Slim Brundage

Brundage hosting the Beat Convention at the College of Complexes

Myron Reed "Slim" Brundage (November 29, 1903 – October 18, 1990) was the "founder and janitor" of the College of Complexes, a radical social center in Chicago during the 1950s. It was known as Chicago's Number One "beatnik bistro".

Brundage was also a writer and poet closely associated with the Beats. A Hobo, Wobbly, Soapboxer, veteran of Bughouse Square and the Dil Pickle Club, 'little theater' playwright/actor, president emeritus of the Hobo College in the 1930s, housepainter, humorist, and chief architect of the scandalous Beatnik Party during the 1960 elections.

Brundage was also the proprietor of a coffee house called College for Complexes. In 1960 the shop hosted a Beat Convention to nominate a Beat Party candidate for President of the United States. Brundage ran for the nomination himself and though he provided a place to sleep and free food for beatniks from out of town, he did not succeed.

In 1997, Franklin Rosemont edited a collection entitled From Bughouse Square to the Beat Generation: Selected Ravings of Slim Brundage - Founder & Janitor of the College of Complexes, published by the Charles H Kerr Company Publishers as part of its Bughouse Square Series.

He was married to artist Margaret Brundage (née Johnson) from 1927 to 1939, and Katarine C. Wood from 1940

External links

• Slim Brundage Papers at the Newberry Library