July 22, 2025 • 32 mins
How do you become loved? To find the answer, we tell the story behind the extraordinary life of comedian, actor, and author Orson Bean. In 2021, America lost this storytelling legend. Today, July 22nd, he would have been 97. Happy birthday Orson...America misses you! Special Note: Includes some adult language.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is Red Pilled America. Hey fambam. If you love
Red Pilled America, the easiest way to support the show
is to follow or subscribe to us on whatever podcast
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a backstage subscriber. Just go do Redpilled America dot com
(00:27):
and click join in the top menu. Support what you
love or it goes away. A little over five years ago,
America lost a storytelling legend, Orson Bean, a beloved film, television,
and stage actor as well as a comedian. Orson was
the kind of guy people couldn't help but love. Today,
July twenty second would have been his ninety seventh birthday.
To honor this one of a kind talent, we're rebroadcasting
(00:50):
the story of his remarkable life. Red Pilled America had
the privilege of interviewing Orson back in twenty seventeen about
his time in Hollywood. This episode was originally broadcast on
February twenty first, twenty twenty. Enjoy America recently lost one
of its greats. Orson Bean. His theater, TV and film
(01:14):
credits span roughly seventy years.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
You look splend Do you like this? I haven't seen
you in a three beet suit? And age is Orson Well.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
It was some stuff left over from when my wife
did the coach.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Right now, if I may, let me introduce to you
our first celebrated guest who's going to walk right out here.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
And amaze you.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
You all know and you love him as.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Orson Ban For seven decades, Orson Bean was one of
the most beloved figures in America. How did he do it?
How does someone make people love them?
Speaker 5 (01:53):
I'm Patrick Carelci and I'm Adriana Cortes and this.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Is Red Pilled America, a storytelling show.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
This is not another talk show covering the day's news.
We're all about telling stories.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Stories. Hollywood doesn't want you to hear stories.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
The media mocks stories about everyday Americans at the globalist ignore.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
You can think of Red Pilled America as audio documentaries,
and we promise only one thing, the truth. Welcome to
Red Pilled America. Actor, author, and raconteur Orson Bean recently
(02:43):
left this world. Adrianna and I had the pleasure of
meeting him a little over a decade ago. To meet
Orson bean was to love him. He had the rare
gift of being able to pull off a joke in
practically any situation.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
What are you doing here? I'm just hanging around.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
As a matter of fact.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
You know that Gary's wife is expecting a baby any minute,
and that imminent. Yeah, and he might have to go
running out of here like a shot.
Speaker 7 (03:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
And so they asked me to stand by, and I
thought it was appropriate.
Speaker 6 (03:16):
Yea, inasmuch as I performed the same function at the conception.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Orson was a constant figure in the world of entertainment
and was one of the best storytellers that has ever lived.
Throughout his career, he's worked with or helped introduce some
of the biggest personalities in American pop culture, Johnny Carson,
Barbar streisand Jane Mansfield, Denzel Washington, Cameron Diaz, Spike Jones,
Jane Seymour, and many many others. He made appearances on
(03:45):
an unbelievably wide range of projects, including TV shows Desperate Housewives,
Modern Family, The Twilight Zone, Will and Grace, Doctor Quinn,
Medicine Woman, The Facts of Life, and movies Being John Malkovich,
Equalizer I, and the Hollywood classic Anatomy of a Murder.
He was perhaps best known for being a fixture on
the late night TV and game show circuit, where he
(04:08):
was featured as a regular guest and guest hosts on
some of the biggest shows of all time.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
My next guess, there's an old friend and we go
away back on the early days of television.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Have not seen Orson for a while?
Speaker 5 (04:17):
Would you welcome?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Play?
Speaker 5 (04:18):
Is mister Orson Bean?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
The Tonight Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Merv Griffin Show,
Game shows Like to Tell, The Truth Match Game, The
ten Thousand Dollars Pyramid, and What's My Line, just to
name a few. He even played a pivotal role in
bringing Breitbart News into existence. Orson Bean was without question,
one of the most beloved entertainers in American history, which
(04:39):
got us to thinking, how is he able to do it?
How does someone make such a wide variety of people
love them. To find the answer, We're going to follow
the remarkable life of Orson Bean, peering into some of
his pivotal moments to see what they reveal.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
I didn't know Orson Bean well, but I wanted to.
I don't remember exactly when I met him, but I
do remember the precise moment I fell in love with him.
Orson Bean was a prolific TV personality that became known
as a recontour, or a person who tells anecdotes in
a skillful and amusing way. His short, pivy jokes are immortal.
(05:21):
Like this one joke telling is an art form.
Speaker 6 (05:23):
The joke should be short and all was told in
the present tense. An example, the owner of a Chinese
restaurant shakes's wife awake at three am.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
He says, I want sixty nine. I want sixty nine.
She says, you want to be from Broccoli? This all
the night.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Patrick and I met him in two thousand and nine
while attending these hush hush Hollywood events called the Friends
of Abe.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
The Friends of Abe or FOA as it was called,
was a secret club for conservatives that worked in Hollywood.
Orson referred to his membership in the club in two
thousand and.
Speaker 6 (05:55):
Nine, You know, wusin, you're also part of an organization
called Friends of Abe.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Yeah, can you tell us a little bit about what it's.
Speaker 6 (06:03):
It's Friends of Abe as in Abe Lincoln and it
really hasn't gone public, but I don't think Garrisonie, who
founded it, who is one of the most extraordinary human
beings I've ever met in my life. He's a big
star of the movies and television, and he is a
im mense supporter of the troops overseas. He is the
(06:26):
Bob Hope of today. And he also was appalled by
the stuff that's being churned out in the movies. And
he has formed a group of people within the film industry,
and there's now up to seven or eight hundred of
us who are not afraid to say we are the
R word Republican and the C word Christian or whatever.
Even it's the Reagan Democrats who are angry about the
(06:50):
hating of America that's portrayed in some of the Hollywood
movies and the violence and all of it.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Aside from a few of us, most in the club
were not openly right wingers because they were afraid their
beliefs would get them blacklisted from working in tinseltown. Orson's
running joke was that he was the only person that's
been blacklisted twice in Hollywood, first in the old days
for being a little lefty, then later for being a conservative.
We met Orson through Andrew Breitbart and his wife, Susy.
(07:16):
Orson was Susie's father.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
As I was saying, I don't remember exactly when I
met Orson, but I do remember the precise moment I
fell in love with him. I've been in many a
room with a bunch of noormies when a celebrity walks in,
and it's pretty much always the same reaction. Head's turn,
is that so and so? A hush spreads over the room.
(07:38):
People try not to stare, but they can't help but look.
And then there's my very favorite people in the crowd
perk up and try to act more interesting. I've never
been one to partake. I think it stems from the
fact that I am one hundred percent of the time
arguably the most interesting person in the room, well, with
(07:58):
a few exceptions, one being mister Orson. Bean. We were
attending a private screening at one of those big Hollywood studios.
The film featured our friend from the FOA, and I
remember Orson walking into the event with his wife, actress
Ali Mills, known for her role as America's Mom in
the TV show The Wonder Years. Every time I saw
(08:18):
Orson I would try to sit as close to him
as possible, because, like me, he was hilariously inappropriate. Orson
was something special. He had that unteachable quality that made
a lasting impression. His politically incorrect brand of humor was intoxicating,
his warm demeanor infectious. You couldn't help but smile when
you were around him. I secretly felt as if we
(08:41):
were kindred spirits. As the event began to kick off,
I made sure to save seats near Orson for me
and Patrick. I then ventured to the lobby to enjoy
a glorious glass of wine. It was date night. We
had a sitter and I don't know about you, but
(09:01):
I like to let my hair down during those times.
Fill it to the tippy top is my go to
Joki joke to the bartender, and if any of you
Whinos are listening, you should try it because it works sometimes. However,
much to my chagrin, there were no libations at this
particular event for yours truly to enjoy. The only thing
available was a case or to a bottled water that
(09:23):
was still sitting in its Costco packaging. No wine, you
freaking kidding me. We drove all the way out here
for bottled water. I whispered to Patrick, sh I think.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
You're gonna like the movie. It's supposed to be good.
Speaker 5 (09:36):
Patrick said to me, trying to Jetti mind trick me
into silence. It's always been our dynamic, even though it
never works. I mean, at least put the damn water
bottles in a bin. I'm not even saying anything about
the no snack situation, I continued. Eventually, we were all
summoned to go into the theater. I sat down and
I was stewing in my misfortune when Orson and Alley
(09:57):
sat down in front of us. Immediately I perked up
and tried to seem more interesting.
Speaker 7 (10:04):
That's hilarious.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I know.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
One of the perks of getting old is that you're
allowed to be loud. Are you kidding me? Just bottled water,
Orson complained to his wife Ali. She kind of sort
of shished him as she laughed a little, still looking
ahead bottled water. Nobody fucking wants bottled water. Orson continued.
(10:32):
I couldn't help but laugh out loud, and just like that,
my misfortune was turned around.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Over the years, we'd occasionally bump into Orson at some
of these FOA related events. We'd see him on TV
here and there, but it wasn't until after the twenty
sixteen election that I became compelled to seek him out.
At the time, Hollywood and the advertising community were both
openly purging Trump supporters, a de facto blacklist that was
once a quiet, unwritten law was now being openly enforced.
(11:03):
Our business at the time straddled both Hollywood and advertising.
We created what is called branded content, which is basically
sponsored funded entertainment think the Lego movie. Our business and
personal lives were entrenched in Hollywood and advertising, so with
the ongoing purge of conservatives in both these industries, Adriana
and I were feeling the new pressure. It didn't take
(11:24):
long to find proof that we were on the de
facto blacklist. Besides being scary, the whole ordeal was fascinating
to experience. It showed a side of the world that
few ever witness. You quickly learned who your friends are
and who they aren't, what is and isn't important, and
what your soul is made of. These types of realizations
typically come in pivotal episodes spread out throughout a lifetime,
(11:46):
but the experience of being blacklisted from a community you're
embedded within dumps an entire lifetime worth of traumatic experiences
in your lap, all at once. This is what we
were going through in two thousand seventeen, and so to
deal with it we did what we do today. We
started developing a story on the subject for Breitbart News.
(12:10):
It was around that time that I remembered orson Bean's
running joke that he'd been blacklisted for being a commie
and then for being a right winger. It was a
distinction that caught the eye of everyone in conservative media.
Speaker 8 (12:22):
I find it interesting Orson, and I think it bespeaks
to a man who has grown up in this era
that you've been able somehow to arrange the book ending
of almost being blacklisted in your early part of your life,
and in later life, if not blacklist, had at least
fallen into some disparagement for what are thought to be
a strident conservative views.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
At this point, tell me.
Speaker 8 (12:41):
About you became an after being chasing communist women and
being blacklisted on the left.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
You then supported Nixon that quickly thereafter.
Speaker 6 (12:50):
It wasn't that quickly.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It was a few years later on.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
We wanted to talk to Orson to get his take
on the original Blacklist era and how he survived it.
So I reached out to Orson's wonderful daughter, Susie, and
she gave me his contact information. When I reached out
to Orson, he said, come right over that afternoon and
our talk would eventually change my outlook on life. Welcome back. So,
(13:15):
Adrian and I were living through a de facto blacklist
and we wanted to talk to the guy that survived
a similar situation twice. So we reached out to orson
bean to see if he'd be open to talking to
us about his ordeal. He said, come on over, so
I jumped in the car to his Venice Beach house.
Orson lived in a beautiful home in an area of
(13:35):
Los Angeles known as the Venice Canals, where a waterway
weaves in between a small patch of cottages that are
all walking distance from Venice Beach. Orson and his wife
Ali combined three adjacent bungalows to make an incredible, naturally
lit living space that has the comfort of a vacation home.
In fact, when Orson and Alley first became an item,
(13:56):
they spent week days at her then home in Hancock Park,
a posh neighborhood in Los Angeles and then retired to
his Venice home on the weekends to relax. That went
on for some time until the dream home in Venice
became their home home. To add to the enchantment of
the space, as Orson and I got acquainted, a local
critter walked in from outside right into his living room.
Speaker 6 (14:17):
For rehearsal as well as who's that, oh, basle my
pet squirrel. I love that.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
He fed his squirrel friend and the little guy walked
out the back door like he owned the place.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
You don't see that. They usually run right away, so
he's our boy.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Orson wasted no time in telling me about his first
run in with the nineteen fifties Hollywood Blacklist.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
I got blacklisted because I, like everybody at that age,
I was a little lefty and I wasn't a communist
or anything, but it was warning for a communist girl.
She dragged me to some meetings and somebody said, you know,
the FBI is going to take the names down.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I didn't care. I had to show this girl I
was politically aware.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
He had a way of bringing humor to even the
most stressful of situations, a gift that he likely acquired
from the turmoil of his childhood.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Orson Bean was not actually his birth name. He was
born Dallas Burroughs.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
I was born in Vermont. I was born in a
little town, A small town, a quiet town, a conservative town.
Asked me to say to me, how conservative is conservatives Bush?
This town is so conservative that when the local weirdos
there take hallucinogenic drugs, they see the Lawrence Welk show.
Speaker 7 (15:38):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
Dallas entered the world via Burlington, Vermont, on July twenty second,
nineteen twenty eight. However, his parents actually met in Boston
at a meeting of some sort. His mother, Marian, was,
in her son's estimation, quite the looker, with the kind
of beauty that made every man's head turn. Besides looks,
(15:59):
she had some clout. Marian was the second cousin of
the city, being President Calvin Coolidge. That fact made her
a bit of a local celebrity. Dallas's mom, Marian, and dad, George,
were married shortly after she became pregnant. As her due
date neared, Marian moved back to Vermont with her family
to have the baby while her husband, George looked for work.
(16:20):
Dallas's family got started at practically the beginning of the
Great Depression, so the man of the house was forced
to take work when and where he could get it.
When Dallas was three months old, his mom took him
to the White House to meet her cousin while his
dad was off piecing together work. Once his father found
(16:41):
a stable job in the Boston area, he sent for
Dallas and his mom. They moved around the Boston area
a bit to follow up paycheck, but his work stabilized.
They took root in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Dallas's parents started
getting involved in progressive causes. Dallas's dad helped found the
New England branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, or
widely known as the ACLU. His family would always have
(17:05):
meetings for one cause or another at the house. The
gatherings would include cocktails, and at some point, for his mother,
the drinking carried on into the daytime, and that's when
things started taking a dark turn in little Dallas's household.
He'd later recall an enormous responsibility that his mother put
on his tiny shoulders.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I loved my mother to distraction.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
To me, she was the most beautiful woman in the world,
and I wasn't far off in my assessment. Men stopped
in their tracks when she went by. It meant nothing.
Only one thing in this world mattered to my mother,
her husband. If he ever left me, I'd kill myself.
(17:49):
Do you want me to stay alive? It's your job
keep him around, kiddo. She actually said this to me
shortly before I turned six. I looked in her eyes
and saw that she was deadly serious, and with a
silent I accepted the mission.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
Dallas took on the task, working endlessly to earn the
affections of his father. He had some success at it
for a while, but his father was still more preoccupied
with politics than fatherly endeavors. Dallas never remembered his dad
taking him out to the park to play catch. As
his mom's drinking habit escalated, his parents' arguments began to worsen.
(18:29):
Perhaps as a reaction to his home life, Dallas began
undergoing a bit of a change.
Speaker 6 (18:34):
I got in the business because that was the class clown.
I read up on the chair when the teacher was
out of the room and tried to make people laugh.
I wanted to make people love me. I didn't think
they loved me at home. I wanted them to love
me in the classroom, and I became class clown. And
then I became a magician. I learned to do my tricks.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
He started developing a magician act at seven, and he
got his first acting part in a school play that
same year. His grandparents gave him a Gilbert Magic set
when he visited them each summer in Heartland, Vermont. He'd
put on a big performance by the time he was nine.
His parents often left him home alone while they attended
parties and political meetings, at one point leaving him for
(19:22):
five days while they took a trip to Chicago to
attend a convention. There was a silver lining in this neglect.
Dallas was becoming resourceful. While his parents were gone on
the trip, they left him a few bucks so that
he could feed himself. He took advantage of the opportunity.
Dallas was a Cub Scout, but he wasn't able to
march with them in parades because his parents hadn't bought
(19:42):
him the minimum attire needed to participate in the marches,
which was an official Cub Scout hat and scarf. So
he did some calculations and figured out from the money
his parents left him he could buy the hat and
scarf and still have enough money to feed himself in
their absence, so he made the purchase. The young boy
was learning to fend for himself. He applied hustled to
(20:03):
other facets of his life. At the time, parents didn't
just pay kids an allowance. They had to earn spending
money by finding work. Raking leaves, shoveling snow, washing windows,
you know the jobs our leaders now claim Americans won't do.
He began elevating his chops as an entrepreneur. Dallas figured
out that on certain holidays, families visited the graves of
(20:25):
their loved ones at a location that forced them to
walk up a hill, so he set up a beverage
stand near the site. It paid off. When he hired
someone to help, he doubled his take. Dallas was learning
how to make money on his own, and during challenging
financial times, he was building a skill and one that
would prove to be handy for what was about to
(20:47):
come his way. Dallas's home life was becoming more and
more dysfunctional. His mother's drinking was elevating, and it led
to the young boy witnessing some of her extra marital behavior.
The house was in decline. As Dallas started to be
I'm a young man, the unfair burden of keeping his
father in the fold began to reach a breaking point.
(21:08):
When he approached sixteen, his mother's worst nightmare happened. Dallas's
father left the house, never to come back. As he
confessed in his excellent autobiography Safe at Home, his mom, Marian,
quickly began to spiral out of control. Just a few
days after his father left, Dallas was compelled to leave
(21:29):
the house. While still in high school. He rented a
room from a woman and picked up work at a
local hotel. But a few days later, his mom made
good on her promise, taking her life in a dramatic
fashion on her birthday. At the ripe old age of sixteen,
Dallas was on his own. He continued his work at
(21:53):
the hotel, but also started to look for work as
a magician. He talked about that time on the Dennis
Miller Option podcast.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
I was given a Gilbert magic shame when I was
seven and never recovered. I spent hours in the bedroom
fumbling the billiard ball and developed a magic act. And
I got to the point where I could entertain at
the Methodist church Friday night supper and get two bucks.
And then World War Two came and all the magicians
(22:21):
were off fighting the Axis. So I suddenly, when I
was still in high school and I was seventeen years old,
was able to work in nightclubs. There was a full
year's work in nightclubs around New England. These were working
class clubs. There was no TV in those days, so
people still went out on a Friday and Saturday night.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
At eighteen, he joined the Army and spent a year
stationed in Japan, working his magic act out with his
fellow troops. When he returned, Dallas took his act to
the clubs of Boston, but slowly started to substitute magic
tricks with comedy bits. It was during this time that
Dallas Burroughs was retired.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Forever I had an opening act. I used to do
a Harvard College act. I had a crew cut gray
flannel suit, a button.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Down shirt Harry Brooks.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
But I would go out and I had an opening line.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
I would say, good evening, ladies and gentlemen, my name
is Dallas Borroughs, Harvard forty eight pause Yale. Nothing well,
you could hear crickets in the back of the ring
on the strip. So Valdeval was the piano player in
this club called Hurley's log Cabin. And since they're fined
and there was a four piece band, so he says
(23:31):
to me, every night, you know, the whole act was
laying in a I'm going down the toilet and Valdeval says,
your act is not playing, kid. I was only twenty
years old, he says, because you're opening joke doesn't work.
He says, the reason for that is you don't have
a funny name. Each night he made up a different
funny name for me. One night, he says, telling me,
your name is Roger Duck.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
So I go good evening, je Hurley's good even time
of the show, the music, good evening. My name is
Roger Duck Harvard forty eight Yale nothing.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
One night he made up the name Orsonvie.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Right, I went out Osonbean Harbor fort He had got
a big lass in the whole act play.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
And Orson Bean was born. He decided to leave Boston
and gave Philadelphia a try for a year, but it
was his move to New York City in nineteen fifty
one that changed his life forever. He explained this moment
in his extraordinary must see one man's show Safe at Home,
(24:33):
based on his autobiography of the same name.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
I've heard of a supper club in New York called
the Blue Angel. Famous cabaret stars work that way. I
rode the Crosstown fiftieth Street bus to the fashionable East Side.
The club was in a brownstone between Lexington Avenue and
Third I tried the door knob, and to my surprise,
it was unlocked. What if it hadn't been, what would
(24:57):
I have done? Why was I there in the first place.
I didn't have an agent, I didn't have a manager.
It was three in the afternoon. I had no business
walking into one of the most famous nightclubs in the
country looking for work. But like the bumblebee who does
not know he can't fly, I walked on anyway. I
found myself in a room lit by a single light bulb.
(25:21):
Chairs were up on tables.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
There was a bar on the left hand side. A
grand piano stood in the corner. On the far walls
stood a pair of.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
Swinging doors, which I soon led to an inner room
where the entertainment took place. This was clearly a holding
area for people waiting to see the show. A flight
of stairs led to an upper floor. I climbed them.
There were men's in ladies' restrooms. A light shone from
an open door at the end of the hall. I
approached it and stuck my head in. A middle aged
(25:51):
man sat at a desk going through a pile of receipts.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
He looked up, what do you want?
Speaker 6 (25:56):
I'm a comic, chay something funny, belly button, I'm short
and I come back to night at ten I'll put
you want to have a look?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
The man was Max Gordon, the owner.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
As you can tell, orson mastered the ability of painting
a picture of his surroundings. With his first New York
City gig set for that night. He quickly left to
get his suit pressed, and while he waited, he began
working on his stand up set.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
That night, I rode the bus back to the East Side.
Speaker 6 (26:34):
The Blue Angel was packed, Bobby Short was playing the piano.
I sat down at the bar in order to coke
and a little bit.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Max Gordon appeared.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
Oh hello there, I whytn't you stand in the back
and get a.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Feel for the womb.
Speaker 6 (26:51):
I followed him through the swinging doors and leaned against
the wall. Perfect kit was singing. The audience applodded after
each number. When my turn came, the MC announced it'd
be a special added attraction. There was a smattering of
polite applause, and I stepped to the microphone.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
My name is Orson Bean Harvard forty eight Yale nothing.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
The audience laughed. They looked at.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
My crew cut in my three button suit. I was
twenty two years old. I did not look like any
comic they had ever seen. I told him about my grandfather,
my great great great grandfather, who fought in the American
He didn't actually fight in He was a bartender, but
the foremost bartender of the American Revolution.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
My great great great great grandfather poured the shothard round
the wall. They laughed.
Speaker 6 (27:59):
I did a routine about ancient Rome, the fashionable east
side of ancient Rome, those of the narrow lapel. Today
I told the strange tale of the vampire Chicken.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Of Putney, Vermont. When the moon is fully pected people
to death.
Speaker 6 (28:17):
I closed with a routine about an Australian who falls
in love with an ostrich.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
The audience went n I'd never gotten such to last
in my life. My head was spinning it.
Speaker 6 (28:28):
Immediately after the show, Max Gordon signed me to a
six month contract. An associate of the powerful syndicated newspaper columnist.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Walter Winchell had been in the house.
Speaker 6 (28:38):
The publicist for the club told me to look in
the paper.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
The next day.
Speaker 6 (28:42):
I went back to my room at the hotel and
tried to sleep. In the morning, Winchell's column appeared. It
said his name is Orson Bean. We never heard of
him either. He went on unannounced that the Blue Angel
last night and brought down the house. My career was
(29:04):
off on running.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Do you want to hear Red Pilled America stories ad free?
Then become a backstage subscriber. Just log onto Redpilled America
dot com and click join in the top menu. Join
today and help us save America one story at a time.
Welcome back to Red Pilled America. On his first outing
in the Big Apple, Orson Bean had broken through. Within
(29:29):
a year, he was booked on The Ed Sullivan Show,
a legendary weekly variety show that at the time would
reach over double the audience of an Oscar's broadcast. Today.
Orson became a regular on the show. He also picked
up gigs on Broadway. His career was on the move.
Speaker 6 (29:45):
They had made CBS. I was the Fairhead Young Comic.
I was a regular and at Sullivan they had done
a twenty six week variety show with me, and then
they decided to make a pilot for me, and they
made the pilot.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
A pilot is a standalone episode used to sell a
show to a TV networkA obviously saw promise in the
Young Comic. But something was happening at the time that
became politically divisive, the Hollywood Blacklist. The Cold War was
underway and communists had legitimately infiltrated the entertainment industry. The
(30:18):
problem got so bad that Hollywood heavy hitters like Walt
Disney spoke out, and.
Speaker 7 (30:23):
I feel that they really ought to be smoked out
and shown up for what they are, so that all
the good pre causes in this country, all the liberalisms
that really are American, can go out without dis pain
of Communism.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
To weed out their infiltration in the radio and television industry,
an anti communist group with ties to the intelligence community
published a pamphlet called Red Channels. In the pamphlet, they
would list names of people that were either associated with
the Communist Party, or had some affiliation with causes like
civil rights that were thought to be aligned with our
Cold War enemy. Many people today think it was Washington
(30:58):
d c. That was enforcing the blacklist of suspected communists
in Hollywood, but it was actually the sponsors at the time.
A sponsor like let's say, Campbell's Soup would fund an
entire show, so they held enormous sway on the content
and talent of the program.
Speaker 6 (31:14):
The networks hated the blacklist. It was first of all,
it was a protection racket, and it was an inconvenience
and an expensive one. The Red Channel's people said to
the programs, you must clear every actor through us to
make sure he's not a communist or a communist sympathizer,
(31:36):
and it's fifty bucks ahead for our trouble. So if
a guy was a regular on the show, they cleared
him every week for fifty bucks. The networks didn't give
a shit if it was Paul robeson on there, if
the people watched, But who cared was people like they
head of Campbell's Soup that said to the networks, we
won't sponsor a show that has any comus on it.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
That concludes Part one of Rancontour. Part two is live,
so check it out now.
This is Red Pilled America. Hey fambam. If you love
Red Pilled America, the easiest way to support the show
is to follow or subscribe to us on whatever podcast
app you listen to us on. That way, every new
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want to listen to Red Pilled America ad free, become
a backstage subscriber. Just go do Redpilled America dot com
(00:27):
and click join in the top menu. Support what you
love or it goes away. A little over five years ago,
America lost a storytelling legend, Orson Bean, a beloved film, television,
and stage actor as well as a comedian. Orson was
the kind of guy people couldn't help but love. Today,
July twenty second would have been his ninety seventh birthday.
To honor this one of a kind talent, we're rebroadcasting
(00:50):
the story of his remarkable life. Red Pilled America had
the privilege of interviewing Orson back in twenty seventeen about
his time in Hollywood. This episode was originally broadcast on
February twenty first, twenty twenty. Enjoy America recently lost one
of its greats. Orson Bean. His theater, TV and film
(01:14):
credits span roughly seventy years.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
You look splend Do you like this? I haven't seen
you in a three beet suit? And age is Orson Well.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
It was some stuff left over from when my wife
did the coach.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Right now, if I may, let me introduce to you
our first celebrated guest who's going to walk right out here.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
And amaze you.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
You all know and you love him as.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Orson Ban For seven decades, Orson Bean was one of
the most beloved figures in America. How did he do it?
How does someone make people love them?
Speaker 5 (01:53):
I'm Patrick Carelci and I'm Adriana Cortes and this.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Is Red Pilled America, a storytelling show.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
This is not another talk show covering the day's news.
We're all about telling stories.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Stories. Hollywood doesn't want you to hear stories.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
The media mocks stories about everyday Americans at the globalist ignore.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
You can think of Red Pilled America as audio documentaries,
and we promise only one thing, the truth. Welcome to
Red Pilled America. Actor, author, and raconteur Orson Bean recently
(02:43):
left this world. Adrianna and I had the pleasure of
meeting him a little over a decade ago. To meet
Orson bean was to love him. He had the rare
gift of being able to pull off a joke in
practically any situation.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
What are you doing here? I'm just hanging around.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
As a matter of fact.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
You know that Gary's wife is expecting a baby any minute,
and that imminent. Yeah, and he might have to go
running out of here like a shot.
Speaker 7 (03:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
And so they asked me to stand by, and I
thought it was appropriate.
Speaker 6 (03:16):
Yea, inasmuch as I performed the same function at the conception.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Orson was a constant figure in the world of entertainment
and was one of the best storytellers that has ever lived.
Throughout his career, he's worked with or helped introduce some
of the biggest personalities in American pop culture, Johnny Carson,
Barbar streisand Jane Mansfield, Denzel Washington, Cameron Diaz, Spike Jones,
Jane Seymour, and many many others. He made appearances on
(03:45):
an unbelievably wide range of projects, including TV shows Desperate Housewives,
Modern Family, The Twilight Zone, Will and Grace, Doctor Quinn,
Medicine Woman, The Facts of Life, and movies Being John Malkovich,
Equalizer I, and the Hollywood classic Anatomy of a Murder.
He was perhaps best known for being a fixture on
the late night TV and game show circuit, where he
(04:08):
was featured as a regular guest and guest hosts on
some of the biggest shows of all time.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
My next guess, there's an old friend and we go
away back on the early days of television.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Have not seen Orson for a while?
Speaker 5 (04:17):
Would you welcome?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Play?
Speaker 5 (04:18):
Is mister Orson Bean?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
The Tonight Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Merv Griffin Show,
Game shows Like to Tell, The Truth Match Game, The
ten Thousand Dollars Pyramid, and What's My Line, just to
name a few. He even played a pivotal role in
bringing Breitbart News into existence. Orson Bean was without question,
one of the most beloved entertainers in American history, which
(04:39):
got us to thinking, how is he able to do it?
How does someone make such a wide variety of people
love them. To find the answer, We're going to follow
the remarkable life of Orson Bean, peering into some of
his pivotal moments to see what they reveal.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
I didn't know Orson Bean well, but I wanted to.
I don't remember exactly when I met him, but I
do remember the precise moment I fell in love with him.
Orson Bean was a prolific TV personality that became known
as a recontour, or a person who tells anecdotes in
a skillful and amusing way. His short, pivy jokes are immortal.
(05:21):
Like this one joke telling is an art form.
Speaker 6 (05:23):
The joke should be short and all was told in
the present tense. An example, the owner of a Chinese
restaurant shakes's wife awake at three am.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
He says, I want sixty nine. I want sixty nine.
She says, you want to be from Broccoli? This all
the night.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Patrick and I met him in two thousand and nine
while attending these hush hush Hollywood events called the Friends
of Abe.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
The Friends of Abe or FOA as it was called,
was a secret club for conservatives that worked in Hollywood.
Orson referred to his membership in the club in two
thousand and.
Speaker 6 (05:55):
Nine, You know, wusin, you're also part of an organization
called Friends of Abe.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Yeah, can you tell us a little bit about what it's.
Speaker 6 (06:03):
It's Friends of Abe as in Abe Lincoln and it
really hasn't gone public, but I don't think Garrisonie, who
founded it, who is one of the most extraordinary human
beings I've ever met in my life. He's a big
star of the movies and television, and he is a
im mense supporter of the troops overseas. He is the
(06:26):
Bob Hope of today. And he also was appalled by
the stuff that's being churned out in the movies. And
he has formed a group of people within the film industry,
and there's now up to seven or eight hundred of
us who are not afraid to say we are the
R word Republican and the C word Christian or whatever.
Even it's the Reagan Democrats who are angry about the
(06:50):
hating of America that's portrayed in some of the Hollywood
movies and the violence and all of it.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Aside from a few of us, most in the club
were not openly right wingers because they were afraid their
beliefs would get them blacklisted from working in tinseltown. Orson's
running joke was that he was the only person that's
been blacklisted twice in Hollywood, first in the old days
for being a little lefty, then later for being a conservative.
We met Orson through Andrew Breitbart and his wife, Susy.
(07:16):
Orson was Susie's father.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
As I was saying, I don't remember exactly when I
met Orson, but I do remember the precise moment I
fell in love with him. I've been in many a
room with a bunch of noormies when a celebrity walks in,
and it's pretty much always the same reaction. Head's turn,
is that so and so? A hush spreads over the room.
(07:38):
People try not to stare, but they can't help but look.
And then there's my very favorite people in the crowd
perk up and try to act more interesting. I've never
been one to partake. I think it stems from the
fact that I am one hundred percent of the time
arguably the most interesting person in the room, well, with
(07:58):
a few exceptions, one being mister Orson. Bean. We were
attending a private screening at one of those big Hollywood studios.
The film featured our friend from the FOA, and I
remember Orson walking into the event with his wife, actress
Ali Mills, known for her role as America's Mom in
the TV show The Wonder Years. Every time I saw
(08:18):
Orson I would try to sit as close to him
as possible, because, like me, he was hilariously inappropriate. Orson
was something special. He had that unteachable quality that made
a lasting impression. His politically incorrect brand of humor was intoxicating,
his warm demeanor infectious. You couldn't help but smile when
you were around him. I secretly felt as if we
(08:41):
were kindred spirits. As the event began to kick off,
I made sure to save seats near Orson for me
and Patrick. I then ventured to the lobby to enjoy
a glorious glass of wine. It was date night. We
had a sitter and I don't know about you, but
(09:01):
I like to let my hair down during those times.
Fill it to the tippy top is my go to
Joki joke to the bartender, and if any of you
Whinos are listening, you should try it because it works sometimes. However,
much to my chagrin, there were no libations at this
particular event for yours truly to enjoy. The only thing
available was a case or to a bottled water that
(09:23):
was still sitting in its Costco packaging. No wine, you
freaking kidding me. We drove all the way out here
for bottled water. I whispered to Patrick, sh I think.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
You're gonna like the movie. It's supposed to be good.
Speaker 5 (09:36):
Patrick said to me, trying to Jetti mind trick me
into silence. It's always been our dynamic, even though it
never works. I mean, at least put the damn water
bottles in a bin. I'm not even saying anything about
the no snack situation, I continued. Eventually, we were all
summoned to go into the theater. I sat down and
I was stewing in my misfortune when Orson and Alley
(09:57):
sat down in front of us. Immediately I perked up
and tried to seem more interesting.
Speaker 7 (10:04):
That's hilarious.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I know.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
One of the perks of getting old is that you're
allowed to be loud. Are you kidding me? Just bottled water,
Orson complained to his wife Ali. She kind of sort
of shished him as she laughed a little, still looking
ahead bottled water. Nobody fucking wants bottled water. Orson continued.
(10:32):
I couldn't help but laugh out loud, and just like that,
my misfortune was turned around.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Over the years, we'd occasionally bump into Orson at some
of these FOA related events. We'd see him on TV
here and there, but it wasn't until after the twenty
sixteen election that I became compelled to seek him out.
At the time, Hollywood and the advertising community were both
openly purging Trump supporters, a de facto blacklist that was
once a quiet, unwritten law was now being openly enforced.
(11:03):
Our business at the time straddled both Hollywood and advertising.
We created what is called branded content, which is basically
sponsored funded entertainment think the Lego movie. Our business and
personal lives were entrenched in Hollywood and advertising, so with
the ongoing purge of conservatives in both these industries, Adriana
and I were feeling the new pressure. It didn't take
(11:24):
long to find proof that we were on the de
facto blacklist. Besides being scary, the whole ordeal was fascinating
to experience. It showed a side of the world that
few ever witness. You quickly learned who your friends are
and who they aren't, what is and isn't important, and
what your soul is made of. These types of realizations
typically come in pivotal episodes spread out throughout a lifetime,
(11:46):
but the experience of being blacklisted from a community you're
embedded within dumps an entire lifetime worth of traumatic experiences
in your lap, all at once. This is what we
were going through in two thousand seventeen, and so to
deal with it we did what we do today. We
started developing a story on the subject for Breitbart News.
(12:10):
It was around that time that I remembered orson Bean's
running joke that he'd been blacklisted for being a commie
and then for being a right winger. It was a
distinction that caught the eye of everyone in conservative media.
Speaker 8 (12:22):
I find it interesting Orson, and I think it bespeaks
to a man who has grown up in this era
that you've been able somehow to arrange the book ending
of almost being blacklisted in your early part of your life,
and in later life, if not blacklist, had at least
fallen into some disparagement for what are thought to be
a strident conservative views.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
At this point, tell me.
Speaker 8 (12:41):
About you became an after being chasing communist women and
being blacklisted on the left.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
You then supported Nixon that quickly thereafter.
Speaker 6 (12:50):
It wasn't that quickly.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It was a few years later on.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
We wanted to talk to Orson to get his take
on the original Blacklist era and how he survived it.
So I reached out to Orson's wonderful daughter, Susie, and
she gave me his contact information. When I reached out
to Orson, he said, come right over that afternoon and
our talk would eventually change my outlook on life. Welcome back. So,
(13:15):
Adrian and I were living through a de facto blacklist
and we wanted to talk to the guy that survived
a similar situation twice. So we reached out to orson
bean to see if he'd be open to talking to
us about his ordeal. He said, come on over, so
I jumped in the car to his Venice Beach house.
Orson lived in a beautiful home in an area of
(13:35):
Los Angeles known as the Venice Canals, where a waterway
weaves in between a small patch of cottages that are
all walking distance from Venice Beach. Orson and his wife
Ali combined three adjacent bungalows to make an incredible, naturally
lit living space that has the comfort of a vacation home.
In fact, when Orson and Alley first became an item,
(13:56):
they spent week days at her then home in Hancock Park,
a posh neighborhood in Los Angeles and then retired to
his Venice home on the weekends to relax. That went
on for some time until the dream home in Venice
became their home home. To add to the enchantment of
the space, as Orson and I got acquainted, a local
critter walked in from outside right into his living room.
Speaker 6 (14:17):
For rehearsal as well as who's that, oh, basle my
pet squirrel. I love that.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
He fed his squirrel friend and the little guy walked
out the back door like he owned the place.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
You don't see that. They usually run right away, so
he's our boy.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Orson wasted no time in telling me about his first
run in with the nineteen fifties Hollywood Blacklist.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
I got blacklisted because I, like everybody at that age,
I was a little lefty and I wasn't a communist
or anything, but it was warning for a communist girl.
She dragged me to some meetings and somebody said, you know,
the FBI is going to take the names down.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I didn't care. I had to show this girl I
was politically aware.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
He had a way of bringing humor to even the
most stressful of situations, a gift that he likely acquired
from the turmoil of his childhood.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Orson Bean was not actually his birth name. He was
born Dallas Burroughs.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
I was born in Vermont. I was born in a
little town, A small town, a quiet town, a conservative town.
Asked me to say to me, how conservative is conservatives Bush?
This town is so conservative that when the local weirdos
there take hallucinogenic drugs, they see the Lawrence Welk show.
Speaker 7 (15:38):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
Dallas entered the world via Burlington, Vermont, on July twenty second,
nineteen twenty eight. However, his parents actually met in Boston
at a meeting of some sort. His mother, Marian, was,
in her son's estimation, quite the looker, with the kind
of beauty that made every man's head turn. Besides looks,
(15:59):
she had some clout. Marian was the second cousin of
the city, being President Calvin Coolidge. That fact made her
a bit of a local celebrity. Dallas's mom, Marian, and dad, George,
were married shortly after she became pregnant. As her due
date neared, Marian moved back to Vermont with her family
to have the baby while her husband, George looked for work.
(16:20):
Dallas's family got started at practically the beginning of the
Great Depression, so the man of the house was forced
to take work when and where he could get it.
When Dallas was three months old, his mom took him
to the White House to meet her cousin while his
dad was off piecing together work. Once his father found
(16:41):
a stable job in the Boston area, he sent for
Dallas and his mom. They moved around the Boston area
a bit to follow up paycheck, but his work stabilized.
They took root in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Dallas's parents started
getting involved in progressive causes. Dallas's dad helped found the
New England branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, or
widely known as the ACLU. His family would always have
(17:05):
meetings for one cause or another at the house. The
gatherings would include cocktails, and at some point, for his mother,
the drinking carried on into the daytime, and that's when
things started taking a dark turn in little Dallas's household.
He'd later recall an enormous responsibility that his mother put
on his tiny shoulders.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I loved my mother to distraction.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
To me, she was the most beautiful woman in the world,
and I wasn't far off in my assessment. Men stopped
in their tracks when she went by. It meant nothing.
Only one thing in this world mattered to my mother,
her husband. If he ever left me, I'd kill myself.
(17:49):
Do you want me to stay alive? It's your job
keep him around, kiddo. She actually said this to me
shortly before I turned six. I looked in her eyes
and saw that she was deadly serious, and with a
silent I accepted the mission.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
Dallas took on the task, working endlessly to earn the
affections of his father. He had some success at it
for a while, but his father was still more preoccupied
with politics than fatherly endeavors. Dallas never remembered his dad
taking him out to the park to play catch. As
his mom's drinking habit escalated, his parents' arguments began to worsen.
(18:29):
Perhaps as a reaction to his home life, Dallas began
undergoing a bit of a change.
Speaker 6 (18:34):
I got in the business because that was the class clown.
I read up on the chair when the teacher was
out of the room and tried to make people laugh.
I wanted to make people love me. I didn't think
they loved me at home. I wanted them to love
me in the classroom, and I became class clown. And
then I became a magician. I learned to do my tricks.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
He started developing a magician act at seven, and he
got his first acting part in a school play that
same year. His grandparents gave him a Gilbert Magic set
when he visited them each summer in Heartland, Vermont. He'd
put on a big performance by the time he was nine.
His parents often left him home alone while they attended
parties and political meetings, at one point leaving him for
(19:22):
five days while they took a trip to Chicago to
attend a convention. There was a silver lining in this neglect.
Dallas was becoming resourceful. While his parents were gone on
the trip, they left him a few bucks so that
he could feed himself. He took advantage of the opportunity.
Dallas was a Cub Scout, but he wasn't able to
march with them in parades because his parents hadn't bought
(19:42):
him the minimum attire needed to participate in the marches,
which was an official Cub Scout hat and scarf. So
he did some calculations and figured out from the money
his parents left him he could buy the hat and
scarf and still have enough money to feed himself in
their absence, so he made the purchase. The young boy
was learning to fend for himself. He applied hustled to
(20:03):
other facets of his life. At the time, parents didn't
just pay kids an allowance. They had to earn spending
money by finding work. Raking leaves, shoveling snow, washing windows,
you know the jobs our leaders now claim Americans won't do.
He began elevating his chops as an entrepreneur. Dallas figured
out that on certain holidays, families visited the graves of
(20:25):
their loved ones at a location that forced them to
walk up a hill, so he set up a beverage
stand near the site. It paid off. When he hired
someone to help, he doubled his take. Dallas was learning
how to make money on his own, and during challenging
financial times, he was building a skill and one that
would prove to be handy for what was about to
(20:47):
come his way. Dallas's home life was becoming more and
more dysfunctional. His mother's drinking was elevating, and it led
to the young boy witnessing some of her extra marital behavior.
The house was in decline. As Dallas started to be
I'm a young man, the unfair burden of keeping his
father in the fold began to reach a breaking point.
(21:08):
When he approached sixteen, his mother's worst nightmare happened. Dallas's
father left the house, never to come back. As he
confessed in his excellent autobiography Safe at Home, his mom, Marian,
quickly began to spiral out of control. Just a few
days after his father left, Dallas was compelled to leave
(21:29):
the house. While still in high school. He rented a
room from a woman and picked up work at a
local hotel. But a few days later, his mom made
good on her promise, taking her life in a dramatic
fashion on her birthday. At the ripe old age of sixteen,
Dallas was on his own. He continued his work at
(21:53):
the hotel, but also started to look for work as
a magician. He talked about that time on the Dennis
Miller Option podcast.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
I was given a Gilbert magic shame when I was
seven and never recovered. I spent hours in the bedroom
fumbling the billiard ball and developed a magic act. And
I got to the point where I could entertain at
the Methodist church Friday night supper and get two bucks.
And then World War Two came and all the magicians
(22:21):
were off fighting the Axis. So I suddenly, when I
was still in high school and I was seventeen years old,
was able to work in nightclubs. There was a full
year's work in nightclubs around New England. These were working
class clubs. There was no TV in those days, so
people still went out on a Friday and Saturday night.
Speaker 5 (22:40):
At eighteen, he joined the Army and spent a year
stationed in Japan, working his magic act out with his
fellow troops. When he returned, Dallas took his act to
the clubs of Boston, but slowly started to substitute magic
tricks with comedy bits. It was during this time that
Dallas Burroughs was retired.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Forever I had an opening act. I used to do
a Harvard College act. I had a crew cut gray
flannel suit, a button.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Down shirt Harry Brooks.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
But I would go out and I had an opening line.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
I would say, good evening, ladies and gentlemen, my name
is Dallas Borroughs, Harvard forty eight pause Yale. Nothing well,
you could hear crickets in the back of the ring
on the strip. So Valdeval was the piano player in
this club called Hurley's log Cabin. And since they're fined
and there was a four piece band, so he says
(23:31):
to me, every night, you know, the whole act was
laying in a I'm going down the toilet and Valdeval says,
your act is not playing, kid. I was only twenty
years old, he says, because you're opening joke doesn't work.
He says, the reason for that is you don't have
a funny name. Each night he made up a different
funny name for me. One night, he says, telling me,
your name is Roger Duck.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
So I go good evening, je Hurley's good even time
of the show, the music, good evening. My name is
Roger Duck Harvard forty eight Yale nothing.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
One night he made up the name Orsonvie.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Right, I went out Osonbean Harbor fort He had got
a big lass in the whole act play.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
And Orson Bean was born. He decided to leave Boston
and gave Philadelphia a try for a year, but it
was his move to New York City in nineteen fifty
one that changed his life forever. He explained this moment
in his extraordinary must see one man's show Safe at Home,
(24:33):
based on his autobiography of the same name.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
I've heard of a supper club in New York called
the Blue Angel. Famous cabaret stars work that way. I
rode the Crosstown fiftieth Street bus to the fashionable East Side.
The club was in a brownstone between Lexington Avenue and
Third I tried the door knob, and to my surprise,
it was unlocked. What if it hadn't been, what would
(24:57):
I have done? Why was I there in the first place.
I didn't have an agent, I didn't have a manager.
It was three in the afternoon. I had no business
walking into one of the most famous nightclubs in the
country looking for work. But like the bumblebee who does
not know he can't fly, I walked on anyway. I
found myself in a room lit by a single light bulb.
(25:21):
Chairs were up on tables.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
There was a bar on the left hand side. A
grand piano stood in the corner. On the far walls
stood a pair of.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
Swinging doors, which I soon led to an inner room
where the entertainment took place. This was clearly a holding
area for people waiting to see the show. A flight
of stairs led to an upper floor. I climbed them.
There were men's in ladies' restrooms. A light shone from
an open door at the end of the hall. I
approached it and stuck my head in. A middle aged
(25:51):
man sat at a desk going through a pile of receipts.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
He looked up, what do you want?
Speaker 6 (25:56):
I'm a comic, chay something funny, belly button, I'm short
and I come back to night at ten I'll put
you want to have a look?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
The man was Max Gordon, the owner.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
As you can tell, orson mastered the ability of painting
a picture of his surroundings. With his first New York
City gig set for that night. He quickly left to
get his suit pressed, and while he waited, he began
working on his stand up set.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
That night, I rode the bus back to the East Side.
Speaker 6 (26:34):
The Blue Angel was packed, Bobby Short was playing the piano.
I sat down at the bar in order to coke
and a little bit.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Max Gordon appeared.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
Oh hello there, I whytn't you stand in the back
and get a.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Feel for the womb.
Speaker 6 (26:51):
I followed him through the swinging doors and leaned against
the wall. Perfect kit was singing. The audience applodded after
each number. When my turn came, the MC announced it'd
be a special added attraction. There was a smattering of
polite applause, and I stepped to the microphone.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
My name is Orson Bean Harvard forty eight Yale nothing.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
The audience laughed. They looked at.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
My crew cut in my three button suit. I was
twenty two years old. I did not look like any
comic they had ever seen. I told him about my grandfather,
my great great great grandfather, who fought in the American
He didn't actually fight in He was a bartender, but
the foremost bartender of the American Revolution.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
My great great great great grandfather poured the shothard round
the wall. They laughed.
Speaker 6 (27:59):
I did a routine about ancient Rome, the fashionable east
side of ancient Rome, those of the narrow lapel. Today
I told the strange tale of the vampire Chicken.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Of Putney, Vermont. When the moon is fully pected people
to death.
Speaker 6 (28:17):
I closed with a routine about an Australian who falls
in love with an ostrich.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
The audience went n I'd never gotten such to last
in my life. My head was spinning it.
Speaker 6 (28:28):
Immediately after the show, Max Gordon signed me to a
six month contract. An associate of the powerful syndicated newspaper columnist.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Walter Winchell had been in the house.
Speaker 6 (28:38):
The publicist for the club told me to look in
the paper.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
The next day.
Speaker 6 (28:42):
I went back to my room at the hotel and
tried to sleep. In the morning, Winchell's column appeared. It
said his name is Orson Bean. We never heard of
him either. He went on unannounced that the Blue Angel
last night and brought down the house. My career was
(29:04):
off on running.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Do you want to hear Red Pilled America stories ad free?
Then become a backstage subscriber. Just log onto Redpilled America
dot com and click join in the top menu. Join
today and help us save America one story at a time.
Welcome back to Red Pilled America. On his first outing
in the Big Apple, Orson Bean had broken through. Within
(29:29):
a year, he was booked on The Ed Sullivan Show,
a legendary weekly variety show that at the time would
reach over double the audience of an Oscar's broadcast. Today.
Orson became a regular on the show. He also picked
up gigs on Broadway. His career was on the move.
Speaker 6 (29:45):
They had made CBS. I was the Fairhead Young Comic.
I was a regular and at Sullivan they had done
a twenty six week variety show with me, and then
they decided to make a pilot for me, and they
made the pilot.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
A pilot is a standalone episode used to sell a
show to a TV networkA obviously saw promise in the
Young Comic. But something was happening at the time that
became politically divisive, the Hollywood Blacklist. The Cold War was
underway and communists had legitimately infiltrated the entertainment industry. The
(30:18):
problem got so bad that Hollywood heavy hitters like Walt
Disney spoke out, and.
Speaker 7 (30:23):
I feel that they really ought to be smoked out
and shown up for what they are, so that all
the good pre causes in this country, all the liberalisms
that really are American, can go out without dis pain
of Communism.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
To weed out their infiltration in the radio and television industry,
an anti communist group with ties to the intelligence community
published a pamphlet called Red Channels. In the pamphlet, they
would list names of people that were either associated with
the Communist Party, or had some affiliation with causes like
civil rights that were thought to be aligned with our
Cold War enemy. Many people today think it was Washington
(30:58):
d c. That was enforcing the blacklist of suspected communists
in Hollywood, but it was actually the sponsors at the time.
A sponsor like let's say, Campbell's Soup would fund an
entire show, so they held enormous sway on the content
and talent of the program.
Speaker 6 (31:14):
The networks hated the blacklist. It was first of all,
it was a protection racket, and it was an inconvenience
and an expensive one. The Red Channel's people said to
the programs, you must clear every actor through us to
make sure he's not a communist or a communist sympathizer,
(31:36):
and it's fifty bucks ahead for our trouble. So if
a guy was a regular on the show, they cleared
him every week for fifty bucks. The networks didn't give
a shit if it was Paul robeson on there, if
the people watched, But who cared was people like they
head of Campbell's Soup that said to the networks, we
won't sponsor a show that has any comus on it.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
That concludes Part one of Rancontour. Part two is live,
so check it out now.
Hosts And Creators
Adryana Cortez
Patrick Courrielche
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