Scientology started with a bang, but critics were on L. Ron Hubbard right away

[Ron showing off his parlor trick, 1950]

Our newspaper archivist is at it again, and once again has sent us some really fun things from Scientology’s early history that you might not have seen very often, if ever.

One thing we know about Scientology’s origin is that the movement got off to a fast start with the publication of L. Ron Hubbard’s book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health on May 9, 1950.

But not everyone was so sanguine about Ron and his science. Our helper found a couple of precious reactions to Dianetics and its popularity during that first year of its existence, and we thought you’d like to see them.

First, there was this smart-ass response from Texas.

My America, By Harry Boyd
On Subject of Dianetics
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
January 5, 1951

It really pains me to do this when everybody is already so distraught by the feeling that all the cherished old truths are being swept away from their moorings. Heaven knows these are times when a man needs an anchor to the windward.

But it would be less than honest to conceal the fact that I have renounced the orthodox creed of dianetics as expounded by its top oracle, L. Ron Hubbard. Renounced it before I was ever converted to it, you might say.

In the middle of the first chapter of Brother Hubbard’s book, to be more precise. I had hardly hit my stride in reading Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health when a sudden flash of insight caught me in the midsection of a particularly obscure paragraph. And as I paused to get my bearings I heard an inner voice say:

“This whole thing is nuts!”

Now, naturally I don’t believe all I hear from those furtive inner voices. Any writer who can run a little dab of science fiction into a health-cult bonanza with half a million raving devotees is no simpleton.

Just the same, a dozen pages of the book was enough to convince me that Hubbard and I had reached the parting of the ways.

It isn’t that I would belittle his ingenious deduction that beneath the conscious mind there is a submind which makes tiny cell recordings of current events “while the conscious mind is unconscious.” And then uses the recording in a persistent campaign to needle the unsuspecting host into a state of chronic “aberration.”

One must grudgingly admire the imposing edifice Hubbard (no relation to Old Mother of the same name) has built on that rickety foundation. Particularly his theory that a person can erase those irritating cell recordings from his “time track,” thereby curing colds, ulcers, sex deviations and a long list of assorted psychosomatic ailments.

But it is quite apparent that Hubbard’s conclusions are faulty because he didn’t probe deep enough. Discovering that there is a submind is fine as far as it goes. But did Hubbard ever wonder what might be beneath the submind?

Well, I have. And it all becomes as plain as the nose on your face when you stop to think about it. Imbedded deep in the layer of tissue and gravel beneath the submind is the basic plumbing system of the human organism.

This great truth has only just come out. Two paragraphs ago I wouldn’t have suspected it myself, even.

I wouldn’t guarantee that we have got to the bottom of this thing yet. But uncovering the plumbing network is enough of a scientific triumph for one sitting. This network drains off psychic poisons collected by the submind and circulates them through the body. When they seep out through bad connections or leaky faucets there is hell to pay.

Manifestly this knowledge superimposes a whole new philosophy on the basic tenets of old-fashioned dianetics. I am assembling it in a revolutionary new science of neo-dianetics and will be open for business just as soon as I get the book written. Please stand by.

Secondly, we really enjoyed this characterization of Dianetics as typical California nonsense from a Baltimore Evening Sun correspondent who was embedded with the fruits and nuts in the Golden State.

California’s Latest Love
By Robert O. Foote
Baltimore Evening Sun
August 30, 1950

The creation of dianetics is a milestone for man comparable to his discovery of fire and superior to his invention of the wheel and the arch. There is a sentence, if there ever was one, to satisfy the cult susceptibility of southern California. That region is pre-eminently the place which first swallowed, hook, line and “engram,” a book and belief which has a part of scientific America engaged in a battle of psychological double-talk. The book’s full title is, “Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.”

The quoted sentence is the opening one in this volume by L. Ron Hubbard, “mathematician and theoretical philosopher,” previously known to fame chiefly as a contributor to a pocket-sized magazine called Astounding Science Fiction.

Hubbard and his publishers, Hermitage House, say his book is pure science. Several reviewers and commentators have found it only fiction — and not too pure. On the other hand, many scientifically capable readers are convinced that the cocksure author has got hold of something important He claims — and there is no way to dispute him on this point — that only about one out of every 500 letters reaching the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation, of Elizabeth, N.J. (which draws the author royalties) is derogatory.

It seems safe to surmise that about 490 of every 500 letters of approval bear southern California postmarks. It was actually in Pasadena — home of the California Institute of Technology and of the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory — that “Dianetics” first achieved the stature of a best seller. Los Angeles soon followed, with usually skeptical San Francisco now manifesting signs of conversion to this latest method of talking away a persistent headache, to say nothing of getting rid of other ills ranging from arthritis to ulcers and including sex deviations.

Perhaps the author and publisher were themselves astonished at this instantly cordial reception in the California home of research science. They were not slow to capitalize upon it. Hubbard rushed from New Jersey to Los Angeles, much as Dale Carnegie had done at an earlier date, to supplement his written message by word-of-mouth exposition.

It is no trick at all for Hubbard to fill the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium, at a dollar a head, to its 6,400 capacity and turn other thousands away. Undoubtedly, when the summer season of music under the stars is over he will be found filling the 25,000-seat Hollywood Bowl. It is no wild guess that at least that many Hollywood-ians must be meeting nightly in small groups intent upon “clearing” each other of psychological blocks which may date back to the moment of their conception or even the wedding of their parents.

Nor is the excitement subsiding in Pasadena, where “Dianetics” started to grow into a cult. Book stores there are pushed to obtain enough copies of the 450-page book, at $4 a throw, retail. Familiar faces from the Caltech faculty may be noted at any Hubbard lecture. Whether they come to scoff or to marvel is concealed behind aloof detachment of manner.

Hubbard, who is an ex-Marine — with remaining overtones of Marine gruffness — is a large, persuasive man of around 40, red-haired and self-confident. At his lectures he gives demonstrations of his methods on the stage, with patients who are admittedly stooges, there for the sole purpose of demonstrating technique, not for the performance of actual cures since they have already been cleared.

A word for those who, in the cynical East, may not yet be familiar with the purpose and system of “Dianetics” which, greatly to the originator’s indignation, is being called “the poor man’s psychoanalysis.” That is a designation so patly fitting the casual examination of the new “science” that it will not easily be escaped.

As nearly as this one inquirer can determine, the believer in “Dianetics” is assured that with the aid of an auditor he can be “unblocked” within a few weeks instead of having to spend months perhaps on the psychoanalytic couch. He does not need the high-priced attention of a professional psychiatrist. A friend, even a husband or wife, can “audit” away his “engrams.”

This new word, one of several Hubbard has coined, denotes impressions made on protoplasm — not more unconscious memories a la Freud. Indeed, the “engrams” are as likely as not to predate a patient’s birth. The patient is “cleared” of these engrams by uncovering them through, in a manner, relieving them. He may choke up and go through the motions of actually being born again. Parties to this “unblocking” are the “preclear” and the auditor. The latter “audits” them out of the “bank” of engrams which has been built up unconsciously and the “preclear” becomes a “clear,” freed of his ills and aberrations.

So complex a theory cannot be properly assessed by a layman. Some psychiatrists of note have given a frank indorsement of “Dianetics.” Others admit to fears over the originator’s assertion that it cannot possibly do any harm to those who read it and attempt to follow it, even fumblingly. There are many who still indorse James Thurber’s old advice, “Leave Your Mind Alone.”

This latter suggestion, of course, is something the southern Californian can hardly be expected to heed. “Dianetics” offer him a welcome departure from the customary economic panaceas and old-time-religion cults which often sweep his community into collective madness. He can feel somewhat superior studying his mind — or what he calls his mind.

Perhaps, however, the easterner should not scoff too loudly until sure that “Dianetic” gatherings have not become a feature of his own neighborhood life.

And as a bonus, we have this unusual item from a few years later, and featuring an Albany Scientologist who apparently passed away in 2015. What an interesting method of dissemination he had.

Scientologist Adds Tone to Your Conversation
The Knickerbocker News Sept 29, 1958
By Evan Richards

“PUBLIC NOTICE: I will talk to anyone for you about anything. 8-1125.”

This classified ad, which has been running of late, was too provocative to ignore — so I didn’t ignore it.

The voice on the other end of 8-1125 said in deep, slow and deliberate tones it represented the Scientology Center of Albany, an organization to help people get their thoughts across to one another.

Or to be more precise, the voice said the Scientology Center concerns itself with a branch of psychology…the psychology of communications, a field in which folks are getting progressively less and less talented these days.

“I’ll ask anybody anything about anything,” said the deep, slow and deliberate voice.

“I’ll propose to a girl if her boy friend is too bashful.

“I’ll ask your boss for a raise if you don’t have the gumption.

“I’ll tell the bus company about your transportation problems.”

I see, and how much do you charge to propose to a girl — somebody else’s girl?

“Oh, there’s no charge. I ask questions for free.”

It develops that the deep, slow and deliberate voice belongs to Neil R. Brown, a collegiate looking young man of 24 who stands 6 foot 4. His Scientology Center of Albany is set up on the first floor of a two-story house at 899 Mercer St.

Mr. Brown’s income comes, not from asking questions, but from running a little school where he teaches people how to communicate with one another. Turns out he’s been running the school for about a year already has just ended five summer classes in which 12 or 13 persons took a six-week (one day a week) course.

A brochure about the school has this to say:

COMMUNICATION COURSE… “In this course you learn accurate and effective means of smoothly handling anything anyone might say, and you learn how to end a conversation or subject discussion as YOU choose.

UPPER INDOCRINATION COURSE… “This is not a course in how to shake hands, smile an pat people on the back. Nor does it teach other systems that are substitutes for really knowing how to talk to people… This is your opportunity to increase those abilities necessary for lasting success in business, among friends, and in life itself.

CERTIFICATES AWARDED… Upon the completion of any of our courses, students are awarded a handsome certificate stating their achievement. The certificate of Hubbard Apprentice Scientologist is granted those successfully completing 72 hours… Well respected by all, this certificate is highly prized by those who have reached this height of ability.”

Mr. Brown, whose living room has been converted into a classroom, said he has a master’s degree in Scientology from the National Academy of Psychology. He also said he is a Milne School graduate.

About those questions he asks for people. When a fellow figures he’s due for a raise, but doesn’t have the nerve to speak to his boss, Mr. Brown will intervene and arrange for a conference between himself, the boss and the employee.

As for popping the question for shy Lotharios, he again sets up a three-party meeting lasting not more than an hour. I forgot to ask him who gets down on his knee at the crucial point, but we did learn that such John-Priscilla-Miles meetings end up in a “yes” answer better than 50 per cent of the time.

The question-asker said he doesn’t usually get told how the pay raise negotiations end, but he did have this to say of his proxy proposals: “The girl is shocked at first.”

Mr. Brown’s services also include calling up men’s wives (at the men’s request) and saying hubby will be a little late for suppers. The wives believe it too, after a little “coercing,” comments Mr. Brown.

One last matter I just had to find out was: Mr. Brown, are you married?

“No, “said the question-asker, “but I’m engaged.”

He did his own proposing too.

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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

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