Strange Angel (46 page)

“she thinks she's so right.” Jane Wolfe, personal diary, 15 September 1942, OTO.

“as if she owned them.” Helen Parsons Smith, author interview.

“with my own husband.” Starr,
The Unknown God
, 256.

“combats with Jack.” Seckler,
In the Continuum,
III.7, 38.

“and would do it again.” Parsons, letter to Helen Parsons, 25 June 1941, HPS.

“I prefer Betty sexually.” Ibid., 29 March 1943.

“Georgia calls to Roy.” Max Schneider, personal diary, 6 July 1943, OTO.

“from pinnacle to pinnacle.” John Whiteside Parsons, letter to Helen Parsons, 2 May 1942, STARR.

“confirmation in the law of Thelema.” Parsons,
Analysis.

“the sore spot I carried.” Starr,
The Unknown God,
271.

“Sex before going up to Mass.” Agape Lodge minutes, 15 April 1942, OTO.

“visibly moved by his words.” Jane Wolfe, letter to Karl Germer, 26 March 1942, OTO.

“needs a Guru.” Germer, letter to Wolfe, 12 March 1942, OTO.

“What heavily restricted Orange Grove.” Wolfe, letter to Germer, 8 June 1942, OTO.

“much to the landlord's alarm.” Helen Parsons Smith, author interview.

“secret passage.” Nieson Himmel, interview by Susan Pile and Brad Branson, n.d., ADASTRA. Description of 1003 Orange Grove drawn from Seckler,
In the Continuum,
III.8, 34–38.

“hold 50 people easily.” Jane Wolfe, letter to Karl Germer, 28 June 1942, OTO.

“there was a knife in the room.” Robert Cornog, interview by Scott Hobbs, n.d., THELEMA.

“the garden was enchanted.” Jeanne Ottinger, author interview.

“screws, electric connections, sawing.” Seckler,
In the Continuum,
III.8, 34–38.

“into the foulest of moods.” Phyllis Seckler, letter to the author, 11 January 2003.

“I'm a great one to talk,” John Whiteside Parsons, letter to Edward Forman, 26 April 1944, private collection.

“outsiders in the field.” Jane Wolfe, letter to Karl Germer, 10 March 1943, OTO.

“It was a time in society.” Jeanne Forman, interview with Brad Branson, 15 July 1995, JPL.

“not cause a ripple in the public consciousness.” Jane Wolfe, letter to Karl Germer, 2 December 1942, OTO.

“coked up like a snowbird.” Grady McMurtry, letter to Parsons, 8 May 1943, OTO.

“amphetamine abuse.” Nieson Himmel, interview.

“Jack was an expert on drugs.” Robert Cornog, interview by Brad Branson and Susan Pile, 7 March 1995, ADASTRA.

“I am no prude.” Karl Germer, letter to Aleister Crowley, c. 1943, OTO.

“This will I think rank as the most important thing.” Aleister Crowley, personal diary, 19 August 1942, YORKE.

“some definite personal action.” Jane Wolfe, letter to Wilfred Smith, 13 January 1943, OTO.

“Love and trust. Jack and Helen.” John Whiteside Parsons and Helen Parsons, telegram to Aleister Crowley, 27 January 1943, YORKE

“drug-traffic and so on.” Aleister Crowley, letter to Jane Wolfe, 4 May 1943, OTO.

“Jack's trouble is his weakness.” Aleister Crowley, letter to Jane Wolfe, December 1943, OTO.

“to ensure his allegiance.” Karl Germer, letter to Jane Wolfe, 26 September 1943, OTO.

“the publication of the tarot.” Karl Germer, letter to Grady McMurtry, 6 April 1946, OTO.

“he has poise and dignity.” Max Schneider, personal diary, 22 June 1943, OTO.

“push on to the Third Degree.” Agape Lodge minutes, 1 June 1943, OTO.

“get rid of the old influence.” Crowley, letter to Max Schneider, 6 July 1943, YORKE.

“Many times these many years.” Wilfred Smith, letter to Crowley, 14 September 1943, YORKE.

“This is no place for indigent mothers.” Quoted in Roy Leffingwell, letter to Crowley, 9 April 1944, STARR.

“appalling egotism, bad taste.” Parsons, letter to Crowley, 14 September 1943, STARR.

“getting rid of the smoke.” Kármán,
The Wind and Beyond,
264.

“from 10 to 12 hours daily.” Malina,
Letters,
20 November 1942.

“keen to be taken on as consultants.” Fritz Zwicky, oral history interview by R. Cargill Hall and James H. Wilson, 27 April 1972, JPL.

“the most frightening experiences of their lives.” Gene Pierce, oral history interview by James H. Wilson, 19 June 1972, JPL.

“That, I suppose, represents some progress.” Frank Malina,
Letters,
3 August 1943.

“underneath a nearby tree.” Martin Summerfield, oral history interview by J. D. Hunley, 27 September 1994, JPL.

“it had just been a joke.” Gene Pierce, oral history interview.

 

10: A NEW DAWN

“controlled U-235 bombs.”
Astounding Science Fiction
(March 1944).

“vindicate science fiction's role.” Parsons was to have his own run-in with the Manhattan Project. In May 1945 the security division of the Manhattan Project was alerted to the fact that a chemical, or explosive being used in the highly secretive project, known only as “x-metal,” had been procured by Parsons and Forman's Ad Astra Research Company. Supposing espionage, the FBI was alerted and Parsons soon found himself being grilled about his usage of the substance. The exact details of Parsons' deposition are unknown; however, the FBI investigation eventually noted that both he and Forman were no threat to national security.

“drink cheap sherry and talk over new stories.” Williamson,
Wonder's Child,
129.

“unsurmised wonders of chemistry and astronomy.” Anthony Boucher,
Rocket to the Morgue
(New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1942) 53; 112–13.

“super-weapons and atom-powered space ships.” L. Sprague de Camp,
Time and Chance
(New Hampshire: Donald M. Grant, 1996) 184–7.

“I was aware or more and more.” Frank Malina,
America's First Long-Range-Missile and Space Exploration Program: The ORDCIT Project of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1943–46: A Memoir,
in
Essays on the History of Rocketry and Astronautics: Proceedings of the Third Through Sixth History Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics,
ed. R. Cargill Hall, (Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1977), 339.

“space work with planes.” Wolfe, letter to Crowley, 26 November 1943.

“solely for current and future wars.” Malina,
America's First Long-Range-Missile and Space Exploration Program,
340.

“[it] was the child of war.” Zibit,
The Guggenheim Aeronautics Laboratory,
410.

“He wouldn't settle down.” Andrew Haley Jr., author interview, 26 November 2002.

“as if it was a coat.” Ibid.

“He had a slight satanic look.” Delphine Haley, author interview, 2 December 2002.

“a childish sense of humor.” George Frey, interview by Scott Hobbs, c. 1995, THELEMA.

“Get over here right now.” Jeanne Forman, interview by Brad Branson, 15 July 1995, JPL.

“
It's like a fairy story.
“ Various,
Aerojet: The Creative Company
(San Dimas: A&M Services, 1995).

“a crack-pot.” John Whiteside Parsons, Federal Bureau of Investigation file.

“there were several hundred.” Malina,
America's First Long-Range-Missile and Space Exploration Program,
340.

“hadn't been part of the inner circle.” Dorothy Lewis, oral history interview by James Wilson, 15 June 1972, JPL.

“enamored with explosives.” Fritz Zwicky, oral history interview by Hall and Wilson.

“very excited.” Malina,
America's First Long-Range-Missile and Space Exploration Program,
351.

“It would have been a disaster.” Frank Malina, oral history interview by Wilson.

“like Billy Graham.” Zwicky.

“very strange odor.” Charles Bartley, oral history interview by John Bluth, 3 October 1994, JPL.

“Just a note from the midst.” Parsons, letter to Forman, 26 April 1944.

“whether it was wanted or not.” Apollo Smith, oral history interview by Jennifer K. Stine, 25 September 1995, CALTECH.

“bring it to the test stage.” Minutes of Solid Conference Meetings (GALCIT), 1944, JPL.

“reputable institution.” Zwicky.

“probably earned a similar sum.” Charles Bartley and Robert Rypinski both state that Forman and Parsons were each paid $50,000 for their stock. Jeanne Forman recalled Ed Forman gaining some $30,000 from the sale of his stocks. Both of these figures seem slightly inflated. Malina sold half his stock to General Tire in December 1944 for around $7,000.

“these playthings down here in the Arroyo.” Zwicky, oral history interview by Hall and Wilson.

“listening to his ideas.” Rypinski, oral history interview.

“The jig was pretty much up.” Bernard Smith,
Some Vignettes from an Early Rocketeer's Diary: A Memoir,
AAS History Series Vol. 12, JPL.

“He liked to spend hours.” Robert Cornog, interview by Brad Branson and Susan Pile, n.d., ADASTRA.

“find himself a new job.” Seckler,
In the Continuum,
IV.4, 43.

“boom industry, Laundromats.” Bartley, oral history interview.

“the party scattered.” Cornog, interview by Branson and Pile.

“coffin of the old OTO.” Agape Lodge minutes, 6 January 1945, OTO.

“Buddha-like figure.” For a fuller biography of Himmel see
Los Angeles Times,
14 March 1999.

“wilderness is paradise now.” Lou Goldstone to Grady McMurty, 10 March 1945, OTO.

“rugged individualist.” Robert Cornog, Federal Bureau of Investigation file.

“created quite a flap in Pasadena.” Alva Rogers,
Darkhouse,
featured in
Lighthouse
fanzine, 5 February 1962, (courtesy of the Fanzine Collection of the Paskow Science Fiction Collection at Temple University).

“how they were atheists.” Himmel, interview by Branson and Pile.

“The professional fortune teller.” Rogers,
Darkhouse.

“compose some new music for it.” Parsons, letter to McMurtry, 8 August 1945, OTO.

“they're having a party.” Ottinger, author interview.

“Alva never seemed to have money for rent.” Himmel, interview by Branson and Pile.

“In the living room.” Rypinski, oral history interview.

“I could never have.” Himmel, interview by Russell Miller, 14 August 1986. See Russell Miller,
Bare-Faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard
(London: Michael Joseph, 1987) 112–31. By permission of PFD.

“she ‘wasn't sophisticated'.” Himmel, interview by Branson and Pile.

“I can still describe Betty's swimsuit.” Cornog, interview by Branson and Pile.

“pretty much with an iron hand.” Alice Greenberg, author interview, 9 March 2003.

“lack of subtlety and humor.” Crowley, letter to Germer, 15 November 1943, OTO.

“certain people to come to the telephone.” Seckler,
In the Continuum
, IV.5, 42.

“an ordeal set by the gods.” Germer, letter to Wolfe, 12 January 1944, OTO.

“my teacher, my guide.” Parsons to Smith, 6 February 1945, STARR.

“Smith is a menace.” Seckler,
In the Continuum,
IV.4, 35.

“Smith who has a master hand.” Ibid.

“Have I got to explain to everybody.” Ibid., 37.

“I will give you a war-engine.” Crowley, letter to Louis Wilkinson, 7 August 1945, YORKE.

“became the neighborhood experts.” Alva Rogers,
A Requiem for Astounding
(Chicago: Advent, 1964) 138.

“desperate social problems.” Malina,
America's First Long-Range-Missile and Space Exploration Program,
365.

 

11: ROCK BOTTOM

“almost religious ecstasy.” Rogers,
Darkhouse.

“the model for the charismatic seducer.” Williamson,
Wonder's Child,
129.

“counterintelligence during the war.”
L. Ron Hubbard: A Chronicle,
http://www.scientology.org/html/en_US/l-ron-hubbard/chronicle/pg006.html
.

“bullet wounds.” Miller,
Bare-Faced Messiah,
100.

“broken feet,” Robert Heinlein,
Agape and Eros: The Art of Theodore Sturgeon,
preface to Theodore Sturgeon's
Godbody
(New York: Donald I. Fine, 1986) 12.

“he had been sunk four times.” Ibid.

“patrolling the frozen Aleutians.” Himmel, interview by Miller.

“aboriginal arrows.” Rogers,
Darkhouse.

“measured his skull and declared it to be unique.” Himmel, interview by Miller.

“I recall his eyes.” Williamson,
Wonder's Child,
185.

“charm the shit out of anybody.” Himmel, interview by Miller.

“I thought he was a bastard.” Greenberg, author interview.

“one hell of a good story.” Rogers,
Darkhouse.

“in complete accord with our own principles.” John Symonds,
The King of the

Shadow Realm
(London: Duckworth, 1989), 562–3.

“batting ideas back and forth.” Greenberg, author interview.

“He was irresistible to women.” Himmel, interview by Branson and Pile.

“rapping her smartly across the nose.” McMurtry,
Report on the Order in Southern California, 25
January 1946, OTO.

“like a starfish on a clam.” Cornog, interview by Susan Pile and Brad Branson.

“the genial elder brother.” Seckler,
In the Continuum,
IV.5, 42.

“hitherto unfelt passion, jealousy.” Rogers,
Darkhouse.

“right in front of Parsons.” Himmel, interview by Miller.

“There is not even any point to it.” Crowley, letter to Parsons, 19 October 1943, YORKE.

“I prefer the appearance of evil.” Parsons, letter to Crowley, 26 November 1943, STARR.