The Path To "Bob"
Del Close was in analysis for decades. He learned how to do it from all this therapy and would create an album THE DO IT YOURSELF PSYCHOANALYSIS KIT in 1959! You can hear it here:
http://easydreamer.blogspot.com/2005/12/week-38-christmas-countdown-second.html Del was a science fiction fan so he was drawn to Hubbard- a science fiction writer who did psychotherapy and hypnotherapy. Del had a love affair with the theories of Buddhism and found Hubbard's ideas of reincarnation fascinating. He never got off booze in all his years in therapy with all the therapists he went to, the behaviorists would do that. He credited Hubbard with one important thing however, Hubbard got Del to leave the carny world and have the courage to hit the stage.
One day Del went into Hubbard's office and was shocked to discover that his therapy sessions were over. Hubbard was excited, he was going to turn his theories into something new called dianetics. Del was hurt, Confused. He pleaded with Hubbard to keep seeing him, but Hubbard was about to change the world. As Del moaned about what he was going to do now, Hubbard got up, walked over to him, and slapped him across the face. "That's all you ever really needed", Hubbard told Del.
This incident is in the DC comic book WASTELAND that Del did with writer John Ostrander.
One day Del and I were sitting around and he told me this story and wondered why Hubbard never tried to get him into Scientology.
"Maybe its because some people were born to join a religion", I said, " and others to create one".
THEY SAY DON'T DO THIS
AND DON'T DO THAT
AND THEN GOD WILL LIKE YOU
I DON'T LIKE IT
I DON'T LIKE IT
I DON'T LIKE IT
AND GOD DON'T LIKE IT TOO!
I have no idea what SubGenius preacher first spotted Dr. Scott preaching on television, but there is no question the first SubGenius Church preachers owed Dr. Scott big time. He was an inspiration and a revelation. There was no one like him in the world of televangelism. No one has topped him yet.
When the IRS went after him to get his list of contributors he fought them and spent a million bucks a week in fines rather than give up the names. After more than a year of this, the IRS threw in the towel and he got all the money back- plus interest! At the height of his fight he went on air showing himself with two stunning models, all three of them wearing neck to ankle fur coats. He announced he was going to start buying race horses!
Was that gutsy, or crazy? Who knows. That was Dr. Gene Scott. At one point in his battle, he asked contributors to send a note with their donation, saying DR. SCOTT CAN DO WHATEVER HE WANTS WITH THIS MONEY! I'm sure the IRS loved that.
"A skinflint may get to Heaven, but what awaits him are a rusty old halo, a skinny old cloud, and a robe so worn it scratches. First-class salvation costs money."
And he cussed! Shocking all the other TV preachers. One of his songs, "Kill a Pissant for Jesus." was called blasphemy by other preachers.
"You ever meet Christians? You wish you could shove a pipe in their mouth. Anything to shut them up."
If there was anything he hated more than the IRS- it was the FCC. If he wanted to curse during his preaching, they should just shut the hell up and listen!
Quote: "While other pastors denounce homosexuality, abortion, adultery, profanity and drinking, Scott refuses to condemn such behavior. He leaves worshipers free to make their own choice without coercion. "I don't ask you to change when you come here," he instructs the congregation. "I take you as you are, as God takes me as I am." http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/religion/dr-gene-scott/ "Closet" watchers of The Festival of Faith at one point included Johnny Carson, Art Carney, Gene Hackman, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Burt Reynolds. They'd sit around in a group watching Dr. Scott, and then call the number on the screen. Celebrities were enthused: this was unlike anything they'd ever seen on a television program, and the host was charismatic."
Quote (from the above link) "Dr. Scott spends weeks and months at a time on marvelously conspiratorial topics: the Pyramids, Atlantis, Roswell UFO's, Stonehenge, the Amityville poltergeists - even the Philadelphia Experiment. During Sunday sermons, Scott admonishes his congregation not to seek God's blessing from a priest, the Pope or a place of worship. "And you're sure not going to get it from a motel with Jimmy Swaggart," he cracks."
"I'm not selling forty-pound Bibles, or water from Jordan, or 4,000 plastic crosses made by the Japanese and sold to Arabs. I don't send out 'healing cloths' or tear up my shirt. I say: what's what I've done worth? Whatever the meal I've fed you is worth, pay up. I'm not trying to save anybody. I think if you reject Christianity, you should do it intelligently."
You can imagine how the Christian right took such comments! But no one could stop him. He was and is on everything from satellite radio, to Christian TV (he is still on channel 38 on COMCAST), to the internet, to the most obscure worldwide radio bands. Ever see the movie VIDEODROME? It could have been about him! He turned sermons into rants, and he seemed to be loving every second of it.
You can still find him raising hell on the net 24/7, http://dr.genescott.org/
He passed away over a year ago, yet his preaching still continues to attract the kinds of people that would never watch a televangelist.
He proved one thing that would prove a powerful lesson for Subgenius preachers- you don't have to be stupid to talk religion. You could be funny. It would have been far too easy to ridicule religion. He showed us all how to have fun with it.
Into this blender of influences, let's add JIMMY SWAGGERT!
Posted at 05:04 pm by Psychomike
 | Posted by ddixie @ 06/20/2007 02:10 PM PDT | |
| Loved GeneScott; now enjoy Melissa Scott |
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