June 1967, we went to California. Pennebaker, me. Al Maysles, Nick Proferes, my son Robert, Nina Schulman (who took sound and was very close in the editing) and many more -- the whole gang -- went to film the Monterey POP! Festival. This was Pennebaker’s movie and I knew nothing about the music (except for Ravi Shankar). It was a learning experience for me. I worked with Robert and we were assigned a stage right position on the roof looking down, with the camera on a tripod. Boring! A robot can do that, so we rebelled and went in search of shots and people and it became a glorious experience. Just to watch Mama Cass move was thrilling. Not just when she was singing: when she was listening, whatever she was doing. Otis Reading, likewise. The finale of Shankar! Just to film the applause -- I had never seen an audience explode like that, and all the people -- the flower people; getting up in the morning, hanging out. It was wonderful.



When Pennebaker and Nina had it put together he invited the newly appointed president of ABC-TV, Barry Diller, to a screening of what was supposed to be their film. He sat through it in our screening room and at the end there was a long silence, he turned and said, “This film does not meet industry standards!” To which I replied, “I didn’t know you had any”. They refused to pay, so instead of looking for another TV client, Pennebaker renegotiated all the contracts for cinema screenings. It took about a year and then, instead of opening in New York, we opened in San Francisco and this wonderful movie crept eastward like a plague. By the time it got to New York we didn’t need to worry about what the New York Times said; it was a hit.