A Los Angeles theater note (sort of) by Maynard
Unlike the false tolerance of political correctness in which nonconformity is condemned, Starfleet Academy was a truly eclectic place. Thus we saw more than our fair share of weirdoes. (Much more.)
It’s my opinion that society needs a few weirdoes if it’s going to advance. Only a weirdo is willing to “think outside the box”. Therefore, it would have been counterproductive for a bleeding-edge institute of technological research to purge its ranks of oddballs and eccentrics.
(I hasten to add that not all weirdoes are good weirdoes. No, weirdness for its own sake is not a virtue.)
Anyway, Jack Parsons was a weirdo who was one of the significant rocket pioneers and founders of JPL, not to mention an occultist associate of Aleister Crowley and L. Ron Hubbard (who later ran off with Parsons’ wife and savings). Parsons ended an illustrious life by blowing himself up while mixing mercury fulminate in 1952.
This came on my radar lately because the Academy is running an odd little play about the life and times of Parsons. Final performances are this weekend here in Pasadena. For further information: “Pasadena Babalon”; here’s a review.
I saw this last Saturday; it’s an amusing production. Not highly professional, but it works and I enjoyed it. (And no, “Babalon” is not a misspelling of “Babylon”.)
Parsons has been the subject of two books: “Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons” and “Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons”. There’s a local bus tour, “Pasadena Confidential”, that will point out, among other things, the house from which Parsons rode to glory. A ticket costs $58; I wonder if it’s worth it?
‘love and rockets’ is a good book about jack parsons as it goes into detail in true geek fashion not only about the kinky sex magic stuff but also about his significant contributions to rocket science. it can easily be argued that he’s the father of our space program. it also is a window into the fraud that is l. ron hubbard. parsons was looked on in distaste for dabbling in the occult but his reasons were pure- he was a spiritual person seeking answers. hubbard was a con and ended up founding a ‘religion’ to shake people down with instead. scientology is a tax exempt church, hubbard no longer has need of his body, and parsons is a footnote, just some freaky scientist who blew himself up.
2nd wife and’ scarlet woman’ marjorie cameron is in kenneth anger’s’ inauguration of the pleasure dome’ which goes a long way to explaining the sort of magic parsons was involved with. scientists and the normative culture may have opted to forget the man who made going to the moon possible but occultists, like anger, and weirdos of all stripes have not. i think reading a good book about parsons and watching ‘inauguration of the pleasure dome’ would probably provide more bang- and insight- for the buck.
I had wondered whether one of those two books was the more definitive volume. I haven’t yet read either; a friend had recommended the “Strange Angel” book, but that happened to be the one he picked up, and he hadn’t seen the other.
Yeah, Cameron certainly seems to have been, ummm, interesting.
opps – i meant’ sex and rockets’ which i have and enjoyed. the other i have likewise not read. s and r is from feral house which i find usually has it’s share of poorly edited( or written sometimes one can’t tell-probably a little of both) books but this one was readable . it was optioned for a movie which could be at least interesting. forward by robert anton wilson and lots of photos and reproductions- old science mag covers you should find enjoyable. it does however focus a lot of energy on the occult aspects of his life which after all should be obvious given the subtitle of the book.if this is at all off putting perhaps “strange angel “would be a better choice for some.
jack parsons did not see the need to segregate the occult from his personal and scientific life . he in fact used knowledge of alchemy on his work with jet fuel which contributed to his success. carter is very sympathetic to parsons’ spiritual beliefs which i found helpful in understanding parsons the man .
john parsons has had some influence on libertarians.this is an example of what he was writing in the 50s side by side with writing about his occult workings. he was using the word ‘ patriarchy’ with negative connotations well before anyone in the modern ‘ women’s movement’. heinlein was one of his pals and ‘stranger in a strange land’ could easily sum up the world parsons created for himself, a world heinlein was privy to:
“I seem to be living in a nation that simply does not know what freedom is.”, john whiteside parsons from ” freedom is a two -edged sword”
“The time to fight for freedom is the time when freedom is threatened not the time when freedom is destroyed, for the later time is too late. Freedom is threatened now, the destruction of freedom is not far off. Now is the time to fight.”- parsons ,freedom is a 2 edged sword.
cameron edited this book which is still available: http://amzn.com/0972658327