We’re continuing to look back at recent issues of Scientology’s Celebrity magazine, which appears to be a victim of the pandemic. Today, we thought we’d go through issue 439, which came out in October 2017 and featured actor and impressionist Jim Meskimen on the cover.
Yes, he’s the son of Happy Days actress Marion Ross, and he’s been a minor player in a lot of things you’ve probably seen. But these days we think about him as one of the last really reliable stalwarts among Scientology’s celebrities who will still show up and gladhand on behalf of David Miscavige, loyal to the end as Scientology dwindles.
His interview is mostly very uninteresting, so we’ll just focus on the final paragraphs, which at least reference his Scientology involvement.
In 1993, Jim and his wife, actress Tamra Meskimen, moved back to Los Angeles, where he landed a recurring role on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and first connected with Celebrity Centre, which he describes as a refuge. “It’s a place to step aside from the complexities of life, dust yourself off, get the information you need to succeed.” As his career branched out with movie roles, scores of television guest spots and expanding work as an impressionist, he continued his ascent up the Bridge (he attained New OT VIII in 2005) and still finds time to entertain at charity events at CC and orgs throughout the world. In many ways, he says, he owes his success to the technology of Scientology.
So many artists, he says, have difficulty, not with their creativity, but with relationship problems, money difficulties, personal insecurities, all the countless things that can get in the way of them succeeding at expressing themselves. That’s where the technology of Scientology comes in, says Jim. “It will help not only as a creative person, but will help you get organized, get rid of distractions that have nothing to do with your art and deal with all the things that get in the way of your art.” Most people go through life not so much solving problems as developing coping mechanisms to deal with them, says Jim. “But Scientology comes along and says, ‘That can be totally solved,’ and at first you say, ‘Well, we’ll see…’ then it happens and it’s really solved. And then you discover that if that’s possible, then lots of things are possible.”
For Jim, the possibilities he’s realized through Scientology include not only a successful career as an artist that allows him to continuously explore new creative ventures, but also a very happy 30-plus-year marriage and a great relationship with his daughter. “The great strength of Scientology is that it takes the infinite complexity of life and distills it to fundamentals that are so basic, that no matter what changes in front of you, you have a basis of understanding from which to proceed.” And for that, he says, “I really am thankful. I marvel at the life I have.”
The rest of the issue has a lot of forgettable figures, most of whom we’d never heard of. (Erika Christensen was back, for some reason, after the two issue just a few months before had focused on her.)
But we did note this brief aside about one of the Scientology celebrities that we’ve always been very curious about, Anne Archer’s husband and legit former TV executive, Terry Jastrow.
Saying Terry Jastrow is a man of many talents is a consummate understatement. How do you categorize someone who was the youngest television sports producer ever at age 23, the producer/director of six Olympic Games and the recipient of seven Emmy Awards as well as 17 nominations? Oh, and he’s also an actor, a screenwriter and a playwright. In fact his productions have been staged in such theaters as the Edgemar Center for the Arts, the Skylight Theatre and the Beverly Hills Playhouse. His latest achievement is his debut as an author of a legal thriller, in the vein of John Grisham. His book is entitled The Trial of Prisoner 043, and it’s already garnering rave reviews with many describing it as a “must-read.” One editor wrote, “Not since ‘A Few Good Men’ has the tension, consequences and gotcha moments of a take-no-prisoners trial been captured so expertly.”
After years of Jastrow putting on Olympics coverage, aren’t there any former colleagues of his who have anecdotes about how he might have talked about Scientology while on the job? We’re curious.
Another thing that caught our eye was this brief mention of Jason Dohring, the hunky actor whose father is the genius behind Neopets and ABC Mouse, Doug Dohring.
A Star Shares His Journey To Clear
Our weekly “Clear Body, Clear Mind” lecture got an extra jolt of star power recently when Jason Dohring of Veronica Mars fame stopped by to recount his personal story. Featured on the cover of Celebrity just a couple of issues ago, Jason has a long list of credits to his name and is a true Hollywood success story. He was happy to share his wins from services such as the Purification Rundown. He even included a prop — a towel he had used during the Purif that was brightly colored with toxins he had run out. The lectures cover LRH data such as spirit-mind-body, the reactive and analytical minds and how toxins affect us. A tour of the facilities, a personalized interview and a free Toxic Test are also part of each event.
Looking at the completions in the back, we were interested in a couple of things that turned up.
What’s this? In 2017 Danny Masterson’s stepfather Rusty Tweed, who was busted by the SEC for running a Ponzi scheme and is barred from life from trading securities, was training to be a Scientology auditor?
Interesting career choice. Also, we kept an eye out for Rusty during Masterson’s trial in the Fall, and we never did see him in the family’s large contingent. Maybe next time.
The other thing that caught our attention, isn’t it heartwarming to see that after all these years of doing battle with Scientology’s online critics, attack-dog attorney Helena Kobrin in 2017 was still trying to get some happiness in her life?
Good luck with that, Ms. Kobrin.
Oscars tonight: Tom Cruise’s chances
With the Oscars broadcast on tonight, we wanted to remind you of the excellent piece film critic Luke Y. Thompson wrote for us in January, assessing the chances that Scientology icon Tom Cruise might go home with a trophy this year.
But more than that, Luke handicapped several of the awards, including Best Picture, and we wanted to remind you of that before tonight’s awards.
A special treat for our subscribers
Today at noon our subscribers will receive the eleventh episode of our special podcast series, “Group Therapy.”
This week Pete Griffiths joins the crew, and we’re having lots of fun with the news of the week.
We’re offering this series as thanks to our subscribers for helping to support the work we do here at the Underground Bunker.
Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:
Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology
Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain
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Ah, Helena Kobrin. As I understood it, she joined to attempt to get her husband to leave the clutches of the criminal organisation known as the “church” of $cientology. Instead, she ended up with a divorce and a life time sentence in the prison of the mind. There might be happiness in her future, but I hope she ends up finding it by leaving the undue influence of the Co$.
If any of these 'clebs' are actual 'opinion makers', what happens when one exits the CO$ in a very public manner? Let's ask Leah Remini about that. Or Jason Beghe or any of the others who have escaped the mind f&%k of the CO$. I bless all of those who escaped and double bless the ones who have publicly boiled the Clam.