Malvina Reynolds
Before I came to Berkeley in 1965 I asked Malvina, by mail from LA, to be an advisor to my 'zine ET TU and she said yes. In the 60s she was the rock I clung to and was an advisor for its brief life. This photo was used in BAM Magazine with her interview of me in the 70s.
In truth, Bud, her husband was dead, and she had taken to hanging wid the young rad fems in B-town. She came to my house with chip on her shoulder ready to beef. She set up the recorder on the dining room table and did something with the controls and started out very aggressively. When it came time to turn the tape cassette over she discovered that nothing was recorded. By that time she had considered that yes, I wrote the love song for my wife and that I had to pay child support and help with the housekeeping of the new family and she was somewhat disarmed by the second half and it came out quite well.
Malvina, her daughter Nancy Shimmel and her husband share a very special part of American history. And I was well aware of that in 1964 when I asked her to advise me. The photo was taken a few days before she died, March 17, 1978, at 77. She looks so alive! Thanks to Jim Marshall for the precious memory. Was she buried in her overalls?!?!
