1964                                    Elgin Mental Health Center. Elgin, IL

Tell me about the first time you were put into a hospital.
When I was 25, I was put in Elgin Hospital for a couple of months.  What a dirty and filthy hospital!  How can they do that to me?

I was trying to tell my father, “You better take me out Dad, you better take me out!  It’s filthy here, it’s shitty!”

The shower room was cracked, the cement was cracked. I wouldn’t put a dog in that hospital.  Now it’s closed down.

No, Elgin’s still there.
Elgin State Hospital’s still there?  It must be a rat hole now!

If I was a grown up man and had a son I would never put him in anything like that.  In Chicago State Hospital, they gave me shots in the ass.  A grown up man and they gave me shots in the ass!

Why did they give you shots in the ass?
I don’t know, maybe I was making a little noise at night, who knows?  Maybe they had a black heart, who knows?  Know what black heart is?

No.

It’s when somebody hates you, it’s a black heart.

NEXT STORY
BACK TO 1963
BACK TO MAIN GALLERY
BACK TO ARTISTICAL STUDIOS MAIN PAGE

Ken Hirsch’s “Fruits, Vegetables and Beautiful Women” time line...................click on a year to go there.
-1939-     -1942-     -1946-     -1947-     -1950-     -1957-     -1963-     -1973-     -1977-     -1984-     -1988-     -1998-     -59thBday-