The Doug Palmer Interview
Conducted by Paul Bax
When most people think of the Bruce Lee's Seattle era, names such as Taky Kimura, Jesse Glover, and Jim DeMile immediately come to mind. One person often over looked with immense knowledge of Lee's art as it was taught in the early sixties is Doug Palmer. A lawyer by profession, Palmer met Lee before his evolution, and later experienced the art we now know as Jeet Kune Do on a trip to Honk Kong in 1972. One aspect that sets Palmer apart from any other student is the fact he actually spent a summer with Bruce in Hong Kong. In this interview, Palmer recalls his experiences with Bruce in the U.S. and in Hong Kong during the sixties, and his last meeting with him before Lee's death in 1973.
HOW AND WHEN DID YOU FIRST MEET BRUCE LEE?
DOUG PALMER: I met him during the summer of 1961 in Seattle. Ever year we have a Seafair race out in Seattle, and there are a lot of community activities leading up to that event. I met Bruce at a Japanese community festival.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION OF HIM?
DP: He had a very strong personality. I actually had seen him prior to this event. I saw him a week before at a Chinese community fair where he was giving a demonstration. I was awe-struck by his speed and power. I wanted to meet him.
SO IT WAS HIS DEMONSTRATION THAT MADE YOU WANT TO BECOME ONE OF HIS STUDENTS?
DP: Yeah. I told him I wanted to study gung fu with him. I had been boxing ever since the fifth grade or so, but this was something totally different than I had ever seen before. I was fascinated, so I asked if I could study with him, and he told me to come to the next class. If I was still interested, he said we would talk about it.
DID YOU DISCUSS BOXING?
DP: Yeah, we talked about boxing. He had a lot of movies of famous fights that he watched, and studied. We never sparred with gloves or anything. He had done that in a fight or two in Hong Kong. He wasn't particularly interested in boxing (at this point in his training), and I was interested in learning gung fu from him.
DID YOU HAVE ANY PRIOR MARTIAL ARTS EXPERIENCE?
DP: Other than the boxing, no.
WHAT WERE THE CLASSES LIKE BACK THEN?