Oz magazineOz Magazine was a satirical humour magazine published from 1963-69 in Sydney, Australia and from 1967 to 1973 in London, England. The central editor throughout the magazine's life was Richard Neville. Co-editors of the Sydney version were Richard Walsh and Martin Sharp. Co-editors of the London version were Jim Anderson and, later, Fexlix Dennis. Both incarnations of the magazine were the subject of celebrated obscenity trials in 1964 and 1971 but on both occasions the magazine's editors were acquitted after initially being found guilty and sentenced to harsh jail terms. The original version was co-founded in 1963 by Neville, Walsh and Sharp, each of whom had been involved in student papers at their respective Sydney tertiary campuses. The magazine caused an immediate sensation with it first edition on April Fool's Day 1963, which parodied the Sydney Morning Herald and led with a famous hoax story about the Sydney Harbour Bridge collapsing. Within six issues the magazine had landed its editors in court on obscenity charges. The cases stemmed from a number of published items including Oz #6's infamous 'pissoir' cover, which depicted a new sculptured wall fountain by noted sculptor Tom Bass apparently being used as a urinal by a group of young men; the sculpture, which was built into the wall of the P&O shipping office, had only recently been opened by conservative Prime Minister Robert Menzies. The other major item at issue was a poem by Sharp, The Word Flashed Around The Arms, a parodic reportage piece in verse paordying the supposed mind-set of young Australian males. Because the trio had been poorly advised and had pleaded guilty to an earlier minor charge, this second obscenity trial (held in late 1964) had much more serious consequences, because it was taken as a second offence. All three men were found guilty and sentenced to jail with hard labour, although Sharp was given a reduced sentence because the magistrate found him to be of 'reduced intelligence'. There was a major public outcry and benefit concerts, and the trio was finally acquitted on appeal after it was found that the magistrate had grossly misdirected the jury. Australian Oz continued under Walsh's editorship until 1969 but in late 1966 Neville and Sharp moved to the UK and set up a London version. The early editions included considerable input from Sharp and many of the posters included with the magazine instantly became sought-after collectors items and now command high prices. British writer Jonathon Green has lauded the Oz "Magic Theatre" edition (compiled maily by Sharp with Philippe Mora) as "perhaps the supreme example of the entire underground press". The magazine regularly enraged the British Establishment with a range of left-field stories including heavy converage of the Vietnam war and the anti-war movement, discussions of drugs, sex and alternative lifestyles, and political stories such as revelations about torture of citizens under the rule of the miltary junta in Greece. The magazine was raided several times, culminating in the infamous Oz obscenity trial of 1971. The charges stemmed from the magazine's now-legendary Schoolkids Issue (#28), in which a number of school-age children had been permitted to edit an issue of the magazine. One of the resulting articles, a highly sexualised Rupert The Bear parody created by 15-year-old schoolboy Vivian Berger by pasting the head of Rupert onto the lead character of an X-rated satirical cartoon by Robert Crumb. The most famous images of the trial come from the committal hearing, at which Neville, Dennis and Anderson all appeared wearing rented schoolgirl costumes. The British trial was in some respects a copy of the Australian trial, with evidence and judicial instruction clearly aimed at securing a conviction -- but the British trial was given an far more dangerous twist by the revival of an archaic charge, 'conspiracy to corrupt public morals', which (theoretically) carried a virtually unlimited penalty. Dennis and Anderson were defended by lawyer and playwright John Mortimer (creator of the famous Rumpole Of The Bailey series) with assistance from Australian lawyer Geoffrey Robertson; Neville represented himself. After the longest obscenity trial in British legal history, with defence witnesses including comedian marty Feldman and academic Dr Edward De Bono, the three defendents were found guilty and sentenced to hard labour; shortly after the verdicts were handed down they were taken to prison and their heads shaved, an act which caused an even greater stir on top of the already considerable outcry surrounding the trial and verdict. A broad alliance of underground and music figures including John Lennon ralllied in support of the Oz Three and numerous fund-raising concerts and other events were held. On appeal, it was found that the trial judge, Justice Argyle, had grossly misdirected the jury, and they were acquitted. The magazine continued in publication until 1973, although it arguably lost much of its impact after the trial. Dennis has since become one of Britian's wealthiest publishers. Neville has become a successful author whose books include a critically praised account of the life of Indian 'hippie trail' serial killer Charles Sobraj, and his memoir of Oz magazine Hippie Hippie Shake. Walsh became a magazine editor with Kerry Packer's Consolidated Press organisation and eventually rose to become its senior publisher. Sharp has long been regarded as Australia's leading pop artist. External Links
http://pers-www.wlv.ac.uk/~fa1871/oztrial.htm
http://pers-www.wlv.ac.uk/~fa1871/rupage.html
http://alt.venus.co.uk/weed/zines/oz01_04.htm http://www.pooterland.com/index2/literature/oz/oz.html
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