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Clifford Vaughs

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Clifford A."Sonny"Vaughs(April 16, 1937 – July 2, 2016) was an Americancivil rightsactivist, filmmaker, and motorcycle builder. Vaughs designed the twochopper motorcyclesused for the 1969 filmEasy Rider,while anassociate produceron the film.[3]He also produced and directed the documentaryWhat Will the Harvest Be?(1965) andNot So Easy(1972).[4]

Photograph byDanny Lyonof Clifford Vaughs arrested by the National Guard at aStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee(SNCC) protest in Cambridge, Maryland in 1964. In foreground,Stokely Carmichaelpulls Vaughs' right leg from Guardsmen.[1][2]

Early life

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Vaughs was born inBoston, Massachusetts,the only child of an unmarried mother. He was educated at theBoston Latin School,and earned hisBachelor of Artsdegree atBoston University.He joined theMarine Corpsin 1953, and afterward earned his master's degree at theUniversity of Mexico,inMexico City,majoring inLatin American Studies.He moved to Los Angeles in 1961, where he became involved in thecustom motorcyclescene, and rode severalHarley-Davidson'Knucklehead''choppers'. In 1963, Vaughs was recruited to join theStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee(SNCC) by Bob Zelner, while on a fundraising tour for the organization.[5]Vaughs drove his 1953Chevrolethalf-tonpickup truckto the East Coast to join the SNCC activities there. He was photographed byDanny Lyonbeing bodily dragged by fiveNational Guardtroops at asit-ininCambridge,Maryland,on May 2, 1964.[6]It was during this violent period of SNCC demonstrations that Vaughs first met Lyon. ActivistStokely Carmichaelappears in the foreground of the photo, pulling Vaughs' right leg from Guardsmen.[1][2]

Vaughs carried his customized blue Knucklehead chopper in the bed of his pickup truck toAlabamain 1964, and rode the motorcycle to visitsharecroppersin remote areas. Vaughs said, "I may have been naïve thinking I could be an example to the black folks who were living in the South, but that's why I rode my chopper in Alabama. I'd visit people in their dirt-floor shacks, living likeslaveryhad never ended. I wanted to be a visible example to them; a free black man on my motorcycle. "[5]

In 1964, Vaughs filmed interviews withMartin Luther King Jr,Stokeley Carmichael,andJulian Bond,among others, on the rise of theBlack Powermovement in the US. The resulting documentary was 'What Will the Harvest Be?', which was aired in 1965 onABC-TV.Vaughs was denied entry into the cameraman's union while working at KABC, and sued successfully to break the 'color barrier' for union membership.

TheCaptain Americabike

The Credibility Gapgrew out of a company formed byLew Irwinand Vaughs.[7][8]

Motorcycles

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In 1967, while working atKABCin Los Angeles, Vaughs interviewedPeter Fonda.[3]Vaughs and Fonda shared an interest in motorcycles, and Fonda introduced Vaughs toDennis Hopper,which led Vaughs to join a new film project asAssociate Producer,a "Western type movie with motorcycles".[5]Vaughs claims to have come up with the name for the film, 'Easy Rider', after theMae Westsong,I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone?[citation needed]

The Billy bike

Vaughs purchased fourHarley-Davidson'Panhead' motorcycles at anLA County Sherriff's auction in 1967, and coordinated with motorcycle shop ownerBen Hardy,and mechanic Larry Marcus, to create the 'Captain America' and 'Billy' choppers for the film.[9]Two 'hero' choppers were built, and two stunt doubles for the ending scenes of the movie; while the stunt Captain America was destroyed in filming the final scene of the movie, the remaining three motorcycles were apparently stolen, and never recovered. First-time director Dennis Hopper consumed the limited budget for 'Easy Rider' very quickly, andColumbia Picturesinvested in the movie to finish it. At this juncture, Cliff Vaughs, and most other crew members, were fired, and a new crew hired. As part of a legal settlement for leaving as associate producer, Vaughs' contribution to the film, including the creation of the iconic motorcycles, was not included in the film's credits.[5]

In 1972, Vaughs produced and directed the motorcyclesafety film'Not So Easy', which featuredPeter Fonda,Evel Knievel,and theLAPD motorcyclesdrill team on Harley-Davidsons. Vaughs himself was riding in scenes on freeways, his wife Wendy in urban settings. Harley-Davidson provided the motorbikes, Fonda rode a Sparkling GreenFX Super Glide.[4][better source needed][10]

In 1976, Vaughs left the United States to live on a boat in theGulf of Mexico.In 2009, Vaughs was credited publicly for the first time as creator of the 'Easy Rider' choppers on theJesse JamesDiscovery Channeltelevision series, the 'History of the Chopper'. Vaughs, a longstanding member of the L.A. chapter of theChosen Few MC,died on July 2, 2016, after losing consciousness and falling. He was 79.[11][12]

Notes

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  1. ^abLyon, Danny(1964),Clifford Vaughs, SNCC photographer, Arrested by the National Guard, Cambridge, Maryland,Whitney Museum of American Art,archivedfrom the original on October 5, 2016
  2. ^abD'Orleans, Paul (2014),The Chopper: The Real Story,Prestel Publishers, pp. 164–170,ISBN9783899555240
  3. ^abChoppers Magazine #8, Roth (ed), 1967
  4. ^ab"Cliff Vaughs - IMDb".IMDb.Archivedfrom the original on February 18, 2017.RetrievedMarch 18,2016.
  5. ^abcdThe Chopper: the Real Story, d'Orleans, 2014. Gestalten, Berlin,ISBN978-3-89955-524-0
  6. ^"- Danny Lyon (American, b. 1942) Clifford Vaughs,..."houkgallery.Archivedfrom the original on October 5, 2016.RetrievedMay 9,2018.
  7. ^Page, Don (December 14, 1969)."Grist From the Radio's Rumor Mill".LA Times.Archived from the original on July 1, 2020.RetrievedJuly 8,2020.{{cite news}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^"~Los Angeles Radio People, Q&A 3rd quarter 1998".laradio.
  9. ^"The Vintagent".thevintagent.blogspot.Archivedfrom the original on March 31, 2017.RetrievedMay 9,2018.
  10. ^Archived atGhostarchiveand theWayback Machine:"Not so Easy - Peter Fonda & Cliff Vaughs - MrZip66".YouTube.
  11. ^Unsung Easy Rider Cliff Vaughs Passes AwayArchivedJuly 5, 2016, at theWayback Machine
  12. ^"Death notices for Thursday, July 7, 2016".sanluisobispo.Archivedfrom the original on October 7, 2016.RetrievedMay 9,2018.

References

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