When UFO Incidents stunned the American Public - Will the Mystery finally be Solved?

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Sixty-six years ago, in July of 1952, the greatest government documented cluster of UFO sightings in our history took place in and around our nation's capital, Washington, D.C. and the country was in a near panic.

This was just five years after the infamous Roswell, New Mexico UFO crash, also officially reported by the government, only to have a cover up begin within twenty-four hours.  These two are among very few documented UFO cases by the government before the veil of secrecy dropped down on the events.

To put things in even sharper perspective, the world was on edge since two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in 1945 ending World War II.  Former allies the US and Soviet Union turned their threats and guns on each other and these two superpowers were intent on nuclear dominance.

The nation of Israel was formed in 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated the same year.  A year later NATO was formed to protect the west from the growing might of the Soviet Union.  By 1950 the Korean War started, a proxy war for the two superpowers that lasted three years.

Before the end of 1952 the world would witness the first thermonuclear bomb, the USA hydrogen bomb, moving us one step closer to a doomsday weapon.

As for aliens, our attention first turned to the possibility of alien beings, not with the shocking crash of the UFO in Roswell, but a decade earlier when a young actor named Orson Welles gave a live radio broadcast of the War of the Worlds involving a Martian landing in New Jersey.  Millions of Americans panicked.

PBS Overview

Orson Welles radio broadcast “War of the Worlds” 1938

Ironically, the even more terrifying science fiction thriller, the movie War of the Worlds, based on Welles previous work, was released a year after the Washington, DC UFO swarm in 1953.

War of the Worlds Movie clips 1953

Why the sudden interest in major UFO activity over the years?  Stay tuned, the Truth is Out There and it is about to Come Here!

THE 1952 WASHINGTON, D.C., UFO INCIDENT, EXPLAINED

Gaia staff

THE GREAT 1952 WASHINGTON, D.C., UFO INCIDENT

It was around 11:40 p.m. on Saturday night, July 19, 1952. Air traffic controller Edward Nugent was at his radar screen at Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., when he saw seven unusual blips on the screen. No known aircraft were in the area and there was no explanation for the presence of the objects. Nugent called his superior, Harry Barnes, to come and look. Together, they watched the mysterious objects dart across the sky. They even checked to make sure the radar was working properly.

Nugent and his boss checked with the control tower and learned that both controllers in the tower had also seen the blips. They called nearby Andrews Air Force Base, where controllers also saw strange objects on their radar screens.

Two of the objects clearly hovered over the White House, with another one over the Capitol. Controllers at both airports began tracking the objects, which they estimated to be traveling at about 130 mph when they suddenly disappeared from the radar screen. Then appeared again, zipping all around the sky. One made a 90-degree turn and another one suddenly went in reverse, both maneuvers that American airplanes could not make at the time.

An airline captain, S.C. Pierman, was waiting on the tarmac in the cockpit of his DC-4 at National Airport for authorization to take off. While waiting, he saw six objects moving about the sky. Over a 14-minute time period, Pierman would see the objects and then they would disappear, reappearing moments later. He was talking to controller Barnes this entire time. Every time Pierman reported a sighting, a blip appeared on Barnes’s radar screen. At 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, July 20, the objects disappeared entirely.

Were these really unidentified flying objects (UFOs)? Did they come back again on another day for a second look? What was the significance of the 1952 UFO sightings and how did the sightings become known as the Great UFO Flap of 1952?

THE OBJECTS RETURN ON JULY 26, 1952

At around 8:15 p.m. one week later, a stewardess and a captain were on an inbound flight into Washington National Airport. They observed strange lights above their plane. At the same time, an officer at Andrews Air Force Base also observed the objects. Other pilots in the air at the time saw them, too. Similar to the occurrence from the week before, the “encore performance” of the UFOs ended around dawn on Sunday morning. The objects disappeared from sight and off of the airport radar.

NEWS HEADLINES AND UFO PUBLICITY

After the UFO Washington, D.C. incident of July 19, 1952, the headlines from The Washington Post's Monday edition declared, “'Saucer Outruns Jet, Pilot Reveals.” The article stated that the Air Defense Command sent a jet pilot up “to investigate the objects,” but was unable to overtake the moving glowing lights.

According to The Washington Post, the UFOs hovered only 1,700 feet above the White House lawn. An Air Force spokesperson said that their organization took steps to properly investigate the event, but the newspaper found the investigation veiled in secrecy. An unidentified traffic controller said the radar signals ruled out the possibility that the objects were due to weather conditions. He noted that they looked like an "aircraft in flight" on the radar screen.

The government created Project Blue Book to scientifically investigate all reported UFO sightings and relevant data to determine if they posed a threat to national security, which they terminated in January 1970. During its time in existence, from 1952 to 1970, it investigated 12,618 UFO reports. It found most of the occurrences coincided with natural phenomena. Only a handful remained unexplained.

As luck would have it, Air Force Captain, Edward J. Ruppelt, supervisor of the Air Force’s Project Blue Book, was in Washington, D.C. He learned of the UFO incident from reading the newspaper and discussed the situation with Captain Roy James, a radar specialist. James thought unusual weather conditions could have been responsible for objects appearing to show on radar.

OFFICIAL AIR FORCE EXPLANATION

On July 29, 1952, Air Force Major Generals John Samford, Director of Intelligence, and Roger Ramsey, Director of Operations held the largest press conference of any since the end of World War II. The official explanation of the July UFO sightings was that:

• The objects were “misidentified aerial phenomena,” which could mean they were stars or meteors
• The blips on the radar were due to temperature inversions Samford also said that the since the radar blips were not caused by any solid material, there was no threat to national security. He explained that when a weather inversion occurs, lights that are really on the ground may look like they are in the air and this caused the radar to misreport ground objects being in the sky.

The explanation was not well-received. Ruppelt, from Project Blue Book, noted that during the months of June, July and August in Washington D.C. “hardly a night passed” where there wasn’t a temperature inversion and there were not routine UFO sightings on the radar. All air traffic controller involved stated that even if the weather could cause a blip on the radar, it would be as a straight line and would not appear as lights.

In 1969, a scientific report released by the Air Force concluded that a temperature inversion strong enough to create the effect attributed to it by General Samford could not possibly occur in the Earth’s atmosphere. Even so, more than 50 years later, most people still accept the temperature inversion explanation.

THE ROBERTSON PANEL

The CIA commissioned the Robertson Panel in January 1953, in response to the number of UFO sightings from the year prior. The CIA encouraged Project Blue Book to be more active in debunking sightings than investigating them. There was also a huge public relations push to decrease the public’s interest in UFOs.

1952: A BUSY YEAR FOR UFOS

1952 is still one of the most active times in modern history for UFOs. Not only were there reports in Washington, D.C. during that time, but all over the world. In the first six months of 1952, there were about 300 unexplained UFO sightings, four times the number during the same time period of 1951. By the end of July, there were about 400 reports — more than there had been in any other year in history.

For UFO enthusiasts, 1952 remains an important year in history. To delve deeper into the mysterious events of 1952, be sure to watch the Dark Alliance episode of Deep Space.

Uploaded by Lied2Bad on Oct 3, 2010

American History not Taught in School....
E.T been around Since Ancient Civilization this

UFO MASS SIGHTING

The 1952 Washington D.C. UFO incident, also known as the Washington flap or the Washington National Airport Sightings, was a series of unidentified flying object reports from July 12 to July 29, 1952, over Washington D.C.

The most publicized sightings took place on consecutive weekends, July 19--20 and July 26--27.

Longtime ufologist Richard H. Hall, who served as the assistant director of NICAP and as the director of the Fund for UFO Research, writes:[1] "The summer 1952 UFO sighting wave was one of the largest of all time, and arguably the most significant of all time in terms of the credible reports and hardcore scientific data obtained."

At 11:40 p.m. on Saturday, July 19, 1952, Edward Nugent, an air-traffic controller at Washington National Airport, spotted seven objects on his radar. The objects were located 15 miles south-southwest of the city; no known aircraft were in the area and the objects were not following any established flight paths. Nugent's superior, Harry Barnes, a senior air-traffic controller at the airport, watched the objects on Nugent's radarscope. He later wrote: "We knew immediately that a very strange situation existed . . . their movements were completely radical compared to those of ordinary aircraft" (Clark, p. 653).

Barnes had two controllers check Nugent's radar; they found that it was working normally. Barnes then called National Airport's other radar center; the controller there, Howard Cocklin, told Barnes that he also had the objects on his radarscope. Furthermore, Cocklin said that by looking out of the control tower window he could see one of the objects: "a bright orange light. I can't tell what's behind it" (Clark, 653).

At this point, other objects appeared in all sectors of the radarscope; when they moved over the White House and the United States Capitol, Barnes called Andrews Air Force Base, located 10 miles from National Airport. Although Andrews reported that they had no unusual objects on their radar, an airman soon called the base's control tower to report the sighting of a strange object. Airman William Brady, who was in the tower, then saw an "object which appeared to be like an orange ball of fire, trailing a tail . . . [it was] unlike anything I had ever seen before." As Brady tried to alert the other personnel in the tower, the strange object "took off at an unbelievable speed" and vanished in "a split second". He then observed a second, similar object, but it also disappeared before anyone else in the tower could see it (Clark, 654). At 12:30 a.m. on July 20, another person in the National Airport control tower reported seeing "an orange disk about 3,000 feet altitude". On one of the airport's runways, S.C. Pierman, a Capital Airlines pilot, was waiting in the cockpit of his DC-4 for permission to take off. After spotting what he believed to be a meteor, he was told that the control tower's radar had picked up unknown objects closing in on his position. Pierman observed six objects — "white, tailless, fast-moving lights" — over a 14-minute period (Clark, 655). Pierman was in radio contact with Barnes during his sighting, and Barnes later related that "each sighting coincided with a pip we could see near his plane. When he reported that the light streaked off at a high speed, it disappeared on our scope."

At Andrews AFB, meanwhile, the control tower personnel were tracking on radar what some thought to be unknown objects, but others suspected, and in one instance were able to prove, were simply stars and meteors. However, Staff Sgt. Charles Davenport observed an orange-red light to the south; the light "would appear to stand still, then make an abrupt change in direction and altitude . . . this happened several times" (Clark, 655). At one point both radar centers at National Airport and the radar at Andrews AFB were tracking an object hovering over a radio beacon. The object vanished in all three radar centers at the same time (Ruppelt, p. 160). At 3 a.m., shortly before two jet fighters from Newcastle AFB in Delaware arrived over Washington, all of the objects vanished from the radar at National Airport. However, when the jets ran low on fuel and left, the objects returned, which convinced Barnes that "the UFOs were monitoring radio traffic and behaving accordingly" (Clark, 656). The objects were last detected by radar at 5:30 a.m. Around sunrise, E.W. Chambers, a civilian radio engineer in Washington's suburbs, observed "five huge disks circling in a loose formation.

They tilted upward and left on a steep ascent."

Read more: http://theedgeofreality.proboards.com/thread/1109/washington-ufo-flap-july-1952#ixzz57dEzIQWb

   

Through These Eyes

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Dean Stockwell

 “His Life in Pieces”

 

La Fonda Hotel is considered the end of the historic Santa Fe Trail, and for people who love the Southwest like myself, it is a most splendid ending.  It is unequaled in its abundance of history, folklore, authentic cuisine and the overall flavor of the New Mexican way of life.  It is a good place to end.

 

However, for Robert Dean Stockwell, the so-called “end of the trail” made a sharp turn to the North and then hit the High Road to Taos – where “all great souls eventually come,” or so they say.

 

Arriving at this destination in 2004 was in no way a terminus for Mr. Stockwell; in actuality it was just a beginning.  Of course, we all know about the real beginning, some 150 films ago.  The Boy with Green Hair would go Down to the Sea in Ships, visit The Secret Garden during The Happy Years and The Careless Years, experience Compulsion, Rapture and Blue Velvet in The Gardens of Stone.  He would be Married to the Mob with Friends and Enemies – Be the Player with The Chasers as well as Mr. Wrong – be in Midnight Blue with the Rain Maker and The Buffalo Soldiers during the Venice Project.  He would find Mr. Wrong or Right in Paris, Texas and experience the Rights of Passage with the Manchurian Candidate and the list goes on and on and on, after all, what should one expect from an actor actually born in Hollywood?

 

 

And now, that having been said, let us project ahead to this present moment. 

“Deep is your longing

For the land of your memories

And the dwelling-place

Of your greater desires.”

 

The Spagyric Eye and Kahlil Gibran

 

Having had a longing to experience the mystical Taos for myself for quite some time, I laid my plans, and so one fine day in May, with a driver, a photographer and a few friends, we too hit the High Road to Taos for our scheduled visit with the elusive and illustrious Mr. Stockwell.

 

As we arrive at Dean’s house, with Taos Mountain towering in the background, we feel the heavy presence of his beloved Pueblo.  We are greeted on the porch by Dean, with several dogs at his heels.

 

 

Knowing of his weakness for three so-called vices; “Guinness, golf and good cigars,” Fernando De La Garza, a part of our group who is an avid golfer and an aficionado himself of a good cigar, comes bearing such.  He speaks appreciatively of Dean’s graciousness while they were acting together in one of my favorite movies – She Came to the Valley – in Texas.  Fernando recalled Dean taking the time to speak to his class of school children about the making of the movie, and how they were in awe of a real life movie star!

 

While movie roles are by no means declined these days, they are a far cry from what is uppermost in Dean’s life at this period of time.  As we enter his house, we see the art . . . . and we know. 

 

His good friend, Doug Coffin, says “If you know Dean, then you know he’s been on the inside of the art scene his whole life.  Art and artists are what make his personal world go ‘round.  His passion and commitment are apparent as soon as you enter his home.  It is filled with art. Discovering Dean’s level of expression means uncovering the depth of understanding of a totally mature artist.  His work is both exciting and thought-provoking.”

 

 

As we are shown around we understand that our friend Dean has made a “Quantum Leap” of all time.  We see the Collages – everywhere!  We are told that a collage is a composition of cut and pasted pictures and the word Spagyric means to take apart and reassemble – to make new from old.  To paraphrase some of the quotes from the foreword of his fantastic new book – The Spagyric Eye – will help one to grasp the meaning of it all – perhaps.  His book – a huge one – is full of numerous collages.  Dean’s works have been shown at galleries across the country – Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, and others.  But as of now, he is content to have his works and his book at the R. B. Ravens Gallery in Taos.

 

Walter Hopps says, “Dean Stockwell’s collage works are superb.  The compositions are varied, inventive and complex and generally take on a mysterious narrative character.  His collages have a degree of intensity both in composition and color rarely seen in the work of his contemporaries.  In oblique ways, the work addresses contemporary concerns at the same time as it addresses concerns basic to Surrealism – life, death and eroticism.  In and around Stockwell’s social critique, there is a sharp edge of humor.”

 

My personal favorite, as we are shown around the studio, is the Eye of the Beholder, and I realize that all of this is indeed, just that.   One sees what is within one’s own mind, with no explanations from the artist.

 

“No man reveal to you ought

But that which already lies half asleep

In the dawning of your knowledge.”

 The Spagyric Eye and Kahlil Gibran

 

 

Ralph Gibson says, “As an artist, Dean has taken the most basic visual elements of the vernacular and reconfigured them into visual tone poems lingering between the abstract and the real.  This place could be called the echo of memory because once seen, it hovers in one’s thoughts.”

 

As we stand, admiringly, in front of his so-called “crown jewels,” Dean explains, “Bruce Conner just out of the blue, sent me this most amazing collection of collage materials.  It was the likes of which it would take a lifetime to collect!  And he gave them to me!  So, in 2003, to honor that great friend, I put all my energies into working with these exquisite pieces.”

 

When I ask Dean if it is some primal urge to divulge all that is in his mind, he replies “I wouldn’t doubt it – it certainly feels primal.  Early on, I felt I might be able to make some interesting pieces, but I refrained until the time was right. That time was in 2003.”

 

His first collage called "Shot of Life" sold for $12, 500 and he was off and running!  When I inquired as to whether his images were premeditated, Dean replied, “Not really. I go through a process of a kind of discovery of what each one will be and then it takes over and takes on a life of its own.”  He laughingly acknowledges, “It’s news to me too.”

 

 

And indeed, it’s news to us and to the general populace.  How do you explain the logic behind The Pope’s Secret Girlfriends, Two Heads Are Better Than One, Mussolini’s Office and Bikeface?

 

Throughout our tour, we have heard an almost dreamlike, lilting voice singing bits of song from an innermost part of the house and we have wondered.  Eventually, a beautiful young lady bursts softly into the room in a glow of youthful radiance.

 

“It was but yesterday we met in a dream.

You have sung to me in my aloneness.”

The Spagyric Eye and Kahlil Gibran

 

Photo by Ed Breeding

 

Her name is Carol and she is his wife and they appear to share a unique love.  Dean explains, “We met several times and I don’t even recall it.  I certainly had no intention nor reason to be looking for love.”

 

“Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield,

Upon which your reason and judgment

Wage war against your passion and your appetite.

For reason, ruling alone is a force confining:

And passion unattended is a flame

That burns to its own destruction.” 

The Spagyric Eye and Kahlil Gibran

Carol, interrupting, says, “Oh, I have been obsessed with him since I was 13 years old!  I saw all his movies, many times, and I loved him!  I arranged to be where he was twice and he didn’t even pay any attention at all!”  Dean tells us, “But on the last time, she had on this cute little uniform, and she caught my eye.  But I still was wary of love with this very young lady.”

 

Photo by Ed Breeding

 

“And think not you can direct the course of love,

For love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.” 

The Spagyric Eye and Kahlil Gibran

In all actuality, Carol came marching into his life with a well laid out strategy plus a well fitting military uniform.  It certainly paid off!  We romantic ladies everywhere give her a sharp salute!  A well-deserved victory indeed!

 

We see how Carol has brought, in the last few years, a bright happiness to Dean’s life.  He smiles softly at her and says, “Well, things happened and now here we are.”

 

“And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy,

But rather a heart inflamed and a soul enchanted,

But rather a garden forever in bloom,

And a flock of angels forever in flight.” 

The Spagyric Eye and Kahlil Gibran

Carol is fresh and outgoing and is a great contrast to Dean’s chronic wariness.  His eyes soften when he speaks to her and they seem to need one another.  Carol laughingly says, “I know how he feels even when he doesn’t even know himself.  I know how he feels right now.”  Solemnly, Dean asks, “And how do I feel right now?”  Voicing all our thoughts, collectively, she retorts, “Hungry!”  We all agree, as we had earlier made plans to have lunch together at the historic Doc Martin’s Restaurant, not too far down the road at the historic Taos Inn.

 

Photo by Ed Breeding

 

But first, Dean, now ready to share some more outrageous works, leads us from one collage to another, each one more salient than the other, and as we observe, we marvel at his state of mind, admiring him tremendously!

 

Again we use a quote from his book, The Spagyric Eye.   From Peter Sarkisian:  “These are the private exclamations of a man in touch with the soul of things.  He turns the world on end by mining it for images, and then he hurls those toward us with some of the pieces missing.  Dean’s work embodies the graceful delinquency we exhibit while quietly breaking the law in our dreams; we breathe underwater; we run but go nowhere – always with a freedom that rings true while doing it. Playing on the tension between image and context, he chooses to surf in the turbulence caused by their pairing.  His collages are bright carnivals filled with bits and pieces of dreamlike material, which together tell stories born of imagination.”

 

Contemplating reflectively on the answer to my question of what comes most into play-color, form or inner meaning – in all his artworks, Dean puffs on his ever-present, and I mean, ever-present cigar.  He answers, “They all apply.  I choose very carefully the color balance. I make decisions about sepia tones or light tones – where each goes and then I make the decision about the inner meaning.”

 

 

When I questioned him about his patterns of black and white being often interspersed with blocks of red, he simply replies that, “That really can’t be explained.”  Then, with a quick glance toward Carol, he quietly says, “Carol knows.”  And you begin to understand and appreciate the inner connection between the two.

 

Likewise, when asked if he ever studied art, his terse answer of “No” makes even more fascinating this observation of his friend, Paul Shapiro:  “What I see in these collage pieces is that Dean is a true saboteur of consensual reality and his creative mind is inhabiting an alchemical territory from which hidden authentic art manifests.  He seems to understand how to push reality through a grinder, blending the resulting mixture into a new confrontive, mythical reality which contains its own rules and metaphors.  This is art that derails the comfort zone.”

 

 

Speaking of comfort, Carol says the energies from all the art was overwhelming to her at first, but now, she says, “After about a year or so of it, it is a comfort to pick up on the energies.”

 

In answer to my question of whether he interprets his works, Dean wryly comments, “No, I don’t interpret them; a sensitive person can see and maybe understand, unless he has a mud puddle mentality, of course.”

 

“He does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom,

But rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.” 

The Spagyric Eye and Kahlil Gibran

 

 

As we pass the little kitchen area, we notice all the exotic bottles of seemingly mysterious libations Dean and Carol collect.  We welcome the brief respite for our senses after all we have seen, as Dean boyishly, like a kid with a present, breaks open the bottle of White Dog that we have gifted him with.  Being as close to Kentucky moonshine as we could legally maneuver, it has quite a bite!

 

As we all enjoy a round of the White Dog, our eyes are drawn magnetically to the items on the wall.  Seeing our interest, Dean points out the gold record inside the Neil Young album that he is famous for – it is a collage entitled American Stars and Bars.  Quite a collaboration between good friends and one to be proud of!

 

 

Now Dean and Carol, to our delight, offer to show us the work studio where all the magic takes place!  Lisa Law sums it up wonderfully in her quote from the foreword of his book:  “Time warp; bent mind; glue; x acto knife; sharp scissors; paper Life; digital imaging; electric painting with high end Epson printer; 50 years of mental digestion of visual impact on psyche has spewn forth a plethora of imagery from the agile mind and nimble fingers of Robert Dean Stockwell – images that will delight your mind and imagination like brain food just digested.”  And indeed, we see all these images reflected in front of us on the workbench and the materials used to produce these wonderful works!

 

So now as we again begin to discuss our sojourn to Doc Martin’s with thoughts of his famous chili rellenos and the giant margaritas, we begin to focus in now on another amazing subject – dice!   Yes, dice – fascinating sizes and shapes!  Is there no end to this man’s surprises?  Now some might surmise that this latest “craze” came about for the lack of another stimuli, but Dean tells us otherwise. “Doug Coffin, just out of the blue, and for no reason whatsoever, sent me six white dice and a hummingbird head.”  Just that – no explanation at all.  Dean says he paid no attention to them for a long time, but one day just started playing around with them.  Then he bought more and it all exploded, as no doubt his friend knew it would.

 

 

Dean explains, “When I went from collages to all of a sudden making dice pieces, that was an entirely different thing-it was big-really cool!”  Continuing on, Dean relates, “I got to thinking – What would be the greatest contrast you could do with them? It came to me to make a cross from the dice!  To make a very interesting statement – one is tactile – it’s only function is motion and is the exact opposite of the severity of the cross!  So I made several crosses and I just love them.  When kids come to my house, they gravitate to them. Children – they know how to listen, and they understand.”

 

“Let the voice within your voice speak to the ear of his ear.

For his soul will keep the truth of your heart…..

When the color is forgotten and the vessel is no more.” 

The Spagyric Eye and Kahlil Gibran

 

 

So finally, after our fabulous dinner, Dean relaxes with yet another huge cigar, and says, with great conviction, “I am so fortunate to be exactly where I want to be at this end portion of my life.”

 

“But if in your thought, you must measure time into seasons,

Let each season encircle all the other seasons,

And let today embrace the past with remembrance

And the future with longing.”

The Spagyric Eye and Kahlil Gibran

Here in this spiritual, mystical place is where Dean finds peace.  Having said, “I always knew I would end up here,” he has found his place – “the first house I looked at” and is settled in, with his wife, his dogs, and all his art. The legendary Mabel Louhan, perhaps Carol’s prototype, once said that “Nothing ever happens here in Taos – yet every day is a miracle!” And to quote from their friend, George Herms, “Where one might read the morning news printed on the wings of butterflies – in blood.”

 

The famous writer, D. H. Lawrence, also a resident of Taos at one time, has been quoted as saying: “One gets something out of the wind here – something wild and untamed – cruel and proud.”

 

“We wonderers, ever seeking the lonelier way,

Begin no day where we have ended another day;

And no sunrise finds us where sunset left us.

Even while the earth sleeps,

We travel.” 

The Spagyric Eye and Kahlil Gibran

 

 

For an actor whose first words ever uttered on the Broadway stage in 1943 were, “ I won’t be damned,” inspiration must have come occasionally, if not often.

 

When asked, from whence comes his inspiration, Dean reflectively lists a few.  He says, “D. H. Lawrence for sure, for various reasons.  His Sons and Lovers without a doubt – probably my favorite movie, and also, Long Day’s Journey into Night – the play by Eugene O’Neil.”  Having just seen his brilliant portrayal of the son and the amazing rapport between he and Katherine Hepburn, I was taken aback by his fantastic soliloquies, but mainly by his, and for want of a better word, for there is no better word – his “beauty” at that time of his Young Manhood!

 

Further ruminating, in complete harmony with his cigar, Dean says, in an obvious understatement, “Inspiration came for me also from Wallace Berman and Doug Coffin, for sure.”

 

With the majestic Taos Mountain looming in the distance and the Pueblo in the background, both of which he has portrayed numerous times in all shadows and colors and forms, we question him further as to whether he is a satisfied man.  His reply, “I don’t think I will ever be perfectly satisfied.  I don’t see that as being possible for anyone,” and then softly, “except for children.  But I’m very close. I know that.”

 

Paradoxically, for a man whose peace at times seems almost tangible, we learn that the condition of our Mother Earth is a major concern.  Dean states emphatically, “My primary interest is the creation and its reflection of man.  I think anyone with a brain has to be an environmentalist.  Evolution is something nature is in control of, but this rape of the planet is something that the egocentric and egotistical race, the human race, is doing.”

 

“The timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness,

And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory,

And tomorrow is today’s dream.” 

The Spagyric Eye and Kahlil Gibran

 

 

Again, a longing indeed for the continuation for this peaceful space – and his place in it is Dean’s desire.  He ends the subject by saying, “We all have this nest; at least we can try to keep it clean.”

Dean, who was called, in his Hollywood days, the King of Quirk, no longer needs such titles.  He now lives, or reigns, if you will, in the realm of the Sacred Mountain – and that in itself is quite sufficient.

Leaving Doc Martin’s, many Irish whiskeys later, we are all ready to bid farewell.   Dean and Carol, huddling close together with their ponchos encircling them, seem to be one entity – complete and needing no one else as they wave good-bye.

As we leave Taos and head down that long road to Santa Fe, we are quiet, lost in our own thoughts.  My conclusion, after much contemplation is that, after reflecting on, but not listing them, the numerous people who have left their mark on Taos:  It is where ordinary people do extraordinary things, under the inspiration of Taos itself.  It is where fireworks explode in one’s mind, but silently and in slow motion, lit not by peyote, but by joy. . . . .

Photo by Ed Breeding

Dean, having been somewhat taciturn and reserved throughout our interview and with his eyes always wary, had nevertheless opened up to me a glorious word picture of a recent occurrence.

One evening, after a very long dry spell, the sky suddenly darkened and threatening winds came up.  Dean and Carol and the dogs burst out of their house, welcoming the ominous clouds and loving the wildness of it all!  And then, just as the storm clouds centered over their house, they stopped and with one paroxysmal ‘dump,’ the ecstatic couple was drenched!

As Dean tells it, they embraced the storm with arms outstretched and with complete abandon, even as the dogs raced for cover under the porch!



Photo by Ed Breeding

What a glorious scene, but after all, and above all, what can one expect from a young lady who trills melodiously in Japanese, and from Dean – aka forevermore as Al Calavicci – the legendary Gent with the SPAGYRIC EYE?!
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