We got a big reaction to yesterday’s story about LAPD officer Cory Palka’s emails showing how cozy the relationship is between LA police and the Church of Scientology.
And one of the more surprising things we found in those emails was a link to a promotional website set up in 2016 by Scientology to boast about its fundraising for the LAPD and to convince department brass to come to that year’s “Christmas Stories” event. Surprisingly, that page, containing numerous videos of past performances, was still fully functional on a subdomain of the Hollywood Celebrity Centre’s website.
We heard from numerous readers who were stunned to see the footage of Hollywood celebrities acting out goofy Christmas sketches, scripts in hand, and they asked us what it meant to see stars like Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis in them. Did that mean they were Scientologists?
We doubt that Kutcher and Kunis consider themselves Scientology members simply because they helped out their pal and fellow That ’70s Show castmate Danny Masterson by showing up at his church’s holiday event. But there is no doubt that they, along with other figures we don’t usually associate with Scientology like Wilmer Valderrama and Seth Green, took part in these things held at the Celebrity Centre, as the short video segments show.
Here’s how the website describes the program, which has been going on since the mid-90s:
Christmas Stories is presented as a 1930s style radio show and features performances of both traditional and original stories and songs.
All proceeds benefit the Hollywood Police Department youth programs for underprivileged children, at-risk youth and LAPD cadets looking to their future as members of the Los Angeles police force.
We’ll let you browse through these short videos and soak up the corn-pone humor. Which of the people here are you most surprised to see at a Celebrity Centre event? Kutcher? Kunis? Seth Green? Connor Cruise? Let us know.
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John Travolta and Anton LaVey, just hanging out
Our good friend, Academy Award nominated screenwriter Josh Olson, spotted something really great on a new Blu-Ray release of the 1975 horror movie Devil’s Rain.
If you recall from Lawrence Wright’s narration in the documentary Going Clear, it was while shooting Devil’s Rain, his first feature film, that John Travolta received a copy of Dianetics from fellow cast member Joan Prather, and it began his long career in Scientology.
But the movie was also Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey’s shot at Hollywood stardom, using him in a minor role and as the film’s technical adviser. Some photos of LaVey on the set were included in the new release, including this gem of LaVey and Travolta.
Olson grabbed the image and shared it with his friend (and ours), journalist Mark Ebner, who then posted it at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook group.
We are indebted to both of these fine gentlemen for finding this fun artifact…
Now, we could go on a long jag about the influences of occultist Aleister Crowley on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, and the satanic tint of Hubbard’s early writings and experiences, and how interesting it is to see America’s most famous Satanist, LaVey, with one of Scientology’s most famous faces, Travolta. And sure, we find the body language here kind of suggestive. But on the other hand, these were two newbies enjoying their first Hollywood film experience, and how could they not pose for a snapshot together, right?
Yeah, it’s quite an image.
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“God help you someday when you get somebody who has an engram fifteen-trillion-trillion years long. Try to find the beginning of that! Before you’ve gone halfway through, of course, your date is so wrong that it’s jamming the track anyway. And just time after time, you find the earlier part of it and you find the earlier part of it and you find an earlier part of it — and finally, you finally get it all worked out and you find out that this thing which first registered as one and one-half hours long was actually 15 trillion-trillion years in length. Somebody stuck in a mountain that long; couldn’t get out. That’s rough. That’s hard to do. It’s hard to do when everything else is correct. So you’ve got to have everything else correct and then it can be done. But it is not easy to do when all signs and portents are favorable. Got that?” — L. Ron Hubbard, July 10, 1963
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“I should have known you aren’t even LRH-trained because you won’t display your education. You have set the tone in the field for this to be acceptable. No training, take money, no certs provided, take money, no ethics, take money and then laugh at people and make them wrong so you don’t have to deal with what you did. You can trace back those who are connected to you very easily, it’s a noticeable nastiness that you perpetuate. Always being right and others wrong. I have gotten much feedback about this observation. Give me my money and leave me alone. I have better things to do than play in your cesspool of degradation.”
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“Hubbard said that all science fiction was based on whole track incidents that the authors were subconsciously remembering.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Arraignment scheduled for September 18.
— Jay Spina, Medicare fraud: Sentencing is set for August 27 in White Plains, NY
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial set for October 7 in Los Angeles
Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments set for August 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Hearing on motion for reconsideration set for August 11
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Sept 4 (CSI/RTC demurrer against Riales, Masterson demurrer), Oct 7-19 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach bankruptcy appeal: Oral arguments were heard on March 11 in Jacksonville
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021
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Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!
We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.
Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!
Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!
Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society!
Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in our weekly series. How many have you read?
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THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] When Scientology has you dividing up funerals because family never really matters
[TWO years ago] Former Scientologists, academics, and Falun Gong get together for a Philly blowout
[THREE years ago] Hip-hip-hooray! We have the newest Scientology propaganda about creating an ‘Ideal World’
[FOUR years ago] Scientology continues to push for ‘Battlefield Earth’ sales, and you can get this T-shirt!
[FIVE years ago] Scientology’s day care from hell: The scandal the church managed to keep hidden — until now
[SIX years ago] Scientology begins hitting back at Ryan Hamilton and his lawsuits
[SEVEN years ago] Indie Scientologists Try to Spoil “Super Power” Release as it (Supposedly) Nears Debut
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Reacts to TomKat Divorce from Nixon-Era Playbook
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Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 1,994 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,498 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,018 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,038 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 929 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,236 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,104 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,878 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,682 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 2,998 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,564 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,483 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,651 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,232 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,493 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,531 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,244 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,769 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,299 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,859 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 2,999 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,319 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,174 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,294 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,649 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 5,952 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,058 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,460 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,332 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 1,915 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,410 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,664 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,773 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on July 10, 2020 at 07:00
E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2019 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2019), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, 14 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…
Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.
Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele
