In the opening episode of Alistair Cooke's classic 1973 13-episode television documentary series, America: A Personal History of the United States, Cooke visits San Francisco, where he offers a brief 3-minute reflection on Emperor Norton starting at 8:25.
The episode, titled “First Impact,” originally aired on 12 November 1972, and much of the information now is dated and incorrect. But, Cooke is a charming storyteller, and this may be one of the earliest “documentary” segments on the Emperor to appear on film
Video on the flip.
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The fact that there seems to be a continuing stream of folk who feel compelled to write — and who write lovingly and well — about Emperor Norton is a testament to the Emperor's ongoing power to fascinate and to inspire.
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Please follow >>> @EmperorsBridge. And spread the word!
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The first episode of Up to Speed, Timothy "Speed" Levitch's brilliantly offbeat 2012 travel series on Hulu, is about San Francisco. The episode includes a fabulous segment on Emperor Norton that concludes with Levitch calling for the whole Bay Bridge to be named for him.
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From the collection of the California Historical Society comes this wonderful silent film from 1933. The film, by Charles G. Kirk, features views of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge under construction, as well as some great scenes of downtown San Francisco and Fisherman's Wharf.
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A San Francisco Chronicle article about different ways that advocacy groups are using the Change.org platform features Emperor's Bridge Campaign founder John Lumea's reflections on how the 2013 Change.org petition to name the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge for Emperor Norton became a powerful movement-building tool and a springboard for the launch of the Campaign.
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On Tuesday evening at 7 p.m., the San Francisco Obscura Society — "the real world exploration arm of Atlas Obscura" — holds its latest monthly salon evening at DNA Lounge. Emperor Norton is on the agenda.
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Our friend, Michael Mattis, flags this mini-documentary, made in 2004 by Nick Crummey, Nina Hirten, Anna Kocherovsky and Zach Shiner.
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Our friend, Kristian Akseth, passes along an item from the new book, Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society, by Kevin Evans, Carrie Galbraith and John Law.
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A Proclamation, from the Emperor, in the Pacific Appeal, newspaper:
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Here are a couple of fabulous flyers from the 2009 productions of a theatrical tribute to the Emperor that had its debut run in San Francisco from December 2005 to February 2006.
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A well-written new profile of the Emperor by an Englishman who nurtures a self-professed "love affair" with San Francisco.
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Joshua Norton arrived in San Francisco in 1849 and "reigned" from there as Emperor Norton from 1859 to 1880.
In 1864 — fifteen years after the Emperor's initial arrival and five years into his reign — Carleton Watkins took this photograph of the city, looking out toward Goat Island.
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The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened in November 1936.
In late 1934 or early 1935, Peter Mourer, Jr. — a junior construction engineer on the project — wrote "The Bay Bridge Poem."
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Some 15 members of the Emperor's family — including several of his 4x-great nieces and nephews — are signatories of the Change.org petition to name the Bay Bridge for Emperor Norton and followers of the Campaign on Facebook. Wonderful that, more than 130 years after his death, the Emperor's relatives still are stepping up to champion his legacy.
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Respected San Francisco singer-songwriter and guitarist Chuck Prophet has been a public champion of the effort to name the Bay Bridge for Emperor Norton. Here's a video of an aptly titled song from Prophet's 2012 album, "Temple Beautiful."
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William Drury's 1986 biography "Norton I: Emperor of the United States" remains the authoritative book-length historical treatment of the Emperor.
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Many thanks to the 40 or so excellent Bay Area souls who made their way to Emperor Norton's Boozeland last night and added their energy, their ideas and their absinthe-quenched thirsts to the soft-launch party for The Emperor's Bridge Campaign.
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At tomorrow evening's inaugural tweetup of The Emperor's Bridge Campaign, our host watering hole — Emperor Norton's Boozeland (what else?) — will be mixing up its signature Emperor Norton cocktail — normally $14 — for a ten-spot. Just for us.
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A well-crafted new biographical summary of Emperor Norton appeared today. The concluding three paragraphs are especially worth pondering.
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