The Charlatans Triptych - 1967

These three posters were intended to be displayed together, and advertised a series of summer of 1967 shows featuring The Charlatans. The Charlatans were a major influence in the early San Francisco scene, but never made it big. Originally a jug band, their claim to fame was wearing funky Edwardian clothes seemingly from the Old West – a style which quickly spread out and became part of the early hippie “look”. Their only album was released in 1969 after Dan Hicks had left the band.

The Charlatans were one of the first bands to experiment with LSD, having moved out to perform throughout the summer of 1965 at the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada where future Family Dog founders Alton Kelley and Chet Helms as well as liquid light show pioneer Bill Ham were part of the mayhem. Charlatan Michael Ferguson started what was the first headshop in the U.S, called, “The Magic Theatre, For Madmen Only,” in 1965 in Haight Ashbury where they sold Victorian arcana and clothing, smoking paraphernalia and weed.

The first two posters were designed by Rick Griffin and the third one by Bob Fried but using the Griffin style of lettering. All feature a classic Herb Greene black and white photograph. Herb Greene was one of the most prolific photographer of the early Haight scene from 1965-1967. Most of his photos were portraits as opposed to live shots

The Charlatans were one of the first bands to experiment with LSD, having moved out to perform throughout the summer of 1965 at the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada where future Family Dog founders Alton Kelley and Chet Helms as well as liquid light show pioneer Bill Ham were part of the mayhem. Charlatan Michael Ferguson started what was the first headshop in the U.S, called, “The Magic Theatre, For Madmen Only,” in 1965 the Haight where they sold Victorian arcana and clothing, smoking paraphernalia and weed.

The posters were designed by Bob Fried and featured Rick Griffin lettering and a classic Herb Greene black and while photograph. Herb Greene was the most prolific photographer of the early Haight scene from 1965-1967. Most of his photos were portraits as opposed to live shots.

"I was supposed to do all three of them, but I was so bored with it. By the time the third one was came around, I just said, man, you do it, [to Robert Fried]. And that was his first Family Dog poster. That was how he got his foot in the door. The layout was [Charlatan] George Hunter's idea. Format was his idea. Where I made the mistake is I should have drawn them all at the same time, but I didn't. I spread them out to where it got really boring for me. The first one was okay, but the second one was just tedious. And the, the third one, I knew anybody could do it. So I just took it over to Bob's house and asked him if he'd do it, and it never came out right. The the whole thing. It doesn't quite look right somehow. It could have been really done good. I mean, the set of three, they should have all been done at the same time. All the graphics,the lettering, Charlatans, should have all been done at the same time, because the lettering style differs from 1 to 1, one to the other. The major letters at the top. I know the little differences at the bottom, the major letters at the top. They just don't fit together that well. Whereas if if the whole thing had been done on a large board about like this with full size posters adjacent, it would have come out a lot better."     -- Rick Griffin, as interviewed by poster historian Walter Medeiros, 1971. Courtesy of the Walter Medeiros Archives