Marcia Strassman: The Flower Children Movement of 1967

Marcia Strassman – “The Flower Children” / “Out Of The Picture” (UNI 55006) March 1967

Marcia Strassman: The Flower Children Movement of 1967 |THE FLOWER CHILDREN What gives a generation its name? What makes a trend or a movement? First of all there has to be something happening out there. Then somebody has to see it and give it a name.

If the vision is accurate and the name sums it up the creature win grow. People talk about it. Other people want to belong to it. There are signs that flowers may be the next kick that flower music is in the air and that you out there are the flower generation.

Lord Tim Hudson:

The flower terms were coined by a nonstop talking 24-year-old ex-DJ out in Los Angeles named Lord Tim Hudson (“When I was in schoolboy I was always ready to express — what I believed in so everybody called me Lord Tim).

Lord Tim who came here from England three years ago, always hated the term rock n roll. “There had to be a new word to replace that monotonous terribly boring insulated expression.”

Anyone over 30 is an old flower

So he thought of flowers as representative of feeling colour happiness vitality and love. He uses the term ‘flower children’ to describe all young people who want these things. “Anyone over 30 is an old flower, anyone under 15 is a petal child.”

Lord Tim whose talk darts abruptly from one point to another says that he noticed a few years ago that old ladies always wore flowers on their dresses, “I think old ladies were hip.

The Seeds

They were ahead of what’s happening: Maybe they’re really grooving being old. Did you ever think of that? Maybe sitting on the old park bench seeing the little birds go by maybe if it’s really great “I thought that flower clothes would come in. Then when I was a DJ I met this group called The Seeds.”

He took over the management of The Seeds (seeds grow into flowers right?) and called their music, flower music. A girl named Marcia Strassman who has released a record called “The Flower Children’ was also adopted as a representative of the movement. “Flower children are just all for love and happiness and wonderfulness” says Marcia “It’s the whole love thing.

They’re beautiful. It’s not a physical beauty, it’s beauty inside. People in New York don’t know from flower whatever but they’re thinking this way. I’d know from talking to someone for two seconds whether he was a flower child or not.”

Marcia used to be an actress and “wanted to be the next Sarah Bernhardt.” A few years back she replaced Liza Minelli in the musical “Best Foot Forward.

Then after some work in TV and summer stock she went to California. Uni Records was auditioning people to sing “The Flower Children” and she got the Job.

“I’ve become so flower-happy” she says “They used to make me think of funerals but now I love them I went and bought great big paper flowers, it’s not just because of the record I really dig them now. My apartment’s getting to look like’ a mausoleum.” (Red Bluff, Tehama, County Daily News 09/05/67)

Any questions about my content please get in touch via the contact form.