Expert: Mel - 4/27/2007

Question
I read an article about Charles Bukowski by Andrew J. Madigan in which he claimed that Dylan was reading "The Last Night of the Earth Poems" on a 90210 show that supposedly aired January 11, 1994.  No shows aired on that date, and I can't find anything relating Bukowski to 90210 online.  I want to use this information as a reference, but I'm worried that the source was inaccurate.  Is there a 90210 show that opens with a close-up of this book?  Please help!

Answer
(!) Follow-up: Oh ... Oh, my god!  This may come as bittersweet news, since your paper is complete, but I found the citation that eclipses all others.  Which of course means there are, not one, but TWO Bukowski references on the show.

I just happened to be watching the Season 5 episode, "Sentenced to Life", and there Dylan is, at home, reading "The Last Night of the Earth" poems in full view.  This is in the very beginning, while him and Andrea are having 'coffee talk'.  SHE is the one who suggests he read the book, calling Bukowski, "the renegade poet of our times".

Dylan begins to read aloud.  

"There's a bluebird in my heart.  He wants to get out, but I pour whiskey on him and inhale cigarette smoke.  All the whores and bartenders and grocery clerks ... never know that he's in there."

He puts down the book and says, "Think HIS friends ever tried to put him into rehab?"

Andrea: "Well, if they didn't, maybe they should have."

Dy: "I don't know.  You really think he could write that kind of stuff to get rid of all his demons?"

A: "Who knows?" (both sip coffee)

Dy: "William Blake.  ... Blake says the road to excess leads right to the gates of the Palace of Wisdom."

And a knock at the door ends their conversation there.

Incidentally, another random episode I watched recently ("Anaconda", S2), had Dylan reading "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez ... I think, simply to convey his sense of isolation (never mind the true content of the material, LOL).  

Hope you enjoy the additional info.

Mel
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Original Response:

Oh, this has got to be my favorite question so far!  I do, in fact, know the 90210-Bukowski connection, but it may not qualify for your paper.

There's an episode in the beginning of Season 7 (7.07, 184) where Mark Reese, a new supporting character, presents Kelly with two books meant to represent his 'two different sides'.  In his attempt to woo her, he proclaims that he's both a "straight shooter" and a "mad man".  "Spoon River Anthology", by Edgar Lee Masters, is meant to illustrate the former, while Charles Bukowski's "Betting On The Muse" suggests the latter.  Kelly is immediately taken aback and remarks that she "used to date someone who loves Bukowski".  "Brandon?", Mark asks.  "No, someone else.  But Brandon IS a Masters fan".  

Considering that Kelly, at this point, has had only two long-term, serious boyfriends -- Brandon and Dylan -- and that she's pined after each of them since the day they broke-up ... it's more than obvious that this is a reference to Dylan.  Only McKay would read Bukowski.  

But in case this isn't clear to the viewer, a starry-eyed Kelly later tells Donna and Clare in the same episode that she's "only loved two men in her life, Brandon and Dylan, and [Mark] seems like a nice blend of the both of them". That should be evidence enough, apart from the fact that Dylan shares so many similar qualities with the writer (that go far beyond alcoholism).

Having said that, there's a scene in the Season 4 episode, "Otherwise Engaged" (4.09, 89), which I'm confident is what Mr. Madigan is talking about.  Here (and only here) do we see Dylan attend a poetry reading on the CU campus and read a poem aloud.  If you recall, him and Brenda decide to take Dr. Petty's Romantic Poetry class their freshman year.  This allows Dylan to accept, in spades, Jim's request that he help him stop his daughter from getting married.

At the event, Dylan reads the following poem before (insincerely) telling Brenda that it "reminds him of [her]" and that she shouldn't wed Stuart Carson because then they wouldn't have another chance at their relationship:

"With you, the Earth was a bed of grass.  We slept in it like two seeds.  With you, I was more than I am.  Your mouth, the sun ... made everything possible.  I burn with the love that I lost when I lost you."

I did an internet search on the lines above and found no title or author associated with them.  In the scene, Dylan sits on a stool and reads from a thick book with a noticeably green cover.  "The Last Night of the Earth" has a red and black cover, from what I've seen, so that's a small indication that he probably wasn't reading Bukowski.  He makes no mention of the book itself.  

It certainly wouldn't be considered out of character if he were reading 'Last Night', though.  Dylan was always considered to be very well-read, even beginning in episode 2, when Brandon finds a copy of, "Lord Byron: The Collected Works", in his Porsche.  Other favorite authors include Jack Kerouac, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Norman Mailer, Theodore Dreiser, Langston Hughes, John Steinbeck, 'Rambow' (French), Bodlair, Nietzsche, and the Honore de Balzac.  If you need quick references for these, please ask me in a separate question (i.e., not a follow-up).  

With regard to broadcast dates, "Otherwise Engaged" premiered 11/3/93 (writer: Jennifer Flackett, dir: Daniel Attias).

On 1/12/94, the closest date to the one you were given, "Thicker Than Water" (4.17, 97) aired.  For this episode, Dylan spent all his time outdoors hanging out with his little sister, Erica (whom, incidentally, was a main reason for his taking out so many books in S4 -- pre-teen conspiracy novels!).  He teaches her how to surf, swim, and deal with her very first period.  The next episode has Nat, the Peach Pit owner, hospitalized for a heart attack.  Dylan was not only by his bedside, but the one who performed CPR.  

Finally, the episode before "Thicker ..." is where he uncovers some startling financial secrets about his half-sister's mother, who's now living at his house.  It's unlikely that he'd be lounging around catching up on Bukowski novels during this particular 3 week stretch, and I don't recall him doing so.


You'll be interested to know that on the forums over at bukowski.net, there's been some debate over the mythology of the McKay-Bukowski connection since March.  At the time, I didn't have the heart/motivation to sign-up simply to tell them, but I do hope they find this post someday :)

Thanks for the question!

All the best,

Mel