Janis Joplin's Purse Contents Revealed

We're always intrigued by those "what's in your purse?" articles ("my iPhone, my planner and my Dior lip gloss I can't live without!") and from The Hairpin comes the ultimate: a look inside Janis Joplin's bag. Mary Miller refers to an excerpt from David Dalton's Piece of My Heart, remarking, "As a teen I found a similar purse, filled it with the same contents he'd listed, then carried it around as if it were my own messy purse of Janis-y items which I'd self-selected and definitely needed with me, oh yes!"

So what was Janis carrying around? Dalton wrote:

"Its contents are truly awesome. Janis has a baglady's compulsion to carry her whole life with her. There are: two movie stubs, a pack of cigarettes, an antique cigarette holder, several motel and hotel room keys, a box of Kleenex, a compact and various make up cases (in addition to a bunch of eyebrow pencils held together with a rubber band), an address book, dozens of bits of paper, business cards, match box covers with phone numbers written in near-legible barroom scrawls, guitar picks, a bottle of Southern Comfort (empty), a hip flask, an opened package of complementary macadamia nuts from American Airlines, cassettes of Johnny Cash and Otis Redding, gum, sunglasses, credit cards, aspirin, assorted pens and writing pad, a corkscrew, an alarm clock, a copy of Time, and two hefty books-Nancy Milford's biography of Zelda Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel."

Eyebrow pencils? Wouldn't have guessed...

Read the rest at The Hairpin.

Comments

[littlemee]

05:18 AM on 02/15/2011

sorry, but in 1964 the beatles were just hitting america and joplin wouodn't be around for another couple/three years. the precursor to VISA was the bankamericard, from the bank of america, which was then a local (san francisco) bank, which they all were in those days--i can still remember the commercial. there were indeed cassette tapes, as i remember sending them through the mails as a sort of audio letter around 1968 when i moved away. and my first impression of joplin, at the same age in the same general locale, was after the unknown big brother played on the top of a sausage factory (a real one) at the synanon street fair around 1967: the ugliest woman in the world, but man! can she sing! (you will note that the eyebrow pencils are because she had no eyebrows to speak of...)

[drumz]

01:48 PM on 02/03/2011

Janis is great. I was 15 at a concert in San Jose standing next to the stage watching her rock out and thinking (honestly) man she's ugly but wow, can she belt it out! So I'm just standing there looking around and the next thing I know she is standing right on top of me practically taking a swig off a bottle of Southern Comfort and as I looked up our eyes met and she extended the bottle down to me and said "have a hit sweetie". I was too embarrassed and shocked so I just grabbed it and took a gulp and handed it back to her and then she took a long hit off it almost finishing it and winked at me. I was trying to be cool but was gagging and almost threw up as she was walking away. I stood by the stage in the same spot but she only did one more song and I had to leave so I never made eye contact with her again but I will never forget that and I can also say I could never stomach Southern Comfort either.

[KathyinMichigan]

11:34 AM on 02/03/2011

I can still hear her voice singing Me and Bobby McGee.

[Kael Mc]

11:19 AM on 02/03/2011

...and a rotary telephone, a potty seat, a soup latle, a tire iron, some loose dental floss, Cap n' Crunch cereal, a clip-on diamond earing, a copy of "The Rules", a voter's pamphlet, a parakeet, a Vinny Barbarino glass from Chevron, a banana peel.......

[hueylover]

11:41 PM on 02/03/2011

lol :D

[bikerdude]

01:01 AM on 02/03/2011

I miss her and her music...

[regulargal]

02:36 PM on 02/02/2011

Credit cards? I'm trying to remember when "Master Charge" began issuing credit cards.

Anywho, loved and miss her.

[Jerome Morrow]

04:40 PM on 02/02/2011

I was surprised too. Must have been early versions and I guess only rich people could get them. I know that they couldn't have been that common yet though...

[SeaPeace]

03:43 PM on 02/03/2011

May have been credit cards to department stores. When I was a kid in the 50s early 60s my mom had all the department store cards.

[Nancy Lynne Kriescher]

08:22 AM on 02/02/2011

Another reminder.. She had just finished, her last Album, according to Books,] had been clean 6 months](?).. and unfortunately. .. But Contents in Purse, are interesting.. Otis, Johnny Cash music,, Books, etc.:)

[Kmcmahen]

05:45 PM on 02/01/2011

As a college student now I really envy what the people of the 60s got to experience... Joplin is my favorite of all time, I'll never forget the first time I heard kozmic blues... Love you Janis can't wait to jam in the afterlife

[janha]

11:23 PM on 02/01/2011

I'll crow a little and just say I was there and have some very warm and comforting memories from the sixties. It felt good to be part of something that was so revolutionary on so many levels in this country.

[SeaPeace]

03:48 PM on 02/03/2011

I'll crow right along with ya. I played the heck out of the first LP Big Brother and the Holding Company and Cheap Thrills. Saw her play in Seattle at Sicks Stadium (not there any longer) on July 5, 1970 along with the Steve Miller Band. WOW is all I can say cuz I don't remember much.

[hueylover]

11:44 PM on 02/03/2011

My memories aren't warm & cosy but yes, it was an exciting time. Even in Australia ;)

[ByAndForThePeople]

04:42 PM on 02/01/2011

I never had the pleasure of seeing Janis in person. Sadly, I had tickets to a Janis concert in NYC that was canceled because of her death a week or two before the date. I listen to Janis' music almost constantly and remain tremendously impressed. There've been a lot of good blues singers, before and since Janis, but she was one of the greatest ever. My first tattoo was modeled after Janis' -- that little heart over her heart. I miss her to this day.

[Pailface]

03:18 PM on 02/01/2011

Love you Janis!

[JJovana]

02:49 PM on 02/01/2011

I get chills up and down my spine when someone mentions Janis. She was the greatest! Nobody can still come close to her!!

[Kael Mc]

11:20 AM on 02/03/2011

Hey! What about GaGa?

[RACVC]

12:36 PM on 02/03/2011

GaGa will never be able to belt out the blues like Janis could.

[TheAntiOkie]

04:41 PM on 02/03/2011

No.  Janis was pure talent and that was the show.

[yappnmutt]

02:18 PM on 02/01/2011

freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.

perfect timing for an article about janis.

that was a great time to be alive and living the moment(unless you were drafted).

[bikerdude]

01:03 AM on 02/03/2011

I did get drafted and it still was kinda cool...

[Kael Mc]

11:21 AM on 02/03/2011

Thanks for your service brother.

[JacksonJones]

12:59 PM on 02/01/2011

No harpoon? No bandanna? I am disappointed :-)

After all these years, she is still one of the best female vocalists American music has ever had.

[matson]

12:44 PM on 02/01/2011

If one wants to know how far our culture has be debased, one only need to consider how long Janis Joplin would have lasted on American Idol. They would have stopped her after 15 seconds. Jim Morrison might have lasted 20 seconds.

[Crackity Jones]

01:07 PM on 02/01/2011

I'd guess that they'd stop Bob Dylan before he was even done with a verse line.

[Folk Hero]

10:12 AM on 02/03/2011

Dylan's voice leaves much to be desired, but his lyrics are poetry.

[hueylover]

11:46 PM on 02/03/2011

lol

[Absolon]

02:15 PM on 02/01/2011

Once the boomers started running the show, not even Carole King could get a contract.

[onalimb]

12:36 PM on 02/01/2011

Typical contents for a very exceptional person.
Some do not match the stereo type - which is why we should not stereo type.
Getting chills thinking about her - played the album Pearl over and over.
Cryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy BABAY!

[Pailface]

03:21 PM on 02/01/2011

You gotta Move Over...