greystone park psychiatric hospital

Memories of Woody Guthrie

By Margo Nash

February 9, 2003 - New York Times

 

HE was case number 65935 at the state hospital at Greystone Park in Morris Plains. He had been found by the police, ''wandering aimlessly on the highways,'' though exactly where in the state no one seems to remember. On May 29, 1956, the police brought the 43-year-old man to Greystone, where he remained until 1961. He died in 1967 in Creedmoor State Hospital in Queens.

His name was Woody Guthrie, and he was America's troubadour, whose folk songs, like ''This Land Is Your Land,'' have become anthems. And his years at Greystone are the subject of an exhibition at the Puffin Cultural Forum here. The show, ''Wardy Forty: The Reverberations of Ruins,'' takes its title from Guthrie's name for the ward where he was hospitalized.

Guthrie's first diagnosis at Greystone was ''schizophrenic reaction, paranoid type.'' Later the diagnosis was changed to Huntington's disease, which destroys mental and motor abilities and is incurable.

The exhibition was created by Phillip Buehler, a photographer, in collaboration with the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives. It includes hospital documents and artifacts, Guthrie family home movies, and Mr. Buehler's collages combining Guthrie family snapshots taken during visits to Greystone with photographs Mr. Buehler took of the present-day hospital.

Greystone, operated by the Division of Mental Health Services, was built in 1876. In Guthrie's day, it housed 8,500 patients on its 1,000 acres. Over the past 30 years, that number has been reduced to about 550.

The show includes home movies showing Guthrie's ex-wife, Marjorie, with whom he remained close after he was hospitalized, and their children -- Nora, Joady and Arlo -- visiting the hospital, which Guthrie called ''Gravestone.'' Arlo Guthrie, 55, recorded his recollections of those days for the exhibition: ''I remember pulling up to Greystone on this big avenue like a promenade. As a kid, I thought it was an entire city.''

Among the items Mr. Buehler recovered from the hospital are an overhead speaker similar to one used when recordings of Guthrie's music were played for patients. There is also a rusty paper towel holder along with a letter Guthrie wrote on a paper towel to his family. In it he says, ''Write me twice a day.''

 

Although he had disappeared from public view, Guthrie, as the show makes clear, was still writing songs and very much alive. As he wrote to a friend in a letter, a tracing of which is on display, ''I ain't dead quite yet.''

''I never knew my father when he was healthy,'' said Nora Guthrie, 53, executive director of the Guthrie Archives. She added: ''I recognize the courage of my father. What Phil has done is the point of art, to take something you can't deal with and make it transcend itself. He took something low and ugly and made something beautiful.''

The show grew out of Mr. Buehler's interest in photographing abandoned sites. ''I go to an abandoned building to get connected with other people,'' said Mr. Buehler, 46, who grew up in New Milford and lives in New York City. ''Somehow, I find the humanity in the place.''

After photographing Greystone two years ago, he learned that Allen Ginsberg's mother had been a patient there in the 1940's, and that the poet had mentioned the hospital in his 1956 poem, ''Howl.'' Mr. Buehler also learned about Mr. Guthrie's commitment.

 

''History happened here,'' Mr. Buehler said, adding: ''Bob Dylan, when he was 19, made a trip out to Greystone to meet his idol. In uncovering the mystery of these buildings, I found meaning in them.''

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie's history began on July 14, 1912, in Okemah, Okla. After the dust storm of 1935, he, like so many others known as Okies, headed for California to find work. He also began writing songs, like ''Hard Travelin''' and ''Talking Dust Bowl Blues,'' about these times.

By 1937, he was heard regularly on two Los Angeles radio stations. In 1939, he moved to New York and became part of a vibrant world of left-wing writers, artists and musicians.

During World War II, Guthrie served in the Merchant Marine and the Army and wrote anti-fascist songs. After the war, he sang with the Almanac Singers, some of whom, including Pete Seeger, later formed the Weavers. Guthrie, though, eventually resumed his solo career.

In 1943, his autobiography, ''Bound for Glory,'' was published. In 1946, he wrote ''Songs to Grow On,'' a collection of children's songs. Soon after, his behavior and health began to deteriorate.

''It was a just a pure tragedy that Woody didn't live longer,'' said Mr. Seeger in a telephone interview. ''He had a great songwriting career. 'This Land is Your Land' is still one of my favorites, and I love 'So Long, It's Been Good to Know You.' But some of my favorites are also his children's songs. They say any fool can write something like that. But any fool didn't.''

Mr. Seeger said one of the last times he saw Woody Guthrie, Mr. Seeger and Arlo Guthrie sang a song to the dying singer -- one he had always liked. It was ''Hobo's Lullaby'' written by Gobel Reeves in the 1920's. Mr. Seeger sang these lyrics: ''Go to sleep you weary hobo/ Let the towns drift slowly by/Can't you hear the steel rails humming?/That's the hobo's lullaby.''

''Wardy Forty: The Reverberations of Ruins'' is at the Puffin Cultural Forum, 20 East Oakdene Avenue, Teaneck, through March 1. Information: (201)836-8923.

 

Phillip Buehler's site, Modern Ruins, may be viewed here.

 

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