Merry Pranksters, Benefit for SF Mime Troupe – Appeal 1
November 6, 1965
Calliope Warehouse (San Francisco, CA)
Photography by Gene Anthony

Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters, with the one and only Neal Cassady sitting there in the middle, are at the first benefit for the San Francisco Mime Troupe, an event which Bill Graham said was by far the most significant evening of his life in theater. Thrown to raise money for the Troupe after Ronnie Davis was arrested for performing in the park without a permit, the Benefit brought together a mixed group of musicians, theater buffs, and political liberals, and was more than a smash hit; it launched Graham’s career as a concert promoter and gave birth to a new, progressive scene in San Francisco. Thousands of people showed up at the loft that only held a couple hundred, an indication of a counterculture community that would flourish over the next several years. The scene’s reigning godparents, the Merry Pranksters, held court over the acid-fueled proceedings, and appear very much at ease with the impending psychedelic movement in this Gene Anthony-captured photograph.

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