (6th Cir. 1970). The
same rule has been held to apply when an
apartment dweller mingles his trash "ith
that of others in his building. See Unite:d
Sta tes v. Minker, 312 F.2d 632 (3rd Cir.
1962); United States v. Harruff, 3.52
F.Supp. 224 (E.D.Mich.1972).

PER CURIAM.
This appeal from the denial of a motion
to vacate sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C.
2255 came on to be considered pursuant to
Sixth Circuit Rule 3(e). 1
The principal question presented on appeal is whether garbage placed for collection on a treelawn next to a street can be
searched by poslal inspectors without a
search warrant. We hold that the warrantless search was reasonable under the facts
and circumstances of this case and therefore affirm the judgment of the District
Court pursuant Lo Sixth Circuit Rule 8,
which prO\' ides for affirmance when "it is
manifest that the questions on which the
decision of the cause depends are so unsubstantial as not to need fu rther argument."
On the night of .January 22, 1972, a post
office in Youngstown, Ohio was burglarized
and government proper ty was stolen. Postal inspectors suspected John George Magda
and placed him under surveillance. On January 25 at approximately 2:35 a. m., a postal inspector observed Magda place a garbage bag on the tree lawn next to the street
adjacent lo his residence near some other
garbage bags. The postal inspector later
retrieved the garbage bag and found evidence that tended to incriminate Magda in
the post office burglary. Early in the
morning of January 30, a federal search
warrant for Magda's apartment was issued
by a United States ~1agistrate on the
strength of an affidavit reciting information received as a result of the search of the
garbage bag. On the following day federal
officers executed the search warrant and
seized a number of articles which later were
introduced against ~1agda at the trial.
Magda was fo und g uilty by a jury of breakl.

(e) DockeL Comrol. In Lhe inlerest of docket

control, the chief judge may from lime to time
in his discretion, appoinL a panel or panels to

[3] Judge Contie made findings of fact

to the effect that at the time the garLagc
was seized and searched by the postal inspector, it was not within the curtilage of
Magda's residence and that Magda had
abandoned it. These findings are not
"clearly erroneous," F ed.R.Civ.P. 52(a), hut
to the contrary are supported by substan tial
evidence.
[4] Magda attempts to distinguish thL
federal cases on two grounds. First he sa~ ,
that the prior cases have been decided 1111
the plain view doctrine and not necessaril~
on the theory of abandonment. We n:;1d
the cases cited above as placing their holding on the abandon ment theory. Second lw
contends that his expectation of privacy i::
supported by a Youngstown City ordinam"
which prohibits unauthorized persons from
rummaging through the garbage of anoth
er. An identical argument was rejected in
review pending cases for appropriate assign
ment or disposiLion under Rules 7(e), 8 or 9 or
any oLher rule of this court.

ADKINS v. WEINBERGER
113
Cite as 536 F.2d 113 ( 1976)
nzhi/ak, supra, a t p. 215. This is a matter
All other contentions of appellant ha ve
,f local municipal law, not f ederal consti tu- been considered a nd found to be ''ithoul
merit.
:ional law.

'I
I

,
I

j
l

:c
m

,_
'n

nnr

.l
I

[5] Jfagda relies upon the decision of

:ht! Supreme Court of California in Califor :iia c K ri vda, 5 Cal.3d 357, 96 Cal.Rptr. 62,
1' 6 P.2d 1262 {1971), remanded 409 U.S. 33,
!3 S.Ct. 32, 34 L.Ed.2d 45 {1972), reheard , 8
t'al.3d 623, 105 Cal.Rptr. 521, 504 P .2d 457
11913), cert. den., 412 U.S. 919, 93 S.Ct.
:!l:l-1, 37 L.Ed2d 145 {1973). If that case be
consLrued to s upport Magda's position, we
:<)!rce with J udge Con tie that " the inter pre talio n of the U.S. Constitution by a California Court is not bind ing o n this court," a nd
1hat no leg itimate expectation of privacy
1xi-;b as to abandoned property. Cf. Katz
1. L"nited States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507,
19 L.E d.2d 516 {1967). Judge Contie condurld t ha t: " Magda had no Fourth
.-\ me ndment righ ts as to the gar bage bag in
1ucstion; ther efore the sea rch and seizure
of i~s contents withou t a search war ra nt
1, o.: rc no;; illegal, and the search warrant
-ub:-equently obtained in reliance upon the
iruiL-; of the sa:id garbage sea rch was not
1mtccl.'"
We agree with this reasoning.

[6 1 The alternate conten t ion of 11agda

without merit and requires .little discus-i n. He challe nges the ,-a lidity of a second
'" ;,rd1 war ran t for 1\Iagda 's apar tment
lttaincd by the Youngstown Police Departi: <" Ill g rowing out of t he burglarizing of a
l:l ncficial Fina nce Company of fice. Two
i "~t al inspectors accompanied t he local po-.: who: n this municipal sear ch warrant
' .is executed. T he municipal warra nt was
- lltl after the federal search warrant had
n is:mcd by t he Federal Magis t ra t e. No
:d<'n<:e introduced against Magda was
.. .1.1d during the search cond ucted by loca l
: ir.. lf any information was obtained by
.. :'"al office r:> during the search by city
'"i t coulil not have affected the fede ra l
.nt which had been issued previously
! .\ ;~ l xecuted the following morni ng.
1-. iw l United St.ates 1. Sanchez, :509
..:. ';;6 (6th Cir. 1975) has no applicat ion
:, r tho.: facts of this case.

Affirmed.

Stella ADKL'iS, Pla intiff-Appellant,

v.
Caspar WEDrBERGER Secreta ry of
Health, Education, a nd Welfare,
Defendant-Appellee.
~o . 7~1 754.

United States Court of Appeals,

Sixt h CircuiL
Argued Dec. 3, 1975.
Decided May 25, 1976.

Il

Coal miner's widow a ppealed from det ermination oi Secretar y of Heaith, Ed uca tion, and Welfa re, denying he r cla im fo r
benefi ts under Black Lung Benef it Act.
T he Dis trict Court, H oward David He rmansdorfer , J ., rendered s ummary j udgment for Secretary, a nd widow a ppealed.
T he Court of Appeals, l\'lcCree, Ci rcuit
J udge, held t hat evidence was ins ufficient
to g ive rise to re buttable presumpt ion that
miner h ad died from pneumoconiosis, and
that evidence was sufficient to su pport
finding that miner was not sufferi ng from
t otally d isabli ng respir a tory or pulmona ry
impairme nt at t ime of his dea th.
Affirmed.

1. Labor Relations :::> 13

I n order for coal miner to be entitled to
benefi t of rebutlable presumpt ion that he is
s uffering from black lung disease, mine r
mus t s how that he has tota lly disahling
respira tory or pulmona ry impairment.
F ederal Coal Mine Health a nd Safet y Act
of 1969, 402(0 as amended 30 U.S.C.A .
902{f}.

P"ROM THE DESK Ofl'

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GARBOLOGY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROY M. COHN

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

22 Feb. 1981

The National Institute of Garbology

has dug-up the dirt on ROY M. COHN and
has published it in

MY

LIFE IN GARBOLOGY

(Stonehill Publishing -$8.95) Attached

herein is muck raked directly from Cohn's
heap which indicates that Cohn funneld
funds from South Africa to a candidate for
eolitical office, Tony De Falco, here in
Manhatten.

Fo5?.21~~ ~fo c!ll

A&ir'r~BERMAN

GRamercy 7 -

6243

Wednesday

.-

.-

SEPTEMBER 24. 1980

7.30 PM to 8 PM

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES--Game
Guests Marty Allen James Brolin, Na
nette Fabray Barbara Feldon, Paul
~de. Don Rickles. Connie Stevens.
&;)BASEBALL
The New York Mets vs. the Phillies at
Philadelphia (Live)
NEWS
~ M acNEIL, LEHRER REPORT
'.MJ YOU BET YOUR LIFE-Game
f1i) EVERY FOUR YEARS
-Documentary
See Sun 8 P M. Ch 21 . (60 min.)
(Closed-captioned.I
(3ID UNITED WAY OF GREATER
HARTFORD-Report
mc1TYSCOPE
6)ARIANA
EID NEW JERSEY NEWS
(0IID SNEAK PREVIEW
7:50 Cl!i) COMMODITY CORNER
8 PM 0 ffi JOHN SCHNEIDER-Variety
Special: John travels to Georgia to sa
lute his home state with guests Ray
Charles and Barbara Mandrell . High
hghts include Ray and John singing
Georgia on My Mind and Barbara

mm@

four weeks, CBS last month dropped No

Holds Barred, billed as a comedy series
h.ighlighting the "crackpot side of modern life" through the "oddball characters
that make America unique." That 's My
Line, a remake of the game-show classic
What's My Line?. also fizzled.
Broadcasters trace the development of
such shows back to the appearance of
NBC"s persistenUy popular Real People, an
hour of sometimes amusing interviews in
the heartland. A recent show followed
A.J . Weberman, a "'celebrity garbageologist" who among other feats has re1 trieved memos from Richard Nixon s
trash can and empty Valium botUes from
1 Gloria Vanderbilt's. ("The best thing I
ever found," he says, "was Jackie Kennedy's pantyhose..,) While Real People,
which gets more than a third of the audience in its Wednesday prime-time slot,
spawned a series of other "entertainment
news'' shows like NBC's Speak Up America, it also turned TV executives on to
the fact that low-budget programs proTLME. OCTOBER 13. 1980

EXTRA
HlS CRITIC has the distinction of having been the
T
first to detect the garbage rock

shoes, were totally unknown in

that insignificant area of the
country between Pennsylvania
movement. It is easy enough to
and
Wyoming, and-the
The truth comes out in the trash.
clincher- had, during their
assert, after the fact, that
teenage years, never learned
anyone might have realized
By Steve Allen
the bridge to "Heart and
the inevitability of the trend,
given the success of punk rock.
Soul," but merely the first sixThe fact remains that others
teen bars.
did not. The shifting of the
Perhaps only William Blake
could have known the spiritual
ground under all our feet
was, in any event, over very
ecstasy with which, fingers
trembling, I lifted three comquickly. Within less than a
partmentalized aluminum fromonth the entire field of serious
rock criticism had come to
zen TV Dinner containers from
take garbage rock seriously, in
the odiferous melange. Here it
was again, the constant, even
large part because of my
discovery that there are impordominant, Stanley Sickening
motif-the emphasis on the
tant clues to garbage rock
music in the actual garbage
quick, the least troublesome,
produced by its more creative
the slick, the prepackaged.
And leave it to Sickening, with
practitioners.
his incredible cat's sixth sense
The historic breakthrough
came when this writer, upon
of where it's at, not to have
leaving the Bel-Air pad of
scraped the last now-dried dollops of gelatinous pink gravy
Stanley Sickening, happened
from the tins, as if to say, "Up
casually to glance at the contents of the four garbage cans
yours, world! I'll take some of
(not to be confused with the
what you're dishing out, but I
won't take all of it!"
group of the same name) that
stood in the driveway awaitiqg
Is it any wonder that many
groupie Lolitas have publicly
pickup. A broken pair of
pleaded with Sickening and the
Stanley's "sunglasses" (the
quotation marks because he
other garbage rockers not to
steadfastly refuses to wear
have sex with them-not even
them except at night or while What secrets lie in the garbage cans of the stars? The critic knows. to do what he so gloriously celebrated in his early classic, "I'm
performing),
lying
atop
(athwart?) the rind of half a grapefruit, first caught my eye.
Gonna Cop a Feel"- but rather to punch them repeatedly about
It was only the certainty, having just left the premises, that the abdomen?
Stanley himself was passed out cold, along with his business
Roach Motel--obviously named after the famous Culver City
manager and tax attorney, on the kitchen floor, that gave me the motel opposite the old Hal Roach Studios--deserves more
courage to lift one of the cans into the back of my underslung credit than it has been given for its sensitive use of insect spray
'74 Chevy pickup. One could hardly, after all, pore through the cans attached to the necks of its members' guitars. Their fans are
still laughing over the new record of broken windows, flying beer
gold mine of decaying artifacts in broad daylight.
Once home, I lugged the container, somewhat weightier than bottles, bloodshed, hostage taking, and general mayhem at PolI had first thought, into my kitchen, got out a yellow legal-lined ish Hall last summer. Undoubtedly the last memories that fade
notepad and Gucci writing instrument, and set about the task of will be of lung cancer occasioned by the insecticides, but you
classification and analysis. One of the first clues fell easily can't make an omelet without breaking eggs, as we say. .
Speaking personally, and as much as I like garbage rock, I
enough from the tree, perhaps because I had been the first to
note the superiority of Sickening's "Stab Me With Your Love" prefer the ideas of its leading representative even more. I asked
to the tiresome MOR harmonics of Jerome Kern's "All the Sickening, at our last meeting, where he thought he would go
when he died. "To Pacoima," he said. In an instant I knew that
Things You Are."

Can it really surprise the reader that I next noted a toy rubber his interest in Zen was utterly sincere.
dagger, encrusted with-gravy? chopped liver? Not the sort of
Consider, too, the following exchange between Sickening and
thing, certainly, one ordinarily sees in a garbage can, and ye1 Flasher Gordon, his drummer.
very reasonably discarded. It was, after all, broken. Perhaps
" How's it goin', man?"
Stanley, tired of terrorizing stagehands and groupies with real
"Oh, you know ... "
knives (never mind the Cleveland incident and the three deaths),
That, of course, was just it; Sickening did know. He knew, alas,
had resorted to the blatantly show biz fakery of a rubber approx- far more than he had ever told us. But that knowledge is there
imation of the sadistic hardware which, even more than his (lurking like a demon in the incessant G7 chords of his four-bar
inventive three-chord harmonies, initially brought him to public introductions, in the sweat-stained Levis that he reportedly has
not changed in the last two years}, is radically evident.
attention.
Is it any wonder that a semi.religious cult has grown up around
And what were the assorted broken eggshells? Clear but
excruciatingly obvious representations of Sickening's own psy- the group, consisting, in large part, of people who profess little or
chosexual emphasis on germination, birth, rebirth-the sala- no interest in its music? This will not come as a surprise to critics
perceptive enough to realize the significance of the group's intercious appeal of apocalyptic destruction.
The three Campbell's tomato soup cans seemed almost to cry est in Blake. It is true that Sickening revealed, in an early Rollout loud, "Andy Warhol, Andy Warhol!" as I set them to one side ing Stone interview, that it was not William but Robert
of the kitchen table. The connection between Sickening and "Baretta" Blake from whom he had drawn inspiration, but let
Warhol was evident enough. They both wore size ten-and-a-half him who is without sin and all that jazz.
64

GARBAGE ROCK

PHOTOGRAPH ED BY BONNIE SCH IFFMAN

~------~~~U-G_U_S_T_l_9~1~--~~----~~------~-~----------------------~~-~~--~~~~--~----~-----~

What We Found in

ICissingerS Trash
Whot kind of information could o foreign agent or assassin gleon from the household
gorboge of on important cobinet member? That's the question The E~QUIRER set out
to answer when it assigned reporter Jay Gourley to collect o week's accumulation of
garbage from the home of Secretory of State Henry Kissinger. Getting the gorboge wos
easy, but not os eosy os Gourley thought it would be. He wos stopped by Secret Service
agents who ordered him to "reti.:rn the gorboge." When he refused to remove the five
plastic bogs of trash from the trunk of his car, an agent asked him if he'd ever been
In on "insane asylum." Another agent complained that he'd been trained to cope with
assassins but not garbage thieves, and called for his supervisor. The supervisor questioned
Gourley at length, took his photograph, then told him he was free to go with the
garbage. In the following story, Gourley reveals what he learned as he picked through
the bits and pieces of trash.

By JAY GOURLEY

Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's household garbage

0 contained hundi:eds of Secret Service documents which would
be of vital interest to a potential assassin.
One document, for example, revealed that the Secret Service is
testing a new code light signal system for all its limousines.
Another document, a handwritten note on the back of an activil)
report, revealed the number and type of arms and ammunition supply
carried in each Secret Service limousine.
,-.
Work schedules revealed the exact number of agents on duty day FIVE BAGS FULL of Kissinger's trash surround Enquirer reporter
and night and listed the names of most - if not all - agents assigned Joy Gourley as he compiles a list of their contents.
to Kissinger's security.
Crom Safeway for $17.41 and one from
THE DEPARTMENT OF TIIE TREASURY
A handwritten document - preFood Mart for $4.15.
sumably written by an agent - indi An empty RyKrisp cracker box,
430.0
UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE
cated lhat a shotgun had been left bean empty Crosse & Blackwell clam
WASHINGTON, 1), 0, 20226
hind during Kissinger's trip to lhe
chowder can.
Virgin Islands last June 27 through
omcz OI' nm DlllCTOA
An empty carton of Lucerne skim
July 3.
milk,
an empty box of Domino sugar
MEMORANDUM
The note also contained a reminder
and
an
aerosol can of Easy-On spray
that a new shotgun was needed for the
starch.
: Assistant Directors
TO
"FU" - presumably an abbreviation
An empty Nabisco cookie package
Assistant to the Director
for "field unit."
and
one empty Neo-Synephrine nasal
Special Agents in Charge, and
Two memos, each addressed to difdecongestant bottle.
Other
Supervisory
Personnel
fet"enl Secret Service agents at the
Kissinger's trash also revealed that
Kissinger household, advfaed the men
FROM
: Director
there is a dog living in the house,
that they had not qualified wilh their
too.
firearms during June and warned that
SUBJECT : New Consolidated Travel Authorization No. 72-2
This was shown by several Secret
a written explanation would be reService docum
quired jf lhey (ailed tO qualify by the ccrDl:"'T' Cl:DVlrS: ....,,.,....,... ..,,..., nnP n

l
t

I
I
\

-~

- - .-- .---

'"'

r1 u-:.t 1.

A memo to one man at Kissinger's One of them even gove away Kissinger's code name.
house re11ealed that Secret Service bottle. Maalox is a powerful antacid. empty Gulden's mustard jar, an empty
agents must pass an annual physical An empty 250-tablet Anacin bottle Kentucky Fried Chieken box and an
examination lo keep their jobs.
and an unopened package of Assialgan empty Chase & Sanborn coffee can.
The trash also contained numerous tablets. Anacin is an analgesic and An unused typewriter ribbon.
handwritten and typed documents Assialgan is a foreign-made pain re- Two supermarket receipts - one
about the secretary's txavel schedules llever.
- some of them so precise they even
referred to the Secret Service code A shopping list for a case of Jack
Daniel's Black Label. a case of Ezra
name for Kissinger.
What else tiirl the Secretary of State's Brooks and a case of Cabin Still - all
of which are bourbons.
garbage contain?
An empty prescription envelope The list also noted the telephone
from the Slate Dept. pharmacy. It number of Central Liquors in Washhad contained Seconal - a powerful ington.
sleeping pill which can be habit form An unopened can of vichyssoise,
ing - and was prescribed for one of two unopened bottles of Mott's applethe I<issingers by Dr. Carl Nydell, a sauce, more than a pound of unpeeled
State Dept. physician, who would not potatoes, two unopened sticks of Madiscuss the prescription.
zola margarine, an unopened package
An engraved invitation from Pres- of Philadelphia cream cheese and an
ident Ford's wife to Nancy Kissinger, apparently new T-shirt bearing a Lord
asking her to attend a luncheon at the & Taylor label.
White House on July 5.
Several old newsapers.
An empty 12-ounce size Maalox Nine empty Marlboro 100 cigarette
packages.
An empty E'thera color
blush powder container, an
empty Borghese "Shimmer
Tint" makeup jar. an empty
CHR skin moisturizer jar, an
empty Milk-Plus 6 shampoo
bottle and a wrapper from a
bar of Neutrogena - an exThe sign is all wet as far as this
11W(NA>I; 1J,.ji/,.mJtt'l'e~4,,ctmtfirmy- pensive hypoallergenic soap.
About 40 empty soft drink motorist is concerned. At first glance,
it seems he ignored its warning and
bottles and cans.
.:. /tr;t~~/7~
scooted
out into the lake.
Two matchbooks from the But actually
he's in the middle of a
Park Lane Hotel in New York rain-flooded parking
/rr,t~
lot next to the
City.
lake. And the sign really refers to
A receipt from Lord &
(}JI .~t'f,,~H ~ /!J&s
Taylor for $74 worth of cloth- motorboats.
The amusing photo was snapped by
ing.
/ti" ()nfY ,,o;C4d An empty Mennen shave Kim Stelzer of Madison, Wis., who
happened upon this funny scene during
ENGRAVED invitation to Nancy Kissin- cream tube, an empty Kraft a recent visit to Devil's Lake in Bara.
cheese spread container, an
ger fr?m the F1rst Lady was found among empty Lysol disinfectant spray boo, Wis.
the discarded papers.
can, an empty Kraft mayon- The picture wins this week's $35
e
NATIONAL naise jar, an empty Light 'N prize in our amateur photo contest pag
ENQUIRER Lively yogurt carten, an and it also gives Kim a chance at win-

uun1't.:.,
uawy cnewetr seat cusfilon,
the wrapper from a vinyl pork chop
dog toy and a badly gnawed ballpoint
pen.
There were also two half-empty cans
of Cadillac dog food - which is one
of the cheapest canned dog foods on
the market.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

32

.
\

'

ning The ENQUIRER's "Photo of the

Year" $500 grand prize.
All our readers are invited to enter
the contest. Just follow these rules:

L You must be ru1 allUltcu.r. Professlonnl pholofrophers ore not ellglbtc.

2. Your photo must t.ell a story without need ror
explanation. Bui It can depict any subjecl malt.er

whatever.
3. You.r hotos must be natural. not "lriCkshola"
or 0 st.agecL"
4. You ma:v u.st an:v type of camera, rum. rotera
or Ughtlog, Including natural. OOQ<llisht or Oash.
But Only sUU pictures are ellglble. Pleaae dOD't
send motion picture clips.
5. Color slides and other positive color trnnsparcn
cles ma:v be entered. U the:v Oin. however, liK':V'll
be publl8hcd in blaek and white.
6. All photos must be submitted lat and DD
mounted. except for color slldes In cnrdboard fra-..
7. Send In as mllll:v pictures as yoo tlllnk ma:v win,
as o!ten BS :vou like.
Tho ENQUffiER's ehoto editors wlll be the ;fudges.
Send :vour entries to 'Photo of lhe Weck.'' NATlONAL
ENQUIBER, Lant11X1a, Fla. 33462.

Notes. on People

Kiss111.d,er's Trash
f

A reporter on assignment
for the weekly Natiional Enquirer who had an extraordinary interest in Secretary of
State Kissinger's trash was
questioned for two-an~-a-half
hours by Secret Servicemen
and Washington
-=
Monday night after
t up five bags of the Kissmger
The Georgetown Garbage Caper
garbage.
Reporter Jay Gourley of the weekly :National Enquirer
Jay Gourle~ a 37-year-old
won his own freedom of information batUe with United
Wasliington-based report~r.
States Secret Service agents this week. The prize: five plastic
was allowed to keep the Kissinger refuse after .}te .argued,
bags of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's garbage that
successfully, that 1t w3:s
Mr. Gourley spotted outside Mr. Kissinger's Georgetown
property
abandoned on public
home. Five Secret Service men intercepted Mr. Gourley
land, according to an Enas he was loading the bags of garbage into the trunk of his
quirer spokesmen.
car. Mr. Gourley convinced the agents in a 2Y2-hour quesDetermining that five green
tion-and answer session that the garbage was abandoned
plastic trash bags on the public sidewalk were from Mr.
property, and hence his to keep if he so desired. Mr. KissinKissinger's home, Mr._Gourley
ger was reportedly "revolted" by the episode. No so another
started piling them mto the
Cabinet member, Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B.
trunk of his car. That's when
Morton. Clearly a man with a sense of humor, Secretary
five Secret Service men and
Morton phoned The Enquirer and asked if a reporter could
two policemen interve~ed. _ .
please get his garbage, preferably on Tuesdays and
He was threatened with Jail
Thursdays.
unless he put the garbage
back, he said, but he was
able to convince the Secret
Service agents and the
..
.....
llml!. .'illt..
. . . . . .lll!!lllllf;,;,;f
l
policemen that the garbage
was abandoned property.
When last heard from, he
was busily sorting out the
refuse for reasons that could
not be determined.
.
nie State Department said
later that Mr. Kissinger. ""."as
"revolted" and 1V1rs. Kissmger felt "grave anguish" over
the espisode.

:--~~:: : =: : :::~==::::=:~~==-=------..-=====~!::===::===_,

polic~men
h~ p~cked

1~~~..JIPWE::.:....:...,;:,1.,11. ~QQ&m~L

sillll'~'lm!!m!l!l!!!l

WWW

1U

rter Gets Trash on l{issinger

--Five Hefty Garbage Bags of It
\\'ASHINGTON - (AP) - A 27year-old reporter says he is looking
for news in the secreta ry of state's
trash.
-

"We've run into a couple of interesti ng things so far" said Jay

Gourley, who collected fi ve bags of
Henry Kissinger's tras h Tuesday.
Gourley sa id was on an ass ignmen t for The Na tional Enquirer, a

weekly publis hed in La nta.1a, Fla.

"Th is has caused grave anguish
t o Mrs. Kiss inger and the secretary
is really r evol ted by what he considers a violation of t he privacy of
his house. Frankly, J'm s ure m os t
m embers of the press would agree
with th is," a State Departmeut
spokesman said.

in front of Kissinger's Georgetown

home Monday n i~ht and quickly
found the trash in plastic bags on
the sidewalk.
A Secret Service agent guarding
the house shouted, "hey, what are
you doing?"
Gourley said he kept talking to
the agem while he stashed the bags
Gourley said he s ta tioned himself in his car. "I knew once I got them
into the car t hE>re was no way tht>y
could j!et them away from me,"
Gourley said.
Confirm ing this. George Cosper,
spokesman for t he Secret Servic~.
said it was understood tha t once
trash is placed beyond a man's
homr legal ly it no longer is his private property.
Gourley said M'\ e agen ts a_nd
two met ropolitan policemen deliberated for almost three hours before conceding that he could have
the tr as h.
Gourlev admitted it was "a very
unorthodox thing fo r me. l'm no t a
garbageman reporter, I'm an ordinary 'vVas hington reporter."

;{

l''

4-B

THE MIAMJ HERALD

Thursday, JulYi 10, 1975

Reporter StudiJs Garbage, IGssinger Is ' evolted'

WASHINGTON - (AP) - Sec relary of Slate Hen y A. Kissinger
is distressed that a reporter is rooting through his garbage ln search

or a story.
Jay Gourley, a 27-y_ea -old reporter for The National E quirer, a
weekly published in Lant na, Fla.,

Jay Gourley Sifts Through Kissinger's Garbage

. .~ays lte's found some interesting thing8

~~~~~~_;_~~~~ ,

collected five .bags of trash fr

front of Kissinger's Georg
home early Tuesday and haul
away to sift through the deb
SO FAR, the reporter said, h
determined that someone in
singer's home uses pa tent med
smokes Marlboro c1garets and
sionally throws away the mo
paper unopened.
The reporter said he foun d n
ficial documents In the trash
added, "We've run into a coup
interesting things so far. We
often get Henry Kissinger's
bage. This is a real prize."
Kissinger and his wife Nancy
other ideas about the garbage g
"This has caused grave an
to Mrs Kissinger, and the seer

of state is really revolted by what

he considers a violation of the privacy of his house," said a State Department spokesman.
"Frankly, I'm sure most members
of the press would agree with this,"
the spokesman added.
GOURLEY SAID he found Kissinger's trash in bags lined up on
the sidewalk in front of the secretary's home. "Fortunately, he uses
the sturdy kind that don't open,"
Gourley said.
A Secret Service agent guarding
the house shouted, "Hey, what are
you doing?"
Gourley said he kept talking to
the agent while. he stashed the bags
in the trunk of his car. "I knew
once I got them into the ear there
OMMI 91 U

ttgp.

was no way they eould get them

away from me," Gourley said.
He was quickly surrounded by
Secret Service agents and metropolitan police who deliberated for 211z
hours whether he could keep the
trash.
"It got kind of funny," Gourley
said. "Some of them were pretty
upset, but they weren't rude and
they kept telling me I wasn't under

arrest."
GOURLEY LEFr with Kissinger's
garbage after Secret Service agents
determined that once trash is
placed beyond a man's home. it legally is no longer his propett
E. G. Martin, ass~~~llJlllWll~
The National Enq , sai
e
garbage assignment was "foJJGl\fring
in the giant footsteps of Jack An
derson," a syndicated columnist.

~111a1w"***"*** 11 111111eP....,..

f
.....,,,.,..d'

TRASH MAN
You too can have a rewarding career in garbology! Let A.). Weberman show you how to
"garbanalyze" the
trash of the rich and
famous to learn their
most intimate secrets.
He sacrificed dignity
for knowledge and tells
all in My Life in Garbology, one of the most
clever and funny of recent books. From
Stone hill Pub., NYC,
$8.95.

r. ...._.,.

---~a

i.v uu:: l flldDl .

(ZNS) The Secret Service has asked

the National Enquirer to return some o f
Henry Kissinger's trash which one of its
reporters lifted from Henry 's garbage can .
The newspaper says thl:it while picking
through Kissinger's litter, it found hundreds o f Secret Service memos and work
schedules that would be "of vital interest
to a po tential assassin ."
The Enquirer says that among othe r
things, the Kissinger trash contained detailed information on the secretary 's travel schedules, his Secret Service code
name, and a list of secret visitors Kissinger sees at his State Department office.
On top of that, the newspaper re ports
also finding the nar;;,::c <>ntl work schedules

of all agents assigned to Kissinge r and th e

types of arms they carry . The service says
it wants the revealing trash back (on the
rack, J ack)so it can discipline its agents
for carelessness.
The paper says, however, th at Kissinger's trash is now the e xclusive property
of Enquirer re porter Jay Gourley, and
that the pa per does not know whether or
not Gourley intends to give the garbage
back .

... --

~,. /

'

Enquirer Returns Confidential Documents

in rt
r.ond
in 11l;rsinge,'
thesensitive
trash ofdocuments
Secretary found
of State
u
s T.liDSh
fj
Henry Kissinger by an enterprising ENQUIRER reporter
last Julv were returned to a
grateful- bul embarrassed U.S. Secret Service August 4.
Secret Service spokesman
Jack Warner, who had asked
for the documents to be returned, refused to allow a
photograph of the transaction,
but he did okay a picture of
Special Officer Carrol Glover
(at right in photo) recei
the stack of confiden

ft~~

from our reporter. Ed Tropeano. Many of the documents

detailed Secret Service. ~rangements to pro~ecl Kis~ger - valuable information
for a potential assassin.
Warner also confided the
highly publicized breach in
curity had cause
other
ad a guy posproblems. "
in
NQUIRER reporter
e in to talk to us ," he
said. "We checked him out and

found The EN~UI~ER bad

never heard of him.
The Secret Service's prob:
lems began in early J
n
ENQUIRER
er Jay
Goude.)'.
up five bags of
er's garbage from the
s1dewalk in front of the Secre{ary's Washington home.
Among the personal items of
Kissinger and his wife. Nancy,
Gourley found the Secret Service papers.

Secret Service Wants

Kissinger 'Trash' Back

IJy MAXINE CHESHIRE
Washington Post Service

The Secret Service has asked The

National Enquirer for the return of
security-related documents taken
recently Crom ihe t..rash of Secretary
o'. State Henry Kissinger and is "reYJewmg'.' the possibility of disciplinary action against the agents involved.
The new~paper claimed
n;11c~-publicized rubbish

that its
raid on
K_1ss111ger'<; Georgelown home had
YJ:eldcd "hundreds" of Secret Service memos.
The documents revealed among
other thin,!!S. the Secret Service's
~ode nai;ie for Kissinger, detailed
mfom1atron on upcoming travel
schedules, the names and duty days
of all agents -assigned to him and
lhe names af some of his agents
who had failed last month to quaJ ifv on the pistol range.
TX

AL first, the Secret Service treated the whole affair humorously and
even the Kissingers themselves
~ere able lo laugh after their initial anger.
But it is no longer a laughing
matter for agents who let the documents get into the trash.
A Secret Ser\"ice spokesman
Jack Warner, confirmed last week
that ~e has written a leller to The
~nqu1rer, asking that thev voluntarily return all the papers
question.

in

Warner. said: "If papers of the

type mentioned are in their possess1?n a review of our procedures
will follow."
Meanwhile, The Enquirer refuses
to say whether it will oblige the
government and surrender the papers, which now legally belono to
reporter Jay Gourley, who clai7ned
them off the sidewalk as abandoned
property.
'?!ti"

..

Garbttge Search Reb1ittal

A .July 31 Letter Lo the Editor entirely misses Lhe point of
why The National Enquirer assigned a reporter to collect
and examine Secretary of
State Kbsinger' s garbage.
We went through Dr. Kissinger's trash to answer this
question: "What kind of information could a foreign agent
or assassin glean from the garbage of an important Cabinet
member?" Our story in the
July 29 issue of The Enquirer
reveals that the frightening
answer is - plenty!
A week's accumulation of
Dr. Kissinger's garbage contained hundreds of Secret Service documents which would
be of vital interest to a potential assassin. For instance, the
trash contained numerous
handwritten and typed documents about the Secretary's
travel schedules - some of
them so precise they even referred to the Secret Service
code name for Dr. Kissinger.
Another document revealed
the number and type of arms
and ammunition supply car-

ried in each Secret Service

limousine. Work schedules
revealed the exact number of
agents on duty day and nighl
and listed the names of most
- 1f nol all - assigned to Dr.
Kissinger's security. And the
list of important security documents, notes and memos goes
on and on.
We believe that the examination of the Secretary of
State's garbage was not only
legal and ethical - it was a
valid exercise in journalism
that exposed a woeful breach
in Dr. Kissinger's security.
Hopefully, our story has had
a positive effect. The Secret
Service now knows that sensifoe documents relating to the
security of Dr. Kissinger are
legally available to any assassin or foreign agent who
wants to pick up his garbage. :
Knowing this, the Secret
Service and Dr. Kissinger presumably will be more careful
about what finds its way into
the trash.
STUART LICHTENSTEIN
Director of Publk Relations

THE MAN FROM T.R.A.S.H

Secret Service spie d him in tJ1e
T hedead
of night, moving ilirough
the gloom outside H e nry IGssinger's
home in Georgetown and ma king off
with-of all tlti ngs-five bulging
bagsfu) of tJ1e Secretary's garbage. It
took two and a half hours for freelance re porter Jay Go urley, 27, to
pers uad e th e be mused lawm en that
what he c up to
e latte r-day
science o garbology
e art of profiling a
efully inspecting
what he throws away-and that ripping off rubbish was perfectl y legal
in any case. T he agents fmally le t
him go, w he re upon Gourley and a
colJeague, on assignme nt from ilie
tab lo id ationa l Enquirer, spe nt another e ig ht hours mining Super K's
tluowaways.
The announced findings were
largely unre ma rka b le: an empty vichyssoise can , used p ackages of antacids and yogurt, two unread copies of
The New York Times and, Gourley
insiste d , 'two or three d ozen things

that will make a reall y inte resting

story" when the Enquirer catalogs
tJ1e m n ext week. Washington was
mainly amu sed ; Commerce Secretary
Rogers C.B. Morto n sporting ly o ffered up his garbage a ny Tuesday or
Thmsday the Enquirer saw fit to
collect it. But IGssinge r h imself was
reported "reall y revol ted," and Gourley duly returned most of his gleanings to the Secretary's doorstep, tJrns
sq ua ring accoun ts and ballooning t11e
publicity at a single sboke.
Gourley's raid made it o pen season
on garbage, and in sh ort order, The
P a lm Beach (Fla .) Post, a few miles
from the Enquirer's main office, sent a
man of its own to research the E nquire r's re fuse. Among tJ1 e finds: a
te lli ng me mo from publish e r Generoso Pope Jr. urg ing stories that m a ke
readers "break down a nd cry." Pope
ordered stafle rs to "prod, push a nd
probe" the subjects of the ir stori esbut did not mention ma king off w ith
las t nigh t's le ftove rs. l /

s
i

t<
le
p
a
th
ti1

lo
th

b
tr;

AP

Gourley with the Kis ingcrs' uash : A great leap forward for garbo logy?

tl1
to
H

m
n

3~ses at a m a k e hi ft morgue, vi clims at

decipherable strips rather than twice-cut
confetti . "We realized you could still read
a lot of the le tte rs and numbers on the
paper," says Perdue. They then culti vated an inside source who squi rre led away
more bails of shreds a nd, after about six
wee ks, the scrounge rs had accumulated
21 bags of the paper spaghetti.
The n came the eye-glazing tas k
p iecing it al l together. Pe rdue and C um
mins separated the p ieces by color a nc
texture, -the n gathe red simila r-looking
batches of strips, painstaking ly matching
patterns . With the he lp of several research c
they reconsbucted about
th
ozen ocml'IT>~;...------Subpoena: I n April. \vorr d that they
might be scooped
-two reporte rs col, borate
th co umnist Jack Anderson
p1
columns-one of which all
that Agnew
en a us incss associate
of Park. Shortly the reafte r, Pe rdue unthinkinglytipped offstaffers ofthe House.
ethics committee about the material..
Faced with asu@oena, Perdue and C ummins oluntan1:y turne d the slu dd d
documents ove r to the comm ittee .
Philip Lacovara, special coun sel to tlw
committee, has told 1 E~W~.~~~he'"ll?
l ie ves the mate rial Will provide s ig nificant new e vide nce for the inquiry. In a
separate move last wee k the e thics committee subpoenaed seve ral fo rmer congressmen to tell what they know about
Park' s gift giving. With the add ed ammunition derived from the shredded paper
cape r, Lacovara hopes to start p ublic
hearings late this sum me r.

. - ... eyuJll

'!"'CCANDALS:

of

-DENNIS A WILLIAMS wh NICHOLAS

HORROCK In Washington

34

<
I
t:

s1
"J

T,
a
ap
No

The Paper Chase

As soo n as he was implicated last year

in a bribe!) sche me to win Seoul-mates
on Capitol Hill, Korean businessman
Tongsu n Park Ae cl th e country. Ever
since the n , in vestigators from the Department of J ustic:e a nd Congressional
committees have made little progress in
exposin
r ions w i h U

c
ut in rc:ccn wee ks, a pair of
1experiem:ed free-lance reporters have
literally p ieced together page s of evide nce from shrc dclccl d ocuments that
had heen d iscarded in garbage cans just
three blocks from the White House. The
reassembled pape rs have alre ady reportedl y li nked forme r Vice Presiden t Spiro
Agnew to Park-and they contain valuable ne w leads that may implicate other
erican politicians .
T e paper chase began last yea \\ h
author obin ~'loore recruited two 28year-ol s, e w1s en ue anc Kenneth
C ummins, to research the Korean lob by
for an upcoming book. Ne ithe r had don e
much in vestigative report ing , and their

Newsweek, J une 6 , 1977

a
s

Talking that trash

Well, all right. As we know, English
c1ass today is not what it used to be
back in the olden times and we
suppose there is nothing to do but
accustom ourselves to the fact that our
young people are no longer
diagramming Silas Marner as God
intended. As we understand it, a
modern curriculum's sole criterion of
success is whether it holds a student's
attention for more than four minutes
and, under the circumstances, we can
only applaud Melanie Semore of the
Harding Academy in Memphis, who
has managed to fire up her seventhand eighth-graders with unflagged
enthusiasm [or the collective class
project. The assignment: Write A Celeb
And Ask For Random Trash From The
Celeb's Wastebasket. Hot dog, said Ms.
Semore's charges, who straightaway
dusted off the old penmanship and
started writing celebs every
whichaway. 152 of them all told.
Forty-six of the celebs sent back
various selections from their garbage
and this week the kids opened the
Great Harding Academy Celebrity
Trash Expo, the exhibits including:
Junk mail sent by Pat Boone and
Captain Kangaroo.
An empty soft drink can sent by
Jimmy Connors.
A carbon of a letter Isaac Asimov

happened to be typing when he

received his request.
A scratched-up old Three Dog Night
single sent by Wolfman Jack.
Vidal Sassoon's beauty-tips book
sent by Vidal Sassoon himself, who
may have misunderstood the request.
A copy of Rona Barrett's Hollywood
sent by Judith Crist, along with a long
letter from Crist on the philosophical
implications of trash in the Western
world.
A letter from David Brinkley,
apologizing for the fact that his trash
had just been collected minutes earlier
and he had no trash to send.
A form letter from Henry Ford II
declaring that he had no time for such
foolishness, this eliciting class
agreement, Ms. Semore reports. that it
will be a frosty Friday indeed before
any of them buys a Ford.
The Trash Expo is said to be a
thumping success, notwithstanding
one desperate moment when its
continued existence was threatened by
the Harding Academy's cleaning
persons. who, assuming the exhibits to
be trash, threw them all away. All
pieces were reclaimed following a
bag-by-bag search and things proceed.
Ms. Semore's students say the

certainly looking forw dtOrea Ing

and writing so
stuff
sometime.
I

~Search-Proof

!Trash
Cans?
...
F:inding marijuana cigarets,
By JOHN P. :MACKENZIE
debris and seeds in the
~ WASHINGTON (WP)- collected trash, JlOlice then
~ California ls asking the U. S. followed Minor into the house
_>= Supreme Court to decide after be had gone to the curb
;!i whet:ier the American trash to take in the empty cans.
z oan is one of those things
The entry led to still
O that the Constitution secures
~ against police searches with- more evidence against the
defendants, but the validity ,.._,
~ out court permission.

of the entire case depended t"1

2 Protesting f.be toss of an on whether the initial trash fl
::.l " i m p or t an t invest2gative
seizure would stand up in ~
~ method" in law enforcement,
JI
the state has filed a petition court.
~ seeking review and ultimate The Fourth Amendment
z reversal of a State Supreme The Fourth Amendment f.
Court decision banning the guarantees ''the right of the
use of evidence gathered people to be secure in their
from suspects' trash.
persons, houses, papers and
The petition, wrucll the effects against unreasonable
Dine- Justices are expected to searches and seizures" and
consider early next year and forbids search warrants unperhaps set for a full hea!"- less there is probable cause
mg, contends tllat the mari- to believe a suspect is
juana case of defendants Ju- involved in crime.
dith Krivda and Robert T.
Many Court decisions on
:MinOr of Los Angeles also
offers "an ideal vehicle" for invasion of privacy have
re-examining the Court's 50- turned on whether officials
year policy of excluding evi- actually trespassed u~n a
dence whtlch officials have person's privacy. More
recently, however, the Court
obtainim illegally.
has focused more on whether
Burger's Position
the individual had a reasonNo less a personage than able expectation of privacy,
Ohief Justice Burger has because the Constitution procalled for such a new look, tects people, not places or
State Attorney Gener a J things.
Evelle Younger emphasized
(.
1n the netition. He recalled
Judge Lillie put the quesj
also
as a judge on the tion this way:
'\
U. S. Court of Appeals in
"Is the householder also
Washingt?n, B ~ r g e ~ filed entitled to protection frooi. a
one of h1s earliest dissents routine examination by police
from a niling similar to that after the trash becowJ!S-"th
of the California high court. nrnn<>rtv nf'-tfre fus 001Another prominent jurist, ~-..-? "~
re e.
Los .Angeles Appellate .Jtrage ..-~tor . The ~onest resid~n~
Mildred L. Lillie, has figured neither '<\'-ants it nor needs 1t.
in the case. Mrs. Lillie, who
Differing with Judge Lillie
recently underwent an Amer- and her intermediate appelloan Bar Assn. check of her late court, the State Supreme
credentials for a possible Court declared, "We should Supreme Court nomination, hesitate to encourage a pracwrote an opinion supporting tice whereby our citizenS'
the search, but the state trash cans oould be made the
high court disagreed with subject of police inspection
her lasl suuunE!l' " a W 3 without the protection of apl.____ .=-....,__.,.2.llm!lll~~.:_~~2!~~;._..l. plying for and securing a
search warrant."

"'~

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.Jlle ""~~OD

_.

tn-

the late RudoH Mill;~~ .soviet agent, with incnminating material collected trom
the waste basket of his New ...
York hotel room after he left.....
the hotel under arrest. The
Supreme Court said in 1960
the goods were a00:11doned
and thus properly seized.
Los Angeles police had . a
home there under surv~1l~~~rarcffto~r~J>OSS;;
ible narcotics
cet
enlisted

Supreme Court
Actions
Special to Th

CONDEMNATION
Agreed to decide if, lwhe~
the Government tak~s ease land in condemnation p~e
ceedings, it should pa~ im1
lessee for ~: h-V:S ~age, and
provements 0 f his expectathe lease
for the value .
t(~n ~f r:re~~ta Farmers
El~vato~ and warehous)e com
any v. United States
p
CRIMINAL LAW
A .,.,...ed to decide if the poh
._. btain a searc
lice must 0
cbing a
warrant before sear(N0 71ct's trash can .
i~~:california v. Kr1v~i:ustRuled! 7 to O~~ar the
ana o!ftc1als m. that their
burde~ of showir:f urors was
selection. OJ ~~sdiminatory,
not raci~e~tial jurors were
when po Ust their race and
asked to
on a grand
no Negroes w_ere 'th 21 per
70
ury of a pansb W1
~ent Negro citid::n~ (Ni~uisi:
5026, Alexan

ana). HOMOSEXUALS
lower court's
Let stand a
bts of a
holding that th!in~ere not
male homosex ---~-~""!'

r----...
;-

~...,-..,...._

the aid of
eed to
ers. The collectors agr trash
_...,,..,..:;.. - - empty-the well of their
truck so that when they
i:~d up the bome.'s.; ~.
police could mspect lt
after the truck ~9Jed i
~;
block away.
-.: ~

f:ie

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Wednesday, December 31, 1975

THE MIAMI HERALD

7-K.

How FBI Foiled

-A Garbage Caper
By JACK ANDERSON
United Feature Syndit

THE LATE J. Edgar Hoover took

extraordinary countermeasures, we
have just learned, to keep us out of
his garbage. Our p u r p o s e wa'it
merely to burlesque the FBI's
own tactics. For
the FBI chief bad
taught his agents
to search a subject's trash for the
key to his true
character.
We . solemnly
concluded
from
our great Garbage
Caper t h a t HooAnderson
ver suffered from gas pains. It was
unsettling, we agreed, to think of a
living legend as having gas on his
stomach. But the evidence was indisputable: his garbage disclosed
that he dined on such fare as crab
bisque, sliced onions and pepper-

NewYorll: Tl".'"

WASHINGTON, Apnl aThe Supreme Court toolt_ th

following actions today.

~~

mint stick ice cream, followed by

_Gelusil antacid pills.
The great G-man, 'm karul of his
responsibility as an American folk
hero, was careful never to be seen
drinking in public. But his trash revealed that he tippled at home,
with a preference for Jack Daniels
Black Label whisky.
SUCH irreverent revelations, We
have been informed reliably, caused
Hoover to roar with rage. He began
pondering countermeasures and
seized upon a secret weapon to
tlu.....~iTTT--l'l:>.:l1 oe raids.
The incurable curmudgeon passed
the word to his subordinates that
he wanted a garbage compa~or,
which could squeeze his gartiage
into an inseperable, unsearchaole
hloc~
'
His aides, highly sensitive to }Jis
slightest wish, immediately began
taking up a collection. They raised.
well over $100, which they inve!ited
in a suitable garbage crushing device. This was presented to ~}
with appropriate ceremony o~
47th anniversary of his FBI d
n May, 1971.
ver again was
nei
learn
over ate Ulr { -

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Muh~l'T\ITlatl

Ali ' s

G~rh ace

l)N!wsp::ipers - Phmladelyihia InquirP.r, May 11, June 23 , 1971.

ThP. Cherry Hill News , ,lnne 17 , 1971 _
The Courier- Post (Camden newspapPr)

2) Pomona Sunshine

Blci~eyed

Peas (with por1<) - 1 can

3) Greenrleitl Cabhage Rolls. (frozen) - l cardhoard container

'

li) Luck' s Collard CTrP.ens . - 1 can

5) Shci.hezz pie

wrapper

6) Mnrthci lt!h i te Corn ~uffin Mix - box

?)po.ck of cigaret te papers - emP.ty8) 2 cans Ken- L Ration dog food

9) S;>ray can of Exo Insect Killer

10) cup from Gino.' s Hamburei:ff parlnr

Jl) Pfmnsylv::! nia Licens e Pl:::i.te
~

lJ) f! Mpty Coke can

14) Bill froJTI Pi.chGhaw Irn , Cherry Hill, N .~. elated June 13, 1971 (r:i r ped up)

..

r.arbaee wps given A. J . by Ali's houseboy

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

22 East 40th Street

New York, N.Y.10016

(212) 725-1222

July 20 , 1973

Mr . ~ .J. Webberman
6 Blee cke r Street
New York, New York

10012

Dea r Mr . We bberman:
Enclosed is a copy of th e case you requested .
It is
far from a definitive answe r to t he question of a n
i ndiv idual's right to ha v e his garbage free f rom
unreasonable searc h and seizure. Thake care a nd keep
your hands cle a n .

DJG:kg

Edward J. Ennis, Chairman, Board of Directors Ramsey Clark, Chairman . National Advisory Council Aryeh
Neier, Executive Director Osmond K. Fraenkel, Norman Dorsen, Marvin M. Karpatkin, General Counsel
Legal Department: Melvin L. Wulf, Legal Director; Burt Neuborne, Assistant Legal Director Staff
Counsel: Joel M. Go ra Marilyn G. Haft John H. F. Shattuck Brenda Feigen Fasteau Rena K. Uviller
Leon Friedman

"H-as my home life changed?'' echoed

in a Women's
Wear Daily interview. "I'd like to sayno, but the answer is yes. First the
Secret Service moved in, so we gave up
the garage. Then we gave up the driveway and parked in the street. Pretty
soon, we even had to give up the garbage cans until one morning we found
there were 33 bags of garbage that
hadn't been picked up." The Vice President's wife freely owned up to taking
tranquilizers. "Valium three times a day,"
she said, "or sometimes Equagesic. That
way I'm more comfortable. Otherwise, I
find that I become tense when I realize
how much there is to do in one day."
Be~ <Mrs. Gerald ) Ford

......_, -

45

, LEd 2d
s amicus
"illiamF.
ng RoofShannon
ite of Illi1plaint is

...

STATE OF CALIFORNIA, Petitioner,

v

JUDITH KRIVDA and Roger T. Minor

-

US - , 34 L Ed 2d 45, 93 S Ct [No. 71-651)

October 24, 1972
SUMMARY

The Superior Court of Los Angeles County, California, dismissed a

prosecution for possession of marihuana, after having granted a motion
to suppress evidence that had been obtained in a police search of the
defendants' trash without a search warrant. The Supreme Court of California affirmed (5 Cal 3d 357, 96 Cal Rptr 62, 486 P2d 1262).
On certiorari, the United States Supreme Court, in a per curiam opinion
expressing the unanimous view of the court, vacated the judgment of the
California Supreme Court and remanded the cause to that court for further
appropriate proceedings, since after briefing and argument, the United
States Supreme Court was unable to detennine whether the California
Supreme Court had based its holding upon the Fourth and Fourteenth
Amendments to the Federal Constitution or upon the equivalent provision
of the California Constitution, or both.
HEADNOTE
Classified to U. S. Supreme Court Digest, Annotated

,,

r
I

Appeal and Error: 1693 - state court

judgment - uncertainty of federal basis - remand
On certiorari to the highest court
of a state to review a judgment affirming the dismissal of a state narcotics
prosecution and an order suppressing
evidence obtained in a police search of
the defendants' trash without a search
warrant, the United States Supreme

Court will vacate the state court's

judgment and remand the cause to
that court for further appropriate proceedings, where after briefing and
argument, the Supreme Court is unable to determine whether the state
court based its holding upon the
Fourth and Fourteenth Amendmenta
to the Federal Constitution or upon
the equivalent provision of the state

ANNOTATION REFERENCE
What indication that state court's decision turned on f ederal question will move
the Supreme Court to review it. 84 L Ed 925, 100 L E~ 1200.

46

U. S. SUPREME COURT REPORTS

constitution, or both-the Supreme

Court thus being unable to say with
any degree of certainty that the state

34 L Ed 2d

court's judgment was not based on an

adequate and independent nonfederal
ground.

APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL

Russell lungerich argued the cause for petitioner.

Roger S. Hanson argued the cause for respondents.
OPINION OF THE COURT

Per Curiam.
On the basis of evidence obtained
in a police search of respondents'
trash, respondents were charged
with possession of marihuana in
violation of 11530 of the California
Health and Safety Code. The Supreme Court of California affirmed
the superior court's judgment of dismissal and order suppressing the
evidence on the grounds that, under
the circumstances of this case, respondents "had a reasonable expectation that their trash would not
be rum maged through and pick-ed
over by police officers acting without
a search warrant." People v Krivda,
5 Cal 3d 357, 366-367, 96 Cal Rptr
62, 68, 486 P2d 1262, 1268 (1971)
(en bane) . We granted certiorari.
405 US 1039, 31 L Ed 2d 579, 92
S Ct 1307.
After briefing and argument, however, we are unable to determine
whether the California Supreme
Court based its holding upon the
Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of t he
United States or upon t he equivalent
provision of the California Constitution, or both . In reaching its result
in this case, the California court
cited pertinent excerpts from its

earlier decision in People v Edwards,

71 Cal 2d 1096, 80 Cal Rptr 663,
458 P2d 713 (1969) (en bane) , which
relied specifically upon both the
state and federal provisions. 5 Cal
3d, at 367, 96 Cal Rptr, at 69, 486
P2d, at 1269. Thus, as in Mental
Hygiene Dept. v Kirchner, 380 US
194, 196-197, 13 L Ed 2d 75~, 85
S Ct 871 (1965), "[w]hile we might
speculate from the choice of words
used in the opinion, and the authorities cited by the court, which provision was the basis for the judgment of the state court, we are
unable to say with any degree of
certainty that the judgment of the
California Supreme Court was not
based on an adequate and independent nonfederal ground ." We
therefore vacate the judgment of
the Supreme Court of California
and remand the cause to that court
for such further proceedings as may
be appropriate. Mental Hygiene
Dept. v Kirchner, supra; Minnesota
v National Tea Co. 309 US 551, 84
L Ed 920, 60 S Ct 676 (1940) ; State
Tax Commission v Van Cott, 306 US
511, 83 L Ed 950, 59 S Ct 605
(1939) . We intimate no view on
the merits of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendm ent issue presented.

EDWARD

i ,.

While an accus
the State of Illino
The notice of t h
cused's home add1
it until his relea:"
ordered the forfe
requesting that t i
the motion and 1
service did not d646).
On appeal, th
for further proce
view of the cou1
process standard
aCCUSen Of thP J'l-

TOT.\

36 AM Jt
12 AM Ju
alties,
US L ED
ALR DIG
L ED l ='r
ALR Ql'lt
FEDERAL

_ _. . . . . _ _ _ _ . . . . . NI

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DEPART MENT OP LlCE!l:SES

B32-267.0

B32.-265.0 Re~e.tions.-The commissioner may prescribe

1mch rules and r egulal1ous as he deems necessary to prot ect persons
aud property in the enforcement of this article. (.A1 added by L. L.
195fi. No. ll7, De!!ember 8.)
'
B32- 2fi6.0 Penalties.-Any person who direclly or in association with another shall violate any proYision of tlus article or any
rules and r egulations hereafter promulgated by the commissioner
hereunder shall upon coa"iction thereof be punished by a fine of
not Jess than ten dollars or more than one hundrtd dollars or by
imprii;onment for not Jess than five days nor more than thirty days,
or by both. (As added by L. L. 1955, No. 117, Deeember 8.)
ARTICLE 36
COMMERCI AL REFUSE REMOVAL

No person, other than an authorized employee or agent of

th e De pt. of Sanitation shal :
disturb or remove any ashes,
garba ge or light refus e or
: ubbish placed by hou s eholders,
or their tenants or by occu pan ts or their servants, wi thin
the stoop or area l ine, or in
~ront of house s or lots, for
removal , unless requested by
r~ sid e nts of such houses.

B32.-267 .0 Refuse r emoval ; license required; fee; term.-a .

It shall be unlr.wful for any person to operate, engage i n, or conduct or cause the operation of a business engaged in the collection
or disposal of manure, swill, ashes, street sweepings, garbage, night
soil, refuse, rubbisl1, nr any other offensive or 11orious material,
paper stock, or trade waste, without haYing firs t obtained a license
therefor issued by the commissiouer.

b. Except as otherwise provided by su bdivision a oi this section,

it shall be unlawful for any person to remove, dispose of, convey,
or transport upon the str eets or bridges, or over the ferries in the
city, garbage, r efuse, ruhbi!'.h, or trade wast e without having first
obtained a permit ther efor from th e commissioucr for each vehicle
so engaged.
c. Except as otherwise provided in subdivision a, it shall be
unlawful for any peN;on to remove, dispose of, convey or transport
over the streeLc; or bridges or over t he ferries in the city, ashes,
manure, swill, or night soil.
d. A license to operate, engage in or conduct su!b business shall
be granted to a person of good character, in accordance with the
provisions of this article and the rulec; ancl rt6'Ulatio11s of the
commissiouer.
e. The annual fee for such license shall be one hundred dollars
plus one hund red dollars for each vehicle in exre!;l; of one operated
pursuant to such license.
f. The annual fee for such permit shall be thirty dollars for each
vehicle operated pursuant to such permit. (.As addJ1. by L . L . 1956,
No. 29, as amended by L . L. 1956, No. 53, October 19.)
CASE NOTES
~ 1. The Citv Lioeaee Commissioner
cnuJd nQL revoke ihe petitioners' li
cense 10 carry on garbage r emoval
'~ithout o. vro1..er not.i ce and mt.bout.
i;iviag licem1ees information as tn the
purpo~e or IL hc:i.ring. Petition~rs liGellbe wu o. property right and hence,

where I.Le revocation comes aboul 119

a result or a df'l.uminatio11 hv an
adminiFlra.tiYe ofhr Pr OT bndy. tJ;C act
is of a JUdicinl no ~ure aud to be vo.lid
must {>e in accord \ith du1 process or
l aw-Roi.~et.ii v. (t'Corwcll, 10 Misc.
2d ~53, 172 N. Y. r. 2d 710 [JO:iS J.

8 .0
The viorli.tion of any provi s i on
of this section s hall constitute an offens e punishable
by a fi ne of not more than
one hundred dolla r s or by
i mprisonment not t o excee d
th irty days , o r both .

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: ...... ~~1-----~
:

dtZ

31 V .LS

Inside dirt on celebrity garbage makes

big bucks for trash king
JACKI~

ONASSIS.eats Quaker Oats .tor, breakfast and Henry Kissinger drinks

Budweiser. according to one of Americas most offbeat businessmen. How does
he know? He rummages through their garbage.

_@ -

Don't be too

early for iob.

1nterv1ews

ARRIVING early for a job interview can actually hurt your

chances of getting the job. according to a leading employment expert
Robert Half. who heads a New
York City management recruiting
agency. says lhe adage ' the early
bird gets the worm
doesn 't
always apply to job hunting.
~"
.. Employers don 't necessarily
remember the first person they
in terview he says. Even if the person is qualified. the interviewer
will want to see others . and there
are usually quite a few to follow.
.. Jn many cases. by the time the
last person 'is seen, tlie interviewer
is fed up and if that last person is
qua I ified for lhe job. he or she
stands a good chance.
Half suggests that job hunters
try to get interviews for taler in
the day
...
h It doesn t work all the
lime.
bit helps.e says. "bul every little

~Ian J.ules Weberman, 35, of New York City has managed to turn celebrity garbage into
a big business. notably through TV talk show appearances when he reveals the inside dirt
on w hat famous people throw away.
He says: " People should realize that garbage is a serious matter . Studying it - I call
it garbology - is a unique. unob
trusive method of sociological research a sort of in stan t
archaeology.
His garbage research has uncover ed such tidbits as the floor
plan of Richard Nixon s Manhattan townhouse. a lcller from
singer Bob Dylan to Johnny Cash,
and a copy of lhe tax returns of
.Judgc John Sirica of Watergate
faint>.
.. You vc no idea what you can
fmd. he adds. "l\Taybe Na.ncy and
llC'nt)' l\issingers grocery list they drink Budweiser. Dewars and
Coke - or a pair of Jackie O's
rel"'xes
.... t-...ome
,.., ,th a book 00 his
c. ar bagl' <'0II CC' l or Al an web crman surveys some
pantyhose
\ V<bermn
"
"
"
11
lavorile subJect.
" Do you know she eats Quaker
po1en t.Ill1 ce 1eb n. 1y gar bage .m Ncw York City.
Oats for breakfast? Or that her
doing ~ryearsand add s: ''I know~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
garbage always smells r eally good
for a fact that the F BI have got
from the perfume botlles she
some of Marlin Luther Kings garthrows out?
bage on file.
Webcrman got into the garllis talents hav.e occasionally
bage-hunling game in 1970 after a
nUracted job offers such as the
JOIN THE MANY THOUSANDS
spat wiU1 Bob Dylan. A keen stutime he was asked to undertake
WHOHAVELOSTPOUNDSAND
dC'nt of Dylan s works. he once
THE
went to the singers house in some industrial espionage.
INCHES THANKS TO SLIMSUIT.
SENSATIONAL
.. /\. guy wanted me to get the
Greenwich Village to discuss lhe
BODY
the Famous Amos chocrecipe
meaning of som e of his lyr ics and
Weight: Lose 6, 12 and even 30 pounds of
TRIMMER
had the door slammed in his fare. olate ch i p cookit:s by going
disgusting bloat and fluid!
throui;1h U1eir garbni;i<'. bul thcr
W('be rman recalls
" I w a:<
Belly: Noticeable reduction in only days!
wercn t prepared to pay enough.

door. m adder
NO EXERCISE
Wlttln: 2 to 5 inches less!

LOSE WEIGHT WHILE YOU SLEEP!

SLIMSUIT

for

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<lllU l l!dlll:CU

~llCH

Wiid~

Wit:> UO::lllf;

clumped outside could easily refle<'I what was going on inside.

" [ really hit the jackpot. I
found a partly-completed letter
from him to Johnny Cash. Afler
that. I took his garbage every
night for two weeks unlll he got
wise.
'
Weberman rarely collects garbage himself these days. bul nas
agents in New York. Washington,
Beverlv Hills. Palm Beach and
llolly\vood.
Other celebrities he has collected garbage from include Spiro
i\gnew. Dustin lloffman. David
RoC'kefeller. John a nd Martha
Mitchell. Tony Curlis. lawyer Roy
Cohn. tax rebel lloward Jarvis.
}\'like Wallace of 60 Mimttes. and
jeans queen Gloria Vanderbilt.
Webcrman says he is only doing
what the F'Bl and CIA have been

"'u 11 "c u11i;

i;aroage can

oe

rr sky. Weberman was once

roughed up outside David Rockef ellt'r s house when the cop
thought he was slipping something
into tire garbage can instead of
out.

More recently, he lost out on a

ga rbage run at Ri chard Nixon 's
townhouse when Secret Service
agen ts suddenly showed up brandishing guns.
Explaining his collection technique. he says: r always make
sure I replace the trash bag with
one that looks j ust like it so that no
on<' will know U1e garbage has
been tampered with .
"Tha way. you can keep the
sour ce going for weeks unlit the
article you are writing come out.
Weberman has also written a
book. My Life In Ga rbology. which
is duC' out next monlh.

Thigh: Slimmer and shapelier!

NO DRUGS

YESI Face Ille with a smile, even If you do pant

and gasp when climbing the stairs, even ii
you weigh ten to thirty pounds too mucheven after torturing yourself with starvation
diets and strenuous exercises. Now ... In
spite of all that,
you can still
face Ille with a SOME LETTERS FROM
smile, because
OUR FILES:
today you have
LOST OVER 22 POUNDS !
I weighted 146 pounds-now 1
discovered a powerful
weigh t 22. 1 wore size 12-now 1 wear
new weapon against
an B. Everyone who sees me Is amazed
.that ugly flab.
my sister-In-law sent for 2 . she
REDUCE
was so impressed she wanted her
_. WHILE DOING daughter and friend to have one
YOUR DAILy CHORES
L. T . Long Beach, Ca.
I am very pleased with your product
Sllmsu1t Is scientifically designed to melt
. I Intend to order another pair I have
away Inches 01 excess pounds and lost so tar an Inch on each rhlgh and one
flulds off stomach, abdomen, thighs,
h
..
hips and legs. Sllmsuit works safely and inc on my we1st.
naturally-using your body's own oxiR P . Brooklyn, N Y
dallon mechanisms 10 break down " .. They really do work as you say
deposits of cellular fluids that causes
E.W., Messa, Az
excess weight end bloated flab. The
I have lound 1us1what I've wantedresull. lnatantly you feal llghter, and have been looking tor 1n your
healthier, and more vigorous . .
product. Praise the Lordi"
Finally you have the energy to succeed
G S .. Lacombe, Pa
in even those things you thought were
lmposslble-plus the loo"s and figure
EFFECTIV.E-AND
you always wanted , .. all without INVISIBLE
changing your eating habits or interrupt- From rhe moment you put 11 oning your dally routine
Sllmsull instanlly goes ro workl You
YES, HIDING UNDER THOSE UGLY simply stan becoming slimmer end
ROLLS OF EXCESS POUNDS AND
more shaplier than ever before. This 1s
because slimsull's millions of unique
INCHES IS A SLIMMER,
thermoelasllc cells quickly melt away
HEALTHIER, MORE ATTRACTIVE
AND MORE BEAUTIFUL YOU-AND excess weight and fluid without any efIT'S ALL YOURS WITH-SLIMSUIT
fort on your part. Working naturally to
b d h t d
Slimsult keeps your weight down and
sea 1 in o Y ea an prevent evapoyour shape up-the more you wear 11 relion, Sllmsu1t ls 1nv1s1ble under your
the fester you lose. Once you have clothes. can be worn whenever you wish
achieved your goals-and losr those -dayor night
1n bad
atwork
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0

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:.J

Us Quiz
Test your wits with our first quiz. The
answers com e from this and the two
previous issues of the magazine. There's no
prize, but the answers, for what they're
worth, are at the bottom of 1he page.
I. Who said: 'Tm so
lazy, I wish
cigarettes came
lit"?
(a} Truman Capote
(b)Cher
(c} Barbara Howar
2. True or false: The
sexy British star of
"Hanover Street''
is Margaret
Thatcher.

3. The woman in this

picture:
(a) has been on the
Stillman diet
for 23 years
(b) looks late 30ish
in a movie in
which she plays
a 35-year-old
cha racter who
is really supposed to be 22
(c) is the same age
as Jackie 0
4. Andrea Jaeger
plays tennis like:
(a) "a little mosquito"
(b) "a big mosquito"
(c) "a roac h"

5. Who said: "There's

nothing wrong
with handcuffing a
girl to keep her
from going to
hell"?
(a) President for
Life Iili Amin
(b) Fantas tic Sam
(c) Lester Ro loff
6. The name "Mr.
Bob" refers to:
(a) Howdy Doody's
anchor man
(b) an onion-burger
fra nchise
(c) Tdi Amin's wh ite
hatchet man

7. Who said: "I'd go

out with girls my
age, but there
aren't any girls m y
age"?
(a) Gary Coleman
(b) Bert Lance
(c) George Burns

8. True or false: The

man in this picture
once defeated
Muhammad Ali
and Appollo Creed
in consecutive
bouts.

9. Who said: "The

songs I write are
ones my maid can
whistle when she
cleans the
mirror''?
(a) Arthur Fie dler
(b) Ethel Mennan
(c) Jacques Morali

13. Who said: "The apple doesn't fall

very far from the
tree"?
(a) Sir Isaac
Newton
(b) Tip O'Neill
(c) J ohnny Appleseed

17. What did A.J.

Weberman find in
Gloria Vanderbilt's garbage
can?
(a) no jeans
(b) a pound of meat
(c) be tting s lips

14. Caroline Kennedy

is almost engaged
to:
(a) a writer for the
New York Daily

News
(b) a garbologist
(c) a long-jumper
from Willingboro, N.J.
I 0. The man in this
picture:
(a) is "the master
of the fl abby
eyelid"
lbJ has just seen
Apocalypse Now
(c) is J erry
Brown's lie utenant governor

J 5. True or false:
Gerald Ford once
dressed up as a tea
bagand was
dipped into a huge
cup of water while
Don Knotts threw
lemons at him.

11. Who said: "I don't

like anybody
anymore unless
they wear a suit"?
(a) Linda Ronstadt
(b) Pierre Trudeau
(c) Miss Piggy

12. Recently, Sabrina

Jackintell used an
oxygen mask and
electrically heated
gloves while doing
which of the
following:
(a) wahing in line
to buy gas
(b) selling an
a ltitude record
in a sailplane
(c) auditioning for
Village People

ANSWERS: ( 1) c: (2) Fabc. thc real 'tar is Lc'le\Anne Duwn; (3) b and c
IHepburn is 50 and Jackie will !Um SOon July 28); (4j a , (5) c (Brother Le,1er
Roloff believe' that , paring the rod spoib 1hc child at his homes for wayward
girls); (6) c (Bob Astle' is c rcdi1ed "i1h 'ell mg up ldi Ami n's Ge,1apo-like
Stale Research Bureau): (7) c; (8) False, though he'd probabl) like 10. (Tomm}
Smi1h b 1hc Mayor o ( Jersey Ci t~ and a bo~cr. He'll figh1 an exhibition \\ilh
Muhammad Ali on June 29); (9) c [Who dse would" rile "Y.M.C.A.''?).

16. This sultry sex

siren:
(a) once boasted
she ha d
s imulated 22
o rgas ms to
achieve the
desired e ffect
(b) is tired of her
sex image
(c) has just released he r new
a lbum Bad Girls

18. This handsome

young man:
(a) plays a steamy
love scene with
Ali MacGraw in

Players
(b) p lays a limp
love scene with
Ali MacGraw in
Love Story
(c) is otherwise
known as Mr.
Chris Evert
19. Who said: "Now I
think the most
courageous
thing is to get
married and have
children"?
(a) Anita Bryant
(b) Candice Berge n
(c) Phyllis Shlafly

20. The Skip-Its are

good a t:
(a) The Lindy and
the Ta ngo
(b) The Wing Ding,
Yo Yo and Popcorn
(c) The Double Axle
(d) Gi ve-and-go a nd
Lhe Flea-flic ker

(10) a c11 , J" Salfon. d..:mon,1ra1ing ..:xercises frum his ne\\ book: The
/5-Mi1111te-A-Da1 Natural Face lift); ( l l ) a (Unbu11oncd characters, s he savs.
" a rc noi 1ru ,1wor1h~ "); (12) b; ( 13) b: ( 14) a (His name b Tom Camey. What

\\ould Caroline be doing\\ i1h a garbologist an~wav ?); (15) False again, but
Steve Allen did; ( 16) All o f 1he above (Donna Summa is the sexy s iren): ( 17)
a. (18) c (His wile is othcrnisc known as Mr,. John Llo)d); ( 19) b: (20) b
(The Skip- lls arc \\orld record-selling rope skipper,. )

US/J ULY 10. 1979

69

People"and Places

What's His Bag?

Garbage

"Let's go on a garbage hunt tonight-at David Rockefeller's. ~)e we'll find some used mony," suggested
Alan J . Witt~ (above), 26-year-old self-styled garbage
analyst.
"You can tell a lot about a person from fUll' garbage
-their politics, their standard of living," says Webennan,
a Yippie with a Groucho Marx sense of huQIOl'.
Weberman prepares for the garbage raids with the
dignity of a surgeon, as he paces around Iris im~ulate
apartment in New York's Bowery. He jl!ts on clean
white shirt. He folds a fresh dastic g!V'bage bag end
pockets $50 in cash .{or emergencleS.
Uptown, the street is dark and deserted. It is 1 A. l\I.
Weberman calmly approaches the home of Davitt RbClce-

fellec, P'osideot qi the Chm Mhtton

~'"
of Gov. Ne!S3h Rockefeller. No lights
on.
Slippmg past the iron fence
ts ~ J1d ol
&iarbagc bin.

rperr b

He extracts a sma

with grease, and bold; it u~,

ted

Jte. .,.
dW rcplastic
But
eller
take is'rdisapifrjfnting-# few gnaweCl~gltjc;ken t>onrd a
half.:~ jar of pickled becta.
"Qw0age huntin& is an unob~ method ol. sociologk:Maecirch. P:QPle have d9rte -W'ors~ thin1s for '!denee,'lf he says.
Weberman docs it for curiosity-and money. He says
he r~eivcd S900 for a recent magazine story about garbage.

ma~$Jlread on

shcel~

away 'ti-om the. scene,

PFt.ess
aoOa

.:..i..i.t ~ .ae .o c Ke~e~:F:!'

disc>.---;:o int i:n..- !:I. :: -:. s

chic ~re n
i sh el j

rryyr

Frc m !:...1:' ;.1 'Tin 3 ~oQr- v

Ga.r e:. ;e _-:.unt .:::.j7 4..''

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of a . -a\l l :.e-;:- ere ::o ::1:- t'l ~ 1 -;.n
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hon,c o.f _:;_ri.l - _-.o~:. et'e ller .
i:res i.i ent o~ tbe ~~~'.J e _ 3.n:_.,_ t ~an -aTh: an.::. bro t~1e1~ o:: .... ov .
!folson
:. .
.~cc~e:ellsr- ..
:,o
li:;--i ts are on. .. e l oo:::s :i.rou n:1.
_ _ _ :fo.-o..-r a i:o lie e1. ?..:1. ___
' ' t.:ee y ii'~tcil , : ! :::.e S3.VS , s1 -:.--c1~~ ffa t ~f e 1r<l !l ~ c __ ._ ::. ?..nd. lift::i ..-.

"

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:le e;: trac ts a ~-> .. ..=.i l - or~~'l~-- ... ~--

:;' e! bai~ , s -cc t t e::. wit 0 . :r -pa.9- e
.,

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acn .!. uo u.s 1 t u ~ , ;~;~ t:'.'ln in -

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'!io u can tell a lot ::::tout a.
:p erson :::roo t heir =~rc:i :et~e:r J:Oliti::!s. t!: . .... :r- - st1.n~1ri. o_,,
livir. . ' s"--s ere-.,~
. \"-;- - --c;
e -.,l l-, ':) ~J " , : ..... .. :--:~ - - - - " - ull - ~ rvt:. c ..o .. ft__... sense
of hlili.O r , he is best .::no.,-;n _:o r
his stuly anl criticis:.: o::: uoe t s in -er . . . o ~) ~Y l?.n .

i.e'berrr.an ::- re_ ~:::-es ior t2e

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: - ~ ir.-

i ec ?le 2J.a7e
for science 1

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3

'berman. a %6-year-old Ylpple,

pursues
kind of sidewalk research
outside the anbattan home of singer-poet
Bob Dylan: analyzing garbage. He bolds part
of his fmd, an unsmoked cigar and a plastic

bag full of diapers. Weber'mall dalnis his

garbage research gives added, If somewhat
unusual. inRights Into the Dves of personages.

(AP Wirephoto J

Garbage Is-a-Gold Mine

For Yippie \"Sociofo "st'
By A~ HENCKEN

David Rockefeller, president of

, NEW YORK I.fl _ "Lets go on. the Chase Manhattan Bank and
; a garbage bunt t 0 n 1 g ht -at. brother of Goy. Nelson A. Rock. Dav t d Rockefeller's. Maybe efeller. No ligbt.s ai:e on. He
we'll find some used money,'1 looks around for a policeman.
1
suggested Alan J. Weberman, "Keep watch," he says, slip26-year-old self-styled garbage ping past the iron fence and lift. analyst.
ing the lid of the garbage bin.
I "You C2D tell a lot about a He extracts a small brown
. person from their garbage-their paper bag, spotted with grease,
. politics, their standard of Uv- and holds it up, grinning.
. lng," says Weberman. A Yippie
Once away from the scene. he
with a Groucho Marx sense of paws t b r o u g h ~he remains,
humor, be is best known for his 1 spread on the plastic sheet.
s~udy and criticism of poet

smger Bob Dylan.
But the Rockefeller take is

disappointing-a few g n a w e d
Weberman prepares for-the chicken bones and a balf-fingarbage raid with the dJgnity of ished jar;of pickled beets.
a surgeon, as he paces around
"Garb&Je anting Is an aobhis immaculate Bowery apart- truslve melhocl of sociological
ment. He puts on a clean white r e s e.a ~ e IL People have done
shirt. He pulls his halo of red worse things for science," be
curls back into the semblance of says.
a Paul Revere pony tail and ad- Weberman does it for curiosi
justs his gold-rimmed glasses. ty~ money. He says he re-,
He folds a fresh plastic garbage ce1ved $900 for a recent magabag and pockets a scribbled ad- zine story about garbage.
dress and $50 in cash for emer- His interest in garbage sprung
gencies.
from his obsession with Bo'b
Uptown. the street is dark and Dyl~n. Calling himself a Dylan. deserted. It is 1 a.m. Weberman ologlS~,. he spent several years
calml a roaches the home of org~mzmg a two-volume com-

lj

--~

Still hungry for more scraps

of information. W e b e r m a n
strolled past the Dylan house'
last falJ
"I reached ln the garbage can
and pulled out a half-finished
letter to Johnny Cash. I said,
"11lls Is no garbage can, H's a
gold mine!''
"After two weeks~ Dylaa pt
wise, He began to censor bis
garbage."
Weherman bas worked bis
way into the garbage pails-if J
not always the heart&-e>f boxer r,
Muhammad Ali, playwright
Neil Simon and Yippie leader
Abbie Hoffman.
Now...Weberman is gunning
or p o w e r f u I, establishment

es.

plans a book called "You

What You Throw Away."

escribing garbage contents beo n g i n g to famous people.
ong those on the 10 most
anted garbage list are Vice
President Spiro T. Agnew, Alty.
Gen. John N. Mitchell, former
ckey Eddie Arcaro-"to see If
bas small prbage"-feminist Kate M I l l e t t and Tricia
Nixon Cox, daughter of the
panion book to Dylan's poetry President.
and collecting rare Dylan ta~.

WWW

wwwwwww c::::zz

mA

mg conuac1 w11hou 1 records n

band can' t develop You can p iny
every night. but 1f youve gol no
record out. people hnve got
nothing to remember you by:

rn

www s:

D .l.
CJ If y~u m anaged to dissuade

your auntie from giving you o ne

of those ghastly c alendars lush
with picturesque t echnicolour
scenes of buco lic England for
Christmas. yet still want t o know
what day it is in 1 974. you can
get a Black M u sic Calend ar by
sending the equivalent of $2 to
the B lack Music Cent re. School
Of Music. Indiana Un iversity.
Bloomington. Indiana 47401,
USA. Contents include "a
selection of names of individuals
and p erforming groups and their
significant accomplishments and
contributions, as well as items o f
historical interest ". So, if you
want to find out who wrote
'Carry Me Back To Old Virginny
as well as the date of your next
visit to the dentist. you know
what to do.

.,

I.

Re-cycling A . J.
Weberman
A. J. WEBERMAN sprang into the
limelight some fi ve years ago.
around the ume tha1 students and
bananasmoking int e llectu a l s
everywhere loved to argue about
Bob Dylan. " Who was his D ear
Landlord?" " Was Dylan in drag on
the cover of Brmgmg It All Back
Home?" " Was Joanna really
Joan?" and ottier irresistible
pieces of trivia. In an age when
Dylan students were two a penny,
AJ. was . king of em all: more
complex, more fanatical, crazier in
every way. Even Dylan was
captured by the charisma of A .J.
Perhaps bothered by the way
W eberman
kept
raiding
his
-garbage cans and spying on his
house. Dylan conrron1ed his
greatest critic, offered A .J a Job as
his ch<iurteur, and ended lhe1r
conversa1ion with the cosm ic
insight. Tm not D ylan. A .J .. you're
Dylan.'
Eventually the artis1 and his
critic vanished together: Dylan
became less visible and less interesting. and A .J : s t heories gol
crazier and c razier I los1 in1eres1
in bo1h of lhem around the ti me
Weberman organized a 301h
birthday party for Dylan a nd
delivered a cake decorated wnh 30
needles to publicise his theory that
Dylan w as a heroin add1c1. But
when I recently round myself on
the Bowery, near lo Weberman 's
re5ldence al lhe murky end of
Bleecker S1ree1. I decided lo pay a
v1s11 l o see whe1her l he Dylan
archives were still flourishing.
A l ftrsl A J . was unenthusiasuc,
explaining o ver l he phone lhnt he
w as real busy w 11h his book on
garbology. the analysis or garbage
This sounded li ke an even mo1e
cpmprehens 1ve
sc1e11ce
than
Dylanology so I cracked a coup le of
anti -Scadu10 1okes. and t alked my
way into Wcbermans HO.

A ..J. Webberman

Mick Gold

. _..

John M1tchetrs ga rbage as analysed by A. J . Webberma n

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expec1ed WebNman lO be
living in garbage up to his
eyebrows, bul his apartmen1
l urned ou1 lo be meur.ulously
clean. and lastef ully decora ted
with some prim111ve - s1y l e
p ain ti ngs dep1ct1ng Great
M oments in the history of the
counter -culture. such as Pele
Townshend swi nging his guitar at
Abbie Hoffmans head at the
W oodsrock
FesJ1val.
and. of
course. Mr. D shoo11ng up
Any Freudian worth his f ee will
tell you thal an obsession with
nea1ness usually stems from an
ov erslrict to1le1 training. so 1t was
cha rm ing lo see A.J indu lge his
obsession with garbage in the
most spotless and analyuc way
He was ar11st1c too arranged on
the floor w as John and Martha
M11chetrs g arbage. which A J.
was turning into a college portrait
of l hese two great Americans. He
showed me his book recording his
pursui t of the science o f garbology
and the d1ny facts he had uncovered. Bella Abzug. New Yorks
radica l anti -war congresswoman
was exposed by A J lo be holdw~
shares in com panies c onnected
wtt h
the
m1ltt ary-indus tri al
complex. A.J. had also discovered
(via a contact in the office of Bob
Dylan's stockbroker) that l he man
who wrote Maste rs Of War'
owned shares in compan ies
connected wnh t he war effon. h 's
possible that Dylan does own such
shares. bul 1n Weberman s system
anyone compromised enough to
earn his living f rom a st raight job
or company seems to be a f ully
paid- up m emb er of lhe CIA. To
preserve one's p-urny. one has to
live on thin air .. _ or garbage. I
asked A .J . how h e.brought himself
to wrne an article for Esqutre,
analyzi ng famous folk 's garbage
W asn't t hal m oney tainted? " I
gave il to a friend m prison:
answered A J. q uickly.

By the end of t he afternoon. I

realised A.J. w as dead right about
lhe significan ce o f garbage. 11
really 1s a crystal -clear record of
one' s life-style and ac11v111es. in
Bob Dylans draw ings and J ohn
M 1tchetrs vodka bott les and Bella
Abzugs investmen l s lay l he real
slUff of t heir existence. (R ichard
Nixon and his h eavy friends knew
th is too - t hats why there were
two paper shredders al C R.E E P
headquarters. The people with lhe
d1nies1 secrets don t leave any
garbage). But as lnr as ideology
went A J . seemed l o be beyond
t he limned realm o f reason. he
was more like an alchem1s1.
dis11lhng symbolic tru1hs out or
u nprom ising
material
A J
wou ldnt argue With a Marxist he'd simply search h is dustbin for
caviar tms and cognac bottles and
cloul him with his bourgeois
garbage. Our society IS riddlud
wtth cont rad1c11ons between what
we say and w hat we do. be1w~ef)
wha1 we are and what WC' believe
in. h will be a long time before A J
runs ou t of d1ny fact s to uncover
MG.

/3Ayt~

U/1_ <f

-Bella Bombs,

NEW YORK (UPS)-!3ella Abzug, getically admitted owning the

lower Manhattan's liberal Cong- stock, but added, "[t's wrong to
resswoman and outspoken peace profit from this dirty war." She
advocatE:, bas been profiting from failed to mention whether she would
the war on the side.
keep the stock.
Noted garbologist AJ. WeberLitton Industries, besides proman revealed Nov 6 that Abzug ducing Royal typewriters and Monowns thousands of dollars worth, roe calculators, bolds a $30 mUof stock in Litton Industries and lion contract for a fighter bomber
Americ~ Machine and Foundry, navigation systemt a $12 million
two maJor weapons-systems pro- contract !Or a TACARE detecducers.
ti on system computer, as well as
Weberman, who has been col- contracts for other guidance syslecting Bella's garbage for some terns.
time as research for a book he's
writing called You Are What You
American Machine and Foundry,
Throw Away. produced notices to best known for producing Voit
stockholders, authorization cards sporting goods, AMF bowling eand annual n:ports of the two quipment and Harley- Davidson
corporations as evidence of own- motorcycles, bolds government
ership.
contractstotalling $80 million for
Later in the day, Abzug apolo- three types of bombs.

AJ's Ga rbage
Yippie
A.J . Webberman
has been analyzing Spiro Agnew's
garbage.
Webberman, a Pretender leader
of the Youth International Party.
has made a name for himself in
the past by stealing and then
analyzing the garbage of various
celebrities. ranging from Bob
Dylan to John and Martha Mitchell.
The victir.. of Webberman's
most recent garbage can rip-off
is Spiro Agnew. Webberman reports he seized the contents of
Spiro's trash cans at his former
Kenwood, Maryland home -- and
that since that time, he has been
"degarbifying" the stuff.
Among the items uncovered by
the garbage collector is a personalized Chirstmas card from
none other than ITI's president,

Harold Gennan, to the Agnew family; and another from the Executive Protection Agency.
,
Webberman says he has found
numerous copies of correspondence indicating that Agnew has
been illegally using his govern- i
ment office to conduct hi s pers onal affairs. Webberman says that
copies of letters typed at the
Washington office deal with Agnew's atte.mpt to sell his house
and other personal belongings .
Among his most prized recoveries, says Webbermiin. is
Spiro Agnew's entire Christmas
Card list -- containing the names
and home addresses of Washington's elite. Says Webberman: "I'm
going to be the new J. Edgar
Hoover of Washington. He used
to know where all the dirt in
Washington was, but not I'm the
)fie who .does. " --(ZNS)

with its holdings-Tn real estate and art

treasures).
The losses came about,
according to the Times, by virtue of the
Pope's desire to inject more pizazz into
the Church's staid portfolio of blue
chips. At Sindona's suggestion, the
Pontiff enthusiastically approved such
heady purchases as Eurodollars and
currency features.
When the economic boom
collapsed recently, the Church was left
with huge losses. Meanwhile Sindona.
the disaster's maestro and a man Time
magazine once called "the most
successful Italian si ~e Mussolini,"
has been served with an arrest warrant
by Italian authorities on charges
relating to the scandal.

attendance by as much as 50 percent.

To top things off, with University
President Robben Fleming
preoccupied with union negotiations,
a contingent of 200 black students
began a brilliantly timed sit-in at the
administration bui lding office. They
presented a long list of demands
largely aimed at eliciting a
commitment from the university to
increase black enrol lment levels to 10
percent, as promised after a strike five
years ago. The beleaguered protesters
finally left after a three-day stay, with a
promise from the administration to
negotiate the major demands.

HElllH

first issue-perhaps fittingly-both by

and about rip offs. There is a profile of
Prudence and the pills
Ron Galella, the photographer who
Here's another reason why pregnant
gained fame by chasing Jackie
women
should be wary about taking any
People-Eater
__Qoassis. and a column by A.J~
pills. Lucille Milkovich of the School of
Time lnc.'s slick gossip "pie and ~eoerman, the fellow who poed his
Public Health, University of California,
caption" magazine, People, with a
way to notoriety by examining Bob
Berkeley, studied 19,044 live births,
circulation well over a million, will be
Dylan's garbage. Weberman will write
comparing the infants whose mothers
getting competition in a few weeks
regularly. His _fi_rst topic? The refuse of
had taken the minor tranquilizers
Judge John Sinca.
= .- meprobamate
from a new pub lication titled In the
and chlordiazepoxide
Know. The maga~ine, which some fee
~lfllillllllWAll
(for anxiety, tension and mild
ts simply a rip off of People, will be
~NII
depression) during pregnancy with
published by Sterling's Magazines,
infants whose mothers had not. It
formerly a Warner Communications
Spring fever
turned out that the kids of moms who
Company and now run by ad-man
The University of Michigan, in the last
Sanford Schwarz. The official word on
four years as politically moribund as
d
In the Know is that " starting
most universities, has been the site of ~
somewhere in the area where People
an activist rekindling in the last month. ~z
pioneered, we're going to be mor&
The flurry began early in
~
adventurous," but clearly the
February when the deanship of the
~
differences between the two won't be
prestigious 16,000-student liberal arts ~
major. In the Knpws promotional
college was offered to a black
~
material is calling the magazine
woman-sort of. As it turned out, Jule it
"Sterling's new 'People Eater' "and
Plummer Cobb, now dean of
retailers are being urged to display the Connecticut College, was offered only
a two-year contract with no guarantee
magazine "next to People for
maximum sales."
of tenure, even though typical
Melvin Shestack, a veteran of
Michigan contracts in the past have
True. thfl old Saturday Evening Post
included a five-year term and tenure.
Cobb understandably rejected the
and CBS News, where he received an
Emmy nomination, is the magazine's
proposal. When the terms came to
light, an outraged faculty group of 200
editor and he is a respected innovator.
Pills and pregnancy
Shestack wants to cover the
protestea pu 1c y. Questions about
had taken these drugs during the first
"superworld and the underworld" and
the seriousness of the original offer
feels that "pie and caption" magazines and its implications about the
six weeks of pregnancy had three to
four times as many severe congenital
university's commitment to affirmative
are "closer to television, full of instant
reading" designed to "entertain and
action have spurred at least two
birth defects.
"We conclude that the
investigations into the affair.
amuse the reader."
prescription of these drugs to women of
On March 27,500,000 copies of
Two weeks later, after a
childbearing age should be restricted to
the first issue, with John Wayne on the
long-standing dispute over salary
cover, will go on sale. In the Knowwill
could not be resolved, unionized
cases with strong indications, " writes
Ms. Milkovich in The New England
follow the People marketing route as
graduate teaching fellows struck and
Journal of Medicine. " and it would be
well: push newsstand and
began picketing classroom bui lding
supermarket sales and discourage
entrances. The strike, which hadn't
prudent to assure that the woman is
subscriptions. In addition to the John
taking precautions during pregnancy.'
ended by the school's spring break at
the beginning of March, has cut class
Wayne piece, there are articles in the
- Marlon Ste inmann

MEDIA

NEW TIMES 17

Beyond the Pail:

TheTheory
and Practice of
Garbage Journalism

by Jay Gourley
It was a warm, clear midnight o n
Dumbarton Street in Georget own,
wher e the houses are st acked wall- towall like the bellows of a giant
accorclion , and wher e the s mall front
yards are cultiva te d with flowers,
shrubs, and ivy. The old trees that
mark l apses in a ground cover of
concrete and cobblestone cast sile nt
moving shadows from the incandescent street lamps.
The cars were parallel-parked
bumper-to-bumper along b oth sides of
Dumbarton, and since tomo rrow was
to be the pick-up day, dozen s o f full,
neatly tied, plastic garbage bags lined
the curbs on both sides of the stree t.
As usual at that h o ur , yo ung gay
men pa trolled the sidewalks or posed
under lamp posts, waiting for o ther
gays to drive or walk up and
pro position them (One of the oddities of Washingto n so cial geograph y is
that the most socially desirable
r esidential sectlo rt of Georgetown is

also the city' lead ing gay pic k-up

spo t.)
" Wan t to go fo r a ride'>'' ca me the
soft, friendl y voice of a s tra nge r
driving slo wly by.
"No, t hank yo u." 1 answered in
haste becau e a Secre t Service age nt
was wa telling me from the s had o ws of
a nearby doorw ay.
Neither the agent nor I was t here
to meet o the r me n. He tood o n the
dark por ch to protect Secre tary or
State Henry K issinger. 1 had come o n
an opposite mission.
It was Tuesda y, Jul y 1, 1975. At
12 :30 a. m. I made my move. I picked
up the green p lastic garbage bags- a ll
five of them- in fro nt of Kie;. inger's
ho me a nd locked the m in my car. o n
beh alf o f tl1e Na tional Enquirer.
T he Secret Serv ice bod yguard , w ho
had s pe nt a good pa rt of his li fe
trainin g a nd wa iti ng. reacted inst1nc
tively. " Hey, wa it. Stop tha t. Wh at a rc
you doing?" he l10u ted in bewilderme nt. as I oul the firs t bag int o m v

Beyond the Pail:

TheTheory
and Practice of
Garbage Journalism

by Jay Gourley
It was a warm, clear midnight on
Dumbarton Street in Georgetown,
where the houses are stacked wall-towaU like the bellows of a giant
accordio n, and where the small front
yards are cultivated with flowers,
shru bs, and ivy. The o ld trees that
mark lapses in a grou nd cover of
concrete and cobblestone cast sile nt
moving shadows from the incande cen t street lamps.
The cars were parallel-parked
bumper-to-bumper along both sides of
Dumbarton, and since tomorrow was
t o be the pick-up day, dozens of full,
neatly tied, plastic garbage bags lined
the curbs on both sides of the street.
As usual at that hour, young gay
m en pa trolled the sidewalks or posed
under lamp posts, waiting for other
gays to drive or walk up and
proposition them. (One of the oddities of Washington social geography is
that the most socially desirabk
r esidential sectioif of Georgetown is
Jay Gourley is a reporter for the National
Enquirer.
The Washington Monthly/October 1975

also the city's kading !!aY p1ck-11p

spot.)
" Wan t to go for a ridt>'> " came the
soft , friendly voice of a tranger
diivi ng slowly by.
"No, thank you." l answe red in
h aste because a Secret Service agent
was wa tdling me from the shadow of
a nearby doorway.
Neither the agent nor 1 was t hl. re
to mee t othe r me n. He s tood o n the
dark porch to protect Secre tary o f
State Henry Kissinger. l h<1rl com e on
an opposite mission.
It was Tuesday, July 1, 1975. At
12:30 a.m. I made my move. I pi cked
up the green plastic garbage bags all
five of the m- in front of Ki c;c;ingcr's
home a nd locked the m in my car. o n
behalf of the National F11q111rer
The Secret Service bodyguard , wh o
had spent a good part of hi life
training and waiting. reacted ins tinc
tiv ely. "Hey, wait. Stop that. Wh a t are
you doing?" he shouted in be wilckrmen t, a I put the firs t bag into my
car. Fearing that conver ation at this
point would be countc rprod11 ~ tiw, I
45

ignored him.
He leapt from his perc h on
Kissi nger's steps, then stopped. Suspecting a diversion. he he ld fast. Then
he whistled- a shrill, clear whistle that
attracted the attention of every young
man on the block. Quickl y he
mumbled some words into his le ft
sleeve, where Secre t Service agents
carry their microphones. ( 1f they
shoot with the left hand , they carry
the mike up their right sleeve, so they
can talk and shoot at the same time.)
" Stop right there," h e yelled agai n,
this time in a more asser tive tone.
"Everything's all r ight. I'11 be
tluough in a minute," [ responde d in
the most r eassuring voice I cou ld
mu ster.
The agent was not soothed. " I sa id
stop. Drop those bags."
"No, everything's al l right. I don' t
need a ny h elp. Thank you anyway," I
said, trying the o ld act-like-an-idiot
approach (a technique 1 can pcrform
with natural grace).
By now all the bag were loaded
in to the car. "Don' t try to leave," the
agent commanded.
" Thank you very much, but really,
J've go t to be going. "
" Hold it right there. Don ' t move."
" Well, if you insist. I gu ess I ca n
stay a (jttle longer. "
The agent was n ot amused.
By then his supervisor wa s in front
of the Kissinger home. Th e first agent
spen t the next 60 seconds or so trying
to convince his skeptical superior of
what had happened. FinalJy the bo s
turned to me with hi verdict : "Put it
back."
"Sony."
" 1t's either that or go to jail.
The prospect of spe nd ing the night
in the D.C. slammer while the Secret
Service jimmied my trunk to get their
garbage back came as a s hock. I
thought for a mome nt a nti then
se ttle d on the on e sure ;;u-gume nl that
never fa ils t o foresta ll action in a
bureaucracy: " All right the n, Ja il it is.
But first you really ought to cl11:c k
with your superiors."
I could see the logic sinking in. He
s miled slowly, fir t to himself and

46

then a t me , as if I had sonic 1nsi<l c

understanding of how the Secret
Service really operates.
He a sked for identification . More
me n came from the Was hington police
and Secre t Service headqua rters do wntown. Afte r much di cuss ion over who
would write the report, whic h undoubtedly would be ubject to hjghleve l scrutiny, a young inte lligence
officer of low senfority was rou sted
out of bed to drive to the Kissinger
home and ask me ques tion s for the
better p art of an hour. It would have
taken longer, but the Secret Service
already ha d checked me out be fore 1
received White House credcn ti a ls a
year or so earlie r. UI tima te ly I was
permitted to take the garbage home to
my modest townhouse on Capito l
Hill. to sort through at my lt:isure.

Editorial Garbage
You don' t h ave to be a reader o f
the arional Enquirer lo know what I
found in Kissinger'!> ga rbage Almos t
every ne wspaper in the country h-;tcd
the contents of the ga rbage on page
one, after their editoria l wr iters
huffed a nd puffed a bou t " ga rbase
journa lism" or " re rusc re porting," etc.
T he edito1ial in The Washington Post,
for example, wa s headlin ed with one
magisterial word : " Trash.,, The Post
said it was aware o f "nume rou s
extenuating- or at least complica tingargume nts that can be made concerning the arional Enquirer.. , foray."
but said i r found -;uch .. 111 tl'lkc tual
exercises" to be "well. . . o mu ch
garbage." The editorial wri ter compared my behavior to child moles ting,
and called it " indefen-;ibk both as
journalistic practice and as c ivi li zed
behavior.,.
The editorial page clismi<; eel the
whole subjec t with lhl' s neering
co nclusion. " So ml' coop " l n t lu:
ne ws section of th at a me ccli11on.
however. the Post had more to ay It
had a prelimina ry surv ey o f the
conte nts of the garbage, thus i~ e lf
scoopi ng the. af io1w / Encfl' irn. whic.:h

l:hl itnn.11 c.11 11<1n l'y " '" ()Ii

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1ngrninc I i s tile h.1hil ol 1 1 0 1tit

ts tlJa l tl w 1 po1tci-.
even co11sirlc1eel th '
1ite1.il tr11tli oJ what the y we 1e ' ' jti 11
lown 1 liey publt'\ht>d tl 1is st 1t 1w1 1
1m l e1 1lw cas111l ssu111p lio11 t' ,rt 111
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fti et JL311 )
l 1rid hotll'11.'d 1 , i1 J l it e 101 1 N i t)
t\tagi 1111i \ r is i I ' \ h at I
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49

Rogers C. B. Moiion, Secre tary or

Commerce, who graciously invited the
reporters to watch a nd take pictures
as he called the National Enquirer to
r equest pick-ups on Tuesda ys and
Thursdays). The two most familiar
themes, however, were closely interconnected : criticism of my reportorial
me thod and denigration of my ne wspaper, the National Enquirer.
Disapproval of my technique was
not limited to Eastern establishment
journals Like The Washington Pos t.
Editor Tom Reay wrote in the
Rockford, Lllinois R egister-Republic:
("Garbage Sad P lace to Seek Out
Stories") " I've hidden in c losets,
listened through keyholes, read seen>
tarial notes, eavesdropped on a restaurant dinner conversation, and engaged
in many more somewhat shady
practices. And I thought I'd done
them all. Until Jay Gourley, that is."
In what way hiding in closets and
listeni ng through keyholes is more
ethical than inspecting garbage, Mr.
Reay did not specify. But at least he
admitted that he himself had e mployed such techniques- unlike Til e
Wasliington Post , which pronounced,
as if in reference to some exotic
practice in a far-off country:
"That these unacce pta blc techniques l sifting through garbage, interviewing six-year-old kids, and posing
as a doctor-all somehow connected in
the editorialist's mindj may bear

some re lationship to other 'borderline'

techniques of journalism does not
seem to us in any way to justify them.
We will be frank to say that. on the
contrary, it merely suggests to us that
those other techniques to the ex tent
that they take adva ntage of an
unsuspecting victim are themselves of
dubious value and propriety."
Could these elusive "other techniques'' be things li kc pestering people
at all hours of the nigh L implying to
the m U1at yo u know more than you
really do to get tht.:m to give
themselv es away, s tanding in doorways and de manding cups of co ffeeall gleefully described by cu b reporters Woodward and Bernstein in
All the President's Men'? One reason
the Post got the Watergale story in the
first place may be that the report of
th e original burglary came in on a
weekend, so it was assigned to
low-status reporters who were not
afraid to use these u nsta tcsmanlikc
techniques. Possibly now that its
reputation as a re pectablc muckraker
assure it of a teady flow of the kind
of leaks wltich mak..: for easy scoops,
The Washington Post wou ld like to
call a moratorium on journalistic dirty
tricks and raise t he tone of the
profossion. But if th..: Post really
wants a serious discussion of journalistic techniques. there an; plenty of
colorful examp les availabk in it own
shop.

Answers to September Puzzle:

A Heart-Rending Story
- - - -- - In contrast to the Post,
would
Ukc to commend the Plattsburg. New
York Press-Republican. which at least
used i~ criricism of mc as an occa ion
for self-examination. In a column
entitled
'Ga.rbo logy
Djsgusting,''
editor Bert Walter said that w hile
Kissinger was revolted. " We're disgusted." And again, "To me, H's
disgus ting and unethical." But Walter
added, "Many readers must a k
themselves why lhe Press-Republican
docs certain things such as printing a
picture o n page one showing a man
with a two-by-four stuck lhrough his
50

.,

che t." To answer s uc h questions,

Walte r annou nced the beginnin g o r a
column to discuss reader criticism o f
the paper.
The most hysterical reaction came
from U.S. News and World R eport ,
which I read cover-to-cover every
week for a compact presentation of
the official view on lead ing issues. In
hi colunm , Editor Howard Fleigc r
aw the incident as the culmination of
" the rage for so-called 'inve tigative
reporting' ,. which " ha now reached a
predic table peak-or, more accuralely,
a swa mpland. " It was " a di sgus ting
inva ion of personal privacy." H e
concluded in a vein of self-flage llation,
" lt makes anyon e who ha devoted a
lifetime to journalism. .. wa nt to ge t
into a hot tub and scrub with a strong
oap until it hurts .. ,
Fleiger suffered under the re fre hing dc lu ion- for a columnis t- that no
one wa interested in the ubject tha t
had excited him to suc h rhetorical
ex tre mes.
" Who
cares ... w ho
ca res .... " he wro te as he Lis ted fo r
hi reader some of the things I' d
found in the Kissinger tra h. " Does
anybody really find such informatio n
a n 'i nLcre ting' or useful revelati on?"
The delusion was widespread .
Robert Po pp wrote in his column
("S na p, Crac kle by Popp") in the Ea t
Live rpoo l, Ohio, R e11iew to rea sure
11is readers that despi te my dreadfu l
behavior, " Gutter journalis m s till is
re l ricted to th e very, ve ry few who
pande r to a certain mall a udi ence."
Small? r don' t know abou t the
East Liverpool Re11iew (or The ew
York Times or Tlz e 11'aslli11g ro 11 Post),
but the c irc ulation of the Natio 11al
E11quirer is more than four million
copie . Our issu e featuri ng the death
of Ari totle Onassis topped fiv e
mi llio n.

It Won't Play in Peoria

Thi s brings me t o the las t majo r

the me in press coverage of th e
trash-napping: de nigration o f m y
ne ws paper. T wo o f the gentler refor1:nces labeled us " mi fits" (la Grande,
The Wash ington Monthly/October 1975

Oregon Observer ) and "sui ge11eris"

(Reno , Nevada, State Journal). Most
writers, however, c ou ld not res ist the
obvious metaphor. Jack Sm ith of the
L os Angeles Times referre d to " trash.
which i s what the Enquirer publishes." Syndicated columnist Robert
Yoakum said a search of his own trash
revealed "several copies of the
ational Enquirer. appare ntl y used lo
house-train puppy." (Ki singe r. by the
way, usi::s The Waslzingto 11 Post to
house-train his puppy.) Mo t criti cal
of all was the Peoria, lllinois. JournalStar. In an eclitorial it urged re aders
to mail their " more offe nsive" garbage
to the Enquirer , which it described as
"o ne of the most rancid ga rbage bins
of Ame rican journalism. " 1 a lso don ' t
know the circulation o f the Peoria
Jo urnal-Star, or the influe nce its
editorials usuall y carry. but so far we
have received no garbage from Peoria
(except for tllat clip from the
Joumal-Star ).
Whipping Boy
So from Washington to Pe oria
held to be the entire cultura l d is tance
across our great natio n- I've gotte n
no thing but grief from news pape r
editors. Re ally, am I wrong to fee l a
little hurt? l defy anyone to te ll me
that he o r she .iianced at a head line in
a local pa per about tl1e co ntents of
Kissinger's trash and passed over it in
favor of an a djacent ar ti cle about
de tc nte. Not tliat de tente isn't mo re
impo rtant, of course. But it's ad th at
so ma ny people arc too hu,rno rlcss to
admit tlrnt ther e is somc!thing in the m
that is attract ed to s toric a bo ut
J ackie Onassis a nd the abominable
snowma n a nd flying saucers and o the r
sideshow attrac tions that have made
the ational En quirer b y far the most
wide ly read ne wspa per in the country.
And it's even sadder that ne ws paper
editors from Washington t o Peoria fee l
ob liged to use the Natio nal Enquirer
as a whipping boy whe n they wish to
a ppea r responsible by criticizing the
professio n, without critic iz ing the m
selves.
51

would not be ou t with the story until

later in the month . Post reporter Ron
Shaffer. in fact. was first in lin e to
peruse the garbage when I was
through with it. His report: " A
reporter pawing through the Kissinger
household trash just before Gourley
returned it found lots of Jeaves, an
empty vichysso ise ca n, a coat hanger,
a starch can. an unopened package of
mo ld y, uneaten English muffins, diet
soda ca ns, newspapers. and assorted
perishable goo."
I don't know what Th e Washingto n
Post's sta ndards arc for news, but they
mu st have been pretty desperate for a
scoop to print that pathetic list.
becau e quite obviously r had presorted the garbage and ke pt the good
stuff for the National Enqu irer before
turning the rejects over to the Post for
pu bli ca ti on there.
When my more complete reckoning came out in the National Enquirer.
the Posr featured it on the front page
of its "StyJc'' section. Empty packages and bottles fo r cigarettes.
The Washington Monthly/October J 97 5

Maalox, aspirin, barbiturates. A memo

indicating that the Secret Service had
accidentally left a shotgun in the
Virgin Islands. A liquor shopping list
that in cluded a case of Jack Daniels
bourbon and a case of Ezra Brooks.
the poor man's Jack Daniels. There
are two possible explanations for this
curious liquor order: either t he
Kissingers make important social distinctions concerning the quality of
hospitality offered to their guests, or
they are diluting the Jack Daniels with
the cheaper stuff.
Also in the garbage- and for this I
have yet to hear even a vaguely
plausible hypothesis- was unused and
unopened food. Ther e were the
aforementioned
English
muffins,
unopened, sticks of margarine still
wrapped, cans of soup unopened,
large bottles of apple sauce still tightly
sealed, and more.
Not another Watergat e, I agree.
But then again I never intended to
synthesize these leavings into an
ex pose of the traditional sort. My
47

purpose was to have a little fon .

Certainly it is not true to suggest that
the content of the Kissingers' garbage
bags is of no interest to right-th.inking
citizens. Manifestly, it was interesting
to everybody. Now it is true, as the
nation's editorialists pointed out, that
it would be an unhappy situation if
eve1ybody- or even everybody famous- had to worry about re porters
searching through their garbage looking for clues to their lifestyle. But this
argument shows a little naivete about
the dynami cs of news. 1t is not good
manners that keep journalists Erom
constantly raiding other people' s
trash, but good news sense. The
content of trash is interesting on ly as
a novelty. Immediately after my story
there was a brief wave of trash-napping (including my own, and that of
the National Enquirer headquarters in
Lantana, Florida). which lasted about
a week. Now everybody's trash is safe
again for another fiv e or six years.
until people forget how quickl y they
became bored with trash the Last time.
Comparing Schedules
Some items of serious interest did
emerge from my survey of Kissinger's
refuse. There were discarded copies of
Kissinger's old itineraries and daily
schedules. The interest is two-fold.
First, along with the memo about the
misplaced gun. they indicated that in
the current long LuU between assassinations the Secret Service is ge tting
sloppy again. Anyone wanting information about the daily behavior
patterns of any terrorist's most
desirable po ten tia.1 victim merely had
to pick it up on Dumbarton Street.
Second, these itineraries are interesting for telli ng us who does 11ot know
about Kissinger's daily activity. This
message comes through when you
compare these discards with the
official schedules posted in U1e press
room at the Sta tc De partment. Those
interested in going Ull'ough his trash
bags would discover, for example, that
on one day iliis summer Kissinger met
with David Rockefe ller, chairman of
48

the Chase Manhattan Bank, -follo~ed

shortly by Arthur Burns, chairman of
the Federal Reserve Board. Those who
read the schedule put up by t he State
Department, or the articles written by
reporters who relied on that schedu le,
were not so well informed.
This raises the question of which is
Kissinger's r eal trash, and who is
publishing it. rs it the National
Enquirer, which did some harmless
rwnmaging in his refuse bags, or is it
other elements of the national press,
which accept and publish unquestioningly the official statements issued by
the State Depa.rtmen t and go a.long
with the absurd deception involved in
the repeating of trial balloons floated
by 'a high U.S. official aboard the
j(jssinger airplane"?
Take another example. The State
Department issued a statement following my trash escapade. It said, "This
has caused grave anguish to Mrs.
Kissinger, and the Secre tary of State is
really revolted by what he considers a
violation of the privacy of his house."
The State De partment spokesman
added, " Frankly, I'm sure most
members of the press wou ld agree
with this." I'm not sure what exactly
the State Department spokesman
U1ought U1ere was to agree with in
that statement. Did he mea n that
most members of the press would
beUeve that Nancy Kissinger real ly
was "anguished" and Henry "revolted" by the lifting of t heir garbage?
If so, that woul d be a reasonable
conclusio n to draw fro m th e 900
newspaper clips collected by the
National Enquirer. Almost without
exception, the articles 1 saw from
papers of all sorts repeated the State
Department statement, and none that
used i t challenged it in any way.
("Reporter' s Rooting In Kissinger's
Garbage Distresses Wife Nancy," was
the headline in the Olympia, Washington, Oly mpian.)
Now what public relations expert at
the State Department dreamed up this
Victorian scenario of t he sensitive
Lady Kissinger taking to her bed in
anguish at the thought of some ruffian

STONEHILL P UBLI S HIN G COMPANY

MY LIFE IN GARBOLOGY
by A.J. Weberman

T.

life and times of A.J. Weber

man, founder of the National Institute
of Garbology, is a wacky tour de force
which demonstrates the remarkable
wealth of insight that can be gained
from the study of people's trash. As
the founder of this new science, Weberman explains why he became fascinated with garbage as a tool of psychological investigation and how he got
started by analyzing Bob Dylan's
trash, which resulted in a madcap
chain of events including charges
against Dylan for assault and battery.
Among the other garbage makers
analyzed in detail: Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis, Martha Mitchell, Henry
Kissinger, Nelson Rockefeller, Gloria
Vanderbilt, Dustin Hoffman, Arthur
Schlessinger, Roy Cohn and others.
One of today's great investigators who
has literally risked life and limb in pursuit of his subjects, Weberman is also
one of America's foremost assassination experts-all in all a hard man to
get rid of! MY LIFE IN GARBOLOGY. a
pioneering work, gives new meaning to
the old expression, "never throw
anything out" -someone may be analyzing it. And your garbage can be
more revealing than your signature!

(224 pages; illustrated with photo-

graphs throughout; hardcover, $8.95,

096-0; June)

MP ~~Jlour G~r'lbage A-if,d-i'll

~__]lgJQ teil~ '~_!_~ TIM 0
,
1
1
il
u!~~~lys~:, ~~:~. ~ .: ~~~-.:.~~ ::~: ~'~'":~.::~~~~~"
Sho'h11J

o o

'

By ANN
Of The Associated Press

- >

: . ..,

. ,~\t~~:"

j ;I

""''
*"~'.

:r:

~ '
" -' '.,/cl.. .,..,~

~,;,lf
...,"' ,.
$]~

,.,. ~

,!

.~ ~r

'

..

cies.
Uplotn, the street is dark
a nd d1serled. It is 1 a'.m.
Wchcrr!an calmly approaches
the hon c of David Rocke feller
preside t of the Chase Manlla tt an ~B an k . an d b rol her of
Gov. r eslon A. Rockefeller.
No Jigl~ts aie on. He looks.

NEW YORK (AP) - "Let's

go on a garbage hunt tonight
al David Rockefeller's.
Maybe we 'll find some used
money, " sugges tcd Alan J
Wcbcrman, 26-ycar-nld selfsly led garbage analyst.
" You can tell a lo t about a around or a policeman.
" Ifor
watch, " he says,
11erson from thei1 garbage ~ past tile .iron f ence
s1.1pprn
their politics, their standard and 1fr11ng the lid of the garof living, " says Weberman. A bage bih. He extracts a small
Yippie with a Grouch Marx brown ilaper bag, soolted with
sense. of humor, he is best !'rease, and holds it up, grinknown for his study and criti- ning.
cism of poet-singer Bob
Once way from the scene,
Dylan.
he paw through the remai ns,
spread u 1hc plastic sh eel.
Wcbcrman prepares for the
But t e Rockefeller take is
garbage raid with lhe dignity dis<i ppc nting - a few gnawed
of a surgeon , as he 'paces chicken bones and a half
around his immaculate Bow- finishcd)j<ir of pickled beets.
ery apartment. He puts on a "Gar:/age hunt ing is an
clcan while shirt. He pulls his unobtrusive method of sociohalo of red curls back into the logical research. People have
things
for
semblance of a Paul Revere done worse
pony lail and adjusts his gold- science. ' he says.
Rt.warding Hobby
rimmed glasses. He folds a
Webc1 rnn does it for curifresh plastic garbage bag and
pockets a scribbled address osi ly - a1. d money. He' says

magazine story about garbage .

.
His interes t in garbage
sprung from his obsession
with Bob Dylan. Calling himself a Dylanologist, he spent
several years ornanizing
a
~
two-volume companion
book
to Dylan's poetry and collecting rare Dylan tapes.
Still hungry for more ~craps
of information, Wcbl'rman
~~-~ 1/~~. past the Dylan ho,use
"I reached in the garbage
can and pulJcd out a halffinished Jetter lo Johnny Cash.
I said, 'This is no garbage
can, it's a gold mine! '
" After two weeks, Dyl?n gol
wi se. He began lo censor his
garbage. "
Webrrrnan has wo rked his
way into the garbage puils if not always the hearts - of
boxer Muhammad Ali, playwright Neil Simon and Yippic
leader Abbie .Hoffman.
Now, Wcbcnnan is gunning
fo r powerful, establishment
types.
He plans a book <1al lcd
"You Are \'hat You 1~1row

'"'' ' '

conlenls belonging to fam ous

people. Among !hose on lhc 10
most wanted garbage list arc
Vice President Spiro T.
Agnew, Attorney Ge nera l
John N. Mitchell, fo rmer jockcv. Eddie Arcaro - " lo sec if
he has small garhwze" f . . l r l
~r1 1
I
em1n1s J\a e !1 1 ctt anc
Tricia Nixon .Cox. d:iu'!hler of
the President.
_ _ _ __

British Arn end'

Jliunigran t La-w
LONDON (UPl ) - Immi
grants from Commonwealth
countries will no J on i~ r have
to rcgislcr wilh the police
under an amend m~n l to the
proposed immigra tion bill
passed by lhc House 0 1 Lords.
The amendme nt. approved
Monday night, c:rn cr ls a section of the bill rcqui rill '. rrgistralion action. Loni Wmdlesham, minister of slat<!, said the
amendment wrm lc be reflected in immigrn lion rnlc;.
Aliens will still have lo regis-.
tcr.

#'"NEW

YORK~

27

THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 1980

o." l!:Dds al

David
off to
a slow
start
By NICHOLAS YANNI

l') McMe,
" End.a at 2:00.
~porter4J...

lie Jeffenons (B).

>how. Guesu; Neil
-Iecker, Pat Boone.
hley.

News.

beBac:es.
CeD Block IL
:'llaclon&L
Joke I Ever

l'lr& Three LR).

ot Writing~;-

!!E

.eld

- - -ov.
arlle's Ang-els
Remembered "

vte, "The Baby

ds a t 2:03.

lte Snake PU."

THE NEW Da'Vid Letterman Show airing Monday

through Fridays live at 10
am. on NBC has turned in

disappointing ratings in
its first few days on the
air. The show does have a
lot of kinks to work ouL
The host's appeal (the ads
exclaim "A face every
mother could love!'1 is
strong. But placing newsman
Edwin
Newman
across from Letterman at
a small table on stage to
read news blurbs makes
Newman come off as if be
were a character in SNL's
"News Update" sketch.
These segments do not
blend in wen with the gen
eral comedy format of the
show, and audience reaction to the news (there actually were laughs .Monday for a story about test
tube babies) must be dis
concerting, to say the
least. for Newman. "Instant" TV critic .Jeff
Greenfield reviewed Moo
day's show cm air - a giio
micky device that can only
deme an the stature of

Damtl Letterman.: earl11

ratings disappointinq.
such a perceptive and respected critic. At one
point, Greenfield became
so rattled that he answered a question about the
new trend in "trashsport"
shows by telling Letterman: "Laurence Olivier
would be turning over in
his grave from these
shows - that is, if he were
dead." Tasteless, tasteless.

***

Speaking of tasteless,
Good M orni ng New York
sank to new depths Mon
day with a guest whose

e xpertise consists of col

lectmg and examln1ng- cele brity garbage. Known as
a "'prbologlst," eou.ld be
become a regular feature

this Inane program

wbleh never ceases to
amaze viewers with Its
mediocrity!
OD

-.

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1971

'Esky' Writer's Plugola

Too Much Garbqe For
WABC & Gets Sho,eled
A f lustered JoJur Bartholomew
'l'ucker had to fill wWa news headlines OD his Friday m l) WJABC-TV
wakeup Show, when one of his
guests turned to g.ari>age.
The guest, A. J . Weberman, ls
an expert on other people's leavings and was on the show promoting an Esquire piece he had written about celebs' back-door idtbish. But when he showed up wttb
what be described as yippee Mlbe
Hoffman's gattege and offered to
read some written material print- 1
ed therein, an obviously flustered
Tucker had his dlreetor IO to
blackout and when the show next
appeared on air, gamageologist
Weberman and his collection were
gone, and Tucker had seven.I minutes of fill.
Later, Tucker said he thought
the g&11bage review was in "bad
taste and an invasion of privacy."
He explained that Weberman was
invited on the show when another
!Continued on page 62>

'Esq' Writer
(Continued from page 1 l
guest cancelled the night before.
He said he had forebodings about
using the writer, but yielded to
the idea because time wu growing
short.
Tucker said in his two :years on
the show, this was only "the second or third time" that a guest
>tad to be cut short. On one other
occasion, 8'11 ex-convict guest was
blacked out because of his inability
to soften his language on the live
show.
Earlier this year, NBC-TV's EdWin Newman shut off Georlt Jessel on the "Today" show when the
latter referred to the N.Y. Times
and the Washington Post 47ravda."

Garbage Man: 1'm Blacklisted'

A. J . Weberman, an a uthor whose guest appear ance was cut
short on J ohn Bartholomew Tucker'-s morning show on New York's
WABC-TV, Oct. 14, says he's been ''blacklisted" from further tv
appearance as result of the story of the event (VARIETY, Oct. 20).
Weberman, who was promoting a piece for Esquire in which he
analyzed other people's garbage, was about to read a note from
the backdoor leavings of Yippee leader Abbie Hotrman when an
increasingly annoyed Tucker moved his last commercial position
up by about five minutes. When he returned, Weiberman was no
longer on oamera and Tu~ker filled with a reading of news headlines and took a few phone calls from viewers.
Weberman denies Tucker's later claim that he was a last~inute
replacement for a cancel ed guest. He said he'd been scheduled
for a week.
Weberman also claimed that he had discussed his use of Hoffman's garbage with associ-ate producer Steve Schwartz and that
Schwartz told him to go ahead. He also said that he told Schwartz
he would r ead some notes found in the garbage and he had Hoffman's permission to do so. It was Weberman's attempt to read the
notes that seemed to bother Tucker most and he calle d it an "invasion of privacy." Weberman did not mention on air that he had
an okay from Hoffman.
Weberman claims th at he was knocked off a show in Los Angeles
and the "Kup's Show" syndie out of Chicago. He did appear,
however, on a WBZ-TV show in Boston after the VAIUETY U410unt
appeared.
'"'C
According to Mike Balaban, press rep for Esquire, the L .A.
show, "John Bar<lour's People," went off the air before Weberman's scheduled appeaN1Dce and Irv Kupcinet 1lA4 decided
to focus on political suest for the outing in question.
Balaban agreed' "that after the Tucker episode, F,squb;e brjss
decided that there might be IPOre loss than gain in pdb'ftir the
garbage expert on tv, reasoning that he couldn't sell enough cepies
of the issue to make up for possible loss of face fur the mag.

--

Sunday
10 PM to 11:30 PM
on the workings of the Federal Trade
Commission and on its chairman Michael Pertschuk. (60 min.)
mMYSTERY!
See Tues. 10 P.M. Ch. 13. (60 min.)
@)~ VOYAGE OF CHARLES DARWIN-Orama
((!iID MOVIE-Crime Drama
" Money Movers." (Australian : 1978)
Not rated. but contains violence,
profanity, adult situations and nudity.
Well-made heist yarn about a plan to
steal $20 million from an "impregnable" bank vault. Enc: Terence Donovan. Dick : Ed Devereaux. (90 min.)
~MOVIE-Orama
"Midnight Express." (1978) R: Strong
violence, nudity and profanity. Brad
Davis's intense performance dominates this grim. t rue-life account of an
American student's ordeal in a Turkish
prison. Jimmy: Randy Quaid. (2 hrs.)
~MOVIE-Musical
"Saturday Night Fever. " (1977) R: Sexual activity, graphic language and violence. John Travolta costars with the
music of the Bee Gees in this box-of-

FEBRUARY 24, 1980

lice hit about a Brooklyn you th who's

a demon on the disco floor. (2 hrs.)
10:30 0 SPORTS EXTRA-Mazer/Leonard
0 CID ABC NEWS SPECIAL
Special: Frank Reynolds anchors a
preview of i:uesday's New Hampshire
primary (Live)
COMEDY SHOP
W HIMAWARI NO MICHi
l:l!) MEDIA PROBES
11 PM 0 CBS NEWS-Ed Bradley
CID 0 CID~ NEWS
0 PUBLIC AFFAIRS-Report
0ABCNEWS
U BENNY HILL-Comedy
Benny plays a Swiss Alps shepherd
wi th three naughty shepherdesses. Also: an appearance by Fred Scuttle.
ODD COUPLE-Comedy
Q) INDEPENDENT FOCUS-Films
~ PTL CLUB-Religion
11 :15 DU NEWS
(ID CBS NEWS-Ed Bradley
ROLANDO BARRAL
WKOHAKU
11 :30 CID MOVIE-Drama
"Cool Hand Luke." (1967) Paul
Newman's portrait o f a born loser
high lights this forceful account of hie
on a Southern chain gang. George
Kennedy. (2 hrs .. 10 min.)
0 DAVID SUSSKIND
1. Topic: "Growing Up in Hollywood."
Guests include Jill Robinson Michael
Korda, Warner Le Roy and Brooke
Hayward 2. 'The Garbage of the
Stars is discussed by author A.J.
Weberman (2 hrs )
T MOVIE-Western
A Gunfight (1971) Kirk Douglas and
Johnny Cash play retired gunslingers
whose friendship is tested by a showdown for profit. (1 hr 45 min.)
U CARRY ON LAUGHING-Comedy
A missing Egyptian mummy and a
coughing parrot are clues 1n this murder mystery. Flimsy: Jack Douglas.
ROOKIES-Crime Drama
~AMERICA'S ATHLETES-1980
- Sports
umID TIME WAS ... THE sos
Dick Cavett reviews the beginnings of
both the television and space ages
and shows clips (some in black and
white) of the McCarthy hearings, Richard Nixo!'l s "Checkers" speech and
fhe Kofean War. (60 min.)'

SYLVIA AND ffiVING Wallace and

their children, Amy and David, write
books separately and together. Sylvia
has published " Empress," a novel about
a movie star who marries a shah. She is
working with the family on a book that
promises to be a best seller: "The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People.
Sylvia told friends over lunch in the
Playboy Club: "The book will be educational because the reader has to learn
the identity of each person, and we will
be writing about such persons as Sigmund Freud, Richard Wagner, Tallyrand. It will be lively exposure. We have
been deep into research for a couple of
years."
She also said David [Wallechinsky]
will make rus third trip to China in
August to gather material fo rhis new
novel. David wrote "What Really Hap,,aned fX> the Class of '65." Amy's new
l>ook will be "I Married a Band." Amy
is married fX> rock musician Josef Marc.
Irving's new book, "The Second Lady,''
a suspense story, wiD be published in

October.
BROOKE SHIELDS has signed with
top designer Calvin Klein to do teen jean
commercials. ... Jay McMullen was
beating the heat last week by wearing
green shorts with a white T-shirt reading " Department of Sewers" as he
walked along Rush Street carcying groceries in a shopping bag. . . . Paul
McCartney, named by the Guinness
Book of World Records as " the most
successful recording artist in history,"
will break hls record Monday by holding
on to the No. 1 position on Billboard

~barts.

'

A. J . WEBERMAN, the man who receives lots of publicity because he goes

through celebrities' trash, went through

Richard N'axon's garbage at Nixon's

Manhattan townhouse and reported the
garbage wasn't very exciting. According
to New York magazine, Weberman
found an envelope addressed to Mrs.
Nixon; a note to Ray Price, Waon's
ghostwriter; a broken thermometer; and
a sheet of legal paper with the home
humbers of Bebe RebOzo In Key Biscayne and Key Largo. Weberman also
said Nixon doesn't use trash bags and
his garbgae is very sloppy.
JOE McMAHON, deputy Illinois secretary of state, and his wife, Rose Marie,
are dellght.ed about the engagement of
th~ 1only daughter, Anita Marie, to a
Notre Dame graduate Louis DeRose.
The w!14~jng ;. se_t for next June.

..

---~-

Maggie
Daly
SOMETIMES IT PAYS to look tan,
familiar, and trustworthy. In fact, sometimes it pays a lot. Actor Glenn Ford
just earned $66,000 to make two commercials, a I-minute spot and a 2~ec
ond spot, for a West Coast savings and
loan company. Tbe job kept Ford in
front of the cameras for just three
hows.
THE OMAHA Community Theater will
honor Henry Fonda, its most illustrious
graduate, at a gala in January. Jane
and Peter Fonda and Dorothy Maguire,
who also started their careers there, will
be invited to help honor Henry. . ..
James - Whitmore will pliay Ken
Howard's father in a two-part special of
"The White Shadow" in fall. Stoney
Jackson, a basket~ star in college,
will be a regular oil the TV basketball
team in the series.
ONTARIO COURT, 247 E . Ontario
St., has a grocery store, deli, liquor
store, bar, and dining room. It recently
added a beer garden. . . . Johnny Desmond toured Europe with the Glenn
Miller band and recorded an album in
Milan. The tour was so successful, Johnny is going back in August. . . . Dr.
Peter Lindstrom, Ingrid Bergman's first
husband, has written a book, "Ingrid
Bergman," which reportedly shows the
actress in &l unfavorable light because
their separation was bitter.

Bill. 0 1MALLEY and Jack Hopkins,

former Cook County public defenders

and former Chicago police officers, have
opened O'Sullivans at G r a n d and
Milwaukee avenues and Halsted Street.
The Gold Coast Art Fair set for the
weekend of July 25 will include exhibits
by 600 artists, and for the first time,
food concessions on the street will cater
to children with lemonade, yogurt and
snacks.
THE AER LINGUS J>q,e Band members, stopped by security at Jiaml-
West Germany,-airpo1t, blew i'''
pipes oo allay fears and clear/ "

recorded a disc with Mickey Mantle back m

lbe

'50s? -L.P.E., Philadelphia. It was Teresa

Brewer. She joined in a salute to the Yankee
slugger in a tune titled, " I Love Mickey."

ON

Clark Gable: artificial smile

ALWAYS 1bough1 Clark Gable had ahe mos I

perfect set of teeth - while, straight and shiny.
Then I heard that they wer~ false. Were-abey?
-Millie Jane B., Philadelphia. No false

swers here. Clark was one of the most m o

males the movies ever minted. But he ever
went out of his way to conceal the f ct that
his teeth weren't his own. Anita Lo (a contempora.- y and one of the most p oductive
.

incident to prove he didn't care wh knew it.

"One day," she wrote, " I happened n him at
an outdoor faucet where he'd stoppe to wash
his dentures. Clark grinned, pointe to his
caved-in mouth and said, with an exag erated
lisp, 'Look Anita - America's thweethe
DOESN'T country-western singing slar Merle
Haggard have a long prison record? -Mrs. Ray
S., Seattle. Merle is haggard from youthful

escapades. He spent about six of the years

--"'
00

the new Rolling Stones album, is there

really a song
au .m e
bout Andy
Willia ' ex-
~-e Longet, w
shot
her I
. -Freddie . Pittsburgh.
o.

" audine," sung by Mic Jagger, has bee

deleted from the album, which is titled "Emotional Rescue. "

READ somewhere that ahe same fellow who

used lo dig through Hellf)' Kissinger's garbage
can for scoops now bas gone on to bigger and
better things - Nixon's garbage. Did be find
anything interesting ? -Al Richards, Tucson.

garbologist A.J. Weberman: a sheet of legal

paper with the home numbers of Bebe Rebozo
in Key Biscayne and Key Largo, some Secret
Service expense vouchers, an envelope addressed to Pat Nixon from a woman named
Ethel, a broken thermometer, and a note from
an unidentified person to Ray Price, Nixon's
g host writer.

BEFORE

tract for C
sidering ha
could Ibey
-Matty .t,

demanded
$100,000 I
ey coulci
ybe put

Ryan Sr. l

old t take

UNPERS
a verr unfl
JoeyJ wber

-Mitch 1

be ause he

WHAT did Ronald Reagan say when he was

as
, in his last days as governor of California
if he p a
to ~turn 10 the movies? -

---

,..:
<;;;

:>

"":>

<
-...
..I

z<
~

...
0

IM
IM

<
~

..I

t-

j..

30

"You still owe $245 on an Edsen!!"

"Oh-isn 't that too bad!"

"Charlie,
that

- --

King Guests:

imee UrrJ

l-

garbologlst

Self-procw:~~man;
ABC Nde:i
Alan J.
correspon
White House 90 min&.
Sam Don~

~~~~

~tk-~
~ ~

r r

oJij).

f~ .

FA

Who is A. J. Weberman,
and why is he stealing
people's trash?

(!)

.D
0

>-

.D
0

i5

11.

..

hortly after 2 a.m., in a posh

residential section of Manhattan, a white Dodge van cuts its
lights and creeps to a stop. Suddenly,
a figure darts from the vehicle, moves
along a stone waJJ up to the side of an
elegant old townhouse, and then
strikes.

from a wooden bin with hinged cover

the figure seizes two large bundles, then
darts back to the van and scrams.
The getaway is smooth. A. J.
Weberman - renowned guerrilla garbologist, feared and dreaded snatcher
of celebrity slops - bas made off with
two more bags of telltale trash.
It's aJI in a day's work for Webennan,
who, in the 12 years that he's been
raiding the cans of the rich and famous,
has raked up enough muck to land
himself guest spots on "Real People,"
"Good Morning New York" and
numerous other shows. While many
have vilified him for his "trashy tactics,"
Weberman believes that what stinks
more than garbage is hypocrisy, and
he has dedicated bis life to lifting the
cover wherever it occurs.
Weberman's career as a garbologist

goes back to his eafly days as an avid

Dylanologist, when the famous singer
slammed the door in his face and
Weberman was forced to study the
man's garbage instead of his words (he
found evidence of "a prosaic uppermiddle-class life"). Soon, stealing people's garbage had become one of A. J.
Weberman's mightiest preoccupations.
"I only go after the famous and the
infamous - culture heroes, government
officials, the rich," be says. "But never
Mafia garbage. That11 get you killed."
As with most mad scientists, Weberman has evolved a methodology which
he adheres to more or less strictly, as
circumstances permit (i.e., ls he being
chased? Does Bob Dylan have his fist
in the garbologist's face? Does somebody want to arrest him?)
Normally, once de-garbification of
the premises (stealing of the trash)
has occurred, the garbifacts are transported by car or subway (fellow passengers are often unappreciative of the
scientific principles involved) to the
National Institute of Garbology. Here
they are put through routine garbanalysis
to
uncover any
potential
~

9.99

WE BERMAN
CONTINUED

muck-pockets, such as empty

booze bottles, discarded piU vials,
bank or stock reports and the
like.
When garbanalysis is completed, the garbifacts arc removed for storage in the lnstitute's archives, where some of
the most sought-after trash in
the world is kept (including bags
from Jackie Onassis, Norman
Mailer, Spiro Agnew, Judge
John J. Sirica, Dustin Hoffman,
Gloria Vanderbilt and a heap
of others).
One tough case for Weberman
was that of Richard Milhous
Nixon. After dogging Nixon's
dumpings for nearly a decade
(including an encounter with the
Secret Service that ended up in
his being detained). be was able
to come up with little more than
a garbified oral thermometer and
a few phone numbers (Bebe
Rebozo, Julie Eisenhower).
lf Weberman's findings are
not always earth-shaking (a
sampling of Howard Jarvis' trash
sent to him recently by an

anonymous concerned cif

n
L

.....
Ii

revealed that be gets paid for

certain of bis speaking engagements, and he's colJecting Social
Security), certain of his disclosures seem likely to win at least
a mention when the Great
Garbological mstories of the
future are written:
Gloria Vanderbilt's classy
trash was found to contain
quantities of orange peels, Thone ~teak leftovers and copies
of Hopsc and Garden.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
apparently bad certain of her
prescriptions made out to "Mrs.
Whitehouse."
Judge John J. Sirica seems
to eat more than his share of
stewed prunes and bran flakes.
Neil Simon's pesky pile' had
ants in it, which infiltTated the
National
Institute
of
Garbology.
Dustin Hoffman adheres to
a health food diet, but with
candy bars and colas thrown in.
Muhammad AJi seems still
to savor the bean pies and cornbread of his youth.
While Webennan bas brought
numerous muck-pockets to light
over the years, perhaps the coup

A.J. Weberman: "I only goatter the famous and the infamous
. . . But never Mafia garbage.''

de lllUbgc of bis

w~a1UU11-mut1U..uc INl8'a'bctinn-'

revelation that former congresswoman BeUa Abzug - one of

the country's foremost anti-war
activists during the Vietnam era
- owned stock in a company
that produced war materials.
Weberman uncorked this smelJy
truth at a press conference the
day before the '72 elections.
"People were beginning to get
an inkling of just bow powerful
garbage really is," Weberman
summed up the situation in bis
trashy expose, "My Life in
Garbology" (Stonebill Publishing Co., 1980). "It nearly altered
the course of a congressional
election."
Ironically, as news of Weberman's Bella blitz got around, the
level of garbanoia everywhere
increased and a Great Garbage
Drought came over the land. It
was rumored that the sales of
paper shredders had skyrocketed.
Good trash became as hard to
come by as hundred dollar bills
in the Bowery.
Though things are a bit easier
today, no amount of effort bas
won Wcberman even a shred of
trash belonging to Gloria Steinem or Kate Millett, whose
garbage he covets . ..Generally,

great est ga rban oids," says

Weberman.
"Sure, it's sneaky to go
through
people's
garbage.
Maybe garbage should be left
alone. But I believe that the
overriding consideration is the
public's right to know.
"The whole point of garbology
is to get at the truth. Garbage
teUs the truth - unless it's been
planted, of course." (Weberman
once concluded that hypodermic
needles be found in Dylan's trash
had been planted there.)
Reflecting on the countless
garbage cans he's gone through
over the years, Weberman declares, "I'll be doing this till the
day I die."
So, who's next on Weberman's
list?
"Strictly classified," be
replies . But he allows that
Maureen Stapleton's cans have
been receiving a few visits lately.
"I'll be going back there on
Thursday."
Beyond that, Weberman wiJI
only hint at one longer range
goal : One day he'd like to
examine the trash of extraterrestrials!
-Bill Sones

Williamllitbje jealously guards his treasu.re: trash through which he sifts to study the habits of mankind.

rr;rrash is trllth and truth, trash

~CHRISTIAN WILLIAMS

..

is

Rathje bas what in college professors Often

described as boyish charm, and his course is a
WASHINGTON - In the trash heaps of Tue- popular one.
*>n. William Rathje, anthropologist, continues
"Oh, the sorting can be a traumatic experithe search for truth about the relationship be ence, I'm sure," he attested with the air of Tom
tween mankind and his creations.
Sawyer surveying the fence. "I think the kids
So far he has found a diamond ring, picked who sign up are pretty aware that there's going
up quite a following among the student body at t? be kitty litter and Pampers. The ones who
the University of Arizona, attracted a Madison ~gn up ~e s~eeled. Even so, we lose a few from
Avenue public relations firm and found fame as tlDle to ~e.

tbe foremost clinical garbologist of our time.

, . Rath1e do.es not den~ he 1~.probably th~ leadFor Rathje, 36, common household garbage mg garbologist o!, our t!me. For a long time, I
' contains the key to knowledge about ourselves. was the only one, he said.
The key lies under layers of wet spaghetti, cigaHis work i~ different from that of A.J. We~
. ret burls and decomposing melon rinds, and he { erman, the writer who analyzed the trash of Bob
-and his students have been sifting through it Dylan and Muhammad Ali for Esquire magazine;
1
since 1971.
or that of Jay Gourley, the National Enquirer reRathje calls his endeavor Le Projet du Ga,... porter who picked through Henry Kissinger's
bage - or The Garbage Project, a name of such garbage.. .
,
.
"
.
Rath1e calls Weberman s techruque Peeping
grandiose pre-emption that it one-ups any poten" aM Jmt-down. To archeologists, however, trash Tom archec:ilogy'." and d_eems it repugnant and"
has always been truth, and Rathje finds the for redolent of mvas1on of pnvacy.
"I was asked by the TV show 'Real People'
mula still holds.
"For example," he said. "a survey of beer to look at Richard Nixon's garbage," he said. "I
consumption conducted by interview had 85 per refused. I could have done it, but it would have
,.>Cent of the people reporting that no beer was been wrong. So they got Weberman to do it."
consumed in their household during an average
T!te ownershi~ of garbage can be a st!cky
week.
matter. In many municipalities, tras!l put out to
"Then we looked at the garbage. The gar the street becomes the property of the city. " We
bage revealed that 25 per cent of the households. get all our garbage from city sanitation," Rathje
In this blue-collar neighborhood contained no ev- explained. "We want to be assured of a continudence of beer. However, another 25 per cent ing supply. But we're not getting all the trash in
1ad a beer consumption rate of between one and Tucson by any means. There are 11 million poseven cans a week. And in half the homes, we sible pickups a year, and we're only getting
nind evidence of between seven cans and a case about 1,500."
beer each week."
Yes, he concedes, you can find some interestThis sort of research is done by Rathje and ing things in garbage if you go through enough
. team at a garbage pavilion in Tucson. College of it. And there was that diamond ring.
"It w~ a little one, worth maybe $125 tops.
dents, immunized agai.n st tetanus and wearrubber gloves and surgical masks, rip open But there 1t was. And do you know that we had
s of raw trash and sort through them, item about 30. calls claiming it? You find a lot. We
tern.
were hopmg to start a museum of garbology. We
Wa.shington Post Service

liad a whole dumpster full of interesti

Unfortunately, the dumpster was ell'lj
mistake."
What does the presence of a diamori
a contemporary trash heap say to a l
trained arcbeologist?
"It says that people take off their rh
they do the dishes and it.gets rolled up
potato peels and thrown away."
Practically speaking, The Garbage P
a darling of industry. It is funded b
others, Chevron and the American Pa
tute, in addition to the University of Ari2
National Science Foundation, the Enviro
Protection Agency and the U.S. Depart
Agriculture.
Garbology is being practiced from
.Australia, to Havana, Rathje says.
"What fascinates me is the dysfunc
t ween what people say they do and what
do. They're not lying - they just don'
The garbologist is the expert on the rela
between the material society and the i
society."
Rathje is not bound to a moribund t1
He got bis Ph.D. in anthropology with a<
tion on the collapse of Mayan civilizatior
happened all at once between 800 and E
Nobody - including Rathje - knows jt
He seems determined to keep track of wt
one is going before it's too late.
"Right now, garbage has no chara
image," he lamented. "Yet garbage ca
people trunk about themselves in a new
js really a "terrific resource, full of paper ;
minum and information."
Perhaps Rathje will be the one to ch
that. He has, after all, seen the fil m, RG
the Lost Ark, with its s washbuckling a
gist hero.
"If there's anybody 1 really identify v
Harrison Ford," he said.

---~-------------------------------------...-..~---_.--.;,~

The Miami Herald .. Thursday, Dec. 3, 1981

There's a case to be
By TOM SHALES
Special to The Herald

vember, " Real People" looked bet

ter than ever because of two specials that showed the program at it~
best. One was a frankly patriotic
Veterans Day salute, and the other
celebrated New York City - or
some fanciful , smile-button version
of it.
For Veterans Day, while public
TV was preoccupied with Vietnarri
vets who had freaked out, " ReaJ
People" visited a chapel built by~
man in New Mexico as a memori
to the son he lost in the Vietna
war. It Is the only monument t\'>
America's dead Vietnam soldiers iii
existence.
This was an unusually serious
"Real People" show; usually it's
funny, or at least jolly, which may
be an even rarer quality. There are
times when "Real People" can
make you cringe (the studio segments with the jolly, jump-up hosts,
for instance, or those awful "byebye" poems). But I have yet to get
through a single edition of this program without finding myself smil

WASHINGTON - The Saturday

Evening Post no longer arrives in
the nation's mailboxes; now it
makes its way indoors through the
TV screen as George Schlatter's
"Real People." The NBC series (8
p.m. Wednesdays on Cbs. 7 and 5 in
South Florida) that is loved by no
one except the public is not only the
Saturday Evening Post of its time,
but also the Llfe and the Look, the
Collier's and the Liberty, a March of
Time newsreel and Pete Smith's old
shorts.
"Real People" can be as candidly
corny as a Norman Rockwell cover,
but, like those covers, it also can hit
home in a plain, beguiling, universally accessible way. There is prob
ably Jess distance between "Real
People" and its audience than tnere
is with any other prime-time network television show.
And it all flies by as the most
concentrated kinetic assault ever on
the air for more than 30 seconds at
a time. Only commercials move ing.
"Real People" manages the envifaster. It's a cross between a magazine and a picture flip-book. In No- able trick of finding things in the

Schlatter:
ment.

Making

for 'Real

world to be happy about. rt

tacky, but it also can beat
It even managed to tu
old wreck like New atter meant
F~n City. Produc sly . ..1 stopped
t his l?ve ~etter
ork back in th e
~hoo~!ng in rom Los Angeles. "I
60s. he rking there because 1L
Stopp

steel beams
riveting. Aoc
brightened I
show's mos
Sarah Purce
brains who 1
New York M
ment oo a da1
er." "How'ni
asked Purcell
coin Center.
On the da)i
cell was bac~
ent the mayo1
tiger cub narr
should be gr:
made him loo
dliest mayor s
-~
Schlatter si
"more Lhin~s
Koch: 'How'm I doin'?'
. ,, ... ""..,, ... ...... ..
-aJ a41 a1111suiu1 01 s.1a1
MOU'>! S.IOl!PCI asa41 'ON
1alJ.1111 Ja4 .10 S!Lf a)!111-as1nd -!snq J!a4l un.1 01 1no4 w
lJ J01!Pa Mau 11 aJa4M s11aJ11 4l!M p11a1d SJOl!Pa a41 "
xa 'os i\1aspa.1d 1ou S! S!41 01 M04 S.Ial!JM lJU!QlOU.
MaU'>I SJOl!Pa a41 ;)J3ll/(
uaaq s114 luawa8u11.1Jr.
~.

a:1ueo

01 i\1uo p114 04.M s.1ap

OLfM 'S.13l!JM .1noi\ 'p3l!
p114 noi\ i\qaJaLfM waw
1! aAULf 01 pasn LfOtlfM '
S! 'OS i\taA!SO\OXa lOU ll
.,T) A'BM DI() :11u .1ana1

After raiding HenrxKissinger's gar'68ge,

Enquirer gets a taste of its own medicine
In this second of three excerpts
from his book "Inside the National
Enquirer . . . Confessions of an Un
dercover Reporter," George Bernard,
a former Enquirer reporter, reports
on how tile National Enquirer operates.
By George Bernard

rn the National Enquirer's July 29,

1975, "operation trash" edition, pubUsher Gene Pope's cQllection of garbage accomplished for him the great
est scoop In all his years at the reins
of the N.E. And for one week, the
entire news media was buzzing
while Secretary of State Henry Kls
singer was fuming. In the article,
Enquirer's "richest" story aslted Its
readers this question: "What type of
Information could a foreign agent or
assassin glean from the household
garbage of an important cabinet
member?"
That was precisely what Pope
wanted answered wheh he assigned
one of his trusty reporters to collect
a week's accumulation of garbage
from the home of Kissinger. Oddly
enough, getting the trash was easy,
but getting away with it posed an
other problem. The ambitious report
er was stopped by Secret Service
agents who ordered him to "return
the garbage!"

Called his superior

The Enquirer reported that when
their reporter refused to remove the
flve plastic bags of refuse from the
trunk of his car, an agent asked If he
was ever In an "Insane asylum."
Another S~cret Service agent com
plained that he'd been trained to cope
with assassins, but not garbagegrabbers. And so he called for his
supervisor.
The supervisor spent considerable
time interrogating the Enquirer re
porter. Then, the agent took the N.E.
reporter's photograph and told the
spunky snooper he was free to go -

with the garbage. As it turned out,

Kissinger's household trash contained "hundreds of Secret Servlce
documents" which would be of vital
ipterest to any assassin .
One document, for example, disclosed that the Secret Service was
testing a new coded light signal system for all its limousines. And yet
another document, which was a
handwritten note on the back of an
activity report, revealed the number
and type of arms and ammunition
supply carried In "each Secret Service limousine." And there were con
siderably more goodies, even special
code plans of the secretary's itiner
ary, which obviously, after Enquirer
publication, were discarded.

'Breach of security'
Two weeks Tater, the Enquirer fol
lowed up tlie Kissinger collection
wlth this story: "Secret Service Ad
mlts .. . Confidential Documents
That Enquirer Found in Kissinger's
Trash Was a 'Breach of Security."
The article said, in part: "The Secret Service admits the Enquirer's
discovery of sensitive papers In Hen
ry Kissinger's garbage has exposed a
breach of security procedures - anp
the agency is asking for the documents' return . . . the documenfs
should not have been In the trasll,
admitted Secret Service spokesm$n
Jack Warner, assistant to Director H.
Stuart Knight . . . rn a letter to the
Enquirer, Warner made an offlctal
request for the return of the Items
and added, 'Your policy not to publish the specific contents of these
documents Is appreciated. The Enquirer will return the papers as re
quested . . . "
The Enquirer didn't stop there.
They went to the "loyal opposltioh"
- the Democrats - to vilify Republican Kissinger and praise the E11quirer. Sen. Lee Metcalf (D-Mont.)
praised the paper for bringing t~e
security breach to the public's atte
tlon - and criticized Kissinger f r

"unconscionable disposal of sensitive

documents."

E11quirer bini raided

But Steve Mitchell, reporter on the
Palm Beach POst , did an even better
job. In fact, a day after the Enquirer's
first article appeared on the heist of
Henry's rubbish, Mitchell made a
daylight raid on the Enquirer bins. In
the following edition, Mitchell printed the Enquirer's garbage, which
consisted of "secret" Gene Pope
memos to his staff which the embarrassed editorial entrepreneur would
have liked to have burned before dis
carding.
Photographer John Freeman drove
the getaway car for Mitchell, who
recalled: "My goal was the same as
the Enquirer reporter's - to sort
through old bills and any other docu-

ments for a story. If apprehended,

my defense would be the same as the
Enqurler's: trash and garbage, once
discarded, belong to anybody who
has the stomach to go through it.
"Precisely at 1:57 p.m. we arrived
at the narrow, twisting road leading
to the Enquirer building ... I spotted
a cluster of Dempsey dumpsters and
told Freeman to park the car and be
ready for quick getaway . . . I exam
lned the first dumpster. It was full: a
computer print-out of Enquirer stories, thick manila folders bulging
with rejected stories and correspond
ence .. . a veritable trove of trash .
"With mounting excitement, I
began stuffing the trash into the
black plastic bag I had brought alon1
for the purpose."
The two snoopers were extremely
Turn to page 2

National Enquirer
~

FromP1ge 1

successful. For when they got back

to the Post and began rummaging
through their rubbish, they uncovered the secret of the Enquirer's success - a mtmo to the editorial stafl
from Gene Pope himself.
The memo, told the reporters
writers and editors how to write sto~
rles "packed with color and emotion"
to "make our readers react."
Other gems Included: "We should
touch our readers' souls," Pope said.
"Cause them to smile, to get lumps In
their throats, to break down and cry.
We want the Enquirer filled with
stories like the classic 'Yes, Virginia,
there is a Santa Claus' .. . We need
quotes that tug at the heart.
"PrOd, push and probe the main
characters In the story. Help them
frame their answers. For example:
How did it feel? I don't know, it just
hurt. Was it a sharp pain? No. Was It

m?.~Rli~e~~~~~~-~c~~~ ~~~-" .

...

back of the neck and went down my

spine. Did you scream? I couldn't.''
Accordl~g to Pope, at this point,
the Enqu1rer reporter is ready to
proceed: "Let's see if I've got this
straight. You said 'the pain hit me. It
was like an electrical shock that
started in my neck and shot down
my spine. I wanted to scream but I
couldn't. I've never felt anything like
it.' Yes, that's it."
Pope even exhorted his trusty
troop of reporters to ask "leading
questions" such as: "Do you ever go
to the corner and cry?" "What do
you pray for?" "Has God forsaken
you?" As for "quotes," Pope stated
that they "should not only be appropriate but believable. A Japanese
carpenter should not sound like Er
nest Hemingway, or vice versa."
About changing quotes, Pope issued
a cautionary note: "Take the story
about the mother who had the flag
that covered her son's coffin stolen.
The writer wrote, 'I wish they'd
~~ln.g it back.' But it was changed to

'

t'

FRIDAY ,

MARCH 27

admi -ssion :

Remember when your father

used to complain about all
the garbage on the radio?
Well, his justification just
may have arrived, thanks to
rock 'n' rail's latest offshoot
-Junk Rock. But, in the land
of fast food and shoddy
merchandise, a music that
g!orifies garbage makes
sense.
Mike O'Brien and Pete
Nichols originated the
concept of a band praising
the virtues of waste-or, as
the grou p puts it, " a music
that joyfull y celebrates a
world mucking about in its
own obsolescence."
Junk Rock is composed of seven advocates of
leftovers and hand-medowns. The group rose from
the streets of NY's decaying
Lower East Side. "The band
came out of the neighborhood," explains guitarist
O'Brien. "We've all lived
here for a long time and
you get used to having junk
around."
Taking a tape recorder
around the neighborhood, he
and Nichols eventually
recruited five other "junksters"-vocalists Bill Klaber
and 'fern Sm1ffi, teaaguitarist David A llen, bassist
George Betkas and drummer
Norm Sukkar:-in the
process, stripping the infield
of the local softball team.
More than just a rock
band, Junk Rock, or post
New Wave, is drama. With a
garbage can as mascot, they
perform their rubbish-related
repertoire with a theatrical
flourish. VoealistNichols, a
comedian (and the obvious
ham of the group) , frequently
employs monologues within
the group's songs. The words
eulogize the trash of yesterday and express despair
over the poor quality of
today's rubbish. The lively
""1llsir en- ;h -

, ~r l

1 0 pm

LUCKY 13 CLUB

members $3

#13 Avenue "A"

677 - 0820

non - members $5

Joyfully wa llowing in their own obsolescence, J unk Rockers (front, I to r) M ike O'Brien, Terri
Smith (formerly of the Tatto(\-~d ;;;:-.ables), Pete Nichols, (back, I to r) Bill K laber,
David Allen, George Betkas
orm Sukkar are most at home in a dump. Is the future
of rock dlsplft'lJ\tle? "To pcrf
~nk-Tock, 10 !men toiurrk roclc;-to-tirinkjunk rocl<,;s to
be a junkster," cautions the b 10.

and reggae beats, and the

plethora of vocalists makes
for catchy harmonies.
Junk Rock's first single,
" Sanitation Man," was
dedicated to, and partially
paid for by, their neighborhood garbage men-those
closest to the band's inspiration. They, in tum, wear
Junk Rock T-shirts on their
garbage-collecting rounds .
So far, 78 radio stations .
nationwide have picked up
the single, following its initial
exposure on the Dr. D emento radio show, and the
demo tape has sparked the
interest of several college
., ...

t,..r~

All of their 25 songs

(including "They Don't
Make Things the Way They
Used To" and "Baby's
Talkin' Trash") are originals. "We all write the songs,"
says O'Brien. "Someone will
come up with an idea, and
two or three of us will help to
complete it. Our ages range
from nineteen to thirty-five,
and we all come from such
different backgrounds that
the combination provides for
interesting results." Surprisingly, none of the band
members work in junkrelated fields- although
Klaber claims that his job as
., ~l

Jcti-,a -

... _,,, ... _

pretty trashy.
"In the beginning it
was obviously a gimmick,"
says Klaber. "But I think
we've come up with a lot of
stuff that's worthwhile for
people to see and listen to. "
Adds O'B rien, quick to
silence skeptics who dismiss
Junk Rock as just another
artifact on the rock heap:
"The concept may be funny,
but we take it very seriously,
and we keep the quality high.
I'd ratherthat people hate the
idea than be regarded as just
another crappy rock band."
So, what do you say to
:-; l;>and dedicated to elevating

~------Television -------.

named Spunky piloted a ca r off a 45-ft.high ramp into a lake. The camera focused on the clenched face of his wife as
rescue divers made their way to the sunken auto. Would Spunky survive his dive?
(Answer: yes.) In another segment, Motorcyclist Rex Blackwell roared off a ramp
and over two parked helicopters as their
blades whirled at 350 r.p.m. He barely
cleared the last blade!" exulted the commentator as a slow-motion replay showed
just how close Blackwell had come to being converted to steak tartare.
Another variation on the reality
theme is ABC's Those Amazing Animals.
a sort of Games People Play for wildlife.
Host Burgess Meredith ru ns footage of
such wonders as two-headed snakes, spiders that square-dance and cannibalism
among rats in overcrowded cages. While
some of the reality s hows are going strong.
others are suffering from TV's penchant
for overexploiting a Popular idea.. After

Doing a cycle stunt for Thift's Incredible!, Gary Wells lands with a crash and grave injuries

Incredible? Or Abominable?
For now, at least, those "reality shows " are also really hot
as Vegas. Sepl. 15. The sign outside
L
one of the more celebrated spas on
the strip proudly trumpets TODAY!

GARY
WELLS JUMPS CAESARS PALACE FOUNTAINS. So he does. and the resull ful ly lives

sharks. a woman covered with bees. a miracle-working priest. a one-legged foot ball
star and a professor who pours acid over
his hands. An NBC version of Thars Incredible!, called Games People Play. has
sent crews around the country to fi lm folks
engaged in such competitions as women's
arm wrestling and belly bucking. in which
a pair of beefy brawlers try to butt each
other out of a ring. Like Thar's I11credib/e!. Games i.nvariably winds up with a
harrowing stunt designed to stir even the
most hardened d isaster freaks.
On one Games show, a stunt driver

up to the name of the stun t's sponsor,

ABC's thrill-pandering series Thar s Incredible! Whi.le gawkers gawked and
cameras whirred, Wells, a professional
stunt man. gunned a motorcycle up a
ramp. sailed over the water fountains outside the showplace, but crashed on his descent Result: a ruptured aorta and fractures of the pelvis. thigh and lower leg.
For Thats Incredible!. which is considering if and when it should air its foot- Host Sarah Purcell joins fun on Real People
age of Wells jump. the stun t was just one
of many heart stoppers that have helped
the show pulJ almost a third of the viewing audience in its Monday night prime-
time slot. ll was also the third injury to
have occurred in fi lm.ingfortbesbow. Another stunt man. attempting to jump in
the air while two cars sped under him,
nearly ripped off his foot when it caught
in a windshield: he had to have reconstructive surgery and is still in serious condition. Still another daredevil suffered severe burns and lost his hands in the course
of running through a 50-yd. tunnel of fire.
For this, he was paid $8.000. from which
he cleared only $2.000 after expenses.
Thats Incredible/is on ly the most sensation-mongering of half a dozen s hows
in a new TV genre known as reality programming. These shows offer viewers, by
means of minicams, glimpses of real
events and people. The cameras of Thar s
Incredible! have dwell on a man lied by
his heels and hanging over a pool of

90

Burge ss Meredith in Those Amazing Animals

four weeks, CBS lasl month dropped No

Holds Barred, billed as a comedy series
highlighting the "crackpQt side of modem life.. through the '"oddball characters
tha t make America unique." Thar's My
Line. a remake of lhe game-show classic
Whar 's My Line?. also fizzled .
Broadcasters trace the development of
such shows back to the appearance of
NBC's persistently pQpuJar Real People. an
hour of sometimes am using interviews in
the heartland. A recent show followed
A.J . Weberman, a celebrity garbageologist" who among other fea ts has retrieved memos from Richard Nixon's
trash can and empty Vali um bottles from
Gloria Vanderbilt's. ("The best thi ng J
ever found," he says, .. was Jackie Kennedy's pantyhose.") While Real People.
which gets more than a third of the aud ience i.n its Wednesday prime-time slot,
spawned a series of other '"entertainment
news' shows like NBC's Speak Up America, il also turned TV executives on to
the fact that low-budget programs proTIME

OCTOBER l3. 1980

LAW OFFICES

MOSS . FLAHERTY. CLARKSON & FLETCH ER

A PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION
23SO IDS CENTER
VERNE W. MOSS
.J . BRAINERD CLARKSON
PATRICK f'. f'LAHERTY
f'REMONT C . f'LETCHER
.JAMES VANVALKENBURG
PAUL VANVALKENBU R G

SO SOUTH

EIGHTH

STREET

M I NNEA P OLIS. MINN E SOTA 55402

( 612) 339-SSSI

ANN K . NEWHALL
MICHAEL .J . AHERN
MAHER .J . WEINSTEIN

MICHAEL L . f'LANAGAN
WAYNE A . HERGOTT
.JAMES E . O"BRIEN
RICHARD S . ZIEGLER
.JOHN f'. STONE
EDWARD L . WINER

.J. MICHAEL HIRSCH

MARGO S . STRUTHERS

OF" COU NSEL

HORACE VANVALKENBURG
RALPH H . COMAf'ORD
DAV ID W. LEWIS

October 13, 1980

HOMER A . CHILDS

DAVID B . MORSE
CHARLES A . PARSONS,.JR.
MARK ? . KOVALCMUK

L . GLEN N f'ASSETT 11930 - 19751

ABBOTT L . FLETCHER 0916-1974 1

11

Real People 11
c/o NBC Television Network
New York, New York
Dear Person:
On September 24, 1980, you broadcast a segment concerning a person who
described himself as a " Garbologist 11 and who raided other people's garbage
cans . It was a very e n tertaining segment, and I enjoyed it very much.
We are attorneys, and we are involved in a lawsuit which has been commenced
here in Minnesota wherein we represent the Defendant, who is accused of
having gone through garbage thrown away by the Plaintiff . I do not know
if this matter will ever come to trial or not, but if it ever does, I would
love to show a video tape of the 11 Garbologist" segment to the jury. Is it
possible to obtain a video tape copy of that segment, and if so, what would
it cost?
Thank you for your cooperation, and again, I thoroughly enjoyed watching
the above segment .

PVV:mhl

PRISCILLA'S POP By Al Vermeer

NEW Y'8t POST,

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER S, 1980

Trash can 'clues t.o m.ol

NOTES dug out of the trash can

of onetime Mafia kingpin Joseph
(Joe Bananas) Bonnano - which
were used to convict him of con
splracy - are now giving authorities leads in an investigation of
the mob here.
It was in New York 20 years ago
that the 75-year-old Bonanno was
at th~ peak of his organiz.ed crime

influence.

said almllar iDqwries

were underway in Pennsylvania,
New Orleans. St. Louis and Kan

sas City - a ll being helped by the

trash can evidence.
"We have evidence through the
notes of literally hundreds of
people who bave been in contact
with Bonanno." Gene Ehmann. as
sistant direetor of the Ariz.ona
Drug Control District, said yesterday.
''The list t hat we have includes
top organized crime figures and
bsines.<nnen> both locally and na-

tloiNdde.Lou

s~

supervisor of the

district's organi7.ed-erime unit.

sald the investigations are being
conducted in five states and one
foreign country, b ut be declined to
be more specific.
The notes gathered over three

years from Bonanno's trash were

instrumental in his conviction
Tuesday in San Jose, Calif., on
federal charges of conspiring to

obstruct j ustice.
A nephew, Jack DiFillppl, was
convicted of conspiracy and perjury.

Both said they would ap

date has been set for sentE

Bonanno's conviction
notes embarrassed the
world, Ehmann said, add
top organized crime boss
tedly met recently in the
discuss the possibility ol
Bonanno killed.
Ehmann said investiga:
have nearly 2,000 pages
that would take several
study thoroughly.

The Sixties: Going, Going, Gone

By Anthony Haden-Guest
One thing stuck out.
There were no peace signs.
Everything else, though .
Work denims, Tantric jewelry, Frye boots, lace, Old
Testament hairstyles, body
paint. But for the absence
of peace signs it was .a s
though some dysfunction in
the space-time warp bad
dunked me down circa
1967. Where I was, in fact,
was at the Village Gate,
and at a benefit thrown
(mainly) for John Wilcock.
Wilcock, an Englishman,
is one of the more ubiquitous figures of the counterculture. Wilcock bad been
there when the Village Voice
was fo unded and, likewise,
Lhe East Village Other and
Andy Warhol's Interview.
Where he was now, though,
was an English hospital,
having been badly mashed
in an accident in Greece.
The countercuJture had reassembled to do him honor.
There were to be acts
and an auction. Warhol
donated a portrait (of WiJcock), Marisol gave a print,
and Juliette Gordon offered
a work entitled Bound Sun-

rise With Penis.

I got to auction a few
of the items myself. First,
some clothing by Pop Top
Terp made out of pop tops
("the only non-biodegradable part of the can"). Then
Abbie Hoffman's boots.
They came with a written
message and fetched $40.
Then we bad a surprise

guest: Wavy Gravy in a

cowboy hat. He auctioned
his false teeth, clacking
them to show that they
worked. They realized ten
bucks. Then it was Aron
Kay. The Pieman. He promised to pie any victim of
the bidder's choosing. His
services realized only $40.
And, lastly, two envelopes
retrieved from John Mitchell's trash by A. J. Weberman. One came from Sam
Erv.in 's office and was
(Weberman reasons) the
actual envelope wherein
the Watergate subpoena
was delivered. The cheers
were tumultuous. The price:
only $35.
Then , a contretemps.
An avant-garde dancer was
readying herself to dance,
but the final act, a New
Wave group fronted by a
Johnny Rotten android,
took the stage. Someone
asked if the group would
pJay something she could
dance to. Dance! The Rot.ten copy sneered and built
a wall of undanceable sound.
The dancer was displeased. AJso displeased
was the heckler whom
Aron Kay pied outside.
But most people, as they
plied their way back to
the East Village, Woodstock, the world, seemed to
have had a good time. Sure
it was sort of chaotic. Sure
the money wasn' t as much
as hoped for. But wasn't
that the way things were
way back when?
NOVEMBER 5, 1979/NEW YORK

_,

Wrecked Writer
Surviving the endless emotional fears
and ever-present mean fees as an obsessed, world-traveling, freelance journalist for over 30 years is hard enough and
now a horrible personal tragedy has
befallen John Wilcock. He's lucky to be
alive.
While Wilcock was driving through
Greece, gathering information for one of
his $5-a-day-travel books, his small car
was hit head-on by a large truck. It took
over an hour for help to reach him. While
he was still trapped in the car, all his
money was stolen. John's legs were
mangled, hips broken, and he suffered
severe internal damage.
Following the wreck, which took place
June 27, he spent eight weeks in an Athens
Hospital and was then transferred to the
Royal National Orthopedic Hospital in
Stan more, England. That's where Wilcock
is still confined and will be for some time
while receiving all kinds of physical therapy. He must learn to walk again. His rigl;it
hand remains crushed.
John's many friends (and even enemies), have rallied to help out financially.
This Tuesday, October 23, they're staging
a benefit at the Village Gate. Starting at
8 p.m., the fund raiser, at $10 mip.imum
donation, will be a combination party,

concert, and auction. Here's just a partial

list of the kinds of items that can be bid
for: The Andy Warhol sketch that is being
reproduced on the tickets; Screw number
one, signed by Al Goldstein; a Les Levine
art work; the original "Fuck Communism"
-poster, donated by Paul Krassner; a
private screening for two people of an early
cut of Woody Allen's next movie, as yet
untitled; a free pie-throw at whomever you
choose, from Aaron Kaye; two signed and
numbered Roy Lichtenstein posters; and
garbologist A.J. Weberman has put on the
block a big bag of John Mitchell's trash,
including the envelope the Watergate subpoena arrived in. For additional information about the benefit call 674-1442.
Although British by birth, Wilcock
spent many years working in America
which explains, for those who aren't already familiar with his name, this effort on
his behalf in New York. During the first 10
years of this newspaper's life, John wrote
a weekly column ca1led The Village
Square. His article~ also appeared in most
major magazines and, because of his early
involvement with a bevy of such pu6lications as the East Village Other, he becam\')(
quite notorious as the crypto-sage o~\~'
underground press.
~~;

for John Wilcock

parties are a staple of New

t life, but one of the more
-:::::;;;o.oRlB events of the genre will take
place tomorrow night at the Village
Gate, where friends of John Wilcock
will try to raise money in bis behalf.
The author of many books in the $>
a-day series, Mr. Wilcock is one of the
world's more popular travel writers,
although readers are likely to remember his name less than bis work. He has
also chronicled other cultures - the
counter variety - as a founder of The
East Village Other and other journals
once labeled ..underground."
Last June, while Mr. Wilcock was
traveling in Greece, bis car was struck
bead on by a truck, lea\ring him with
broken legs, hips and wrists and serious internal injuries. He is still in a hospital in England, and, eventually, be
will have to relearn bow to walk.
It was to raise the necessary money
that bis friends are getting together,
ljlt keep in mind that Mr. Wilcock's
friends aren't ordinary folks. Up for
auction tomorrow will be an Aady Warhol sketch, a signed Roy Ucbteosteln
poster, a screening of an early cut of
Woody Allen's next movie and from A.
J. Weberman, who has made a career
out of rummaging through famous ~
pie's garbage, an envelope that supposedly contained John N. MJtcbell's subpoena from the saiate Watergate committee.

__ ..,...,.....,

------=sociation is "more than a'1it ~~-...... r lDlonnanon consumers ileed."

...

GARBAGE
Continued From B-1

loft in New York that houses Weberman the "Dylan Archives" and the
FBGi is a large manila envelope from
Ervin's Watergate Committee to Mitchell.
bad
"It (the envelope) must have
a
subpoena in it," Weberman says. "Look
at that handwriting, big letters and an
upward slant. Scmebody must have
been really up, really happy, when they
sent that."
, .
At former Vice President Agnew s old
Kenwood Md., home, Weberman
missed by's minutes the first time. "The
regular garbageman got there first,'' he
says, "so we had to wait witil the next
pick-up day. I got some Georgetown
kids to drive me over but I bad only one
bag and there were three cans. It was a
real bonama - Mrs. Agnew ~t have
been getting ready to move (10 late
March). The can I left killed ~ :maybe it had the real Agnew story m it.
I don't even like to think about it."
In Angew's garbage w~re hundreds~
Christmas cards, dozens of Polaro~d
pictures of houses-for-sale that had been
sent by real estate agents, a dozen mu:aten crabs cornflakes, an out-of-date list
of "The' Ladies of the Senate Red
Cross" and an empty box of Girl Scout
cookies.
ONE MEASURE of the sophistication
of garbology may be Weberman's analysis "I don't care what they say, Agnew
mu'st be innocent. How could a ~ buy
Girl Scout cookies and not be 10nocent?"
The Christmas cards ranged from ~
signed by his Star-News ~ earner
to greetings from the families of Sen.
Howard Baker, R-Tenn., and hockey
player Gordie Howe.
While Weberman was grabbing trash
from Agnew's estate, bis sidekick Aaron Kay - took a cab at 6 ~-~ ~o
Judge Sirica's home, bagged S~nc.a s
trash and hitchhiked downtown with l~.
"The judge must have been worried
about his taxes this year," w~
says. "He
figuring them out on

was

kinds ot things, the backs. of enve!opes,

laundry Checklists, anything. I think be
finally got his dividends straight."
ALTHOUGH Weberman has soiffed
out bills to Jackie Onassis from her New
York pharmacist addressed to ''Ms.
Whitehouse," plucked soul food remains
from trash belonging to Muhammad Ali,
and has been arrested while trying to
grab David Rockefeller's trash, he says
he has no intention of abandoning "garbology."
Weberman declines to reveal fj'> next
target, but points to a recent Time magazine account of Mrs. Gerald Ford's
troubles with the Secret Service. "Remember, she was complaining that they
wouldn't let her put the garbage out,"
she says, "She bad 38 bags worth. I
.
think they ~ere expecting me."
The White House ~arbage, which
Weberman spt;CUlates is growid up by
trash compactors or !Jurned, woul.d l;ie
the crown jewels for his brand of Yippie
politics.
Only Weberman perhaps, would undertake "more than 100 raids" on he
trash of Roy M. Cohn just to find something that be feels might foretell Cohn's.
political future.
'
AND PERHAPS only such a young
man, with a slightly balding hea~, a
generally dishevelled look and a habit of
chattering on the telephone, could expect regular financial support frOm bis
mother. She sends him a monthly check
from her home in Miami Beach and still
. .
fondly calls him .Alan. be says. .
He prefers his trademark with mitials. " I use A. Jules - you know, the
first initial bit - because all the other
guys do. G. Gordon Liddy, E . Howard
Hunt, H. R. ltaldeman, J. F.dgar Hoover," he says.
As for Webennan's garbage, a reporter discovered that it's not that interesting - a few old newspapers, envelopes
that had contained small checks from
undergroWld newspapers and a $6 past
due notice from the Conservative Book
Club.

Censor the

Garbage~

By ANN HENCKEN
A.oclated Press

NEW YORK - "Let's go on a

garbage hunt tonight - at David
Rockefeller's. Maybe we'll find
some used money," suggested
Alan .J Weberman, 26-year-old
self-styled garbage analyst.
"You can tell a lot about a
person from their garbage their politics, their standard of
living," says Weberman. A Yippie with a Groucbo Marx sense
of humor, he is best known for
bis study and criticism of the art
of poet-singer Bob Dylan.
Webemtall prepares for a garbage raid with the dignity of a
surgeon, IS be paces around bis
immac~ Bowery apartment.
He puts ca a clean white shirt.
He pulls his halo of red curls
back into the semblance of a
Paul Revere ponytail and adjusts bis gold-rimmed glasses.
He folds a fresh plastic garabage bit1 and poclilets a scribbled adai'ess arid $80 in cash for
emergencies.
Uptown, the street is dark and
deserted. It is I .aD. Weberman
calmly approacbel the home of
David Rock~~president of
the Chase M
Bank and
brother of Gov.
A. Rockefeller. No li~re on. He
looks around for a P\liceman.
"Keep watch," be says, slipping past the iron fence and lift.
mg the lid of the garbage bin.
He extracts a small brown paper

Yippie garbage snooper Alan J. Weberman.

bag, spotted with grease, and
holds it up, grinning.
Once away from the scene, be
paws through the stuff, which is
spreaa on the plastic sheet.
But the Rockefeller take is disap~inting a few gnawed
chicken bones and a half.
finished jar of pickled beets.
"Garbage hunting is an unobtrusive method of sociological
research. People have done
worse things for science," be
says.

Weberman does it for curiosity

- and money. He says he received $900 for a recent Esquire
magazine story about garbage.
His interest ID garbage sprung
from his obsession with Bob Dy
Ian. Calling himself a Dylanologist, he spent several years organizing a two-volume companion book to Dylan's poetry and
collecting rare Dylan tapes.
Still hungry for more scraps of
information, Weberman strolled
pasl the Dylan house lasl fall.

"I reached in the~rbage can

and pullM out a alf-finlsbed
letter to Johnny
h. I iaid,
'This is no garbap can, ll's a
gold mine!'
After two week!I, Dyla got
wise. He began tG censo~his
garbage. "
Weberman has work#"bis
way into the garbage paifi- if
not always thehearts- or boxer
Muhammad Ali, playwright Neil
Simon and Yippie leader Abbie
Hoffman.

llTBLLllBICll
8arbage Collector Trashes lllzon

Odd Tales &bout Hoover

WAS

Purloine d litte r: Garbage cans at Nixon's house.

GARBOLOGIST A.

J. WEBER

man, who has made a career of nosing the trash of

Bob Dylan, Henry Kissinger, and otlhers, has turned
his odoriferous attention on
Richard Nixon. So far Weberman and his helpers have
plumbed the garbage of the
former president four times.
What did ~he pur.Joined
waste reveal? Nothing as
momentous as Alger Hiss's
typewriter. Instead, Weberman turned up several Secret Service expense vouchers; an envelope addressed
to Mrs. Nixon from a woman named Ethel on East
72nd Street; a note from
an unidentified person to
Ray Price, Nixon's ghostwriter, about "closer UKUS links"; a sheet of legal
paper with vhe home num-

bers of Bebe Rebozo in Key

Biscayne and Key Largo; a
note in capital letters, " ALTHE AFGHAN
LIES
CRLSIS-SANCTIONS";
and a broken thermometer .
" Nixon's garbage is real
sloppy," observes Weberman. " He doesnt even li ne
his cans with trash bags.
11hat's unfair to his neighbors and to garbologists,
who must pick through the
coffee grounds."
When Weberrnan dipped
into Nixon's ga11bage cans
the other day, a Secret Service man grabbed him and
took him to the local precinct for trespassing. But
the agent let Weberrnan go
after he insisted that he
was an artist intent on
doi ng a garbage scul pture
of Nixon.

lditlng Test &rouses Complaints

THE

HARPER &

ROW

EM -

ployees' union is charging

editorial director Roger
Straus III with "sexist procedures." Certain women
have always felt that the
men of the house have been
promoted over more qualified females. But now the
complainants are exercised
by the odd competition
Straus devised for an assistant editor's job.
Juhle Vader, an editorial
assistant, said that Straus
proposed the candidates (including two men) write a
report on a few chapters
12

NEW YORK/JUNE 30, 1980

from a novel submitted by

Neal Travis and edit a
three-page oral-sex scene
from the same material.
"Naturally, we were offended," says Vader. "A few
weeks later, a woman applying for the joh of editorial assistant had to do
a report on a manuscript
about a gangbang."
Straus promoted one of
the male applicants. Two
of the women quit. Straus
was unavailable for comment.

I . EDGAR HOOVER A

hermaphrodite? Did be
father an illegrtimate mulatto son? The answers
may be contained in Ladislas Farago's The Secret
American: The Political Biography of / . Edgar Hoover.
Doubleday commissioned
the book several years ago,
but the firm's editors apparently found Farago's
massive and meandering
manuscript unpublishable.
So they let him repay the
six-figure advance and take
the project to Times Books,
which wrll publish the tome
next January.
Farago, who once wrote
a widely discredited book
about discovering Martin
Borman in a South American convent, tells similar
whoppers abou t Hoover in
private conversation. He
has alleged that the District
of Columb'ia coroner con-

firmed to him that Hoover

had male and female sex
organs. However, this bizarre allegation has been
denied by his source. "I
spoke to Farago," admits
Dr. James Luke, dhief medical examiner for the District, "but I told him no
such thing. I examined the
body myself, and that's not
the case at all."
Farago also insisted he
had unearthed the existence
of a Hoover son, the issue
of bis supposed union with
a black maid, in the papers
of the late Morris 1Ernst at
the University of Texas library at Austin. According
to Farago, Ernst, a prominent New York lawyer,
handled confidential legal
transactions concerning the
son. Despite Farago's claim,
a detailed check of the.
papers shows no such evidence.

Yale Student's Killer Files Appeal

Herrin: Pleaded insanity.

AFTER AN

UNUSUAL TWO-

year delay, Riobard Herrin,

the you ng man who killed
Yale coed Bonnie Garland
in a bedroom of her Scarsdale home in the summer of
1977, is filing an appeal of
his conviction.
The couple were lovers
at Yale, but Bonnie bad
lost interest after Richard's
graduation. Following an
unsuccessful attempt at rec..
onciliatfon, he beat her to
dearh wi,th a claw hammer.

BY PHILIP NOBILE

Herrin pleaded not guilty

by reason of insanity, but
was convicted in July of
1978 and sentenced to 8V3
to 25 years.
Although H errin's lawyers at the firm of Litman,
Friedman,
Kaufman &
Asche immediately filed for
appeal, they were continually stymied by the cou rt's
refusal to grant Herrin a
free copy of the trial transcript. Recenrly, the firm itself paid for the transcript,
and rhe appeal brief will
be completed by the rail.
Why this largess? "We
represented Richard a t the
trial, and we feel it's the
right thing to do to represent him on the appeal,"
says a senior partner . " We
believe the brief has merit
and goes to the heart of the
insanity defense."
The embittered parents
of Bonnie Garland are keeping watCh. "They know
every breath we take,"
comments Herr:in's counsel.

Photogr:iph>: top. Jody Carava~ l ie : bou om. ler l"}

Fn~el

The New York /'osr

't .Do Not Confuse Dept.:

~

'

Muckraker, garbage writer

The name A.J. Webermen means nothing to

OU, and nothing to us. But it means something

to celebrities who have taken to disguising their
refUse to keep a garbage-snooping journalist out
of their banana peels. Weberman's tell-It-all
tome, "My Life in Garbology," comes out this
month with some interesting tidbits about the
stars, and what they throw away. For instance,
J8Ckie 0 chucks expensive perfume bottles,
while Dustin Hoffman pitches a lot of food that's
fine for eating. Or so says Weberman .

1
_

.l.OOUlll;O Va - t'""a "i) U~A.

CQ"" &.l~f!it

mensions in the Grove until the expense of a long

and fruitless search for his missing daughter, Amy.
forced him to sell it, is back In the art business with
Jose A. cardet. The Cardet Gallery opens Oct. 6 on
Aragon Avenue in the Gabl~ with work by Miamians Martin Kreloff and Rafael Vadia and four New
Yorkers, including Barton Llclce Benes. One of
Benes' pieces is garbage from Andy Warhol's very
own garbage can that has been fashioned into a collage. Which proves, I guess, that one artist's garbage
Is another artist's art.

Inside dirt onceleb1rity garbage makes

big bucks for trash king ~
i(i\': ~
JACKIE ONASSIS ea ts Quaker Oats for breakfast and Henry Kissinger drinks
1ctwciser . according to one of America s mos t offbeat businessmen. How does
ne know'> He rummages through their garbage.
Alan .Jules Weberman. 35. of New York Cily has managed lo turn celebrity garbage into
;)ig business. notab ly through TV talk show appearances when he3 vea ls the Inside dirt
.n what fdmous peopl e throw away.
He says. " Peopl e should realize that garbage is a seriou s matter. Studying it - I call
I garbology - is a unique. unob.,.
~
rusive mt-lhod of sociolog~cal re~ ~
.ea r ch a sort of in stant

rchaeology.
llis garbage research has unnvcred such tidbits as the floor
..in of Richard Nixon s Manhat,in l ownhouse . a letter from
inger Bob Dylan lo Johnny Cash.
ncl a copy of the tax returns of
Judge John Si ri ca of Watergate

r-.
'

~{
.~

'

:till(',

" You ve no idea whal vou can

inc1. he :idds. " i\1avbe Na'ncv and

l1nry Ki ssmgcr s grocery l ist 1ev drink Budweiser. Dewars and
oke - cir a pair of Jackie O's
lanlvhose.
"no you know she eats Quaker
l )Cl l.S ror breakfa st ? Or that her
:uirbage always smells rea lly good
om th e perfume bottles she
throws 0111 ~
Weberman got into the gar"1gc-hunl ing game in 1970 after a
, pal with Bob Dylan. A keen stull'nt ol Dvlan s works. he once
im t to the singer s house . in
;r eenwi<'h Village Lo discuss the
meaning of some of his lyrics and
ad the door slammed in his face.
Weberman recalls : "I was
'> l anding outside the door. madder
nan hell. when I saw his garbage
..ind realized that what was being
dumped outside could easily rellccl what was going on i nside.
" I really hit th e j ackpot. l
found a partly-completed letter
rom him lo Johnny Cash. After
Lha t. I Look his garbage every
night for two weeks until he got
wise. "

Wcb erman rarely collects garbage hirn.;<'H thcsc days. but has
gents in New Yo rk . Washington.
Beverly Hills. Palm Beach and
Hol ly\,;ood.
Other celebrities he has collected garbage from include Spiro
\gnew. Duslin Hoffman. David
K oC'kclell er. John and Martha
.Iii tchcll. Tony Curlis. lawyer Roy
Cohn. tax rebel lloward Jarvi s.
\like Wal lace of 60 Mintttes. and
1ca ns qu<'en Gl oria Vanderbilt.
Webcrnwn says he is only doing
.-ha l the FBI and CIA have been

r elaxes :il 110mc wi th a book on his

favorit e subject.
doing for years and adds: " 1 know
for a fact that the FBI have got
some of Martin Luther King 's garbage on file.
His tal ents hav.e occasiona lly
allracted j ob offers such as t he
lime he wa s asked lo undertake
some industrial espionage.
"A guy wan led me to get U1e
rec ipe for the Famous Amos chocolate chip coo ki es by going
through their ga rbage. but they
weren t prepqred to pay enough.
he> explains.
Co l l ecting garbage can be
ri sk y . Web e rman wa s once
roughed up outside David Rocke fell er s house when the cop
thought he was slipping someth ing
i nto the garbage can i nstead of

out
More r ecenlly. he lost out on a
garbage r un al Ri chard Nixon's
townhouse when Secret Service
agents suddenly showed up brandishing guns.
Explaining his collection technique. he says: " l al ways make
sure I rep lace the trash bag with
one that looks just like it so lhal no
one wi ll know the gar bage has
been lampercd wi U1.
"Tha way. you ca n keep the
source going for w eeks until the
ar ticle you are writing com e out.
Webc>rman has also written a
book. i\l.v Lil e In Garbology. which
i s due out next month .

(;arbagc l'Oll cctor Al an Web crrna n survrys som

1>otcnt ial celebri ty garbage in New York Cit).

,,.-----..---_.x..JnL..1~C:111i..'RK.J1U!l1Jlul21&.JJuC
L.:-U
.....:.iTa.:-'l..,.l.Lt_.p""'LJya...:1

STAR'/' Jf l'f'll H 4STE (.'0/.J.J;CTTO.\

Problem

Ill

01

f
l
<;

..
'

.
I

i\t~ 1 /{}_7) I

Equity: Fees vs. TaJ

\en the owner of a SI 10.000

were raised through property taxes
instead or fees, the more-affluent home with homestead exempuon
households generally would pay (or a $90,000 home without it)
ADE County's property taxes more while the poor would pa) would come out ahead. The 2-mill
tax would amount to S\80. but 1t
are too low and its user fees less.
too high. If taxes were higher
This year's fee of $180, for exam- would be deductible from Federal
and fees lower, most Dade residents ple, is relative pittance for a Ken- income taxes. Garbage fees are not
would be a lot better off.
dall household in which husband deductible.
Say what? AJvocating higher and wife together bring home more
The O\.vner of a SJ I 0,000 home
propeny taxes these days is about than $50,000 a vear.
conservatively might be expected to
ls likely to win public acclaim as a
For a pensioner subsisting on a be at least in the 25 per cent inKhomeini-for-PresidenL campaign. fixed income or ror a single-paren t come-tax bracket This means he'd
Remember
Lhe
fam11) surviving on the minimum be getting back S45 to $50 or the
::ondition. though:
wage. SJ 80 a year is a sum to be $180 paid for waste collection and
Raise taxes. but
reckoned with.
disposal. Countywide this would
reduce fees.
To raise the same money through cause several million dollars now
How this \'>ould
property taxes would require levy- exported to Washington to be rework can be seen
ing approximately two additional tained in Dade County.
by taking a look at
mills - 0.63 mills ror waste dispos
Meanwhile, Dade's least-affluent
garbage. As selfal, and at least 1.3 mills for collec- residents would save money by
styled
"garbolobemg spared most of what has betion.
gist" A J
Pb.er:
..con
an onerous
eaa tax" of
COMPUT NG l.lw--eosr of correc- S 180 per household, with little reman pro' ed by
tion is more complicated than figur- gard for the residents' ability Lo
;itting through the
San<"hn
ing the cost of disposal. That's be- pay.
trash of Bob Dylan
and other celebnties. there are les- cause disposal is handled exclusi\e
Despite these pragmatic and huIv b\' Metro while collection is han- manitarian considerations. howJ sons to be learned from garbage
Strictly speaking, of course. Dade dled. not only by the county. but ever. some anti-tax zealots may fret
also by municipalities and by pri- about the precedent set by any
County doesn't have any garbage
Dade has ..solid waste " The county \ate haulers. Costs and levels of switch from user fees to taxes.
government has one department to service varv widelv.
However. an analysis of the comCERT AJNLY there are valid philcollect it and another to dispose of
ing year's budget suggests that the osophical questions that can be
it. Both are funded by fees.
estimate of 0.63 mills for disposal raised in deciding which governTHIS year. the waste fee appears and 1.3 for collection - or. round- memal services ought to be for
on the property-tax bill, but it's still ing off. a total of approximate!) 2 .. free" (tax-supported) and which
a fee. not a tax. It's not a fee to be mills - is reasonable.
ought to be for fee.
sneezed at, either. Dade will chargt:!
ln addition. some special provilf bus riders must pay fares. for
Sl80 per household next year to. sions such as surcharges may ha\e example. shouldn't motorises pay
pick up solid waste and dis pose of Lo be made for industries with ex- tolls? Why do some parks charge
it. In 1979, the charge was only cessively large \olumes or waste, for parking while others do not?
S8L
but such logistical problems can be Who should support specialized faSome taxpayers may well won- worked out.
cilities such as marinas. boat ramps.
der what difference it would make
For an "a,erage" Dade home as- golf courses. and tennis courts?
if the cost of waste collection and sessed al $80,000 with $20,000 Should libraries charge fees?
disposal were paid through taxes homestead exemption. a 2-mill le\'Y
Some of these-kinds of philosophinstead of fees. After all, the total tor solid-waste collection and dis- ical arguments have been resolved.
cost to Dade residents collectively posal would amount to $120. That's Public-school taxes must be pai<! b)
would remain about the same.
$60 less than the S 180 fee Metro the childless and by persons who
There would be two critical dif- plans to charge residents or unin- send their children to private
ferences, however. If the money corporated Dade.
schools. A reasoned judgment has
By ROBERT F. SANCHEZ

f 'J) J)/SPOS 4/.,

f .i1

//r ruld' Fdltoral R1 ..m1

been made that public e

best supported by taxes
fees and that society a
benefits fro{ll it.
Similar arguments cou
for tax-supported wast
Anyone who doubts t
health benefits of such
ment function should
York City during a garba
This is not to say. ho1
e\'ery government acuvi
be supported by taxes i
by user fees. It is simply
all levels of government
think the fee-versus-u
Too often governments
lowed the course or leaswith little thought to sc
quPnces. In many instan
terminant- has been tlie 1
lecting a fee, not whetl
makes sense or is fair
A thorough review i
good place to start is in
waste collection and
public service \'ital to e
an urban area.

"I ' d like a window

an experienced
troller."

ZS

ftr
I

'

INTERSTATE FLIGHT TO AVOID COLLECTION

VIOLATION OF CANN ACT .

RICHARD NIXON'S GARBAGE

DESCRIPTION
AGE - ?
EYES - none
HEIGHT-?
COMPLEXION-?
WEIGHT - ?
RAGE- white
BUILD-?
..
DGGUPATIQN -

..

EX-PRESIDENT
, HOME ADDRESS142 E 65 ST

CAUTION
REPO.RTEDLY HOARDS H!S TRASH AND HAS

BEEN ARRESTED ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS FOR POSS!ESS!ON OF A DEADLY SHREADER!ll HE WILL GO TO

ANY LENGTH TO PROTECT HIS TRASH SO

CXMIDER DANGEROJSI'!!

Reward: $20 per ~oad

IF YOU Hi\YE ANY llffDRMATIDN CONCERNING THIS
GARBAGE PLEASE cornACT YOUR LOCAL FBGI OFFICE.

6 BLEECKER ST 4:77-6243

FEDERAL BUREAU OF GllRBOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION

NFW YORK r.ITY

~:,:\?:~

-.

....

'

,.

27
,-

INSTANT REPi!.AYl:

navid
off to

da.

.,

ews. '

.vsn:ia.ga-t

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:o." Ends at
vents.

\1
~7al Ne:'~; :f
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i'.:
f;,

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Cavett (R). , '(

--===::--- ::,;.~'

t;

l) Mo1rte, . ': >jlo)~

." ~ds at Z:OO... ~'

i!porter4L

tie Jeffersons

(R).

Jhow. Guests: Neil

.-Iecker, Pat Boone.

hley.

w-.'!I. .

News.,. ": .'' ~..\:

~he

Races.

,-, ,(:.

: CeJI Block R. '!..:;~

"Ilaclonal.
~;

Joke I E1:er
l~ra.

T.hrei}

(!t).

\:;.of Writing.'.

Remembered,"

vie, "The Baby

.ds at 2:03. u

Snake Pit."' ~

-~*'

,tooges (B&W}.;

!~slo~":.
,.start _
. :.' _. : '.\;
.

'

~-'

. .

'

:1:,;_,. .

')I.'

:.1
"'
-~--------,1 By NICHOLAS YANNI
~.l,

f'~

iTHE NEW David Letter-.

'man Show airing .Monday

through Fridays live at 10'

a.m. on NBC has turned in , David Le_ttennan: -early
dis_appointing ratings m', .. ratings disappointing.
'
,,..:
:its ,first few days on the
air. The show does have a
such a _perceptive and re
lot of kinks to work out. specte-0. critic. At one
The host's appeal (the ads point, Greenfield became
.-.exclaim '"A. face ev~ry so rattled that he a.llS\V
mother could love!") is ered a question about the
strong: But placing news-'.; new trend in "trashsport"
'.man
Edwin
Newman .shov,rs by telling Letter
across from Letterman at man: "Laurence Olivier
a sm.ali table on stage to
would be tu.ming over in
read news blurbs makes his grave from these
N e\vman come off as if he shows - that is, if he were
\Vere a character in SNL's dead.'' Tasteless, tasteless.
"N e"''S Update" sketch. .
These segments do not
blend in well with the gen. eral comedy format of th~
SpeakJng or tasteless.
show; and audience reac
Good JY-Iorni-ng New York
tion to the news (there ac
sa.nk to new depths Montually were laughs 1-Ion day with a guest whose
day for a story about test
expertise conslsts of coltube babies) must be dis
leCtlng and examlnlng ceconcerting, to say the
Iebrlty garbage. Kno"'Il as
Ikast, for Newman; "In
a "garbologist," could he
stant" TV critic Jeff.' 1 become a regular feature
Greenfield reviewed Mon' on this Inane program
day's shO\V on air - a giro
Which never ceases to
_micky device that can only amaze viewers \vi th Its
demean the stature of
med!ocrlty?

***

----AOV.

irlle's Anirels

~'he

{J.'

''Vo Ronn!es (R). ;(

.,,. following page

!
)

'{ \' .
.

...)',.

~!lJ>

;.,~.:

..

F. .

......

..

-~

[ A trash master who

; makes garbage into art
.

........

(
l
lI
!

By Richard Sanders
When A.J. (Alan Jules) Weberman says
, he's down in the dumps, he's not \Vhining-he's \Vorking. As America's
leading ga"rbologist, V./eberman, 33,
has perused the rubbish of-our most
illustrious citizens-probing their
depths, sniffing out their secrets,
establishing himself as a muckraker
in the truest sense of the \vord. In midJune, \Veberman's career \viii be
memorialized \Vith the publication
or My Life in Carbulugy (Stonehill
Press, $8.95). In addition, on June 7, in
a Secaucus, N.J ., dump, the trash
master \Vill unveil his latest creation:
garbart, portraits of hi~ subjects
sculpted from their scraps.
\Veberman's debris debut came in
1970 \Vhen, \vhile bro\vsing through
Bob Dylan's bin, he discovered the key
to garbanalysis: "You are \Vhat you
Pi:iotographs by I\1ichael Brennan

\.:.-. ~ ~ '"::~'.~~.. :;~;;l~<::;.~c:....:_

thro\v a\vay." The article resulting

from his initial investigation, "Dylan's
Garbage's Greatest Hits," made headlines in both under- and aboveground
newspapers, ahd VVeberman's life
\Vent promptly to \Vaste.
Since then, he's cased many a
celebrity's can,- including Norman
Mailer's: "Mostly betting slips and
bachelor-type fast foods-very 111acho
trash." Jackie O's: "Expensive perfume bottles, beautifully colored
\Vrapping paper-classy stuff."
Watcrg~1tc Ju<lgc John Sirica's: "A
couple of boxes for antithefl locks,
just in case those stiff sentences \Vere
commuted." Gloria Vanderbilt's:
"Plenty of Valiun1, but no Levi
denims." And Dustin Hoffman's:" He
thro\VS a\vay lots of good fqo<l-ap-ples, pears, a pound of beef. The meat
\Vasn'_t bad. No, I .didn't eat it-it's

\Veberman finds official offal on the

streets of Ne\V York. Above, Judge
John Sirica is gar bated.

unethical to cat your evidence."

Clearly on top of the heap, Weberman continues separating the chaff
from the \Vhca't. \Vhile he and his \vife,
Ann, run Ne\V York's punk rock
. Studio 10 Club, and while Regal Productions is doing a film version of his
book, possibly~to star \Voody Allen,
V\lcbcrn1an p\aiis sonic sa\\'agc sleuth
ing on Billy Joel, Dick Cavett,
J'v1urgaux Hcming\vay and Steve
Rubell. "But the field gets tougher
each day/' he demurs. "Peopleare
becol)ling suspicious-they're shredding their garbage or mixing it \Vi th
their neighbor's. It's incredible," he
concludes, "everybody's paranoid
about their garbage." D
US/JUNE 12, 1979

49

" -h1emoer, she \\'as complaining that they

wouldn't let her put the garbage out,".
she snys, "She had 38 bags worth. I
think they \Vere CA--pecting me. 11

The White House garbage, which

Weberman speculates is ground up by
trash compactors or burned, would be
the crown jewels for his brand of Yippie
politics.
Only Weberman perhaps, would undertake 11 rnore than 100 raids" on he
trash of Roy M. Cohn just to find something that he feels might foretell Cohn's
po~itical

future.

AND PERHAPS only such a young

man, with a slightly balding head, a
generally dishevelled look and a habit of
chattering on the telephone, could expect regular financial support from his
mother. She sends him a monthly check
from her home in 11iarni Beach and still

fondly calls him Alan, he says.

He prefers his trademark \Vith initials. "! use A. Jules - you know, the

~ first initial bit -

because all the other

guys do. G. Gordon Liddy, E. Howard

Hunt, H. R. Haldeman, J. Edgar Hoover,'' he says.

As for Weberman's garbage, a reporter discovered that it's not that interesting - a fe\v old ne\vspapers, envelopes

that had contained small checks from

underground ne\vspapers and a $6 past
due notice from the Conservative Book

Club.

';.:

l'

I
\

)
I
\

--

ffie~t firm, the William Morris Agency, informing him that he'd received a request
to do another benefit. Does this guy ever
do any paying gigs? I hope so.
On the personal side he has a pet cat
(wrapper from cat chow); he drinks a little
(Schvveppes mixer bottle]; and he eats
modestly (wrappings from hamburgers
and franks and an empty bottle of SevenUp ). He has a daughter named Nancy who
likes to play tick-tack-toe, and Havens is a
pretty good artist judging from the sketch I
fonnd. Richie's righteous rubbish \Vas
topped off by ten broken guitar strings,
testimony to his passionate, exuberant
slyle of guitar playing.

JACOUELli\IE'S JUi\11\.

''
'''

!'

...
\
1(

!
'

Getting Jackie's junk was no easy task.

Two servants had once been fired for sell-..
ing Jackie's panties for $1,000 each and I
was sure she suffered from chronic garbanoia.
In July 1973, Jackie's junk was kepl
behind iron bars at 1040 Fifth Avenue until the traslunan i.vas about to arrive, so I
had to get up at the crack of davm and
face 20 bags of trash, only one of which
belonged to Jackie. While I was slitting
each bag With the razor blade I had
brought along, an old lady who lived on the
ground floor of Jackie's building spotted
me. She called the superintendent who
v:anted to knoi.v what the hell I was doing.
"Hey, mister," I insisted. "I dOn't want to
go through this junk. But! have to do it for
an ecology class in college. If I don't I
might not graduate and could end up
becoming a super like you!" Fifteen slits
later I discovered Jackie's trash stash
whl?n I saw a letter from the Hyannisport
Yacht Club addressed to "Mrs. A.
Onassis.'' N8ar this unopened envelope
was another reminder that I was garbanalyi:ing a former first lady-a bag
from a pharmacy with the label reading,
"Mrs. VVhitehouse, 1040 Fifth Avenue."
There were hvo Brut champagne bottles [vintage 1966) and one Cote De Beaune
Villages bottle [vintage 1969). Typically.
there were empty perfume bottles-Estee
Lauder Sport Fragrance Spray, perfumed
lavender bath scent, a refillable spray
container of Chanel No. 5 and an Avon
Fashion Figurine that once held Field
Flov10-rs cologne. There was dental floss,
toothpaste and five empty packs of Am, bassador cigarettes; Wells Care herbal
shampoo, Instant Quaker cereal, Melba
toast, etc., etc. I also found one of her
famous leailier gloves, plastic \vrappers
from panty hose, a perfectly good scarf
and hvo pairs of Jackie's panty hose, one
of which I am wearing as I type this.
I also found some ribboI13 vvith "Happy
13th, John'' and ''Sweet Sixteen. Caroline''
written on them in glitter along-with a piece
of stationery vvifu "}ohn Kennedy, Jr."
printed on the bottom of it There was a
wrappef from a famous European jeweler,

'----

marked "To Mr. Onassis" and another

marked "To john." The only traces of
Aristotle were boxes from French cigarette filters and half a ticket holder from
Olympic Airways.
Jackie's maid's trash was alBo there. It
contained a receipt V1r:ith Jackie's personal
telephone number on it. One of these days
I'm going to call Jackie and ask her f6r a
date!

J\t!lJH.Ai\iti\rlAD'S i\/lESS
Muhammad Ali is perhaps the most
famous man in the world. Despite this, AJi
gave his garbage to my associate, Ann
Duncan, after she rang the doorbell and
asked him for it.
The Alis live in e. yellow stucco house in
Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The house is surronnded by a wall and statues of donkeys,
\Mexicans_ and blacks-a bit garish when
compared to the colonial homes and landseeping of their neighbors. Their garbage
looks different, too, and it's really great
that, despite Ali's wealth, he stills grooves
on Shabazz bean pie and corn bread. The
cans of black-eyed peas and collards
made with pork were discarded unopened; I guess because Muslims aren't
supposed to eat pig.
No wonder Ali gave the trash to Ann.
He had nothing to hide-he is everything
he claims to be.
The rest of Ali's ITash \Vas uninteresting and unconnected vvith prizefighting.
Ali may be the Greatest, but his trash certairtly \Vasn't!

ABBIE'S BAGS
Although I have been in contact v.rith Abbie Hoffman since he became an undergronnd fugitive in 1973, I have not asked
him for his ITash. This is one case where
privacy is a matter of life and death.
Abbie has always been one of my idols.
He fought for civil rights In the South during the early '60s, helped make street theater an art and \VBS a leader of the demonstratioru at the Democratic National
Convention in Chicago, '68. Abbie has
become a legend in his OV/Il time.
I first garb analyzed Abbie in 1971 \vhen
he was nnder intense government surveillance, and I decided that rather than having to compete \vith such agencies as the
FBI and the Red Squad, I'd just ask him for
his ITash. I went over to his place on 13th
Street, a tarpaper shack on the roof of a
tall building. "Abbie, I want your garbage,
I'm doing an article about it for Esquire
magazine.''
"A.J.," he answered in his combination
Lenny Bruce-New Englander accent. "Ya
want my gahbage? Tell ya what, I'll make
ya up a list of things I throw away and give
ya some stuff to put in and make it look
really !ah-out, okay, A.).?" I was hoping
he'd just walk into his p'ad and come out
>.vith the garbage but if that was the way

Political rubbish from Abbie's cans.

some handv.,rritten instructions and suggestions regarding his simulated trash.

Here's part of that document, a verbatim
account of Abbie's fantasy garbage.
1. American Airlines Envelope. Say,

"That's interesting 'cause in

Woodstock Nation he'd said he'd
never fly Amerikan again 'cause
they let the FBI go through his bags."
2. Cans of asparagus, peas, etc. Say,
"They probably both cook, 'cause he
was once q chef in a summer camp."
3, Cans of bacon fat. Soy, "rvfostfreaks
pour it down the drain and hope it
clogs the pipes, but Abbie has real
homing instinct."
1-,

4. Half-finished manuscript. Say, "Must

be Anita working on her next
book-her first was called Trashing-since Abbie doesn't type.
5, Torn flag. Soy, "There's a t-varrant
out for Abbie in Kansas for blowing
his nose in a flag. When he had his
flagshirt case people sent him hun
dreds of flags-his kid, america, due
July 4th, will have flog-diapers.''
6. Moxie bottle. Soy, "Remember in
Revolution for the Hell of It he wrote
Moxie was his favorite drink?"

7. Record Club Bills. Soy, "See how

they're addressed to clifferent
names? Abbie must be rippin' them

off."
B. Hitchhiking ticket. Say. "Judging
from the dote-April 19-and the

location-Connecticut-Abbie was
(confinuod on pngo 101)

77

~>ti Jt1re \f\fl1at

~>ti 'l'hrc>\flf. A\flray
rrhe i11ve11tor of garbology looks i11to t11e
(
\l\rorld's n1ost exclusi\ie trasl1 ca11s e by /.\.J. \~feber111a11

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In his new book, My Life in Gerbology [to

be published in November by SronehillJ, AJ.
Weberman lirerally blows the lid on the
secret lives of the rich. famous and powerful. His quest for a more personal truth
beyond the glittering facades led the intrepid investigator to invent a whole new
science-and in the process, he raked t.ogether what may be the best portrait yet of
olir times. So, hold your nose and take a
peek into AJ. 's hefty bag ...
ne day in September 1970, Ann
Duncan and I were on our way to
( ) the Cafe Gaslight on MacDougal
Street and we happened to pass Bob
Dylan's town hOUBe. For four long yeers I
had been stud~ Dylan's pootry, trying
to crack the code of his symbolism. Al3 I

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eyed the home of this reclusive poet

I wondered what went dovm behind the
door that Dylan had slammed in my face.
Just then I noticed Dylan's shiny new steel
garbage can and said to myself, "Now,
there's somethlngthatwas inside and now
it's outside." I lifted the lid, reached in and
extracted a hell-finished letter written by
Bob Dylan bimeelf to johnny CaBh. "Ann,
this is no garbage can," I shouted. "This ia
a gold mine!" Thereby was garbology
founded
Garbology, as we know it today, is the
study of human personality and contemporary civilization through the analysis of
garbage, and iB also known as "garbanelysiB.''
The basic premise of garbology iB "Yau
Are What You Throw Away": Garbage iB
a reflection of life. Every living thing gives
off waBte. Living matter excretes: it iB a
natural, universal process, basic to life itself. The more sophisticated the o~genism,
the more sophisticated the waste it produces. Garbologists, however, do not study
urine or feces, even though they are human waBtes. We leave this to the medical
profession and the CIA, which has been
knovvn to analyze the excretions of foreign
leaders in order to get an_accurate picture
72

of their health. Gerbologiats stick to other

types of human trash for objects of study:
refUJJe, garbage, the ragbag, the dUJJtbin,
the junk pile, the traBh heap, etc. Archaeo~
ogiats sift through this kind of stuff, too,

Martha Mitchell's garbage

included Salem-cigarette
butts with lipstick prints
that, when examined,
verified that Martha had
one of the biggest
mouths in America.
but only if it is ancient The garbologiat
finds his research material on the street
today (or, usually, early in the morning]
and from it he derives a mirrored image of
human behavior and the modern world we
live in.
After my initial discovery in Dylan's
garbage (more about this rich find later] I
realized that this method of research had
great potential. The lives of the rich,
famous and powerful could be penetrated,
gre'flt secrets revealed, plain truths
brought to light from beneath the glittery
facade. Garbology was a new weapon in
the war against lies, injustice and faceless
bureaucracy. The study and analysis of
garbage could possibly alter the course of
history! I resolved at once fuat aided by
this valuable science I would leave no
stone unturned, no garbage-can lid trntilted, in my quest for truth.
Yet certain thoughts crossed my mind
as my career in garbology blossomed.
Was I trampling on other people's rights?
Was I becoming the very sort of secret
police that I had always opposed? Had I
eaTiied the epithets people threw at me
-"snoop" and "sneak"? Wae Bob Dylan
right when he told me, "A.J., you go
through garbage like a pig, man':? I wondered long and herd about this.

But history will absolve garbology. For

it is nothing less than a journalistic technique, and in this post-Watergate world.
the public's right to know is fer more important then the privacy of a public figure.
The ethics of gerbology ere parallel to the
basic ethics of journalism as put forth in
the libel laws; if you ere a public figure,
you are fair game. I only garbanalyze the
rich, famous and powerful. It is beneath
the dignity of a distinguished garbologiat
such as myself to dig through the re!UBe of
any average bozo. 'When people ask me,
"Hey, A.J., when are you going to analyze
my garbage?" I often reply, "Just as soon
as you stop being a nonentity."
The fact is, however, that America iB
starting to wake up to garbage. With
many of our natural resources rapidly disappearing, garbage, be it ever eo humble,
is on its way to becoming a highly valuable
commodity. It won't be long, I'm sure, before the commodities exchange begins
trading garbage futures. Gerbology ie now
taught as a course at several universities.
A professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona has his stuc'lents go through
thOUBande of bags of garbage, sorted according to socioeconomic background, to
find out if various social stereotypes pan
out. At Queens College in New York City,
Professor Warren DeBoer teaches a similar class called "Traces of Human Behavior." DeBoer's students are attempting to
find out which socioeconomic groups have
the type of trash that is most amenable to
recycling. The required literature for the
course cites me as the founder of garbology.
Shortly after discovering garbology, the
media discovered me. Esquire magazine
hired me to do a cover story on garbage,
and articles about me began appearing in
GlamoW', Ingenue and Rolling Stone. The
Associated Press did a feature story that
appeared in hundreds of newspapers
across the country. I began to develop a
nation\'.ride network of garbology "stringers" who sent me reports on local trash. I

From My Life in Garbo!ogy by A . J. Weberman (Stoneh!lt Publlsh!ng Co., Inc. New York)

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Jllustrat!on and photos Sta neh1H

, Cornmun!catl ans, Inc.

.....

was imitated by Jack Anderson. Robin

Moore and other journalists. In order to
stay ahead of the competition I was forced
to train an associate garbologist-Aron
Morton Kay (who would later achieve
notoriety as the man who throws pies at
celebrities).
With Kay in the field I could devote my
time to setting up the National Institute of
Garbology, where advanced research and
development could be facilitated The in
stitute is located at 6 Bleecker Street in
Manhattan (telephone 212-477--6243) and
is not open to the general public although
inquiries are welcome. Some of the most
significant garbage on file at the institute
has been reprinted in this book. Each in
dividual collection of garbage represents
months of study and research. But more
than that. each is the result of action,
sometimes perilous, sometimes hilarious,
but always adventurous.

fornia that roa d. "Marie will turn to the

wind and ask where heroin is available."
Very strange, indeed
My next big revelation was that Dylan
and l both shopped at the same Grand
Union supermarket! A second layer of
kitchen castoffs contained the packagings
from Grand Union-brand sweet butter
and Grand Union-brand eggs, as well as a
Grand Union shopping bag, chicken bones,
an empty milk carton, green peas, an
empty Balanced apple-juice bottle, and
some balled-up aluminum foil. Dylan's
dog, Sasha, was evidently fed a diet of
Gaines burgers and Ken-L Ra ti on. And that
was literally the bottom of that first
barrel.
Essentially, the mythic Bob Dylan-romantic, revolutionary, visionary-was dis
pelled forever by thorough garbanalysis.

BOB DYL/.\i'J'S
St000.000 'rRJ.\SH

I.

After recovering from my shock and joy at

finding an actual handwritten letter by
my favorite poet in the trash can, I pulled
myself together and began digging deeper,
just barely aware that I was opening up
the first chapter of a brand-new science. I
confess, though, that the overpowering
odor of decaying food, raw onions, dirty
diapers and dogshit was a strong argument for turning back. Nevertheless, I
pushed onward because l knew that "the
answer was blowing in the wind."
My fantasy was that I would find first
drafts of Dylan's poetry or a Rosetta stone
that would unlock the secrets of his symbolism. But the reality, as I began sorting
through the bags, was a harsh one, especially when I hit a layer of disposable diapers. It reminded me that Dylan and his
wife Sara had just recently had their
fourth child. Dylan is traditional in that
respect, producing a kid every year, a big
family man, just like my cousin, Rabbi
Phineus Weberman. Phineus is super-Orthodox and has fifteen children. To my
mind, the dirty diapers were a good exam
pie of Dylan's late-'60s conservatism.
. I made my way down through a layer of
kitchen refuse-vegetable cans, Blimpie
wrappers, coffee grounds. His eating
habits seemed normal enough. No evidence of ''brown rice, seaweed or a dirty
hot dog."
Further on, I discovered a form letter to
the Dylans from the Little Red School
House (around the corner on Bleecker
Street) thanking parents for contributing
to one of the school's funds. The fact that
Dylan sent his kids there was interesting
because the Little Red School House is
where the children of upper-middle-class
and rich liberals of Greenwich Village go.
Next, I stumbled upon a fragment of a
fan letter to Dylan from someone in Cali74

Dylan's pickings: dog food. diapers and

domestic dredge.

Instead, he was revealed to be a typically

upper-middle-dass family man with very
ordinary, day-to-day household concerns.
From his pail I gathered bills from the vet
concerning treatment of Sasha's upset
stomach: invitations to Sara to attend private sales at exclusive department stores:
dozens of mail-order cosmetic offers and
all the high-fashion magazines addressed
to Sara: a package from Bloomingdale's
addressed to one of Dylan's many pseudonyms and charged to Sara Dylan's ac
count. I also found a bill from the Book-ofthe-Month Club, and a memo to Bob Dylan
regarding the upcoming monthly meeting
of the MacDougal Street Garden Associa
lion.
But nowhere did I find any evidence
that Dylan was et all interested in politics,
causes, activism or world affairs. And at
that time. you'll recall, the war in Vietnam
was still raging. Nixon was in office, four
students had been killed earlier in the
year at Kent State and the six o'clock
news made it difficult to escape the endless stream of atrocities and injustices.
Yet. it seemed to me that Dylan had come a
long way from the days when he wrote

"Gates of Eden," "Masters ofWar'1 and

"Blowin' in the Wind." The only remotely
political piece of trash I was able to find in
his garbage was a poster from upstate
New York with a personal note on it from
a local folksinger in Woodstock, asking
Dylan to please vote in the upcoming election for this particular Democratic county
committeeman.

WA'rERGA'rE GARBAGE
Watergate was the greatest political scandal in America since Teapot Dome. It afforded endless opportunities for investigative reporting on the people who run
America and the kinds of corruption with
which the government is often riddled. As
a garbologist I became keenly interested
in all political garbage that was uncovered during the Wa tergate scandal,
and decided to uncover some of it myself.
I was particularly interested in obtaining the trash of John Mitchell. A New York
lawyer, Mitchell had been a ppointed attorney general by his friend Richard Nixon in 1968. For over four years he was the
head of the Justice Department, and as
such he was in charge of the FBI. the nation's elite corps of pseudogarbologists. I
thought it was about time to turn the
tables on Mitchell.
His wife, Martha, was another matter,
however. Martha Mitchell had declared,
before the whole scandal broke, that
something "dirty" was going on in the Nix
on administration. In other words, she had
the dirt that I was after. But unlike so
many others, l never got a phone call from
Marth.a, so I would have to resort to other
means.
In August 1973, the Mitchells were liv
ing together at 1030 Fifth Avenue. At the
time, John Mitchell had resigned from office and was testifying before the House
and arrived on target at precisely 7:30. I
stood across the street, 'pretending to be
waiting for a bus, w hile I watched the
building superintendent stack about fifty
green bags in a neat pile. When he'd
finished, I walked over and very casually
began making tiny incisions in each bag
with a pocketknife in order to facilitate
identifica lion.
At last, I hit pay dirt: it was a piece of
junk mail addressed to John Mitchell.
Working fast now, I whippe d a spare liner
out of my pocket, poured the Mitchells'
muck into it, filled their trash liner with
nearby garbage and returned it to the
same place in the pile. I was determined
that my quarry would not find out he was
being garbanalyzed. This time there was
going to be a lot of garbage for me to look
at. John Mitchell, ex-attorney general, was
going to be garbanalyzed to the fullest ex
tent of th.a garbological law.
The garbage belonged almost exclu
sively to Martha. It even had a sample of
her bleached-blond hair along with many
Salem.cigarette butts with lipstick prints

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trash that was distinctly Bella's. I noticed film cutto Bella. "The stock is owned jointsomething that instantly triggered the ly by myself and my husbend. It's wrong to
muck alarm in my brain: an annual report profit from this dirty war. I guess you carr't
addressed to her from Litton Industries hlde anything anymore and ya can't win
and an IBM card from American Machine
'em all."
Foundries, lnc.(AMF), with her name end
The evidenCf:i! I presented was overaccount number printed on it. Both these whelming. Bella held a press conference.
giant conglomerates specialize in produc- Her public-relations man had to admit,
ing complex weapons systems for the
"We don't kn.ow what stocks she owns
United States military.
anymore." The Associated Press carried
Bella had made a political career out of the story and the American public's garopposing the i.var in Vietnam and had bage consciousness was raised a couple of
been instrumental in ""1nning the votes of notches; peopl8 were beginning to get an
the liberal constituency of her congres- inkling of just how powerful garbage realsional district. Shortly after her election to
ly is. It nearly altered the course of a conCongress the Republican-dominated state gressional election.
legislature gerrymandered her district out
of existence. This political mugging only
made Bella more popular wiili Nev..' York
City's voters, and her election vas virtually Dustin Hoffman is a great actor; in my opinassured in the congressional race. I was in ion, he's the new Bogart I especially liked
a unique position. Here the election was hlm in Midnight Cowboy, in his role as
just a week away and I was in possession "Ratso," a New York City sleazoid who
of political dynamite. I'd uncovered the just about starved to death. Too bad Ratso
fact that Bella Abzug oy.,rned war stock.
couldn't go through Dustin's trash, 00Since I am ahvays willing to give people cause that guy thro-.;,vs away more good
like Bella the benefit of the doubt I called food than you could shake a knife end fork
her office and asked them to read me a list at!
of the stocks she o-.;,vned. The gentleman inI found ham, cheese, hamburger, Orienformed me she had shares in a shoe fac- tal sauces, potatoes, lettuce-you name it
tory, a cement plant, etc.-but he didn't -in that can, enough to have a picnic in
say a word about Litton Industries or front of it every day! Repeated garbanalyAl\1F. It looked like a cover-up to me. I ses revealed that c8.use of disposal was
made a .crucial decision. Much as I liked never mold or staleness. Hoffman just
Bella and everything she stood for, I can- wasted good food. On top of that, the actor
not tolerate hypocrisy. I was angry. I felt is sort of a health nut vvith junk-food tenlied to, cheated, ripped off, bamboozled. dencies. I found wrappers from natural
And what about her constituents, the peo- foods, such as unbleached sugar, organic
ple who believed in Bella, -.;,vho voted for sunflower seeds, rice and cashew nuts
her because they hated the damned war mixed in with empty pop bottles, candy
and wanted it stopped? A bunch of -.;,vrappers and stale white bread. I guess
he just can't resist that good old junk food.
chumps!
So I held a press conference the day
The most interesting piece was a Xerox
before the election. The response to it was copy of an insurance investigator's report
generally along political lines-the con- on Dustin that had somehow got into his
servative Daily Ne:i.vs interviewed me and . hands. It said the actor suffered from
took my picture while the liberal CBS-TV "unsecurity" and saw a $70-an-hour psynewspeople wouldn't touch the story, ac- chiatrist four times a week!
cusing me of working for Nixon. !\1iddleIt was downhill from there: cat and dog
of-the-road \!VNEW-TV News sent a film food, Players Club House passes to tennis
crew to my press conference and gave the games and an empty battle from a comstory a lot of play. The teaser before the mon antibiotic (the insurance report said
news came on that night sounded like this: he had "a minor acne condition of the
"Garbage researcher finds evidence of back"). Mrs. Hoffman attends the French
war-stock ownership in Bella Abzug's Institute, owns a black cashmere dress
trash. 'Interview with Muhammad Ali.'
that cost $180 at Bloomingdale's, wears
Next on the Ten O'Clock Nightly Ne-.;,vs." Diane Love perfume ($28] and has considThe story they ran went something like ered sending her daughter to Fowler
this: "A.J. V\'eberman, the man who BalletSchaol, which is natural since Mrs.
spends a lot of his time studying the con- Hoffman is a former ballerina.
tents of people's garbage, came up with
some startling papers in congressionalhopeful Bella Abzug's trash." [Cut to shot
of me lifting the lid off Bella's berrel.) The Norman Mailer has a reputation for being
reporter pointed his microphone at me a highly volatile figure, and I approached
and I told hlm all I knew, after whlch the his Brooklyn Heights town house vvith exfilm switched to some shots of Bella doing treme caution. To put it bluntly I didn't
some last-minute campaigning. The re- want to get punched out!
My worst fears were realized when he
porter explained, ""'0/e confronted Ms. Abzug vvith these charges while she mingled spotted m.e one night while I was rifling
vvith voters in Upper Manhattan.'' The his cans. Mailer looked at me standing in

the rubbish, poking around with a pocket

flashlight, and walked on.
From the look on his face he mUBt have
thought I was a government agent and if
he assaulted me he would have to face
federal charges.
Had I been a fed er el egent I might have
tried to make a case agairu3t Mailer for
violating the gambling statutes, since bis
trash was filled with bettini; slips.
Tue trash also contained an itinerary
for a college lecture tour, remairu3 of instant foods, steel wool, a cheese WTapper,
empty toilet-paper rolls and a newspaper

DUSTIN'S DUS'l'BI/\IS

l\/!AlLER'S 1\llUCh

76

Mailer: A trashy portrait of the macho

novelist.

clipping \vith a picture of Mailer. I used

this ne-.;,'lsprint photo as a mOOel for a
garb-art portrait of Mailer that is reproduced here.
Mailer had macho garbage and definitely is what-he throws away.

RICHIE'S
RIGHTEOUS RUBBISH
VVhen some of my friends heard I was
after Haveru's heap they told me to lay off
because "he doesn't deserve garbology."
They explained that Havens was a kid
from the poor Bedford-Stuyvesant section
of Brooklyn who had played for nickels
and dimes in the Village's dingy cafBs for
years before he finally got a record Contract. He had paid his dues. His songs
often attacked -.;,var and racism and he frequently performed at benefit concerts. I
told them not to worry. I tis a status symbol
in the rock -.;,vorld to have A.J. Weberman
steal your garbagel
A few days later I -.;,vas in front of his
Greenvvich Village to\vn hoUBe. I scooped
up his trash and schlepped it to nearby
Washington Square Park where I performed a public garbanalysis on it while
street singer David Peel and the Yippies
looked on. The first thing I found was a
note thanking Richie for doing a benefit
for Americans for Children Relief. Near
this was a letter from Richle's manage-

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on them. I examined these stainB vvith a

There were three favorable letters in
micrometer and verified the widespread Mitchell's loa~ one of them came from a
belief that Martha had one of the biggest small farm in Nebraska. It was nearly ilmouths in America. Many of the butts legible and quite illiterate, but after
were smoked only halfway and there deciphering, it read: "Please stand on
were hundreds of them scattered about, testmony i look at that mess evey day. the
along vvith empty Salem packs and car- cross fire you all you all Masson 33
tons. There was a $7 price tag from a new Degree put it to them Make Evey one pay
pair of size 32-medium panties Martha bige fine all so John Deen put a start to it
had recently purchased, which read, Make you 3 man all pay a fih poor presse
"Olga-The First Lady of Underfash- , dint ... "The letter also contained a few
ions." Martha drank Tanqueray imported2'~ pages of literature from the Rev. Gerald
English gin, with Schweppes tonic. and.'til-L,K. Smith, an anti-Semitic right-wing
Canada Dry ginger ale. I came across sev- preacher, which was carefully underlined
eral pages of handvvritten numbers (a for the former attorney general's enlightscore sheet from some parlor game), Dole enment Such we.re his supporters.
pineapple cans, Lady Scott toilet paper
I also found a small scrap of Mitchell's
and toilet-bowl deodorant. Martha's mail most intimate notes on the Watergate afincluded a questionnaire from Time maga- fair. When I v.as on a television show
zine and a letter from the Women's Na- hosted by Martha Mitchell she told me
tional Republican Club. All in all, the kind
of boring garbage characteristic of
women who spend a lot of time at home.
I went back next morning and found an
entire box full of trash that the former attorney general had covered with five
copies of the Washington Poot that he
seemed to have obtained from his neighbor, Kennedy-clan member Stephen
Smith. john had the New York Times delivered each day, and bought the Daily News
and the New York Post at the newsstand.
Many of the articles in these newspapers
;..-..1....__._,,..,,,,,_, --',l'.A..,-concerned !vlitchell, although very few
"'w, .
"~
were cut up. It didn't look like he was
keeping a scrapbook. I also found four
'
empty bottles-two of De>var's Scotch,
.r
one of Ballantine Scotch and another of
.
~."';;:'~~"' '' n.,~
Smirnoff vodka. During the Watergate
-"'"'"""
hearings, john Ehrlichman testified that
Mitchell was in a bad state of health and
The Mitchells' trash exposed some of
was drinking heavily. Here was the eviWashington's greatest garbage.
dence. The remains of a lvlitchell meal
were scattered about-several empty that she Insisted that her husband threw
cans of Campbell's soup, some milk car- away his important papers a little at a
tons, Campbell's franks and beans, time to th>vart souvenir seekers. Martha
chicken bones, Baskin-Robbin! ice cream, insisted that I couldo't have got her garCoke bottles and Seven-Up cans. His pref- bage and brought a sample of it along lo
compare vvith her garb-art portrait. If the
erence was apparently for junk food.
Next came the good stuff-letters garbage wouldo't have matched up, I
-and plenty of them! Mitchell had had to would have been ruined. But the trash
give his address on national television so was almost identical and Martha had to
he received a good deal of mail. One letter admit that I had snatched her slops.
read, "If I had my way the lot of you would
Perhaps the most historically signifibe stood against the well If I live long cant piece of trash was a manila envelope
enough, I'm going to see it." Another one from the United States Senate Select Comasked, "All the la v.,ryers we saw on TV mittee on Presidential Campaign Activiwere gay. Are you?" All of these letters ties that bore the signature of Sam Ervin,
and postcards had been ripped to shreds Jr., in place of a postage stamp. It probably
and some of the pieces had been withheld contained his subpoena to testify before .
from garbification. Only ti.vo of them were the Watergate Corrunittee!
intact. One read, "Just for the record I
believe Richard Nixon knew about the
Watergate cover-up and also that worry
has helped to make him ill. I'm one of Mar- Bella Abzug lost her most recent bid for
tha's greatest admirers. She would never Congress in 1978, but for a long time, "Batlie. Ha! Ha! Hal" The other was written tling Bella" was one of the most influential
over John's picture as published in a women in the country. She's always been
small-tnwn Florida newspaper: ''You're a on the left side of the political seen~. comdamned criminal-may you end up in the ing out of the la bar-movement tradition,
leading the Women's Strike for Peace
penitentiary."

BELLAS B/\HHEL

against the Vietnam War and working

hard for good social legislation regarding
the rights of minorities and women. For
this reason, I've always respected Bella,
since my sympathies lie in the same direction. But nobody in the public eye is immune to garbology. That's why I started to
focus on Bella's barrel. But there were
problems right from the start.
Ten years of garbological experience
have brought me to the conclusion that
America's greatest garbanoids are feminists. Take the case of Kale Millet author
of Sexual Politics, who happel13 to live near
the National Institute of Garbology. I spent
three years trying to find her heap and the
closest I've come to it >Vas some unidentifiable trash vvith paper plates in it I have
also been unable to obtain .Ms. mesazine
founder Gloria Steinem's slops despite
repeated predawn raids on her can.
The National Institute of Garbology has
devised several methods designed to cure
gar9anoia. One of them is "daily garbological profiling"-No-Stop De-Garbification! Sooner or later the garbage >vill turn
upl
Bella was exposed to this sort of scru..
tiny for about one month. Around the time
of the 1972 congressional elections, somethlng turned up-a small paper bag on the
bottom of the barrel, which I eagerly
scrape.cl up.
Having been strung out for Bella's junk
for nearly a month I had to eyeball some of
it immediately. I discovered, much to my
dismay, that it >vas a man's garbage
-cardboard stiffeners from professionally laundered shirts, containers from
foods that required little in the way of
preparation, a tube from an expensive
cigar. There >vas also a series of memos
from C.B. Richard Securities, Inc., which
confirmed ffiy .suspicions that much of the
trash belonged lo Bella's husband, Martin,
the stockbroker.
The rest consisted of a bulletin from a
drug-plasma plant. a luggage catalog, a
gas-and-electric bill for $22.75, a note ona
sheet of yellow, legal-sized paper that
read, "Katy Industry (pfd) 36';\," and
some football slips from the office. He alBo
had some duplicate receipts from a local
pharmacy for items like Listerine mouthwash (she's got a big mouth) and Miltown
tranquilizers [she's very excitable). There
we-re notes -reading, '':tvfonday LamBton.s [a
local five-and-ten-cent store] buy 2 pillow
cases''; "Clean my suit"; "Sat-Detroit";
"Sunday-Cincinatti"; "Sat-see Bella in
morning!Peter Weiss re: Dellums Viet
platform." Aha, left-wing peacenik
political garbage!
There was some of the Abzugs' son's
stuff in the trash-a bulletin from Hunter
College and a request for money from the
Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. Their daughter Eve was represented-an unpaid bill from Boston University.
Finally I got down to the part of the
75

__

_.

You Are What

\ You Throw Away
(continued

from

page 77)

e-zwider.

probably hitchin' to Bobby Seales's

trial in Neiv Haven. Funny he got
busted-Steal This Book has a
. chapter on ho0 to avoid this."

J9B

an eleven year old who v..rants to

blow up his school and one from
Oklahoma for a mailorder copy of
Steal This Book 'cause no bookstore
vdll car~y it!"

l
\
i

Abbie wanted me to collect or forge all

iliese items, ilien photograph iliem as his
garbage! I had qualms about the ethics involved in fabricating garbological evidence, so I went back to his pad along with
a photographer to get some of ilie real
thing, and was about to liberate it \vhen
Abbie's wife appeared, I told her that
before Abbie left to go on his current
speaking tour, he said it was cool for me to
take the trash, That fooled her. Steal this
trash!
The difference between his imaginary
garbage and the real thing wasn't that
great and I concluded in my Esquire piece
that Abbie lived up to his rhetoric because
"there were no empty caviar tins in his
trash." Actually, the many orange peels,
the roses, the box frorri a ritzy pastry shop
and Anita's expensive nightgown all
pointed to a contradiction, sines Yippies
were supposed to lead a more earthy lifestyle. Also, the papers in his real garbage
were much straighter than such items as
the hitchhiking ticket he wanted me to put
in his simulated trash. For example, a
model release from an Esquire photographer, an estimate on the cost of publishing Steal This Book ($13,000) and a
prophetic memo to meet Izak Haber at a
luncheonette. Izak would later claim he
was the real author of Steal This Book.
Generally speaking, Abbie was relatively righteous at the time he \-vas subjected to garbanalysis, and I found my phone
number-Abbie had given a speech at the
Dylan birthday party-along with Dave
Peel's, phone numbers belonging to antiwar organizer Dave Dellinger, feminist
Kate Millet, radical attorney William
Kunstler and Black Panther defendant
Lonnie McLucas. There \-Vas also a page
from a manUBcript about the similarities
between the Yippies and Black Panthers,
which concluded: "We both agree that
revolution is inevitably armed struggle
and that revolutionary violence is the only
tiring a system in power cannot absorb."
Another political piece of rubbish \vas a
reminder Abbie wrote himself to be at a
. press conference he was holding on the
Capitol steps in regard to the charges he
was facing for allegedly inciting the May
Day, 1971, Garbage Riot!~

n116i& Ci,l ln1cni'

GONESH@
INCENSE

9. Dear Abbie letters. Say, "One from

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The first thousand new members receive a FREE S1 cert!ticate redeemable lor one Joint of quality marijuana
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!~--------------------------------Coalition for the Abolition

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of Marijuana Prohibition
P.O. Box 53265, Atlanta, Georgia, 30355

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Dept. HT51

P.O. Box 965

Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735

Mlll!O~~

PEOPLE READ l

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101

t. .. ~- . \~lieu
Ji...,,
.

he docs it 1sith his fingers?

thc1n to use. \Ve arc ren1intled that Andre
~!:)
:fAC:r:nc \Vell, it Lakes quite a little time; Siinon, 'the 11otc'.d \\inc expert, once re
_..;- it:J-~c.<i h;ilf an hour.
, n1arkcd thal a !rue wine connoisseur sa\\'
~ PI,AYHOY: \Vhat do you consider still too to it that he left only a few bottles o[
> cxpcnshe to buy?
'
1vinc in his cellar 'vhen he died. If the
ti:
JAGGER: 1\ Concorde. Isn't it funny to say
gopd Reverend has his \vay, you'd have to
such a stupid answer?
follo\\' Simon's advice, otber,visc there'd
PLAYBOY: Could you ever rough it?
be no room fol' you.
""
JAGGER: \ Vhat is that?
PLAYBOY: Go out into Lhe 1\oods, live in
WOMEN SEEK HUNG JURY
a tent?
In tl1e past, people have avoided jury
JAGGER: Yes! Yes. You think I couldn't?
duty as passionately as they avoid root)'ou kno1\, l \\as born in :r'.ricaragua. 1\
canal 1:ork. But in Ne;v York, some un
1vild country. Besides, I love nature and
attached singles are finding that jury duty
the country. I lhed in J\Iontauk on Long
is the easiest way to meet other unatIsland for months and months, on Ill)'
tached singles. A \\riter of our acquaint01vn, t\ith no one, in. the middle ql, noance explains, "J\Iarried people have
'\\'here.
good reasons 1vhy they can't serve, singles
PLAYBOY: \Vas there eyer somebody you
don't. The duty itself lasts at least two
fancied who didn't respond to you?
\Veeks anc.l you basically just sit around
JAGGER: Oh, yes, 1\hen I was in school. I
fell in love 1\ith somebody \\ho \\"as
n1uch older than I 1\as, and he \\'Ouldn't
even look at me. I don't like marty men,
you kno1v? I mean, I don't fall in love
1\ith many people.
PLAYnoY: Have you ever faked an orgasm?
JAGGER: I\1ever.
PLAYHOY: \Von1en \\.'ant to have as nlany
orgasms. as men have these days, you
kno1v.
JAGGER: Tbey do? They should!
PLAYBOY: ~rhcn 1\!ly do girls fake orgasn1s?
JAGGER: They do it jlist to be nice. Or
maybe because they're bored, and that's
a 1~ay to end it. But normally, \\'omen
fake orgasms because they feel so mucb
for the guy that they \\'ant to make
him feel that he could have given
them an orgasn1.
PLAYBOY: HQ\\' do you tell a girl to
leave in the morning?
JAGGER: You should not \\'ait until the
morning. You should send her home in
in a big room 1\ith nothing to do. After
the middle of the evening!
a fe1Y days, everybody sta.rts thinking
PLAYBOY: H01\' do you do that?
about scoring. Then, too, 1vhcn -t\VO
JAGGER: You tell her your mother is compeople '\'ho haYe stn1ck up a relationship
ing to see you in the morning.
are assigned to different cases, the guards
sometimes can be persuaded to pass notes
DON'T CALL ME IN THE MORNING
h~t1\een t_herh. It's pretty giddy romantic
A \\'Oman 1vho \\'as suffering from the
stuff-like being in high school." One
nu obeyed her doctor's orders to stay in lady, 1\'ho is no>\' engaged to someone
bed until she got better. She stayed in she met \Vhile on jury duty, cooed, "You
bed for 40 years. 1-"he ~oman, TIO\V in her can even volunteer!"
70s, \Vas the subject of an item in The
Lancet, the Br_itish medical journal, by
BLOOD ON THE TRASH
Dr. Peter Roe. I-Zoe \\'rote that her conFeeling dO\\'n in the dumps one afterdition had- no mental or physical cause noon, 1vc naturally began 1vonclering
, ;""- and Lhat "all o[ us, no doubt, exhibit about;\. J. \Veberinan, the fanaLi~ "Dyl...- minor forms of this at ti1ncs."
anologist" \\'ho a re,v years ago atlracled
national aLtention l>y .salvaging cultural
RACK OF AGES
relics from the trash cans o[ Dylan and
The Reverend l\'illinm \\'endt, presi- others. \Ve called 1-\.J. at his Green1\ich
dent o( the nonprofit \Vashington, D.C.- \'illage lleadquartcrs to find out ~hat
based St. Francis Burial and Counseling America's foremost garbage collector
Societ)', offers an alternati\'e to the high
n1ight be into ncn\'.
"l\fy book-it's called i\Iy Life in Gnrcost and high -,Naste o( coffins. His plain
,vooden ntodels are equipped \\ith 1\ine !iology-is coming out this June. I do
racks and booksltelvt.:s, so that you can sculpttires o[ famous people exclusi\'ely
28 put them to u:-.e before yon rea~ly put fron1 their garbage. I got John and

..

. en

i\fartha i\fittbcll. prhey had .separate gar.!"- f

bagc <incl John i\fitchcll had a lot oL
booze bottles in his. I got Judge Sirica's
garbage. He happened to be filling out
his incon1c tax that day, so I have his
total finances. He also titre\\' out these
cli.ce made o( foam rubber you hang in
your car. I have H.oy i\f. Cohn, 1\ho is an
anally retentive type \\'Ito hoards his garbage until the end o[ the month. I had
to go back eYery day! I've got Jackie
Kennedy Onassis, 1\llich is just beautiful-all different colors, nice packagings,
perfu1ne bottles. I'm not \\'orried about
getting sued this time, because a recent Suprc1ne Court decision indicated
that garbage is in the public domain.
The}' said a safety-deposit box is the
place for yaJuables, not a garbage can.
"i\I)' greatest moment in Garbolog)'
1\'as the first time I e\'er 1\ent into a can.
I opened it up ancl took out an unfinished letter from. Dylan to Johnny Cash.
I '\'as like a mouse pressing the bar on a
Skinner box and being inundated by .
food pellets. I kne'\' I \\'Otild have to
keep coming back for n1ore.
"'Vhat I'm doing no\\' is 1\riting another book on the Kennedy assassination.
The first one, CoujJ d'Elat in A111erica,
>\'as about Os,\ald's involvement 1\'ith tllc
CIA. 1."!tis one is about organized crin1e's
connection and rnigbt be called Jack
Ruby: All ;\lobbed Uj1.
"I'm exposing the National Caucus of
Labor Committees. I'm comparing
N.C.L.C.'s organ, A'ctu Solidarity-I call
it 1\'eru Slobidarity~to Signal, Hitler's
maga2ioe. These people remind me of
Hitler and the i:\,Tazis. Once I expose
them, if Dylan doesn't [orgive me for
any allegecl pre,iouS transgressions, then
I fuckin' give up.
"I have Freedom of Inforn1ation Act
requests out on Phil Ochs, \Voody Guthrie, Jim !\forrison, Joplin, Hendrix, Joe
1\fcCafthy-they're all dead and you can
get \vhateyer document~ the FBI has on
them by sending a death certificate or
other proof of death. The FBI has been
incredibly coopcrathe. Sometimes they
complain and say, '\Veberman, you're
flooding this place \\'ith requests!' I explain t!tat if .I didn't, they'd probably
have to go out and hunt kids ,\'ho stole
cars.
"I thre\\' a tomato at Nixon 1vh~n he
visited Ne\\' York. I hit a cop and did a
day in jail for assaulting an officer and
possession of a dangerous \\'eapon because they found another tomato on me.
I organiz<.!d a Free 1\IJbic IIoff1na11
!\Iardt. \Ve marched from \Vashington
Square to B<J.tlery Park, \\'here 1\'e had a
smoke-in. I gave n1arijuana cigarettes to
everyone and the cops didn't do a ft1ckin'
thing. I've also been doing a lot of pie
ing-thro\ving pies at people. I \\ark
l\ith Aron Kay. the Pie l\Tan.
"I keep busy. It's like Dylan says, 'You
can hlmost think you're seein' double.' t'
OK, rnan. Nice talkin' to you. Bye."
>

r- .

~~,~YEAR IN MUSIC

---...,..,
(continued frotn jHtgt 190)

: , ;! Crossover

was the Holy Grail for the folks zn the

burgeoning Latin-music industry."

a onetime Presidential candidate, played

Salt Peanuts at the \Vhite Fiouse. And a
ne'v college-bred audience gave such
stalwart support to resurrected beboppers
such as Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins
and Johnny Griffin, ,~ho came back fn;im
15 years

o[

volun[ary exile in Europe,

that ""ark began on a film biography of

the greatest bebopper, Charlie Parker,
'vith Richard Pryor cast as the bedeviled
saxophonist. Black n1usic also got recognition from the National Educational
Television

net\\'ork, \\hich contracted

Ashfqrd and Simpson to host a 20-part
history of saine, and from the industry
itself, as Kenny Gan1ble and Ed 1;;\fright
founded the Black 1\Iusic 1\ssociation of
America in Philadelphia, 1vhere disco is
king; ironically, Philadelphia also s<nv
the establislunent of the nation's first all
black symphony orchesLra.
Unlikely as it seems, the countrymusic
business 'Nas in a position analogous to
that of jazz in 1978. Like jazz, country
music '\'as received at the \Vhite House.
And the key \VOrd in J\'a.'.hville '\'as ;ilso
crossover, as the music business worked
hard all across the board to break do'\'n
the categories it had '\'Orked so hard to
establish. Dolly Parton '\'ent rnainstrcam

front and center as a n1edia heroine;

country records Suddenly accounted for
more than 20 percent of 1vhat 1vas played
on middle-ofthe-road radio stations;
and it seemed as if the death of i\Iot!ter
i\Iaybelle Carter during the year signified the passing of an era, as 0.Tashville
got its first disco.., its first disco production company (Dillard &: Boyce) and
even its first disco hit, Bill Anderson's
I Can't IVait Any Longer.
Speaking of disco, it looked a little
shaky early in tile year, as gay discos in
Phiily admitted straight patrons and
discos in the New York area '\'ere resort
ing to gimmicky extra attractions such
as. strippers, jugglers, mimes and sexfantasy parties in order to lure customers.
Insiders 'vere also 1varning that the growing parochialism of disco music \\'Ould
lin1it its appeal and its future, and one
prominent Ne\\' York disco jock 1vent
into the reCording, production and mixing business himself because he 1vas so
turned off by the quality of product he
\\'as getting. People in the biz, if you can
believe this, 1v~re talking about the need
for disco to establish crossover appeal.
But, of course, everything got straight
cncd out. i\Te'\' discos opened from Kuala

IHTERNAL
. RE.VENUE

SERVICE

222

"J'ni

going to 1~'eed a f1arf bag."

Lumpur to L:-is \'Cgas, '\'here Paul Anka

had his O\\"n .)3,500,000 disco and restaurant, called JubilaLion. Sludio 54 got
a $500,000 face lift. Syndicated ho\\'todoit sho1\"S brought disco to television.
Small's Paradise \\"ent: disco. So did roller
rinks around the country. And the Cul
t.Linil Affairs Council of the city of Phila
clelphia replaced its free open-air rock
concerts \\'ith dbco, to eliminate those
rowdy rock audiences (disco cro1vds are
presumably more passive). By June,
Billboard 11as able to report that disco
lVas grossing an estin1ated four billion
clollars':a year, courtesy of a 1\'orld-1vide
audience of 10,000,000 to 50,000,000
people.
Crossover was also the Holy Grail Ior
the folks in the burgeoning Latin-1nu~ic
industr)', an<l. the people at the big record
con1panics \\'ere paying n1ore and n1ore
<Htention, especially at CBS, '\'hich staged
a l\\oday free festi\'al and talent hunt in
Havana, finally signing a local group
called Irakere.
But if any special.interest group had
a banner year in 1978, it 1vas the la\\'
yers. i\Iaybe it '\"as because the stakes
1vere getting higher; maybe the industry
was just follol\'ing the rest of socieLy in
becoming 1nore litigious. But eVCl")''1!Jcre
you looked in 1978, nit1.sic-b11si11t'ss
people ,\ere in cou.rt., for one rca~on
or anotht:r. CBS and Bob Dylan ganged
up on little Folk\\'ays Records to stop
distribution of an LP called Bob !Jy/r1n
11s. A.]. IVebcnnan CiVeberm;1n was t!ie
"garbologisL" ,\Jio raided Dylan's cans;
see Play{1oy d-fter I-lours, page 28). Dylan
and CBS sought S7,500,000 in damage~.
l'he executors of 1'crry Kath"s '\'ill joiued
the stir,iving 1ncn1bcrs of Chicago in :,u.
iug to get away fro111 the group's Iongtin1e
producer, James \Villian1 Guercio, claim.
ing he had \\'rongly 1\ithheld royalty n1oney for <idministrative fees and asking for
$10,000,000 in damages. C}1icago and
CBS together sued .<.everal m<l'nufacturers
in the U.S. and Canada to halt sales of
an LP based on a concert the group gave
in Toronto in 1969. The Grateful Dead,
R_ouncl Records and t\\'O music-publishing companies sued United Artists for
S290,000 in record royalties, .)IS0,000 in
publishing royalties, S407 ,000 in "net
profits," $50,000 in unreimhursecl :1d\crtising costs and ss.000,000 in punitive
dan1ages. i\Iike Roshkind, a i\foto1v11 yicechairman, \\'as indicted by a grand jury
for, and later convicted of, incoinc-tax
cv:i!iion in l!l72 ;ind 1973. Forn1cr Beatles
n1;111:1ger 1\llcn Klein 'nis trying to avoid
a second trial on sirnilar charges at year's
end, after being n1istried once.' i\farvin
Gaye filed bankruptcy papers. Fania Records, tops in the Latin field, sought
.$2,000,000 in compens:uory and puniti\e
damages fro1n 13 Ne'\' York-area retailers
\vho it clain1ecl \\"ere selling pirated
1natcrial. Olhia Ne1\tonJohn and 1\!CA
sued each other for breacl1 of contract;

,-

./

How the Board of Ed Squanders Millions

---,

llTELLIJIIEICER
Odd Tales About Hoover
EDGAR HOOVER A
hermaphrodite? Did he
father an 'illegitimate mulatto son? The answers
may be contained in Ladislas Farago's The Secret
\VAS

f.

American: The Political Bi-

Purloined litter: Garbage cans at Nixon's house.

GARBOLOGIST A.

J, WEBER-

man, who has made a career of nosing the trash of

Bob Dylan, Henry Kissinger, and others, has 'turned
his odoriferous a'tten'tion on
Richard Nixon. So far Weberman and his helpers have
plumbed the garbage of the
former president four times.
What did the purloined
waste reveal? Nothing as
momentous as Alger Hiss's
type\vriter. Instead, \Veberman turned up several Secret Service expense vouchers; an envelope addressed
to Mrs. Nix0n from a woman named Ethel on East
72nd Street; a note from
an unidentified person to
Ray Price, Nixon's ghostwriter, about "closer UK.US links"; a sheet of legal
paper with the home num-

bers of Bebe Re:bozo in Key

Biscayne and Key Largo; a
note in capital letters, "AL-

LIES
THE AFGHAN
CRISIS-SANCTIONS";
and a broken thermometer.
"Nixon's garbage is real
sloppy," observes Weberman. "He doesn't even line
his cans \Vith trash bags.
Tihat's unfair to his neighbors and to garbologists,
\Vho must pick through the
coffee grounds."
When Weberman dipped
into Nixon's garbage cans
the other day, a Secret Service man grabbed him and
took him to the local precinct for trespassing. But
the agent let Weberman go
after he insisted that he
\Vas an artist intent on
doing a garbage sculpture
of Nixon.

Editing Test Arouses Complaints

RO\V EJYfployees' union is. charging
editorial director Roger
Straus III with usexist procedures." Certain \VOmen
have ahvays felt that the
men of the house have been
promoted over more qualified females. But now the
complainants are exercised
by the odd competition
Straus devised for an assistant editor's job.
Julie Vader, an editorial
assistant, said that Straus
proposed the candidates(including two men) \Vrite a
report on a fe\V chapters
THE

12

HARPER

&

NEW YORK/JUNE 30, 1980

from a novel submitted by

Neal Travis and edit a
three-page oral-sex scene
from the same material.
"Naturally, v.rc were offended," says Vader. "A few
\Vee ks later, a woman applying for the joh of editorial assistant had to do
a report on a manuscript
about a gangbang."
Straus promoted one of
the male applicants. Two
of the \VOmen quit. Straus
\Vas unavailable for comment.

ography off. Edgar Hoover.

Doubleday commissioned
the book several years ago.
bul the firm's editors apparently found Farago's
massive and meandering
manuscript unpublishable.
So they let him repay the
six-figure _advance and take
the project to Times Books,
wnioh will publish the tome
next January.
Farago, who once wrote
a widely discredited book
about discovering Martin
Borman in a South American convent, tells similar
whoppers about Hoover in
private conversation. He
has alleged that the District
of Columbia coroner con-

firmed to him that Hoover

had male and female sex
organs. However, this bizarre allegation has been
denied by his source. "I
spoke to Farago," admits
Dr. James Luke, dhief medical examiner for the District, "but I told h'im no
such thing. I examined the
body myself, and that's not
the case at all."
Farago also insisted he
had unearthed the existence
of a Hoover son, the issue
of his supposed union with
a black maid, in the papers
of the late Morris 1Emst at
the University of Texas library at Austin. According
to Farago, Ernst, a prominent New York la\vyer,
handled confidential legal
transactions concerning the
son. Despite Farago's claim,
a detailed check of tlie.
papers shO\VS no such -evidence.

Yale Student's Killer Files Appeal

Herrin: Pleaded insanity.

AFTER AN

UNUSUAL T\VO-

year delay, Riohard Herrin,

the young man \Vho killed
Yale -coed .Bonnie Garland
in a bedroom of her Scarsdale home in the summer of
1977, is filing an appeal of
his conviction.
The couple were lovers
at Yale, but Bonnie had
lost interest after Richard's
graduation. Following an
unsuccessful attempt at reeonciliation, he beat 'her to
death \Vi'1h a claw hammer.

BY PHILIP NOBILE

Herrin pleaded no"t guilty

by reason of insanity, but
\Vas convicted in July of
1978 and sentenced to 81/3
to 25 years.
Although Herrin's la\Vyers at the firm of Litman,
Friedman,
. Kau!n\an &
Asche immediately filed for
appeal, they were continually stymied by the court's
refusal to grant Herrin a
free c6py of the trial transcript. Recently, the firm itself paid for the transcript,
and the appeal brief will
be completed by the fall.
Why this largess? "We
represented Richard ,at the
trial, and we feel it's the
right thing to do to represent him on tihe appeal,"
says a senior partner. "\Ve
believe the 'brief has merit
and goes to the heart of the
insanity defense."
The embittered parerits
of Bonnie Garland are keeping \Vatcli. "They know
every -breath \Ve take,"
comments Herrin 's counsel.

Photographs: top, Jod)' Carnl'a!!lia: bo1tom~ !err)' En)!cl/Thc N..:w York Post.

;J;/((/dri~c,

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1
i7

J ACKI~ ONASSIS. eats Qu aker Oats .tor, breakfast and Henry Kissinger dnnks
Budweiser . acco rding to one or Amenca s most offbeat businessmen . How does
he know? He rummages through their garbage.
ga,rb~ge

~~

_ - \~

}1

it

=- 11!

'.\ I an .J.u lcs Wcberman , 35. of New York City has man;:iged to turn celebrity
into
- ' - \!i
:i big bus111 ess, notably through TV talk show appearances w hen he r eveals the inside dirt
1~1 --- II;
" n what fam.~u s peopl e throw away.
.
.
1~!1 ' .. ~1
., He says: P~ople sl~ould r~al1ze th at garb<;\ge 1s a serious matter. Studying it - 1. call ~j __ :JI!
1. g~rbology - 1s a unique.- unobJfJ
::~.~'.1."m'&'f
g I{~,
h'
rus1ve method of soC'lolog~cal re~
~.:::::"~.
~ :t;. '\:
1
~ ea rc h - a sort of instant
~ ~i -: __ )11
1rchaeology.
(.
~f" . __ ~
His garbage r esearch has un' "-1
lf

.
.;;r.

-;Jt

:?:~~r~r ~:~~ a~~d~~~o~~s t~a~l~a t~

1

,n townhou se . a l etter from

; ingcr Bob Dylan lo Johnny Cash,
1d a copy of the ta x returns of
.:clgc John Sirica of Waterga te

,a rm'.

:.;.,.,

,/~~

'

"'i~

_._,,,,,.

. '.~ ~ ~arb
-~~-~-a.,.~~
-- . --

'.1:
!';;"
ft.ii:,

~'!'

J~~,t~

. t~~

--~

!.:;~

t!

iH

~~ I

;~

1 ~;' 1ii.'\
.'~

;tj

~~
Jiri! ~;~
--~~ iii.\~;~

.(._~-:'"~ ~~; , 1~ll;

~..J.{w;'\l

r
~

" You Vl no idea what you can

r:\f.rffi~~2
("! i
"\~
~ ~'QM"f<~
,:id. " he adds. "Mavbe Na.ncy ...~nd ~~-'"'-,r'../;.::
.,t ~
. ... ..;:-. '". E.,
,,,,., ]'. ~ ~
'
. .. __.._.
-~~":.'l~
tlenry Ki ~singcr 's grocer y list !':~: -:...-;<,.,.,
~tf'
'-'~"t.:i"
:hev drink Budwei ser. Dewars and
l'~\ii~~\:::i\iii, ., \\ ~
~}}"!~
'Jkc - or a pair of Jackie O's
5'i..;~~.' '{:.._7e......
-l: 0.l_j
pantyhosP.
\\\berman relaxes at l10me with a hook on his
"Do you know she ca t s Quak er
favorite subject.
-.. ..1 l s for break fast? Or that her
~arbage always sm ells really good
doing for yea r s and ;:iclds: " I k now
1m m
thr perfume bottles she
for a fact that the FBI have go t
1.. rows out ;"
someofMarlinLuth erKing 'sgarWcbrrm;rn go t into the garbage on file.
hagc-h11n t111g ga me in 1970 arter a
His ta l en ts hav.e occasionally
. .at with Bob Dylan. I\ keen stuallractecl job offers such as t he
'1C'lll of l>vlans works. he once
lime he was asked to undertake
vent to the singer s house , in
some industrial esp ionage.
: SENSA'
.:eenwich Vi ll age to discuss th e
" /\ guy wanted me to get t he
I
BODY
m eaning ~ , r ~o me of hi s lyrics and
recip e for the Fam ous Amos choc\ TRIMM!
had the door slamm ed in his face. ol at e chip coo ki es by going
Weberman r eca lls: " I was
through their garbage. but th ey
;
Belly: Noticeable reduction in only days!
~ta nding outside the door . madder
weren' t prep;ired lo pa y enough.
NO EXc
Waistline: 2 to 5 inches less!
than hell. when I saw his garbage ht' explains.
Hips: Flabby cushions disappear!
, NO DIE
.nd realized that what was being
Co ll ec ting garbage ca n be
Thighs: Slimmer and shapelier!
uumped nutside could easily re- risky . Web e rman was once
NO DR
fleet what was going on inside.
roughed up outside David Rock YESI Face life with a smile, even if you do pant
" l r eally hit the jackpot. I efeller s house w hen th e cop
and gasp when climbing the stairs, even if
1ound a parlly-complctcd letter
thought. he was slipping som ething
you weigh ten to thirty pounds too muchTHOUS
t rom him to Johnny Cash. After
in to th e garbage can instead of
even after torturing yourself with starvation OF SIM
1a l. I look his garbage every
out.
diets and strenuous exercises. Now . . . in MODEL
.ught for two weeks until he got
More recently. he lost out on a

garbage run at Richard Nixon 's

wise. ..
spite of all that,
Weherm an r arely collec ts gar- townhouse when Secr et Ser.vice
you can still
face life with a SOME LETTERS FROM
hage hirnst' lf these days. but has agents suddenly showed up branOUR FILES:
;.igents in New York . Washington, di shing guns.
smile, because
Heverl y Hills. Palm Beach and
l':xp la ining his collection l echLOST OVER 22 POUNDS!
today you have
nique. he says: " I al ways m ake
Holl ywood.
discovered a powerful " . . . I weighted 14 6 pounds-n.; "'
Other (' elebriti C's he has colsure r r eplace the trash bag w i th
weigh 122. I wore size 12- 1;:w I vt()>
new weapon against
lr.:ted garbage from include Spiro
one that l ooks just like it so that no
an 8. Everyone who sees m(, 1s ama7E
'tJ~'"'
,that
ugly
flab.
Agnew. Dustin Hol"fman. David
one w ill k now the garbage has
. . my sister-i -law sent for 2 .
~,.
Htwkefcll er. John and M artha been tampered with .
was so im p<essed she wanted r.:
'\'Titchcl l. Tony Curtis. lawyer Roy
" Tha way , you ca n k eep the
i, ,. , ,,,,,~ REDUCE
daughter and friend to have one
nhn. tax rebel Howard Jarvis.
source going !'or weeks until the
'-:.::((~\>la:;c WHILE DOING
LT., Long Beach
i\1ike Wall ace of 60 Mi1mtcs. and
artir l e you ar e w riting come out.
YOUR DAILY CHORES
"
.
.
I
am
very
pleased
wirh your proau
j(':rns CJUl'Cn Gl oria Vanderbil t.
Wcberrn an has also written a
Slimsull is scientifically designed to melt
.. . I intend to order anothe1 ;:ia1r. I ha'
Weherman says he i s only doing
book. M~ Lire In Ga rhology. which
away inches of excess pounds and
In~ so far an inch on each ??
-.1gh and or
what the F'BI and Cl /\ hav e been
i s due out next month.
fluids off stomach, abdomen, thighs,

f.i" '

. --

...

"

lL

,..,:... 1.o~T.-WHil

lt'TTACHH~;J-r

fl

r=I

.,t"'
:.f

- ,.... !';

hips and legs. Slimsuit work5 safely and

inch on my waist."

Jackie: Aftershock
of a Greek tragedy

Inside Judge Sirica's

wastebasket
Predictions:
Future conflict

"!

/f11/+:{ f{M/;r/d{

lH ('

All/l.N TANNENBAUM

A.J.
WE BERMAN

.11
\~::~;

\
)

\,

As a way of introduction, since

this is my first column, I run
something called the Federal
Bureau of Garbo logical
Investigation. In future
issues I will analyze the garbage
of numerous celebrated people.
For the first column, I sent my
Special Agent to Washington,
D.C. to, well, how shall I say it,
rip off the garbage of Judge
JOHN SIRICA. Special Agent Kay
brought the green plastic
garbage bag to my crime lab
(that's what I call it) where I
subjected it to intense
garbanalysis. F-rankly, it was
not the best bag of garbage I've
investigated (I am still partial to
Bob Dylan's, as many of my
readers already know).
I poured the contents of the
bag on my table and was at once

overwhelmed by the hundreds

(yes, hundreds) of Trident
sugarless gum wrappers
(obviously Judge Sirica's dentist
is one of those who, when
recommending gum,
recommends Trident). Many of
the wrappers had unchewed
gum still in them, which makes
me think the judge is either in
favor of v1aste, or just careless.
Many of the wrappers were stuck

Weberman water gates Judge

Sirica 1 s garbage for fun, for
profit, and for art's sake.

CELEBRITY
GARBAGE
to sugarfree cola cans and, get
this, \'!rappers from disposable
syringes. We chose not to
speculate on this. Obviously,
someone in the family, probably
a servant, is a diabetic. The
judge is nicknamed "Maximum
John'' for imposing the maximum
sentence on defendants who are
found guilty. His garbage threw
some light on this aspect of his
personality. It seems Judge
Sirica writes an order each
night, to his wife, as to what his
breakfast menu will be. Almost
all the orders requested stewed
prunes and bran flakes. I also
found semi-garbified law books
(the judge is about to retire), a
picture of Mrs. Sirica, in a
broken frame, a half-gallon
whiskey bottle, and numerous
notes detailing the judge's
finances. Naturally, I destroyed
these without revealing
anything-I certainly won't
break the garbologist's code.
There v1ere some blue-chip stock
sales (very small amounts) and 1
can report that the judge
changed banks every year.
The Siricas live very modestly,
eating chicken, tuna, and Lipton
soup. They put a lot of emphasis
on cleanliness (Ajax, a111monia,
Ivory Soap) and Godliness (I
sorted mail from the
Archbishop's Appeal, the
Salvation Army, and the Central
Union Mission). The trash
contained a sample of discards
from every member of the family.
A good sign, too. The family that
throws away together ... stays
together.
If garbage weie admissible as
evidence in court, one piece that
the Watergater could submit in
the course of appealing the
conviction they received in Judge
Sirica's courtroom is a note,
presumably written by the
Judge, which states~''removed
many little Dr. S's but it may
increase the chances of the
all-powerful Dr. S." 0
37

. ..

With Sunday Morning Edition

Published by THE EVENING STAR NEWSPf>.PER CO., Washington, D. C.
-

- --

.. .,.......

10'

__..__:.._

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1971

Censor the

Garbage~

By ANN HENCKEN
Associated Press

NEW YORK - "Let's go on a

garbage hunt tonight - at David
Rockefeller's. Maybe we'll find
some used money," suggested
Alan .J Weberman, 26-year-old
self-styled garbage analyst.
"You can tell a lot about a
person from their garbage .their politics, their standard of
living," says Weberman. A Yippie with a Groucho Marx sense
of humor, he is best known for
his study and criticism of the art
of poet-singer Bob Dylan.
Weberman prepares for a garbage raid with the dignity of a
surgeon, as he paces around his
immaculate Bowery apartment.
He puts
a clean white shirt.
He pulls his halo of red curls
back into the semblance of a
Paul Revere ponytail and adjusts his i gold-rimmed glasses.
He folds a fresh plastic garabage bag and pockets a scribbled address and $50. in cash for
emergendes.
Uptown, the street is dark and
deserted. It is I a.m. Weberman
calmly approaches the home of
David Rockefeller, president of
the Chase Manhattan Bank and
brother of Gov. Nelson A. Rock-
efeller. No lights are on. He
looks around for a policeman.
"Keep watch," he says, slipping past the iron fence and lifting tile 1id of the garbage bin.
He extracts a small brown pape1

on

Yippie garbage snooper Alan J. Weberman.

bag, spotted with grease, and
holds it up, grinning.
Once away from Uie scene, he
paws through the stuff, which is
spread on the plastic.sheet.
But the Rockefeller take is disappointing - a few gnawed
chicken bones and a halffinished jar of pickled beets.
" Garbage hunting is an unobtrusive method of sociological
research. People have done
worse things for science," he
says.

Weberman does it for curiosity

- and money. He says he re<:eived $900 for a recent Esquire
magazine story about garbage.
His interest in garbage sprung
from his obsession with Bob Dylan. Calling himself a Dylanologist, he spent several years organizing a two-volume companion book to Dylan's poetry and
collecting rare Dylan tapes.
Still hungry for more scraps of
information, Weberman strolled
past the Dylan house last fall.

1.

" I reached in the garbage can

and pulled out a half-finished
letter to Johnny Cash. I said,
'This is no garbage can, it's a
gold mine!'
"After two weeks, Dylan got
wise. He began to censor his
garbage.' '
Weherman has worked his
way into the g:.rbagc pails - if
not a lways thehearts - or boxer
Muhammad Ali, playwright Neil
Simon and Yippie leader Abbie
Hoffman.

TUESDAY. ft \AY 28. 1.974

Better Watch What You Toss '. Q~

Because:;rhie Garbologist Will Get:YQ
By Allan Frank
siar-NewsstnirWriter

,
...

,r

Except possibly for Sen. "sam .ErVin>'. .' ,

1

official Washingtonians are ignorant of :,

the value of tht~ii: garbage, according to Z f
A. Jules Weberman, who ought to know. =
Director of the strictly non-official
.
Federal Bureau of Garbological Investigation, he describes himself as one
1
schooled in the arts of investigating a
person by culling through his trash.
-
Lately, Weberman, on-a Sr,000 assignment for a magazine, has been commut. f
N y k
mg rom ew or to bag garbage from
Spiro T. Agnew, ~udge John J. Sirica,
North Carolina's Sen. Ervin, and others.
TIIE WORLD of rock in roll knows
him as A. J. Weberman, the superfan
who became famous by hounding 1960s
folk-protest hero Bob Dylan and analyzing his garbage and songs. Wel;>erman,
editor of the occasionally published
Yipster Times , began with a discarded
letter from Dylan to county singers
June and Johnny Cash. - -- --- - - -

"You really find out about ;;;rson - from his garbage," Weberman says.
"It's a science now. In three colleges
they have courses in garbology and the
literature credits me as the founder.
Garbology is the science of garbage
analysis. It is the people's counter-in
It reqUires

tclhgence.
very little mvestment and anyone can do it."
Except for his receipts from peddling
his newspaper, and occasional small
commissions for underground newspa I
h 2
Id W b
per aruc es, t e 8-year-o
e errnan
derives much of his livelihood, and maf hi
f
b
terial or s sculptures, rom gar age.
Says Weberman of his garbological
research here; "Nobody in Washington
knows when to put out the trash. I
couldn't believe it. I must have stopped
50 people before somebody told me it
was Tuesdays and Fridays in the neighborhood where l was. I had to knock on
the door of a mansion and tell them I
was care-taking the house across the
street and didn't know when to r,ut out
the tras.h. A maid finally told me. '

~ERMAN,

asso~~::~ ~
1

and his

~ found that snoopirig 1 th1'01

garbageisnocinchhereeitherj ,_.
"That Senator Sam (Er'{iil), h
cagey as a fox. He mixes hi~ gi.rbag1
with everybody else's iri' bis/.l,mild
and shreds it," We.berman'4'i~.\ ~r w
Y
throug~ three ~umpsters ""7,rui,
.~.i~ o
- looking for his stuff, but1ttu~-as: 1m1
sible."
~/Jft ~~
Only by rummaging thr9JJg: ~fhn .
Martha Mitchell's garbage:}"~i Y
w
did Weberman collect an ~ii\ ro~
which was mixed in withf.i .'{.. _ 'st1
.'1"~ '~
card to Mitchell from Intema@..{!~
ephone & Telegraph rriagnate.Jiar
Geneen, whisky bottles~.add il,-:mai
wrapper from the Washingt9n Post.
"He had it the newsp.a per mailec
him under a phony name) S. Smi1
Weberman says. "I guessihe,didn't \\
them to find out he read it.!t:',1,i!'.,~1
!"

NOW FRAMED in the Bleecker StJ

See GARBAGE,

GARBAGE
Continued From B-1
loft in New York that houses Web~r
man, the "Dylan Archives" and the
FBGI is a large manila envelope from
Ervin's Watergate Committee to Mitch.
ell.
"It (the envelope) must have had a
subpoena in it," Weberman says. " Look
at that handwriting, big letters and an
upward slant. Somebody must have
been really up, really happy, when they
sent that. "
At former Vice President Agnew 's old
Kenwood, Md., home, Webcrman
missed by 5 minutes the first time. "The
regular garbageman got there first," he
says, " so we had to wait until the next
pick-up day. I got some Georgetown
kids to drive me over but I had only one
bag and there were three cans. It was a
real bonanza - Mrs. Agnew must have
bee n getting ready to move (in late
March) . The can I left killed me maybe it had the real Agnew story in it.
I don't even like to think about it."

In A_ngew's garbage were nunareas or

Christmas cards, dozens of Polaroid
pictures of houses-for-sale that had been
sent by real estate agents, a dozen uneaten crabs, cornflakes, an out-of-date list
of "The Ladies of the Senate Red
Cross" and an empty box of Girl Scout
cookie ~ -~~~~~~~~~---

ONE MEASURE of the sophistication

of garbology may be Weberman's analysis, "I don't care what they say, Agnew

. wco
a man~
Girl Scout cookies and not be innocent?"
The Christmas cards ranged from one
signed by l1is Star-News paper carrier .
to greetings from the families of Sen. '
Howard Baker, R-Tenn., and hockey
player Gordie Howe.
.
While Weberman was grabbing trash
from Agnew's estate, his sidekick ..Aaron Kay - took a cab at 6 a. m. to

Judge Sirica's home, bagged Siric;

trash and hitchhiked downtown with i
"The judge must have been worr:
about his taxes this year," Weberm
says. "He was figuring them out on
kinds of things , the backs of envelope
laundry check.lists, anything. l think
finally got his dividends straight.'\ :

ALTHOUGH Weberman has snif!

out bills to Jackie Onassis from her N4
York pharmacist addressed to "l\i
Whitehouse," plucked soul food rernai
from trash belonging to Muhammad J
' and has been arrested while trying
grab David Rockefeller's trash, r.e Sc
he has no intention of abandoning "g:
'. bology.'!
1:. Weberman declines to reveal his rn
furget, but points to a recent Time m
azine account of Mrs. Gerald F:or1

..

by JOHN HARLAN
The deepest secrets of
a person's personality are
revealed in the garbage
can on his back porch.
That is the claim of Alan
J. Weberman, who calls
himself a garbageologlst
and who makes his living
by stealing famous
people's trash. .
According to Weber man , he
can analyze a person as well as
any p syc hi a tri s t , j u st by
examining the contents of his
garbage can.
"You arc what you throw
away," says Webe rman.
He d efend s him se lf agai nst
those who accuse him of in-'
vasion of priva c y by sayi ng,
"Garbage-hunting is an unobtrusive me thod of sociological
research . People have done
worse things for science."
Among the famous garbage
cans Weberman has ransacked
a re those belongi)lg to musician
Bob D ylan, boxer Muhammad
Ali, play wright Neil S imo n.
Yippie leader Abbie Hoffma n ,
a nd millionaire ba nker D avid
Roc kefeller.
.
. Weberma n says he usu ally
s neaks up in the middle of the
night a nd takes the garbage of
his s ubject. He places it in a
clear plastic bag and returns lo
hi s a par t ment. There, h e
analyzes the person , according
to the items found in the garbage.
Weber a dmits he makes a
p,reat deal of. money out of his
unusual occupation. He writes
magazi ne article s abo ut hi s
findings a nd has a book coming
out entitled "You Are Wha t
You Throw Away".
Web'erman gained a degree of
t<1me when he became involved

ALAN WEBERMAN m akes his living by stealing famous .

people 's garbage and analyzing it. "Yo u are wh at you throw '.
away," says Weberman.

"I'll have to go back ther

he said .
Wc~erman made one trii:
Was hmgton , D .C., in an eO
to check !\Orne garbage P<
th ere but describes the trip
"a washout" .
" When I tried to check ,
Henry Kissinger's place, I
most got busted for conspir;
to kidnap his trash ..or 501
thing," he said.
,
Next on his List , say~ We5
m~ n , are ~he garbage pc,.ils
Vic ~ ~re si dent Spiro A gne
femm1st Kate Millett , forn
A t_torney Genera l John.;
Mitchell and Tricia Nixon C'<
daughter of the prcsillent.
"I know that the image o:
long-haired young man sifti
. through trash in the middle
the night might strike soi
people as sort of weird," al.Im
_weberman . "But garbageolo
is the best way I have found
~nd out what people are rea

in a confrontation with semi- guy . The a rti c les reportedly

re c lu se Bob Dyla n over the irri tated Dylan, who likes to
ri ghts to the musician's garbage project an an ti-establishment
pail.
image.
Before it was over, D yla n
After foraging through Neil
was o rdering his maid to hand- Simon ' s garbage, Weberm an
de Ii v er hi s garbage to the descrihcd him as "a decad~nt,
sanita tion me n to keep Weber- upper-middle-class liberal."
man from getting his ha nds on
Weberrnan wrote a <>tory abit.
out Simon and planned to conWeberman began his unique . duct furth er research . '
c;arcer by accide nt.
" But when I returned to hi
"Me and my wife were stroll- can a week I.at.er, it was empty,'
ing past Dylan's house one night he said.
when, out of curosity, I reached
Weberman said Mtihamm~
into his plastic trash can and Ali's garbage was too clean
pulled out a crumpled sheet of "He needs to dirty it up ." tfow
paper," said Weberman.
ever, he was a ble to establis
that Ali is a thrifty person unti
" It was a draft of a note to
Johnny Cash," said Weberman . it comes to e ntertain ing hi,
" 'Ann,' I said, 'this isn't a guests, a t which point he like~
to s plurge .
: hke:l'
garbage pail, it's a gold mine.' "
A ll Weberm a n go t frorr ~--~-~=--~--~~~After analyzing the garbage,
Page
Weberman wrote a series of D av id Rockefeller's garbag( MID N 1G HT - .
Mc;
1,.,1972
were
a
few
well-gnawed
chic
artic les describing Dylan as an
. . .._ <'...
:
bones a nd a half-empty ja1

e<; lablishment-oriented average ,ken

, f T"\ ;flJ,... , , , ._,
, . f \;

..

.-

'l'.he An1crlcan, Alan \Vel>e1roan-he likes to bo

-onlh:d A. J._;, says:

":t'he Queen's

iiun1ethlng."

:;-arba~e

ha3 really fot lo b

Ile 1i:1used.

"lle)',

~upposa

royally do hai:e irarba-i;-ei don't they'!"

AkertdY A . .T. \.\'cbcrnH1n has turned a load ol
rubbish into a sociolog-ic:i.l study,

\Vilh only'> alley cats for comJl:lny ho ha

been scrabbtini through the -<lustlJins ot th e
fan1ou5- unearlhing .crumpled secretg from be
11e:tth ihe cgg shells and empty baked -bean tfru:.
Guard your scrap5 well tonight, Paul
1\lcGarlney. Save \our fish bead!', John and
Yoke>, A. J. hu..s yollr dustbins on h1.\ 0-01lectlon
Ust.

Fight

l'(}u'cl u.,, .r;t1rprisccl what yo.u ca.n I l! a. r n

llhflut p-ooplo by stutlyin1: their ~rllage,'" ex1l<l-incd 26-yef\r-old r\, .r. in hi!i cluttered Bowety
lat "hen~ h~ livc.s with a black cat and a: portrait of Chairman l\Iao.
0 'J'ul>c Bnh Dylun, the: sinter. For !Omeone
wl10 sinzs about rcvolullou, his i:-arbage wa.s sur-
prisingly n1iddlc-rlaS!\.
"'Yhen I raked t!1rough It I Iound receint::i
fron1 e:q1ensive den.irln1ent stores, hi.ll 1-vife'a
hook-of-the-n1onLh-club receipt and a letter fronJ
his u101n fro1n Florida."
Il wa3 11n Insatiable cur In .q l t v about Bob
Dylan that led A . .l. to U1e sing-er"s Gree1nrich
t1Hlage dustbin-and se-~ him up lu t.he garbage
inspection buslness.
- . .
"Unfortuna.tel,r Dylan got rer.y upset, and we,
hat1 a fi~ht in the street." said A . .T. "I' don't
n1e5!1 with D'lan'3 garlm.gt: any 'tunre~ He's a.
karate experf."

It'!! rna~bc Ji1~l as well that the wlld-11alred

l\Ir. "\Veher1uan didu'l swap puueltes wilh one of
hb 'other vfotims-forn1rr n:orltl heavyivcitl.Lt
ohan1pion iHuhan1m:id Ali.
~

A. J. inspecting the best dustbins.

THE MAN
WITH A
NOSE.FOR
RUBBISH
T

New York, T11esdav.

HERE'S an Arnerican w/10 l-s longing t1)
visit Buckingham Palace-but for a

different reason to tl1e ugual tourist.

Ire wa-nh tu take a _look inside the .Qlieen'J
I, U_STB: fl\'.~-'"--'----'--~

food
I\Jultan1n1atl'$ clusthio nt h!s suburban Nc;v
Jer;<;cy ho1ne. l'l':tS lop-heavy wilh old foo<l tins
lnclu<ling an unopened can of black.:eyed peas.
"lit: i1r{)bnblv threw .theni away because they
were mixed i\'ith pork. and i'lluslinu. aren't
supposed f.o eat ptg," saitl A.J.
.
~
According to .:\,'ebcnu<i u, actor nus!\n Jioffma'n
and his 1,iIC harl tl.lruwn away lols of p~1fect1.r
go oil rood.
.. . ,
"You cetultl have ~ real .(:"ood nteal fronl that
g-11\":.1 g-arbafe.'' saitl A. I. "But I nC\'er ea.t iny
fl1l<lin;s. I would be unscicnliHc.H
.
i\, J. is writing a book on ,!!nrba~e. ll'it called
"Yoll Are l"i'hat You Throw Away."
lie said: "New -~ork's a terrific ~urba::-c
town. See-, most nf it is flurnpcd uut on the
fJ!.l.\'en1euf.fn bags fnr cotlrction."

A. J. hair clo:o;erl his e1es llehlnd his rimlcs~

~PC<'l:.:.wle,'>. 5.1\'UHrin!!" Yi<:li111s of cndlr.ss st.rect.:i
l!nOO 1\.\lth ~a.rb<t-!'t! wailini:: t.n he eXll.\orcd.
4{'

JOHN S iv1 ITl-;1

,--.----

'

THE MAGAZINE FOR MEI

You are what you throw away

Before you can ask, let's tell )'OU. Yes, this is the A.]. TVeberman famous for his critical exegesis of Bob Dylan. Yes, this
is the A.]. T-Veberman who went through Dylan's garbage in
search of knowledge. Yes, 1ue have hired him to look t.hrough
the kitchen middens of the notable. Yes, we're about to show
you what he found. 1Vo, nothing is sacred.
"
It all started one Saturdil.y night when me and my old lady
Ann i;vere i;valking past Ilob Dylan's Grecni;\ich Village broi;vnstone and I recalled 111y visit to "the king of folk ro'ck" the
i;vcek before. That dude had some nerve throi;ving- n1e out!
fle knei;v I'd been studying his poetry for years, that I had
more insight into it than any other rock critic. Did Johnson
throi;v Bos\vell out? \Vhat a lot o[ garbage .... Garbage! The
light bulb went on. I reached into Dylan's plastic can and
pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper. It "\\'as a drafl of a note
to Johnny Cnsh. "Ann," I said, "this ain't no garbage pail,
it's a gold inine."
I i;\as hooked. I had to check out Dylan's garbage at least
once a day. Two weeks aCter my first run the fJo,vard Hug-hes
of rock discovered I was ripping off his trash and he hired
someone to keep an eye on it.
t'.fy article, Dylan's Gnrbngc's Greatest Hils, appeared in un.
derg-round nei;\spapers and n1y reputation as garbage collector
to the stars soon reached Esquire. The next thing I knei;\' l
i;\as on the street again, this time on Nei;v York's upper East
Side. I went to Gloria \landcrbilt's town house and cased the
joint, but her g:irbagc -.,\as kept behind bars. I returned at
six a.n1.-still locked up. \Veil, there '\\'as ahvays Dustin Hoff1nan's cans, or, as they'd say in England, Dustin's dustbins. I

::.;oon found out he uras in England making a flick. Feelingkind of doi;\n, I \Valked half a block to play\\'right Neil Simon's
tO\\'n house. \Voweel 1\ grocery bag hrim1ning ~ith establish
ment trash-and ants, as a cop, giving me the hairy eyeball,
pointed out on the subway trip home.
!\fy next victim~. Abbie and t\nita I-Ioffman, live in a hundrcddollar-a.month "penthouse" in a terrible section of 1\.{anhattan's loi;vcr East Side. 'The Hoffmans dun1p their refuse in
a public trash basket on the sly as their loft building has no
regular garbage pickup. I split to Abbie and Anita's door, and
sure enough their garbage i;\'as sitting there in a huge plastic
bag-. i\.fy n1oulh 'vatered. I knei;v it 'vas cool to take it ,vithout
asking 'cause A hhic's TIC\\' '\'ork is called Steal This Book.
''\Tashington, D.C., was a \\'ashout. Everyone there's so para
noid about everything, including their trash. Neighhors of
Representative Richard Ichord in Tantallon, f>{aryland, told
me he has a garbage co1npacLor-thc garbageologist's nightmare.
'Vhen I checked out F-Icnry Kissinger's place, I aln1ost got
busted for conspiracy to kidnap his trash and stun: it in the
air ducts under the Capitol or something. \Vhcn I told them I
wasn't Cntholic, they let inc go. On the way hack me and Ann
stopped at i\fnhamn1acl Ali's in Cherry Hill, Ne'\' Jersey. !'here
'"asn't n1uch lnying nround so Ann rang the bell and asked the
butler if she could have the garbage. He gave it to us!
I adniit that the iinagc of a long--haired Yippic siftin~
through trash in the n1iddle of the night might strik<~ snnl" !'
sort of i;\eird. But garbage()Jogy is a g:rcat '\\'a)' to find out wll 1t
people are really like. I hope those '\'ho appreciate my pionee1
'"ark in the field ''"ill buy iny upcoming hook You Are lt'hat
Yo11 7'/Jrow A<11fl)' :\n(l ren1cn1ller: Garbagl: ls Fnt11erf1tl!
.
-A. J. 'VVEBERJ\fAN
ESQUIRE: NOVEMBER

113

-.

.j

.,

..

.'

l
'

Bob DytaO

Dylan finally solved the garbage-snooping problem by having

the maid deliver it directly to !he sanitation man. But while I
was getting to it, I discovered each day disposable diapers
(tumbling out of the bag), worn, I assume, by three of the five
young Dylans. There was evidence that Sasha, the dog, was
not housebroken, only paper trained, and that the Dylans had
at least one cat. The many rock magazines wasted .Bob's claim

that he didn't follow the rock scene. It would be nice to say the
family threw away half-eaten steaks and cans of truffles, but
114

ESQUIRE: NOVEMBER

actually their diet is modest. ... Dig the frozen chicken pot pie
and French tries containers, B!impie wrappers, baby-food jars,

shopping list. The most tangibly valuable thing I found is the

lamp (middle), which I happen to like. The most telling items:
the note to Johnny and June Cash (middle left) apologizing for
not making it down to Memphis; the sketch of Jimi Hendrix
(upper right), found torn to pieces the night after he died; and
the card that accompanied candy ("To My Dear Ones") from
Dylan's mother. Guess they liked it-didn't find even a nougat.

,,l......
r

Anita & Abbie Hoffman

The Hoffmans' garbage was outasight! Dig that ticket (left)

Abbie got for hitching in Connecticut last April on his way to the
Bobby Seale trial, I think, and the lull sample can of Right Guard
deodorant (upper right, just visible under the green paper).
That green paper is the guest and shopping list for a party held
after the Panther 13 acquittals. The rest of the green notebook
(upper left) contained the phone numbers of Jack Anderson,
Kate Millett, Lonnie Mclucas, yours truly A. J. Weberman, and
others. On top of Ramparts and Time are Yippie matches. The
116

ESQUIRE: NOVEMBER

inside is stamped, "If everyone Iii just one little building what a
bright world this would be," printed in retaliation for threats
from local firemen. The "Dear Abbie" letter suggested he run
for President but the Yippies are running Bernardine Dohrn and
J. Edgar Hoover-a balanced ticket. I was told the empty film
boxes (upper right) are from a photo session with John and
Yoko. The yellow paper is an estimate for printing Steal This
Book, for which Abbie had to get the bread together. At least
he lives up to his rhetoric; l didn't find any caviar tins.

l '

.,.r~-
I

"'

.......

~.

..
'/'-'

'

'

..

..
..

'

..-'
._

. '
" '
I

... !.:

.,'

N ei l S imon

On my first vis it to Simon's pail early one Monday a.m. I found

the leftovers of what is for some dudes a typical New York City
Sunday breakfast: a practically untouched whitefish, a halfeaten bagel , scraps of lox and sections of the Su nday Times. I
debated with myself about keeping the whitefish but decided it
was unscientific to eat my findings. More interesting, though,
was his Who 's Who in America listing (lower right) which he
was supposed to check for ve racity; a letter to his accountant
(left) announcing the first installment payment of $87,500 to
Photographed by Henry Wolf

Simon for his screenplay. Last of the Red Hot Lovers; two
notes from his accountant saying deposits of $2.53 and
$995.36 had been made at his bank; a request for fund s from
SANE ( left or egg box): a recei pt from The Spence-Chapin
Adopt ion Service for a $50 donation tl alling ou\ ol bag)', a
letter from The Dal ton School lo "Dalton Parents" (upper left) .
Al l this added up to decadent upper-middle-class liberal to
me . I let it leak lo The Village Vo ice that I was exploring Simon's
garbage. When I returned to his can a week later, it was empty.
ESQU IRE: N OVEMBER

115

.,

I
i

'

Muhammad Ali

The Alis live in a yellow stucco house, surrounded by a wall and

statues of donkeys, Mexicans and blacks-a bit garish when
compared to the colonial homes and landscaping of their
neighbors. Their garbage looks different too, and it's really
great that despite Ali's wealth he still grooves on Shabazz bean
pie (label, lower left) and corn bread (upper left). The cans of
black-eyed peas and collards, made with pork, were discarded
unopened, ! guess because Muslims aren't supposed to eat
pig. (Good to know his garbage is soulful but kosher.) But the

cabbage rolls (middle) aren't exactly soul food; neither is the

shake from Gino's, the local hamburger place. The dog eats
well, too. I figure the outdated license plates come from one of
Ali's three cars. The empty pack of R. J. Reynolds cigarette
papers (lower right) suggests that someone in the household
is thrifty and rolls his own. Yet the torn-up bill from the Rickshaw Inn in Cherry Hill, which is stamped "Paid in full," says
Ali treats his guests and/or himself swell. Overall, Ali's garbage
is sparse, needs dirtying up if he wants it to make my book
ESQUIRE: NOVEMBER

117

The Science of

A Garbaeology of
Henry Kissinger
lrs

NOT EASY to be a work , just plain k i ck his

personality gorboeologist. ass. Or Joy Gourley,
Scientific Gorboeologists who went out on
get grants from the
assignment for the
Notional Science
Not ional Enquirer to
Foundation or the
liberate a week' s worth
Environmental Protection of Henry Kissinger's
Agency , and support
trash . Gourley hod to
from thei r univ ersity
run a gauntlet of secret
de portments as the
service agents, one of
forerunners of a n ew
whom asked him if he' d
science; but personal ity
ever been in on insane
gorboeologists just get a asylum, another of
lot of sass. Toke A . J.
whom took his picture,
Webermon, noted Bob
and a third of whom let
Dylan garbage-ferret .
him go his merry way Dylan threatened to sue w ith f ive plastic socks of
him . Or , if that didn't
Kissingerion heirlooms.

I
)

I -- .

SEND AKID
TO CAMP
DUNt\W/\YQ'NEILL
2716 Main SlreeUSanla Monica

(2131392-6"5

31
What did Gourley
find? An empty Seconal
bottle from the State
Dept. pharmacy, an
empty bo~tle of Anacin,
a shopping list for a
case of Jack Daniels , a
case of Erza Brooks, and
a case of Cabin Still
bourbons, an unopened
can of vichyssoise, two
unopened bottles of
applesauce, two
unopened sticks of
margarine , an unopened
package of Philadelphia
Cream Cheese, a new
T-shirt from Lord &
Taylor, and an engraved
invitation to lunch with
Betty Ford (that was for
Mrs. Kissinger) .
An empty container
of E'thera color blush , an
empty Borghese
" Shimmer Tint" makeup
jar, an empty bottle of
Milk-Plus 6 Shampoo,

and the wrapper from a

bar of Neutrogena.
Forty empty soft
drink cans, nine empty
Marlboro 100 boxes , an
empty Mennen Shave
Cream tube, an empty
Kraft Cheese Spread
container, an empty
Lysol disinfectant spray
can, an empty Kraft
mayonnaise jar, an
empty Light 'N Lively
yogurt carton , an empty
Gulden' s Mustard jar, an
empty Kentucky Fried
Chicken box, an empty
Chase & Sanborn can ,
and aren't you glad
you've read this far?
Keep reading ,
because Gourley also
found an empty RyKrisp
cracker box, an empty
Crosse & Blackwell clam

chowder can ! an empty

carton of Lucerne skim
milk , an empty box of
Domino sugar, an empty
bottle of neo-Synephrine,
and several clues hinting
at the presence of a dog
- Secret Service
documents bearing teeth
marks , a badly chewed
seat cu sh ion , the
wrapper from a vinyl
pork chop, and two
empty cans of Cadillac
dog food (the cheapest
dog food on the
market) .
There were also
hundreds of Secret
Service memoes
demanding a new
shotgun for the field unit
(they left their old one
in the Virgin Islands).
work schedules for all of
Kissinger's security
guards , and a new code
light signal system for

all the once-powerful

Kissinger's limousines.
One question left
unanswered in the
National Enquirer article
was who is this guy
Kissinger anyway. We
remember when he
ordered the bombing of
Cambodia, and when he
got down on the floor
with Richar~ Nixon and
prayed that the expresident wouldn't be
impeached; but what
does he do these days
besides travel around
picking up thirty
thousand dollars every
time he opens his mouth
to on international
convention of travel
agents? Is there some
clue in his garbage that
we're just not seeing?O

Garbaeology
"Archaeologists study garbage,"
laughs Professor Rathie,
"our raw data is iust a little
fresher than most."
llllllll Ill lllll Ill I llll llllll Ill11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

ernoons a w K,
t has every-wee
every year since 1973, an old blue airport limousine
bearing a coat of arms with the insignia "Le Projet Du
Garbage., pulls up to a shed in the corporation yard of
the Tucson, Arizona Sanitation Department, and a team
of undergraduates and graduate students led by anthropology professor William L. Rathje hops out.
. The students and the professor quickly don lab coats,
white surgical masks, and pink rubber gloves; and set to
the work Qt hand, which for the next three hours will be
the formal and rigorous analysis of sack after sack of
Tucson's garbage. The students are divided into teams of
two, a sorter and a recorder; and each team is equipped
with an item code list with over two hundred entries on
it - everything from liquid baby formula to kitty litter
to baking powder to iodine - and a Garbage Project
data form to fill out with the day's results. It takes several weeks for a student to become proficient in this
work, in the ability to distinguish, say, between a peach
and an apricot pit; and it takes forty-five minutes for a
team to thoroughly analyze a sack of garbage. At the
end of the day, the results will be fed off the data forms
into the Universit of Arizona's com uters where the
ii1iititiiliiitliiliiiiiliiiiiiiii111iilillliliiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiililiiiiliiiiimiiiiiiiiliilliiiliiAililii1111111111111111

ar a ge-Gar
Warhol
Remembers
Trashing
in the 60's

From POPism, The

Warhol '60s by Andy
Warhol & Pat Hackett first
published in 1980 by
Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, New York
and London. Copyright
1980 by Andy Warhol.

BILLY was a good

trasher, he furnished the
whole Factory from
things he found out on
the street. The huge
curved couch that would
be photographed so
much in the next few
years - the hairy red
one that we used in so
many of our movies Billy found right out in
front of the " Y ."
In the sixties good
trashing was a skill.
Knowing how to use
what somebody else
didn't, was a knack you
could really be proud of.

n
aroae01ogy, me -common enom tor s e
TUC30JI UOUll-e
holds whose garbage has been analyzed over the past household, which is defined as any autonomous residential unit with a garbage can. When they started, Rathje
seven years.
This is not "personality" garbage hunting, Professor and his assistants took 1970 Tucson census data and used
Rathje is quick to point out. The Garbage Project is a computer to divide the census tracts into seven regionsupported by grants from the National Science Founda- al clusters. Then they selected 19 tracts that reflected
tion and the Environmental Protection Agency. Total different income, ethnic, and educational background;
anonymity of the garbage's source is de rigueur. and and went out to snatch garbage.
students are under strict order to discard any letters or
~~other material that might reveal the garbage's donor.
Students also pledge not to eat, drink, or smoke anything in the garbage they might find.
Why Garbaeology? When large areas around most cities are slowly being covered with garbage, Garbaeology is
an idea whose time has come. America spends three times
as much money on garbage disposal as it spends on
medical research. Marrying, as it does, the concerns of
the social sciences and the techniques of archaeology,
Garbaeology has the potential to give us a fresh look at
our society through our material remains. "All archaeologists study garbage," laughs Professor Rathje,
who did his Ph.D. at Harvard on Mayan burial practices,
ta is
a little fr her h
m11111111uaawllwU:WU.111.Wwi.GllititW~iliiilruiiiiaiiilllii&iaiiliiUia'iiiluliiiil1iliaal~WiMU1MU1U111i~llliiiiiiiiiiMM'iiiiiliiililiiilliliiiiiii:..iiiMiiiiliiliiiiiiiiiAir..iiiiiiiiiii.YiliiiUii.mnmnmcm
.,....111 J01Tr ianr.natm>C.,-VOV!Tl\::";7;JQU'1 . .nJn;;

mge-GarbageIn other decodes people

hod sneaked into
Salvation Armies and
Goodwills, embarrassed
that somebody might
see them , but In the
sixties people weren' t
embarrassed at all, they
bragged about what
they could scavenge
here and there. And
nobody seemed to mind
when a th ing was dirty
- I'd see people, kids
especially, drinking right
out of a cup they'd just
found In the trash.

Warhol on the hairy red couch.

;-i: ~-.:,

Garbaeology
All the students
are looking forward
to this year's Garbaeology
costume party, where
everybody comes dressed as
their favorite piece of garbage.

111111111111lllllllllllU Illlllllll llllllllllllllllllll11111111111111111111111111111111111111

n~

1u..-.:...,~...---~er-...-.._...- .

go out early in the morning and beat the city trucks to

the garbage. But then a lawyer advised them that once
peoples' garbage was in the street it belonged to the city.
Rathje's team was, in effect, stealing. So the city sanitation department was approached. Suprisinaly, Tucson
Sanitation was flattered that somebody was taking their
work seriously, and they cooperated. Said Sonny Valencia, operations chief for the sanitation division, "It's
given us a new spirit. I tell you, garbage isn't just garbage to us anymore. The Garbage Project has added a
new dimension to the heat, and
worms, and th~
dogs." Now, city garbage trucks bring the samples
from the nineteen census tracts to the Garbage Pavilion
for Rathje and his sorters to examine.
What do they find? Professor Rathje stresses the evidential nature of the work. The average Tucson household discards SOO whole glass bottles during a year, 1800
items of plastic, 8SO steel and SOO aluminum cans, and
more than 13,000 items of paper. More than 600/o by
weight of Tucsonian garbage is food packaging. Recycling still has a long way to go.
All economic classes, Rathje reports, tend to eat the
same percentage of dairy products, of vegetables, and
111111gLit!';~~.~!,2~~~~.~i..~!.,f.~urse, a wealth erson's animal

111111111111111111111

age-Garbage-Gar
The Men
Who Pick Up

Your Garbage
Westchester

R.C.: The job's not so bad

if you can stand the smell.
You get $7 .20 an hour
and all you can eat.

Pee-Yew. Student analysts record a can of rank cheese.

protein might come from a KC Sirloin or a slab of salmon, where a household further down the money ladder
might get its protein from hamburger. All economic
groups tend to eat the same proportion of fast foods.
Poorer people tend to use more vitamins, more household1cleaners, and buy more children's books and toys.
Dietetic foods and drinks are almost exclusively a middle-class phenomenon. Reversing an earlier trend, plastic, which was once identified with the masses, is more

an more ecommg the provmce o upper c ass gar age.

You can tell the economic status of a household, Rathje
maintains, from the absence or presence of pet food in
the garbage sample. Poorer housholds don't buy pet
food . The middle classes feed their pets dry dog and cat
food. In households in the upper class tracts, nothing is
too good for their little Miou-Miou or Bowser.
Inflation is definitely altering Tucson's garbage.
More and more fast foods are showing up in the garbage, indicating to Dr. Rathje that in more and more
families, inflation is forcing both adults to go off to
work. Luxury foods and beverages, whose eager consumers were once the status-conscious young and poor,
are now showing up in higher proportions in the garbage of the middle-class. Rathje theorizes that with inflation outdistancing middle-class America's ability to
buy a house or a new car, folks are blowing their discretionary dollars on filet mignon and Chateauneuf Du
Pape. At the same time, inflation garbage shows that all
economic groups are cutting back on more costly, high
protein items like meat and fish, poultry, eggs, and
cheese.
Waste of edible foods, though, still seems to run from
100/o among the poorest people to 150/o among the rich.
If Tucson's statistics were extrapolated nation-wide, a
11111111111111J111111111nnm11111mm1111111111nmnnmm1111nmnmmn111111m1111111111n11

ge-Garbage-Garba~

RIDING WITH RAY

BROWN (59) AND R.C.
CLAYBORNE (28) through
a middle class Los
Angeles community near
the airport, from six to
nine In the morning.

WET: How long have you Can you figure out what
kind of people llve In a
been doing this?
place by their gorbage?
R.C.: Fi ve months.
R.C.: Yeah, sometimes.
Do you like It?
Some are nice people the ones that don't put
out too much rubbish. And
It seems llke real hard 1 some people aren't so
nice - they put out way
work.
R.C.: Well, it is. Especially too m uch rubbish.
w hen you have to do it all How long have you been
doing this work?
day long. Some of these
cans ore so heavy Roy: 23 years.
especially in the
Is It hard work?
Ray: Once you get used to
rainwater gets
it, it's not so bad. For
into them cans.
about the first week your
muscles are sore , but after
that you ' re oka y.
R.C.: Do I like it? Well,
let's put it this way - it's
a job.

Can you tell a lot about

people from their
garbage?

_,,

..e

Oi
0
c

Ray: Everyday we go out

on a different route to a
different part of the city.
Tomorrow we go to Pacific
Palisades so we get a lot
of cut up brush from the
hills. The next day we go

country-with the population of Canada or Egypt could

live off the food that America is throwing away.
MEANWHILE, back ai Sanitation, The Tucson
Garbaeologists are working through the afternoon's
181lfbage. An anthropology student holds up a vegetable
lpeel. "Zucchini?" the student offers, tentatively. One

GarbaeofnMy
of Rathje's assistants steps over and examines the scrap.
"The peel is waxy,,. he points.out. 0 1t's not zucchini
. I'd have to say cucumber." Dutifully, the student
notes it on her Garbage Project Data Form.
After work, the Oarbaeolqgi,sts will adjourn to a local
tavern, Mrs. O'Leary's Cow, to dJsb the garbqe. The
worst smell, everyone agrees, is rancid chicken, with used
fampers running a close second. All the students are
looking forward to this year's Garbaeology costume
party, where everybody comes dreased as their favorite
piece of garbage. Last year's Winner came as a green
olive with a red beanie pimento. Runners-up came as a
box of crackers and as a fruit fly. But Ramie's studeil1"
are serious. Over ISO research papers have emerged

from th~ Garbage Project over the last five years. . .1

Dr. Rathje himself is looking to broaden the base of i
his research. While in Australia recently, at:tcndina a
seminar, Rathje couldn't help browsing throup ~i
of Sydney's garbage cans. Except for the
he says, the garbage could have come from the
.
Tucson. Has Western Society become so homo
j
that problenis of nutrition and solid waste management
are the same from nation to nation? Rathje is now 5
working with the Sydney Municipal Waste Authority to ~
find out some answers. He is also consulting with the i
Mexican aovemment on a garbage research project fn i
Mexico City. And a former assistant of his at the Uni-~
versity of Arizona bas begun sifting through garbqe in
.Milwaukee.
:
Oarbaeology's long-term implications await wider re- j
search. Aside from the quantification of the average i
Tucsonian's waste, at this point the new science's main i
conuibution may Ile in the simple fact that it exists. By i
forcing us to focus attention on our own garbage, we~
are forced to examine our daily activities, andw flnally,
ourselves. Garbaeology, then, may be a step toward'
making human impulse a little more conscious, a Jltde :
more responsible.CJ
by Leroi MacAdama

brand31
I

I
i

.....nm111nmn111n111mn1nnu111111111111n11111111111111m11111111111111111111111m111111n1111111111111111111111111nm11111111111111111111111111111111111mn1111111111111111111111111111111m11uuauu.,

Garbage-Garbage
to the Fairfax area and
we get a lot of row
garbage and food. And
Thursday around near
UCLA in Westwood there
ore all those big lawns
ond'eoch stop hos 12 to
14 cons of cut gross.

Are all of the L.A.

9arbag1t men black?
Roy: We have a few
Mexicans and a few
Caucasians, but basically
it's mostly block.

Why Is that?
Roy: Well it used to be
that white people thought
it was a low paying, hard
working job that wasn 't
right for them to do. So
most of the old-timers
here hove seniority and a
preference for where they
wont to be. An~ they
don't wont to go to the
Volley where it's mainly
Mexican and white now,
because it's too long a
way to drive - ho! hol

Do you ever see things

In the trash that you
want to stop and look at
or keep?
R.C. : Yeah . I sometimes
see magazines I con read
on the way to the dump
or car batteries that I wont
to keep. Bross and things
like that. It all depends on
when I wont to get off
work. If I wont to get off
early I leave those things
alone.

Does garbage really

smell bad?
R.C.: Oh yes - it smells
terrible! Especially when
you get those cans that
hove dog shit on top of
them . . . . You know, it
would be alright if they
put it in a bog or
something.

What else smells bad?

R.C.: Well, cut gross ofter
it's been in the rain and
gets rotten - it just about
knocks you down it's so

powerful.

What's the weirdest

thing you've ever seen
In the trash?
R.C.: A rattlesnake. I'll tell
you, the day I found that
snake in the trash was 'the
day they just about lost on
employee. I'm scored of
snakes.

What's the strangest

thing you've ever seen
In the garbage?
Roy: Oh, about 18 years
ago when I was working
in South Central L.A. I
found a little, tiny baby in
on empty meat package.

WET: How long have you

been doing this?
Joe: 24 years right here in
Beverly Hills.

Do you find a lot of

interesting stuff?
Joe: Oh yeah, well ...

What are some of the

more unusual things
you've found?

The Men

Who Pick Up
Your Garbage
Beverly Hills

RIDING WITH JOE VILLA

(43) on a route that
includes the homes of
Sidney Poitier, Nancy
Sinatra, Sammv. Davis
Jr., Tony Curtis, Racquel
Welsh , Jack Lemmon,
Fred Astaire, Priscilla
Presley, Michael Landon,
Ricardo Montalban , etc.,
etc., from seven to ten
In the morning.

Garbage

Joe: Now, I can't te ll you

that. We find all kinds of
1hings here, you know, but
mostly we turn it in - ha,
ha!

Where do you live?

Joe: Van Nuys by Reseda.

What do you like to do

when you're not
working?
Joe: Well, I've got a
camper and I go fishing
w ith m y w ife and
grandson.

What kinds of gifts do

you get from the people
on your routes for
Christmas?
Joe: Mostly envelopes ha ho.

Is there any social

discrimination against
being a garbage
collector?
Joe: N ot really. But
sometimes young people
cover their nose and
mouth with the ir hands
when they poss and you
kinda feel depressed and
bad. Even though this is
the stuff we have to pick
up,, you know, for them.a
*Rumor has it that valuable
gold, diamond and other
precious stone jewels
have been found - and
kept - from these Beverly
Hills garbage cans. Not to
mention the cash, antique
furniture, etc., that are also
accidently thrown out (and
never heard from again ha, ha).

Garba

Do you wish you had a

lot of money like these
people?
Joe: Oh yeah.

What would you do with

it?
Joe: I'd do the same as
they d o.

_____________...______

~~~

CRIATIYI MITHODOLOGllSa When a :Saua1 prmce wuru" iv

imyv1 ...........,_.

0 -

__

the Sahara, or when economically savvy juntas wart to exploit the Amazon basin,
they have these long-established institutions to help them out.

Thinktanks weren't the fruit of philosophy departments they were army brats from the very beginning.
What they thought about, mostly,
was how to kill.
31

Yu

HAVE ALREADY
SEEN a thinktank or two, whether you know it or not.
They' re those cool-looking institutions you pick up on
your highway optical periphery - strictly solid-state
buildings, tastefully divorced from certain American
freeways by zones of cropped lawn or turquoise-tinted
crushed gravel.
You might have thought you were passing a school, or
a mental institution, or some super-secret government
plant, where "authorized personnel" put tiny computers
in the nosecones of missiles. You might have been right
on all counts.
In the nineteen- fifties and sixties, the first of these
strange chimneyless factories started appearing in Santa
Monica, California, near the aircraft plants. Others
popped up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, along route
128. More of them grew in the bureaucratic belt surrounding Washington, D.C. - from Langley, Virginia,
to Silver Springs, Maryland. Then the weirdest thinktanks of them all started sprouting in that once-fertile orchardland between San Jose and San Francisco - the asphalt-redwood-and-heavy-metal zone known as Silicon
VaUey.
There are now dozens of different varieties of thinktank, representing every shade of the political and theoretical spectrum. They have names like RAND, MITRE,
Battelle Memorial Institute, Systems Development Corporation, The Hudson Institute, The Institute for Policy

By Howard Rheingold
Studies, Arthur D. Little Company, The Futures Group,
The Brookings Institute, SRI International, Sandia Laborat9ry. Some of them are software factories, where all
anybody does is think, talk, and write. Others are hardware specialists, where vital pieces of aerospace or
doomsday gadgetry are assembled in shielded rooms adjoining the thinkers' corridors. You have your rightwing, deep-in-the-heart-of-the-military-industrial-complex. thinktanks, where thermonuclear games are played,
psychological warfare operations are launched, and real,
live cities are targeted. There are also left-wing thinktaoks, like the one the Watergaters wanted to blow up
(Brookings}, and the one where the Chilean secret police
succeeded in blowing up their former secretary of Defense (Institute for Poiicy Studies).
The thinking business is a megabuck-per-minute,
thickly influential world which is largely unknown to the
outside population. The obscurity of this industry is deliberate, of course: paranoia, anonymity, and low profiles are old battlefield habits, and they die hard. It all
goes back to the war: the first thinktank, historically and
spiritually, w.as the Manhattan Project team. All subsequent generations of thinktanks have been the conceptual
descendants of that legendary era - when the greatest
scientific minds in the western world were gathered together on a lonely, tightly-guarded mesa in New Mexico,
given unlimited funds, and ordered to make a very big,
very hot bomb.

.-

~>11 Are Wl1at

~>u 'fl1rc>w Away
1'he inventor of 9arbolo9y lool<s it1to tl1e
W<>rlds ntost exclusi\1e trasl1 cans by J\.J. "'eber111a11
In tus new book, My Life in Garbology (to
be published in November by StonehillJ, A.].
Weberman literally blows the lid on the
secret lives of the rich. famous and powerful. His quest /or a more personal truth
beyond the glittering fa cades led the intrepid investigator to invent a whole new
science- and in the process, he raked together what may be the best portrait yet of
our times. So, hold your nose and take a
peek into A./. 's hefty bag . . .
ne day in September 1970, Ann
Duncan and I were on our way to
( ) the Cafe Gaslight on MacDougal
Street and we happened to pass Bob
Dylan's town house. For four long years I
had been studying Dylan's poetry, trying
to crack the code of his symbolism. AB I
eyed the home of this reclusive poet
I wondered what went down behind the
door that Dylan had slammed in my face.
Just then I noticed Dylan's shiny new steel
garbage can and said to myself, "Now,
there's something that was inside and now
it's outside." I lifted the lid, reached in and
extracted a half-finished letter written by
Bob Dylan himself to Johnny Cash. "Ann,
this is no garbage can," I shouted. "Thia is
a gold mine!" Thereby was garbology
founded
Garbology, as we know it today, is the
study of human personality and contemporary civilization through the analysis of
garbage, and is also known as "garbanalysis.''
The basic premise of garbology is "You
Are What You Throw Away": Garbage is
a reflection of life. Every living thing gives
off waste. Living matter excretes; it is a
natural, universal process, basic to life itself. The more sophisticated the organism,
the more sophisticated the waste it produces. Garbologis\s, however, do not study
urine or feces, even though they are human wastes. We leave this to the medical
profession and the CIA, which has been
known to analyze the excretions of foreign
leaders in order to get an accurate picture
72

of their health. Garbologists stick to other

types of human trash for objects of study:
refuse, garbage, the ragbag, the dustbin,
the junk pile, the trash heap, etc. Archaeologists sift through this kind of stuff, too,

Martha Mitchell's garbage

included Salem-cigarette
butts with lipstick prints
that, when examined,
verified that Martha had
one of the biggest
mouths in America.
but only if it is ancient The garbologist
finda his research material on the street
today (or, usually, early in the morning)
and from it he derives a mirrored image of
human behavior and the modern world we
live in.
After my initial discovery in Dylan's
garbage (more about this rich find later) I
realized that this method of research had
great potential. The lives of the rich,
famous and powerful could be penetrated,
great secrets revealed, plain truths
brought to light from beneath the glittery
facade. Garbology was a new weapon in
the war against lies, injustice and faceless
bureaucracy. The study and analysis of
garbage could possibly alter the course of
history! I resolved at once that aided by
this valuable science I would leave no
stone unturned, no garbage-can lid untilted, in my quest for truth.
Yet, certain thoughts crossed my mind
as my career in garbology blossomed.
Was I trampling on other people's rights?
Was I becoming the very sort of secret
police that I had always opposed? Had I
earned the epithets people threw at me
-"snoop" and "sneak"? Was Bob Dylan
right when he told me, "A.J., you go
through garbage like a pig, man"? I wondered long and hard about this.

But history will absolve garbology. For

it is nothing less than a journalistic technique, and in this post-Watergate world,
the public's right to know is far more important than the privacy of a public figure.
The ethics of garbology are parallel to the
basic ethics of journalism as put forth in
the libel laws; if you are a public figure,
you are fair game. I only garbanalyze the
rich, famous and powerful. It is beneath
the dignity of a distinguished garbologiat
such as myself to dig through the refuse of
any average bozo. When people ask me,
"Hey, A.J., when are you going to analyze
my garbage?" I often reply, "Just as soon
as you stop being a nonentity."
The fact is, however, that America is
starting to wake up to garbage. With
many of our natural resources rapidly disappearing, garbage, be it ever so humble,
is on its way to becoming a highly valuable
commodity. It won't be long, I'm sure, before the commodities exchange begins
trading garbage futures. Garbology is now
taught as a course at several universities.
A professor of anthropology at the Univer
sity of Arizona has his students go through
thousands of bags of garbage, sorted according to socioeconomic background, to
find out if various social stereotypes pan
out. At Queens College in New York City,
Professor Warren DeBoer teaches a similar class called "Traces of Human Behavior." DeBoer's students are attempting to
find out which socioeconomic groups have
the type of trash that is moat amenable to
recycling. The required literature for the
course cites me as the founder of garbology.
Shortly after discovering garbology, the
media discovered me. Esquire magazine
hired me to do a cover story on garbage,
and articles about me began appearing in
Glamour, lngenue and Rolling Stone. The
Associated Press did a feature story that
appeared in hundreds of newspapers
across the country. I began to develop a
nationwide network of garbology "stringers" who sent me reports on local trash. I

From M y Life In Garbology by A. J . Weberman (Stonehl ll Publishing Co., Inc. New York)

~~

'"ment firm, the William Morris Agency, in- marked "To Mr. Onassis" and another
forming him that he'd received a request marked "To John." The only traces of
to do another benefit. Does this guy ever Aristotle were boxes from French cigado any paying gigs? I hope so.
rette filters and half a ticket holder from
On the personal side he has a pet cat Olympic Airways.
Jackie's maid's trash was also there. It
(wrapper from cat chow); he drinks a little
(Schweppes mixer bottle); and he eats contained a receipt with Jackie's personal
modestly (wrappings from hamburgers telephone number on it. One of these days
and franks and an empty bottle of Seven- I'm going to call Jackie and ask her for a
Up ). He has a daughter named Nancy who date!
likes to play tick-tack-toe, and Havens is a
pretty good artist judging from the sketch I
found. Richie's righteous rubbish was
lopped off by ten broken guitar strings, Muhammad Ali is perhaps the most
testimony to his passionate, exuberant famous man in the world. Despite this, Ali
style of guitar playing.
gave his garbage to my associate, Ann
Duncan, after she rang the doorbell and
asked him for it.
The Alis live in a yellow stucco house in
Getting Jackie's junk was no easy task. Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The house is surTwo servants had once been fired for sell-.. rounded by a wall and statues of donkeys,
ing Jackie's panties for $1,000 each and I ' Mexicans and blacks-a bit garish when
was sure she suffered from chronic gar- compared to the colonial homes and landbanoia.
seeping of their neighbors. Their garbage
In July 1973, Jackie's junk was kept looks different, too, and it's really great
behind iron bars at 1040 Fifth Avenue un- that. despite Ali's wealth, he stills grooves
til the trashman was about to arrive, so I on Shabazz bean pie and corn bread. The
had to get up at the crack of dawn and cans of black-eyed peas and collards
face 20 bags of trash, only one of which made with pork were discarded unbelonged to Jackie. While I was slitting opened; I guess because Muslims aren't
each bag With the razor blade I had supposed to eat pig.
No wonder Ali gave the trash to Ann.
brought along, an old lady who lived on the
ground floor of Jackie's building spotted He had nothing to bide-he is everything
me. She called the superintendent who he claims to be.
The rest of Ali's trash was uninterestwanted to know what the hell I was doing.
"Hey. mister," I insisted, "I don't want to ing and unconnected with prizefighting.
go through this junk. But I have to do it for Ali may be the Greatest, but bis trash ceran ecology class in college. If I don't I tainly wasn't!
might not graduate and could end up
BAC~S
becoming a super like you!" Fifteen slits
later I discovered Jackie's trash stash
when I saw a letter from the Hyannisport Although I have been in contact with AbYacht Club addressed to " Mrs. A. bie Hoffman since he became an underOnassis." Near this unopened envelope ground fugitive in 1973, I have not asked
was another reminder that I was gar- him for his trash. This is one case where
banalyzing a former first lady-a bag privacy is a matter of life and death.
from a pharmacy with the label reading,
Abbie has always been one of my idols.
"Mrs. Whitehouse, 1040 Fifth Avenue."
He fought for civil rights in the South durThere were two Brut champagne bot- ing the early '60s, helped make street thetles (vintage 1966) and one Cote De Beaune ater an art and was a leader of the demVillages bottle (vintage 1969). Typically, onstrations at the Democratic National
there were empty perfume bottles-Estee Convention in Chicago, '68. Abbie has
Lauder Sport Fragrance Spray, perfumed become a legend in his own time.
lavender bath scent, a refillable spray
I first garbanalyzed Abbie in 1971 when
container of Chanel No. 5 and an Avon he was under intense government surveilFashion Figurine that once held Field lance, and I decided that rather than havFlowers cologne. There was dental floss, ing to compete with such agencies as the
toothpaste and five empty packs of Am- FBI and the Red Squad, I'd just ask him for
' bassador cigarettes; Welle Care herbal his trash. I went over to his place on 13th
shampoo, Instant Quaker cereal, Melba Street, a tarpaper shack on the roof of a
toast, etc., etc. I also found one of her tall building. "Abbie, I want your garbage,
famous leather gloves, plastic wrappers I'm doing an article about it for Esquire
from panty hose, a perfectly good scarf magazine.''
and two pairs of Jackie's pantyhose, one
"A.J.. " he answered in his combination
of which I am wearing as I type this.
Lenny Bruce-New Englander accent, "Ya
I also found some ribbons with "Happy want my gahbage? Tell ya what, I'll make
13th, John" and "Sweet Sixteen, Caroline" ya up a list of things I throw away and give
written on them in glitter along with a piece ya some stuff to put in and make it look
of stationery with "John Kennedy, Jr. " really fah-out, okay, A.J.?" I was hoping
printed on the bottom of it. There was a he'd just walk into his pad and come out
wrapper from a famous European jeweler, with the garbage but if that was the way

Abbie wanted it, that was the way it was

going to be.
A couple of days later I returned to his
penthouse and picked up the stuff he
wanted me to plant in his rubbish (pomade
from North Vietnam, a hitchhiking ticket,
Dear Abbie fan letters, and the like) with

J\AUHAMMAD'S MESS

JAGOUELINE'S JUNM.

ABBIE'S

Political rubbish from Abbie's cons.

some handwritten instructions and suggestions regarding his simulated trash.

Here's part of that document, a verbatim
account of Abbie's fantasy garbage.
1. American Airlines Envelope. Say.
"That 's interesting 'cause in
Woodstock Nation he'd said he 'd
never fly Amerikon again 'cause
they Jet the FBI go through his bags."
2. Cans of asparagus, peas, etc. Say,
"They probably both cook, 'cause he
was once q chef in a s ummer camp."
3. Cans of bacon fat. Say, "Most freaks
pour it down the drain and hope it
clogs the pipes. but Abbie has real
homing instinct."

4. Half-finished manuscript. Say, "Must

be Anita working on her next
book-her first was called Trashing-since Abbie doesn't type.
5. Torn flag. Say, "There's a warrant
out for Abbie in Kansas for blowing
his nose in a flag. When he had his
flag-shirt case people sent him hundreds of flags-his kid, america. due
.July 4th, will have /lag-diapers."
6. Moxie bottle. Say, "Remember in
Revolution for the Hell of It he wrote
Moxie was his favorite drink?"
7. Record Club Bills. Soy, "See how
they're addressed to different
names? Abbie must be rippin' them
off."
8. Hitchhiking ticket. Say, "Judging
from the date-April 19-and the
location-Connecticut-Abbie was
(co nlinuccl

on r ogn 101 )
77

...

r ~

trash that was distinctly Bella's. I noticed

something that instantly triggered the
muck alarm in my brain: an annual report
addressed to her from Litton Industries
and an IBM card from American Machine
Foundries, Jnc.(AMF}, with her name and
account number printed on it. Both these
giant conglomerates specialize in producing complex weapons systems for the
United States military.
Bella had made a political career out of
opposing the war in Vietnam and had
been instrumental in winning the votes of
the liberal constituency of her congressional district. Shortly after her election to
Congress the Republican-Oominated state
legislature gerrymandered her district out
of existence. This political mugging only
made Bella more popular with New York
City's voters, and her election was virtually
assured in the congressional race. I was in
a unique position. Here the election was
just a week away and I was in possession
of political dynamite. I'd uncovered the
fact that Bella Abzug owned war stock.
Since I am always willing to give people
like Bella the benefit of the doubt I called
her office and asked them to read me a list
of the stocks she owned. The gentleman informed me she had shares in a shoe factory, a cement plant, e lc.-but be didn't
say a word about Litton Industries or
AMF. It looked like a cover-up lo me. I
made a -crucial decision. Much as I liked
Bella and everything she stood for, I cannot tolerate hypocrisy. I was angry. I felt
lied to, cheated, ripped off. bamboozled.
And what about her constituents, the people who believed in Bella, who voted for
her because they hated the damned war
and wanted it stopped? A bunc h of
chumps!
So I held a press conference the day
before the election. The response lo it was
generally along political lines-the conservative Daily News interviewed me and
took my picture while the liberal CBS-TV
newspeople wouldn't touch the story, a ccusing me of working for Nixon. Middleof-the-road WNEW.'.fV News sent a film
crew to my press conference and gave the
story a lot of play. The leaser before the
news came on that night sounded like this:
"Garbage researcher finds evidence of
war-stock ownershlp in Bella Abzug's
trash. 'Interview with Muhammad Ali.
Next on the Ten O'Clock Nightly News."
The story they ran went something like
this: " A.J. Weberman, the man who
spends a Jot of Ws lime studying the contents of people's garbage, came up with
some startling papers in congressionalhopeful Bella Abzug's trash." (Cut to shot
of me lifting the lid off Bella's barrel.) The
reporter pointed his microphone at me
and I told him all I knew, after whlch the
filin switched to some shots of Bella doing
some last-minute campaigning. The reporter explained, "We confronted Ms. Abzug with these charges whlle she mingled
with voters in Upper Manhattan." The

76

film cut to Bella. "The stock is owned jointly by myself and my husband. It's wrong to
profit from tbis dirty we r. I guess you can't
hide anything anymore and ya can't win
'em all."
The evidence I presented was overwhelming. Bella held a press conference.
Her public-relations man had to admit,
"We don't know what stocks she owns
anymore." The Associated Press carried
the story and the American public's garbage consciousness was raised a couple of
notches; people were beginning to get an
inkling of just bow powerful garbage really is. It nearly altered the course of a congressional election.

the rubbish, poking around with a pocket

flashlight, and walked on.
From the look on Ws face he must have
thought I was a government agent and if
he assaulted me he would have to face
federal charges.
Had I been a federal agent. I might have
tried to make a case against Mailer for
violating the gambling statutes, since Ws
trash was filled with betting slips.
The trash also contained an itinerary
for a college lecture tour, remains of instant foods, steel wool, a cheese wrapper,
empty toilet-paper rolls and a newspaper

DUSTll'fS DUS1'Bli\IS
Dustin Hoffman is a great actor; in my opinion, he's the new Bogart. I especially liked
him in Midnight Cowboy, in his role as
"Ratso," a New York City sleazoid who
just about starved to death. Too bad Ratso
couldn't go through Dustin's trash, because that guy throws away more good
food than you could shake a knife and fork
at!
I found ham, ch eese, hamburger, Oriental sauces, potatoes, lettuce-you name it
- in that can, enough to have a picnic in
front of it every day! Repeated garbanalyses revealed that cause of disposal was
never mold or staleness. Hoffman just
wasted good food. On top of that. the actor
is sort of a health nut with junk-food tendencies. I found wrappers from natural
foods. such as unbleached sugar, organic
sunflower seeds, rice a nd cashew nuts
mixed in with empty pop bottles, candy
wrappers and stale whlte bread. I guess
he just can't resist that good old junk food.
The most interesting piece was a Xerox
copy or an insurance investigator's report
on Dustin that had somehow got into his
hands. It said the actor suffered from
"unsecurity" and saw a $70-an-hour psychiatrist four times a week!
It was downhlll from there: cat and dog
food, Players Club House passes to tennis
games and an empty bottle from a common antibiotic (the insurance report said
he had "a minor acne condition of the
back"}. Mrs. Hoffman attends the French
Institute, owns a black cashmere dress
that cost $180 at Bloomingdale's, wears
Diane Love perfume ($28) and has conside red sending he r daughter to Fowler
Ballet School, which is natural since Mrs.
Hoffman is a former ballerina.

MAILER'S MUCK
Norman Mailer has a reputation for being
a highly volatile figure, and I approached
his Brooklyn Heights town house with extreme caution. To put it bluntly I didn't
want lo get punched out!
My worst fears were realized when he
spotted me one night while I was rifling
his cans. Mailer looked at me standing in

Mailer: A trashy portrait of the macho

novelis t.

clipping with a picture of Mailer. I used

this newsprint photo as a model for a
garb-art portrait of Mailer that is reproduced here.
Mailer had macho garbage and definitely is what-he throws away.

RICHIE'S
RlGH'fEOUS RUB ISH
When some of my friends heard I was
after Havens's heap they told me to lay off
because "he doesn' t deserve garbology."
They explained that Havens was a kid
from the poor Bedford-Stuyvesant section
of Brooklyn who had played for nickels
and dimes in the Village's dingy cafes for
years before he finally got a record contract. He had paid his dues. His songs
often attacked war and racism and he frequently performed at benefit concerts. I
told them not to worry. It is a status symbol
in the rock world to have A.J. Weberman
steal your garbage!
A few days later I was in front of his
Greenwich Village town house. I scooped
up his trash and schlepped It to nearby
Washington Square Park where I performed a public garbanalysis on it whlle
street singer David Peel and the Yippies
looked on. The first thing I found was a
note thanking Riehle for doing a benefit
for Americans for Children Relief. Near
tbis was a letter from Richie's manage-

'

...

~..#"

You Are What

You Throw Away
(con Un u ed fr om page 77)

e-zwider-

probably hitchin ' to Bobby Seales's

trial in New Ha ven. Funny he got
busted-Steel This Book has a
chapter on how to avoid this."

9. Dear Abbie letters. Say. "One from

on eleven year old who wonts to
blow up his school and one f rom
Oklahoma f or a moil-order copy of
Steal This Book 'cause no bookstore
will carry it!"

Abbie wanted me lo collect or forge all

these items, then photogra ph them as his
garbage! I had qualms a bout the ethics involved in fa bricating ga rbologlcal evidence, so I went back to his pad along with
a photographer lo get some of the real
thing, and was about to Libe rate it when
Abbie's wife appeared. I told her tha t
before Abbie left to go on his current
speaking lour, he said it was cool fo r me lo
take the trash. Thal fooled her. Steal this
trash!
The difference between his imaginary
garbage and the real thing wasn't that
great and I concluded in my Esquire piece
that Abbie lived up to his rhetoric because
"there were no empty caviar tins in his
trash." Actually, the many orange peels,
the roses, the box from a ritzy pastry shop
and Anita 's expensive nightgown all
pointed to a contradiction, since Yippies
were supposed to lead a more earthy lifestyle. Also, the papers in his real garbage
were much straighter than such items as
the hitchhiking ticket he wanted me to put
in his simulated trash. For example, a
model release from an Esquire photographer, an estimate on the cost of put?
lishing Steal This Book ($13,000) and a
prophetic memo to meet Izak Haber at a
luncheonette. Izak would later claim he
was the real author of Steal This Book.
Generally speaking, Abbie was relatively righteous at the time he was subjected to garbanalysis, and I found my phone
number-Abbie had given a speech at the
Dylan birthday party-along with Dave
Peel's, phone numbers belonging lo antiwar organizer Dave Dellinger, feminist
Kate Millet, radical attorney William
Kunstler end Black Panther defendant
Lonnie Mclucas. There was also a page
from a manuscript about the similarities
between the Yippies and Black Panthers,
which concluded: "We both agree that
revolution is inevitably armed struggle
and that revolutionary violence is the only
thing a system in power cannot absorb."
Another political piece of rubbish was a
reminder Abbie wrote himself to be at a
press conference he was holding on the
Capitol steps in r egard to the charges he
was facing for allegedly inciting the May
Day, 1971, Garbage Riot! C

Biii& Cill IAHIH

GONESH
INCENSE

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...._

on them. I examined these stains with a

micrometer and verified the widespread
belief that Martha had one of the biggest
mouths in America. Many of the butts
were smoked only halfway and there
were hundreds of them scattered about,
along with empty Salem packs and cartons. There was a $7 price tag from a new
pair of size 32-medium panties Martha
had recently purchased, which read,
"Olga-The First Lady of Underfashions." Martha drank Tanqueray imported "
English gin, with Schweppes tonic, and
Canada Dry ginger ale. I came across several pages of handwritten numbers (a
score sheet from some parlor game), Dole
pineapple cans, Lady Scott toilet paper
and toilet-bowl deodorant. Martha's mail
included a questionnaire from Time magazine and a letter from the Women's National Republican Club. All in all, the kind
of boring garbage characteristic of
women who spend a lot of time at home.
I went back next morning and found an
entire box full of trash that the former attorney general had covered with five
copies of the Washington Post that he
seemed to have obtained from his neighbor, Kennedy-clan member Stephen
Smith. John had the New York Times delivered each day, and bought the Daily News
and the New York Post at the newsstand.
Many of the articles in these newspapers
concerned Mitchell, although very few
were cut up. It didn't look like he was
keeping a scrapbook. I also found four
empty bottles-two of Dewar's Scotch,
one of Ballantine Scotch and another of
Smirnoff vodka. During the Watergate
hearings, John Ehrlichman testified that
Mitchell was in a bad state of health and
was drinking heavily. Here was the evidence. The remains of a Mitchell meal
were scattered about-several empty
cans of Campbell's soup, some millc cartons, Campbell's franks and beans,
chicken bones, Baskin-Robbins ice cream,
Coke bottles and Seven-Up cans. His preference was apparently for jllilk food
Next came the good stuff-letters
-and plenty of them! Mitchell had had to
give his address on national television so
he received a good deal of mail. One letter
read, "If I had my way the lot of you would
be stood against the wall. If I live long
enough, I'm going to see it." Another one
asked, "All the lawyers we saw on TV
were gay. Are you?" All of these letters
and postcards had been ripped to shreds
and some of the pieces had been withheld
from garbification. Only two of them were
intact. One read, "Just for the record I
believe Richard Nixon knew about the
Watergate cover-up and also that worry
has helped to make him ill. I'm one of Martha's greatest admirers. She would never
lie. Ha! Ha! Hal" The other was written
over John's picture as published in a
small-town Florida newspaper: "You're a
damned criminal-may you end up in the
penitentiary."

There were three favorable letters in

Mitchell's load; one of them came from a
small farm in Nebraska. It was nearly illegible and quite illiterate, but after
deciphering, it read: "Please stand on
testmony i look at that mess evey day. the
cross fire you all you all Masson 33
Degree put it to them Make Evey one pay
bigs fine all so John Deen put a start to it
Make you 3 man all pay a fih poor presse
dint ... "The letter also contained a few
pages of literature from the Rev. Gerald
L.K. Smith, an anti-Semitic right-wing
preacher, which was carefully underlined
for the former attorney general's enlightenment. Such were his supporters.
I also found a small scrap of Mitchell's
most intimate notes on the Watergate affair. When I was on a television show
hosted by Martha Mitchell she told me

.f'"""'-',..

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The MitcheUs trash exposed some of

Washington's greatest garbage.

that she insisted that her husband threw

away his important papers a little at a
time to thwart souvenir seekers. Martha
insisted that I couldn't have got her garbage and brought a sample of it along to
compare with her garb-art portrait. If the
garbage wouldn't have matched up, I
would have been ruined. But the trash
was almost identical and Martha had to
admit that I had snatched her slops.
Perhaps the most historically significant piece of trash was a manila envelope
from the United States Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities that bore the signature of Sam Ervin,
Jr., in place of a postage stamp. It probably
contained his subpoena to testify before
the Watergate Committee!
BELL/~S

BJ.\RREL

Bella Abzug lost her most recent bid for

Congress in 1978, but for a longtime, "Battling Bella" was one of the most influential
women in the country. She's always been
on the left side of the political seen!'!. coming out of the labor-movement tradition,
leading the Women's Strike for Peace

against the Vietnam War and working

hard for good social legislation regarding
the rights of minorities and women. For
this reason, I've always respected Bella,
since my sympathies lie in the same direction. But nobody in the public eye is immune to garbology. That's why I started to
focus on Bella's barrel. But there were
problems right from the start.
Ten years of garbological experience
have brought me to the conclusion that
America's greatest garbanoids are feminists. Take the case of Kate Millet, author
of Sexual Politics, who happens to live near
the National Institute of Garbology. I spent
three years trying to find her heap and the
closest I've come to it was some unidentifiable trash with paper plates in it. I have
also been unable to obtain Ms. magazine
founder Gloria Steinem's slops despite
repeated predawn raids on lier can.
The National Institute of Garbology has
devised several methods designed to cure
garbanoia. One of them is "daily garbological profiling"-No-Stop De-Garbification! Sooner or later the garbage will turn
up!
Bella was exposed to this sort of scrutiny for about one month. Around the time
of the 1972 congressional elections, something turned up-a small paper bag on the
bottom of the barrel. which I eagerly
scraped up.
Having been strung out for Bella's jllilk
for nearly a month I had to eyeball some of
it immediately. I discovered, much to my
dismay, that it was a man's garbage
-cardboard stiffeners from professionally laundered shirts, containers from
foods that required little in the way of
preparation, a tube from an expensive
cigar. There was also a series of memos
from C.B. Richard Securities, Inc., which
confirmed my suspicions that much of the
trash belonged to Bella's husband, Martin,
the stockbroker.
The rest consisted of a bulletin from a
drug-plasma plant, a luggage catalog, a
gas-and-electric bill for $22.76, a note on a
sheet of yellow, legal-sized paper that
read, "Katy Industry (pfd) 36o/4," and
some football slips from the office. He also
had some duplicate receipts from a local
pharmacy for items like Listerine mouthwash (she's got a big mouth] and Miltown
tranquilizers (she's very excitable]. There
were notes reading, "Monday Lamstons [a
local five-and-ten-cent store] buy 2 pillow
cases"; "Clean my suit"; "Sat-Detroit";
"Sunday-Cincinatti"; "Sat-see Bella in
morning/Peter Weiss re: Dellums Viet
platform." Aha, left-wing peacenik
political garbage!
There was some of the Abzugs' son's
stuff in the trash-a bulletin from Hunter
College and a request for money from the
Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. Their daughter Eve was represented-an unpaid bill from Boston University.
Finally I got down to the part of the
75

...

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Illustration and photos Stonehlll Communications, Inc.

prbolopal (is

!ft>QlOdy;t). Also garbiologist.

] A dustman.

[f. GARBAGWE sb. ;I- ~~YG!5J'.;t. 103/1 R<'.A tells us

t~ N .Z. , O""!" s . ,
4)66 N"1J ScUtol"I 13 Jan.

fast

of their local garbi~le>glS'!i

we<k called himself .
97/3 On~ dust~n
26 Sept. 23/4 WBas~~....
b
garbologtst. ~ .
b ness. No wonder ~
now big tecl1111colo$1cal g ~ have themselves ollic1ally
dustmen are camI!aig!'-10
renamed 'garbologists .

R:.,: r-

A SUPPLEMENT TO THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY

- -- .. . . .
a!>8tD lMTY Kint Guests:
-

t-proclalmed
garbologlst
n J . Webberman; ABC News
lte House correspondent
am 0onalds0n. 90 mlns.

--

was imitated by Jack Anderson, Robin

Moore and other journalists. In order to
stay ahead of the competition I was forced
to train an associate garbologist-Aron
Morton Kay (who would later achieve
notoriety as the man who throws pies at
celebrities).
With Kay in the field I could devote my
time to setting up the National Institute of
Garbology, where advanced research and
development could be facilitated The institute is located at 6 Bleeclcer Street in
Manhattan (telephone 212-477-6243) and
is not open to the general public although
inquiries are welcome. Some of the most
significant garbage on file at the institute
has been reprinted in this book. Each individual collection of garbage represents
months of study and research. But more
than that, each is the result of action,
sometimes perilous, sometimes hilarious,
but always adventurous.

fornia that read, "Marie will turn to the

wind and ask where heroin is available."
Very strange, indeed
My next big revelation was that Dylan
and I both shopped at the same Grand
Union supermarket! A second layer of
kitchen castoffs contained the packagings
from Grand Union-brand sweet butter
and Grand Union-brand eggs, as well as a
Grand Union shopping bag, chiclcen bones,
an empty milk carton, green peas, an
empty Balanced apple-juice bottle, and
some balled-up aluminum foil. Dylan's
dog, Sasha, was evidently fed a diet of
Gaines burgers and Ken-L Ration. And that
was literally the bottom of that first
barrel.
Essentially, the mythic Bob Dylan-romantic. revolutionary, visionary-was dispelled forever by thorough garbanalysis.
,.,.... ..;
I

BOB DYLAN'S
Sl.000.000 'rRASH
After recovering from my shock and joy at
finding an actual handwritten letter by
my favorite poet in the trash can, I pulled
myself together and began digging deeper,
just barely aware that I was opening up
the first chapter of a brand-new science. I
confess, though, that the overpowering
odor of decaying food, raw onions, dirty
diapers and dogshit was a strong argument for turning back. Nevertheless, I
pushed onward because I knew that "the
answer was blowing in the wind."
My fantasy was tliat I would find first
drafts of Dylan's poetry or a Rosetta stone
that would unlock the secrets of his symbolism. But the reality, as I began sorting
through the bags, was a harsh one, especially when I hit a layer of disposable diapers. It reminded me that Dylan and his
wife Sara had just recently had their
fourth child Dylan is traditional in that
respect, producing a kid every year, a big
family man, just like my cousin, Rabbi
Phineus Weberman. Phineus is super-Orthodox and has fifteen children. To my
mind, the dirty diapers were a good example of Dylan's late-'60s conservatism.
I made my way down through a layer of
kitchen refuse-vegetable cans, Blimpie
wrappers, coffee grounds. His eating
habits seemed normal enough. No evidence of "brown rice, seaweed or a dirty
hot dog."
Further on, I discovered a form letter to
the Dylans from the Little Red School
House (around the corner on Bleeclcer
Street) thanking parents for contributing
to one of the school's funds. The fact that
Dylan sent his kids there was interesting
because the Little Red School House is
where the children of upper-middle-class
and rich liberals of Greenwich Village go.
Next, I stumbled upon a fragment of a
fan letter to Dylan from someone in Cali74

Dylan's pickings: dog food. diapers and

domestic dredge.

Instead, he was revealed to be a typically

upper-middle-<:lass family man with very
ordinary, day-to-Oay household concerns.
From his pail I gathered bills from the vet
concerning treatment of Sasha's upset
stomach; invitations to Sara to attend private sales at exclusive department stores;
dozens of mail-0rder cosmetic offers and
all the high-fashion magazines addressed
to Sara; a package from Bloomingdale's
addressed to one of Dylan's many pseudonyms and charged to Sara Dylan's account. I also found a bill from the Book-0fthe-Month Club, and a memo to Bob Dylan
regarding the upcoming monthly meeting
of the MacDougal Street Garden Association.
But nowhere did I find any evidence
that Dylan was at all interested in politics,
causes, activism or world affairs. And at
that time, you'll recall, the war in Vietnam
was still raging. Nixon was in office, four
students had been killed earlier in the
year at Kent State and the six o'clock
news made it difficult to escape the endless stream of atrocities and injustices.
Yet, it seemed to me that Dylan had come a
long way from the days when he wrote

~:>-

"Gates of Eden," "Masters of War" an~

"Blowin' in the Wind." The only remotely
political piece of trash I was able to find in
his garbage was a poster from upstate
New York with a personal note on it from
a local folksinger in Woodstock, asking
Dylan to please vote in the upcoming election for this particular Democratic county
committeeman.

WATERGA'l'E GARBAGE
Watergate was the greatest political scandal in America since Teapot Dome. It afforded endless opportunities for investigative reporting on the people who run
America and the kinds of corruption with
which the government is often riddled. As
a garbologist I became keenly interested
in all political garbage that was uncovered during the Watergate scandal,
and decided to uncover some of it myself.
I was particularly interested in obtaining the trash of John Mitchell. A New York
lawyer, Mitchell had been appointed attorney general by his friend Richard Nixon in 1968. For over four years he was the
head of the Justice Department, and as
such he was in charge of the FBI, the nation's elite corps of pseudogarbologists. I
thought it was about time to turn the
tables on Mitchell.
His wife, Martha, was another matter,
however. Martha Mitchell had declared,
before the whole scandal broke, that
something "dirty" was going on in the Nixon administration. In other words, she had
the dirt that I was after. But unlike so
many others. I never got a phone call from
Martha, so I would have to resort to other
means.
In August 1973, the Mitchells were living together at 1030 Fifth Avenue. At the
time, John Mitchell had resigned from office and was testifying before the House
and arrived on target a t precisely 7:30. I
stood across the street. pretending to be
waiting for a bus, while I watched the
building superintendent stack about fifty
green bags in a neat pile. When he'd
finished. I walked over and very casually
began making tiny incisions in each bag
with a pocketknife in order to facilitate
identification.
At last. I hit pay dirt; it was a piece of
junk mail addressed to John Mitchell.
Working fast now, I whipped a spare liner
out of my pocket, poured the Mitchells'
muck into it, filled their trash liner with
nearby garbage and returned it to the
same place in the pile. I was determined
that my quarry would not find out he was
being garbanalyzed. This time there was
going to be a lot of garbage for me to look
at. John Mitchell, ex-attorney general, was
going to be garbanalyzed to the fullest extent of the garbological law.
The garbage belonged almost exclusively to Martha. It even had a sample of
her bleached-blond hair along with many
Salem-<:igarette butts with lipstick prints

INCONTRO CON ARMAN, L'ARTISTA 'CHE TRASFORMA

I.
Di notte , ci spiega ii pittore e scultore
franco-spagnolo Armand Fernandez, noto co- /
me Arman, rubo la spazzatura di New York
o di Parigi per creare sculture e gio,ielli avvolti .
nella plastica I doganieri, un tempo, ~
volevano impedirmi di portare le immondizie
da un paese all'altro: temevano esalazioni e
contagi Certo non si tratta d'arte, e un
grido d'allarme: finiremo sepom da montagne
di rifiuti che non riusciamo piu a smaltire?
di LORENZO VINCENTI
F oto dl EROS BIA V ATI
Milano , dicembre

rmand Fernandez, in arte semplicemente Arman,

anni 46, francese di discendenza spagnola, ha trovato il sistema di sbarcare molto
bene il lunario rubando le
spazzature, i rifiuti delle grandi citta, Parigi o New York,
che poi dispone secondo un
certo ordine dentro contenitorL di plastica vendendo il tutto

GIOIELLI DI CICCA

Milano. Tre esemplari di gioielli creati dall'artista francese

Arman con cicche, pennini e oggetti d'uso corrente. Questi gioielli sono quotati da un milione e 200 mila lire a 2 milioni ciascuno. Arman, nato 46 anni fa in
Francia, espone le sue opere, sino alla fine di dicembre, alla galleria Borgogna di Milano.

per svariati milioni al "pezzo >.

Capelli e barba precocemen.
te ingrigiti, occhi vivi, fisico
snello (si nutre di erbe, non
beve alcolici, pratica il Kungfu-nu-su, o pugilato cinese),
Arman e tra i superstiti del
l'avanguardia artistica che
scandalizzo l'Europa durante
gli annj Cinquanta e Sessanta
con un pirotecnico susseguirsi
di trovate. :E storia di ieri eppure sembra che sia gia trascorso un secolo. A Milano
operava Piero Manzoni, che
continua:zione alla pag. 56

Una delle opere pm eflicaci

VENER I:.. ve NALE Milano.
di Arman: .. Venere di dollari ,. , in
plexiglas. Si boleggia la giovane donna che, pur di afiermarsi,
usa il suo c po come uno strumento. Quotazione: 4 milioni.
\
.
I

CONTRO IL- CONSUMISMO

~ilano. :11'man, esponente. del nuovo realis~o sorto

Francia attorno agli aD.lll Sessanta, e noto m campo

internazionale per le sue " opere costruite disponendo in un certo ordine le spazzature dentro
grandi, spessi involucri di plastica. Ecco un particolare, per la verita piuttosto sconcertante.
Ill

NOVEMBER 1971
PRICE $1

You are

what you throw away.

Secret garbage reports on:
Bob Dylan
Muhammad Ali
Abbie Hoffman
Neil Simon

See page 113

THE MAGAZINE FOR MEN

....

f!7/u ~/&/' <;JJ~d1ape ~dJ

You are what you tlirow away
Before you can aslc, let's tell y ou. Y es, this is the A . ] . Weberman famous for his critical exegesis of Bob Dylan. Y es, this
is the A . ]. W eberman who went through D ylan's garbage in
search of knowledge. Y es, we have hired him to look through
the kitchen middens of the notable. Yes, we're about to show
you what h e found. No, nothing is sacred.

,11.

II

It all started one Saturday nig ht when me and my old lady

Ann were walking past Bob Dylan 's Greenwich V illage brownsto ne a nd I reca lled my visit to "the king of fo lk rock " the
week befo re. Th at d ude had some nerve throwing me out!
H e knew I'd been studying his poetry for years. that I had
mo re insigh t into it than any other rock critic. Did J o hnson
throw Boswe ll o u t? What a lot of garbage . ... Gar bage! The
light bulb went o n. I reached into D ylan's plastic ca n and
pulled o ut a crump led sheet of paper. It was -a draft of a note
to J ohnny Cash. "Ann," I said, "this a in 't no garbage pai l,
it's a gold mine."
I was hooked. I had to check o ut Dylan's garbage at least
o nce a d ay. Two weeks after my first run the Howard Hu&"hes
of rock discovered I was ripping off his trash and he hired
someo ne to keep an eye o n it.
M y article, Dylan's Garbage's Greatest Hits, appeared in underg ro und newspapers and my repu tation as ga rbage collector
to the stars soon reached Esqu ire. The next thing I knew l
was on the street aga in , th is time on New York's upper East
Side. r we nt to Glo ria Vanderbilt's town ho use a nd cased the
joint, but her garbage was kept behind bars. I re turned at
six a.m.-still locked up. We ll, there was a lways Dustin Hoffm an's cans. or . as they'd say in E ng land, Dustin 's dustbins. I

soon found out he was in England mak ing a fli ck. Feeling
kind of clown, I walked half a block to playwright Neil Simon 's
town house. Woweel A grocery bag brimming with establishm ent trash-and ants, as a cop, g iving me t he hairy eyeball,
poin ted o ut on the subwa y trip home.
My next victims, Abbie and Anita H offman, live in a hundred-dollar-a-month "pe nthouse" in a terrible sectio n o f Manhattan 's lower East Side. The H offm a ns dump the ir refuse in
a public trash baske t o n the sly as the ir loft building has no
regular garbage p ickup. I split to Abbie and Anita's d oor, and
sure enough the ir garbage was sitting there in a huge plastic
bag. My mouth wa tered. I knew it was cool to cake it without
asking 'cause Abbie's new work is call ed Steal This B ook .
W ashington , D .C.. was a washout. Everyone the re 's so p arano id about everyth ing, including their trash. N e ighbors of
Representative Richard ld10rd in Tantallon, Maryland, told
me he has a garbage compactor-the garbageologist's nightmare.
When I checked out H e nry Kissinger's place, I almost got
busted for conspiracy to kidnap his trash and stuff it in the
air du cts under the Capito l or some thing. Wh e n T told them T
wasn't Catholic, they let me go. 011 the way ha ck me a nd Ann
stopped at Muhamm ad Ali's in Che rry Hill, New J e rsey. There
wasn't much laying aro und so Ann ra ng the be ll and asked t he
bu tle r if she could ha ve the garbage. H e gave it to us!
I admit tha t the image of a lo ng-ha ired Yippie si[ting
through trash in the middle of the night mig ht strike som e as
sort o f weird. But garbageology is a great way to find o ut wha t
peop le are really like. I hope those who a ppreciate my pioneer
work in the field wi ll buy my u pcoming boo k You Are Wh at
You Throw A way. And remember : Garbage Is Powerful!
-A . .J. W E BERMAN
ESQUIRE: NOVEMBER 113

Bob Dylan
Dylan finally solved the garbage-snooping problem by having
the maid deliver it directly to the sanitation man. But while I
was getting to it, I discovered each day disposable diapers
(tumbling out of the bag}, worn, I assume, by three of the five
young Dylans. There was evidence that Sasha, the dog, was
not housebroken, only paper trained, and that the Dylans had
at least one cat. The many rock magazines wasted Bob's claim
that he didn't follow the rock scene . It would be nice to say the
family threw away half-eaten steaks and cans of truffles, but
114

ESQUIRE: NOVEM BER

actually their diet is modest. ... Dig the frozen chicken pot pie
and French fries containers, Blimpie wrappers , baby-food jars,
shopping list. The most tangibly valuable thing I found is the
lamp (middle), which I happen to like. The most telling items:
the note to Johnny and June Cash (middle left) apologizing for
not making it down to Memphis; the sketch of Jimi Hendrix
(upper right), found torn to pieces the night after he died ; and
the card that accompanied candy ("To My Dear Ones") from
Dylan 's mother. Guess they liked it-didn't find even a nougat.

...

Anita & Abbie Hoffman

The Hoffmans' garbage was outasight! Dig that ticket (left)

Abbie got fo r hitching in Connecticut last Apri l on his way to the
Bobby Seale trial, I thi nk, and the full sample can of Right Guard
deodorant (upper right, just visible under th e green paper) .
That green paper is the guest and shopping list for a party held
after the Panther 13 acquittals. The rest of the green notebook
(upper left) contained the phone numbers of Jack Anderson,
Kate Mi!lett, Lonnie Mclucas, yours tru ly A. J. Weberman, and
others. On top of Ramparts and Time are Yippie matches. Th e
116

ESQUIRE: N OVEMBER

inside is stamped , "If everyone lit just one lit11e building what a
bright wo rld this would be," printed in retaliation for threats
from local firemen . The "Dear Abbie" letter suggested he run
for President but the Yippies are runn ing Bernardine Dohrn and
J. Edgar Hoover -a balanced ticket. I was told the empty film
boxes (upper right} are from a photo session with John and
Yoko. The yellow paper is an esti mate for printing Steal This
Book, fo r which Ab bie had to get the brea d together. At least
he lives up to his rhetoric; I didn't find any caviar tins.

.1

I'

.."'
/

Neil Simon

On my first visit to Simon's pail early one Monday a.m. I found

the leftovers of what is for some dudes a typica l New York City
Sunday breakfast: a practically untouched whitefish, a halfeaten bagel, scraps of lox and sections of the Sunday Times. I
debated with myself about keeping the whitefish but decided it
was unscientific to eat my findings. More interesting, though,
was his Who's Who in America listing (lower right) which he
was supposed to c heck for veracity; a letter to his accountant
(left) announcing the first installment payment of $87,500 to

Simon for his screenplay, Last of the Red Hot Lovers; two
notes from his accountant saying deposits of $2.53 and
$995.36 had been made at his bank; a request for funds from
SANE ( left of egg box); a receipt from The Spence-Chapin
Adoption Service for a $50 donation (fall ing out of bag); a
letter from The Dalton School to "Dalton Parents" (upper left).
All this added up to decadent upper-middle-class liberal to
me. I let it leak to The Village Voice that I was exploring Simon's
garbage. When I returned to his can a week later, it was empty.

Photographed by Hen ry Wolf

ESQUI RE: NOVEMBER

115

Muhammad Ali
The Alis live i n a yellow stucco house, su rrounded by a wall and
statues of donkeys, Mexicans and blacks-a bit garish when
compared to the colonial homes and landscaping of their
neighbors. Their garbage looks diffe rent too, and it' s really
great that despi te Ali's wealth he still grooves on Shabazz bean
pie (label , lower left) and corn bread (upper left). The cans of
black-eyed peas and collards, made with pork, were discarded
unopened, I guess because Muslims aren't supposed to eat
pig. (Good to know his garbage is soulful but kosher.) But the

cabbage rolls (middle) aren't exactly soul food; neither is the

shake f rom Gino's, the local hamburger place. The dog eats
well , too. I figure the outdated license plates come from one of
Ali 's t hree cars. The empty pack of R. J . Reynolds cigarette
papers {lower right) suggests that someone in the household
is thrifty and rolls his own. Yet the torn - up bill from the Ricks~aw Inn i_
n Cherry Hill, which is stamped "Paid in fu ll ," says
~11 treats his guest~ a~d/ or himself swell. Overall, Ali's garbage
1s sparse, needs dirtying up if he wants it to make my book.
ESQU I RE: NOVEM BER

117

Someday you may wish

trash could tell no tales
I

beard a c:ommadon and went outside. Blue

lights were flllblng at the curb and a couple
of guys w-.bent over my garbage bags.
"You guy~'t look like the regular garbage

men,"lsmV

"Garbage Police," said one, displaying a badge.

"We're running a routine check on your garbage.
If it's suspicious, we'll have to take it for evidence."
"He who takes my garbage takes trash," I said
pliifosopbiCally. But twas worried.
- - I had read about the celebrated Laguna Beach,
Calif., case. Police examined a guy's garbage,
found enough evidence to get a search warrant,
seized drugs In his home and arrested him. His appeal that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated has reached the Supreme Court. Reading
about It, I was appalled that the long arm of the
law would probe a fellow's rutabaga peelings.
Why, that's unAmerlcan. Garbage should be confidential. After all, It reveals your Innermost secrets; and who wants his Innermost secrets revealed?
"Pshaw," I said, putting on a brave front. "Garbage examination ls old hat. I mean, what Is archaeology but the study of ancient garbage? And
surely you have heard of the first great garbologlst, A.J. Weberman?"
"Can't say as I have," muttered the Garbage
Policeman, gingerly examining a banana fragment.
"He hasn't been in the news recently," I said,
"but back in the early '70s A.J. Weberman was
famed as the fellow who would poke through Bob
Dylan's garbage, then write articles about what
Dylan's garbage revealed."
"What did It reveal?"
''Well, ror one thing, Wel>erman - certainly not a squeamish sort - discovered that Bob Dylan
had a dog that wasn't housebroken."
"You mean," said the GP with some alarm,
"that Weberman actually found ... uh . .."
"Exactly," I said. "He discovered that Dylan
wrapt*l up the evidence of his dog's carelessness
in newspapers and put the bundles In the garbage.
This ls all true."
"Say," said the other Garbage Policeman nerVOUlly, his hand poised to dip Into my garbage
bq, "do you by any chance have a dog that's not
houaebroken?"
"Rest easy," I assured him. "My dogs are
houbroken." He plunged his hand Into the bag.
"However," I said, "sometimes they find that
something they've eaten disagrees with them and
they feel compelled to, ah, bring up the subject
qain. And If they can't get out the door In time,
why .. ."
He withdrew his hand quickly as I continued:
"Weberman's odyssey through Dylan's garbage
came to an end when Dylan stationed watchmen
to guard his garbage. But Webtrman was hired to

'

Bob
SwUt

examine the garbage of such celebrities as Muhammad All, Nell Simon and Abbie Hoffman and
expose It In a four-page layout - with color, yet
- for Esquire magazine."
By this time the GP had regained his courage
and was flipping stuff out of the bag.
"Aha,'' he said, holding up what appeared to be
a letter. "It says,'' he added, brushing off coffee
grounds, " ' . . . If your payment for the Whoopee
Cushion-Exploding Cigar assortment ls not received In full .. .' "
"Heh heh,'' I said, grabbing the letter. "Just a
little something that blew Into the yard In that big
wind we had the other day. But let me continue
about garbology."
"Pray do,'' said the GP. "Say, what's this suspicious white powder In the yellow box?"
"Arm & Hammer baking soda," I said. "When I
have heartburn I sniff It through a rolled up hundred-dollar bill. But as I wu saying, after Weberman's success, the National Enquirer decided to
get Into garbology. The Enquirer ripped off Henry
Kissinger's garbage - five bags full.''
"What did they find out?"
"That Henry Kissinger talks with a funny ac
cent:' "Lots of bologna wrappers here, Sarge,'' said
the other GP.
"The kids like It," I said defensively. "Personally I prefer escargot and Moel champagne.''
"I can tell," he said, holding up a pizza carton
and an empty gin bottle. "Says on the bottle this
gin was distilled from sugar cane stalks In Lake
Alfred, Fla."
"A peasant friend dropped by," I said. "That's
not my style; I am a man of sophistication.''
"Uh huh," he said, pulling out a wrinkled mag
azlne. "Sweaty Tights,'' he read, "the magazine
for connoisseurs of pneumatic lady wrestlers In
provocative strangleholds."
"Uncle Billy left that here by mistake," I said
hastily. "I'd better call my lawyer."
"We'll be back with a search warrant.'' said the
GP as they drove off. "If we find more evidence,
we'll nail you on a 408."
"What's that?"
"Having bad taste."
I hustled back in the house and burned my
black velvet, glow-in-the-dark painting of Elvis.

04

76956 14325

-..::i-

Items Found:
1 $ L72 Cristal 1979 champagne bottle
2 $20 Moet & Chandon Brur Imperial
champagne bottles
1 Poland Spring water jug
1 Marlboro Lights pack
1 cucumber peel
1 cooked chicken skin
L bag from Zabar's
1 banana peel
L produce container for some kind of
berries
L Card ini 's lemon-herb salad dressing
botde
L lamb-chop bone
Sundry correspondence and junk m ail,
including a thank-you note for
contributing ro Cysric Fibrosis
Kitry litter

'

i
Nutritionist: "Again we have a high intake of alcohol. The fruit container {signifies j an attempt to incorporate some good
things. There.was also good intake offiber,
vitamins and minerals. They seemed, however, to consume a high-fat meal. There was
grease on the lamb chop; there was almost
no calcium. This is a conflicted ho11sehold.

As we ' ve n o ced , che

archaeological scudy of garbage has a long, rich hiscory, bur che modern science of garbology- poking
around in a famous person's trash can - is thought
co have been the creation of
A. J. Weberman of Manhaccan. Becween 1968 and
197 1 Weberman devoced
himself co teaching and
writing abouc Bob Dylan
and, in che process of his
research, annoying him.
Wcberman telephoned Dylan ac strange hours, raped
che conversacions and wenr
through his garbage, earning himself che epithet "the
Scavenger: Ir's che price
of fame, I guess," Dylan

There is someone concerned abo11t dieting and

watching calories, while there is someone
who is eating high-fat Zabar's foods and
drinking lots of champagne. They'd better
watch their weight, and the woman sho11ld
increaJe her calcimn intake or risk 01teoporosis
later on.
Anthropologist: "Obvio1uly it'J a high-

income household: Zabar's, berries, ofco11ne

the champrtgne; it's expensive. It Jeems aJ if
it'J for private conJr;mption.
Private Detective: "They 1hop at a store,
Zabar's, at Broadway and BOth. People
are creat11reJ of habit; they go back to the
same stores. Someone smokeJ in the ho11Je. It
looks like there was a cocktail party.

THE GARBOLOGIST' S GARBAGE

Examining the Trash of A. J. Weberman, Pioneer
once said of Weberman's
scrutiny. we loaded up
our garbage with as much
dog shir as we couldmouserraps, everyching bur he st.ill keeps going
chcough my garbage!" Dylan's dece.rrenrs failed, and
Wcberman uncovered royalry check vouchers and alleged evidence of Dylan 's
vasr real escate investments.
These led Weberman to accuse Dylan - in a highspiriced, lightheaned, Jim
way, we're sure-of being a
pig, a junkie and a napalm
manufacturer.

In che spirit of fair play,

obtained Weberman's
crash from outside his
buil di ng on Bleeck er
Screec. His refuse reveals a
curious preoccupation with
expensive seafood. In a sin

gle parcel of trash we found

one empty ha lf-pound
package of $ 16 .49-a pound Alaskan king crab,
seven crab shell fragments,
an empry cwoounce tin of
Iron Gate salmon caviar
and a half-full box of
marches from Docks Oys
cer Bar and Seafood Grill.
There was also a phone
bill indicating that he made
610 phone calls wi thin
New York Ciry during the
monrh of November; a
phone company brochure
'
explaining how co make a
We berman with Dylan's trash local caJJ for as low as four
SPY

cenrs"; a label fr om an
Evian bottle; baby-food
jars; a prescription for acne
pads; a bag from the Rizzoli bookscore; a clip from
The Ne1u York Times listing
the Art Dealers Association of America: The Nation's Leading Art DeaJers ; rejected fund raising
soliciracions from Political
Research Associ ates ; a
p ackage of Chr iscmas
Seals; a copy of the National Enquirer dared December 13, 1988; a phorocopy of an article in the
Enq11irer that mencions
Weberman; and two butt
ends of hand - r o ll ed
"cigarerces. - Bob Mack
and j ohn Brodie
APRIL 1989 SPY 7 1