Existing comment:
The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved
Scanlan's Monthly, June 1970
The Kentucky Derby of May 1970 was Steadman and Hunter S. Thompson's first assignment together and inspired the first genuine piece of "Gonzo" journalism. Armed with a few felt-tip pens and some borrowed Revlon lipsticks and eyebrow pencil -- he had left his inks and colors in the taxi on the way to the airport -- the artist was dispatched by Scanlan's Monthly from New York to Louisville, Thompson's old home town. Thompson met Steadman in the press box and explained that their focus was not on the horses but the Kentucky people. As soon as the race began the artist turned away from the course to sketch the excited faces in the crowd. "Turn around, you hairy freak!" bawled a voice from somewhere in the boxes.
Steadman returned to New York and dropped off his drawings, only to be awoken by the co-founder/editor of Scanlan's, Warren Hinckle III, who wanted to know why none of the drawings featured horses. Steadman told him a horse was on its way. Unlike the other Kentucky Derby pictures this one was drawn with proper ink and watercolor.
A few weeks later the artist returned to London, his drawings having been taken to San Francisco by the publisher "for safety." For more than thirty-five years he mourned their loss, until this picture was returned to him by an American collector a few years ago. |