Lenny Bruce Rages & Gets Busted On Stage - as played by Bernie Travis

In 1970, Lenny Bruce was rediscovered by college audiences and critics. His old albums were back in print and lost tapes released. Cliff Gorman was a hit as "Lenny" in the Broadway play, and Bernie Travis was rushed into the low budget film "Dirtymouth." Both the play and the film had to deal with legal issues, and there were inaccuracies in both. This scene is hardly the way it was: Lenny rarely lost his cool on stage. "Lenny the Martyr" was big at the time; Gorman's portrayal of Lenny giving passionately angry speeches was off the mark as well. When the film disappeared quickly with barely a screening in NYC, Travis was distraught. As he told Phil Berger in the excellent book "The Last Laugh," he was: "Crushed...crying..."My god. The film. No manager. No colleges. No television...I cried continually. I just was sobbing and weeping...I couldn't do anything. I was like a vegetable." A year later, Bernie made a topical comedy record, "The Pentagon Papers," but it fared no better than his film "Dirtymouth," which couldn't get a revival and remained in the vault, after being eclipsed by the film version of "Lenny" starring Dustin Hoffman.