Frank Melton
Biography
Frank Melton is credited with the Straight Theater's 1967 grand-opening poster (AOR-2.220), the single sheet that advertised the Haight Street venue's debut weekend of July 21–23, 1967, headlined on its final night by the Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company. Beyond that attribution — carried consistently by poster dealers and catalog listings, though not yet confirmed here against the primary Art-of-Rock record — Melton is a lightly-documented figure in the ballroom poster canon, and it is more honest to say so than to invent a career for him.
Why They Matter
Associated with the Straight Theater, the Haight-Ashbury community's own converted-movie-house ballroom — a venue outside the Bill Graham / Family Dog axis, whose homemade poster record reflects its grassroots origins.
Notable Works
- AOR-2.220 (Straight Theater grand opening, 1967)