Clark Carr, 75, who gave up comedy dreams to become Scientology’s drug rehab mouthpiece

 
According to his longtime comedy partner Tom Solari, Scientology’s former Narconon International president Clark Carr has died after a yearlong bout with cancer. He was 75.

Carr showed up on our pages numerous times over the years, and in some ways he seemed to be the epitome of a dedicated Scientologist. He had a very promising early career in comedy — he and Solari made regular appearances in the early 1970s on shows like the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and the Andy Williams Show — but his career was derailed when he became a dedicated footsoldier for Scientology, eventually emerging as the public face and mouthpiece for its drug rehab network, Narconon, and was president of its umbrella organization, Narconon International.

For decades, it was Carr who would be called on to demonstrate and defend Narconon, something he was not really very good at. He was featured in a 1987 issue of Impact magazine, as Carnegie Mellon University professor Dave Touretzky noted.

The blue device in the photo at right is an E-meter, formally known as a Hubbard Electropsychometer, a kind of crude lie detector. The metallic cylinder visible at the left edge of the photo is one of two electrodes, or “cans”, meant to be held in the hands of the person being examined. The E-meter is a supposed to be a “spiritual counseling device” to be used only by trained Scientology ministers delivering Scientology religious counseling. So what is Clark Carr, now the president of Narconon International, doing using an E-meter on a Narconon client? This is further evidence that Narconon’s claims to be non-religious and entirely separate from Scientology are lies.

Years later, we noted that it was Carr who was called on to defend Narconon when lawsuits piled up against the quack cold-turkey drug clinics and patients were dying.

In 2013, for example, Carr was trotted out to pretend that Narconon had a solid history of treating patients.

 
We actually felt sorry for him. Scientology leader David Miscavige was relying on Carr to defend a program that was deceptive to its core. A year later, Carr was caught up in litigation when it turned out that the Narconon network had been faking its rehab certifications and was being sued. Carr was used by Scientology in a purely legalistic maneuver to countersue the certifying body. Again, we pitied the guy that he was being used as a pawn by Miscavige.

Then, in 2015, as the heat continued to increase on Narconon, we were stunned to find that Carr and Narconon International itself had suddenly vanished. A source had told us that Narconon International was being dismantled in the litigation nightmare, and then our friend Mark Ebner discovered, purely by accident, that the Narconon International offices in Los Angeles had been cleared out, like someone had abandoned it in a hurry.

David Miscavige subsequently took Narconon in a different direction as the lawsuits were settled, radically cutting down on the network’s presence in the US while creating smaller clinics here and more overseas.

We lost track of Carr at that point. He turned up later in Mexico, still working for Narconon in some capacity, and then more recently we were surprised to see him involved in a completely different effort, a scammy-looking water-divining business founded and run by Scientologists.

We will be surprised if Scientology makes any public statement about a man that it used for so many years to defend its dangerous and deceptive drug rehab front operation.

Last night, we contacted Geoff Levin, another person whose performing career was affected by his decision to dedicate himself to Scientology. He let us know that he had known Carr, and very well at one point.

“I met Clark in 1968. We hired them to do a gig with PEOPLE! We were very close at one time. He threw it all away,” Geoff says.

 
——————–

What has your proprietor got himself into?

Dear readers, we hope you have a little time on Thursday to watch us get thrown to the lions.

The good people at Emory University were kind enough to invite us to a thing, and we were crazy enough to accept.

The result is that your proprietor has submitted a short article and will be giving a (mercifully) brief presentation during a webinar on Thursday along with a bunch of academics who actually understand this stuff.

“The Promise and Perils of Religious Arbitration: New Research, Emerging Trends, and Practitioners’ Perspectives” is the title of the webinar, and we’ll be speaking for a few minutes about what we’ve personally witnessed covering the contentious “religious arbitration” issues in recent lawsuits filed against Scientology by former members.

The webinar begins at noon on Thursday, March 3, and we’ll be going around 45 minutes later or so. We have just a few minutes to say something, and we will hope to represent the Bunker as best we can.

It would be nifty if some of you could tune in and beef up the webinar’s audience. You can register to listen in here.

 
——————–

Sign up for a daily email when we post a new story on Scientology.

Did you know you can get an email every morning when we post our daily Scientology story? We know some of the folks who come to the Underground Bunker aren’t here to talk about the politics of the day, and that’s why we created a daily politics feature over at our other blog, The Lowdown, and we ask readers to take their political discussions over there. And if you drop us a line at tonyo94 AT gmail, we’ll put you on the list so you get a morning reminder that a new Scientology story has been posted — and only for our Scientology stories.

Source Code

“Look at the laudable withholds of a lady. She withholds herself from drinking. She withholds herself from swearing. She withholds herself from rowdy companions. She withholds herself from dirt, you know, and getting dirty. Withholds herself from getting sweaty. See, all the things a lady withholds herself from. Withholds herself from sex, from pleasure, from pleasurable excitement. This starts to look like a very interesting series of withholds. And we finally find out that a lady’s primary mission was to hold herself from living. Not that that’s — things I have mentioned are the total composite of living.” — L. Ron Hubbard, February 27, 1962

 
——————–

Avast, Ye Mateys

“The trick in books is the ‘stock book.’ Whenever a title in stock gets low through sales you reorder before you are out. You don’t just sell it all the way out of stock before reordering. Once youve let a title vanish off the shelves you’re in trouble as it takes a while to reprint. Meanwhile backorders and complaints swamp the comm lines and there goes the old ball game. A pubs activity can’t remain solvent on paperbacks or bulk discount sales! Theres a special skill to the mail order book business. The keynotes are promote, have them on hand, deliver within 24 hours and order receipt. It will take a lot of work by the SO to get this back in.” — The Commodore, February 27, 1971

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“I have much track with Ron, as I’ve run out in my prior auditing, including my participation in what Ron called the OT III incident. It is good to search out a matter, and also good to be aware of the technology that can produce what is colloquially called a ‘chiphead,’ which is of course a degrade of the mind after it is scanned and copied onto a chip. Has anyone come across this?”

 
——————–

Past is Prologue

2001: Jeff Jacobsen spoke to the Clearwater city commission this week concerning the off-duty officers hired by Scientology. “For over a year now every day 2 uniformed off-duty police sit on Watterson Street next to the Scientology Bank building on Cleveland Street. They are there from 11am to 8pm 7 days per week, paid by Scientology. They do essentially nothing but sit in lawn chairs provided by Scientology. In a January 21, 1983 article in the Clearwater Times, a survey of Clearwater citizens showed that ‘eight out of 10 adult residents think the
Church of Scientology is a problem.’ In 1995 Paul Maser of the Clearwater Police Department wrote an affidavit where the city was suing Scientology. He wrote about Scientology that ‘harassment and intimidation is authorized by the Church under the Fair Game Law, as dictated by L. Ron Hubbard founder of the Church of Scientology.’ The City of Clearwater knows about Scientology. They know Scientology’s history. And yet now I see the city officials kowtowing to Scientology. Antonio the Scientology security staffer sits all day with these 2 uniformed officers, sitting on Scientology chairs eating Scientology food enjoying Scientology company and doing essentially nothing for Scientology money.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“The ‘church’ had to admit to TR-L in the Canadian trial when they questioned the veracity of the prosecution’s ex-Scientologist witnesses by stating to the judge their testimony couldn’t be trusted because they had been specifically trained to lie while in the church.”

 
——————–

Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Next pretrial conference May 31. Trial scheduled for August 29.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Last hearing was on January 18, referred to grand jury.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff’s sentencing to be scheduled.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Pretrial conference March 25 in Los Angeles

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Eleventh Circuit affirmed ruling granting Scientology’s motion for arbitration. Garcias considering next move.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Valerie asks for March 15 hearing on motion for reconsideration.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Appellate court removes requirement of arbitration on January 19, case remanded back to Superior Court. Scientology has said it will file an anti-SLAPP motion.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Third amended complaint filed, trial set for June 28.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs. Appeal hearing held Aug 23-27. Awaiting a ruling.
— Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Lawsuit filed by the FTC and state of Georgia in August, now in discovery phase.

 
——————–

THE PROSECUTION OF DANNY MASTERSON

We first broke the news of the LAPD’s investigation of Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson on rape allegations in 2017, and we’ve been covering the story every step of the way since then. At this page we’ve collected our most important links, including our four days in Los Angeles covering the preliminary hearing and its ruling, which has Danny facing trial and the potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison.

SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.

LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH

An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.

SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z

Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

 
Other links: SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks. Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. 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 a weekly series. How many have you read?

 
——————–
THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Another Scientology OT jumps from a tall building
[TWO years ago] Balloons? Here’s what Scientology should really be apologizing for
[THREE years ago] A letter of surrender, written from the basement of Scientology’s ‘Big Blue’ HQ
[FOUR years ago] New memoir ‘Flunk. Start.’ richly illuminates the appeal — and betrayal — of Scientology
[FIVE years ago] Keep your Oscars, we won a Scientology ‘bigot’ award!
[SIX years ago] Augustine: How Scientology makes it so hard to get your money back
[SEVEN years ago] Gerry Armstrong’s full 1997 ‘Secret Lives’ interview about L. Ron Hubbard
[EIGHT years ago] Is Ukraine’s proposed new prime minister a Scientologist? Says his niece: ‘That’s crap’
[NINE years ago] Lori Hodgson Appeals to Scientology’s “Spin Doctor,” Michael Sitrick
[TEN years ago] Scientology’s Secret Behind “Ideal Orgs” Revealed At Last

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on February 27, 2022 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, 1995-2021 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2021), 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, 15 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

 

Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast