You’re reading to much into this. Pay attention to the way celebrities behave now, and the way their personal lives are portrayed in the media. The names and places change, the behavior remains the same.
I think what it comes down to is that we can’t get past your notion of the Church of Satanism, which you apparently think was actually a “church” which “worshiped” a being known as “Satan” and constituted a “religion.” The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has more theology. You couldn’t possibly blaspheme by joining that “church” any more than you can by eating at Church’s Fried Chicken. It was a joke, a way to publicly transgress, a way to thumb your nose at the prudish establishment. LaVey would have loved you, because you’re more a believer than anyone inside probably was.
For your question about Larry Hagman, the best explanation I can find is in Tortured Larry attacked ten nuns with an axe: Eye-popping tales of Larry Hagman’s drink and drug-fuelled excess on set. This is purportedly written by Barbara Eden, so I’d give it some weight.
As the title indicates, involvement with the Church of Satanism is not required for strange behaviors. Living in the 60s as a star seems to be enough. Or maybe you should be asking why doesn’t some Christian Church demand to know why Hagman committed blasphemy by appearing in a show about genii.
Don’t forget about that other 60s show that was all about witchcraft.
Blasphemy doesn’t require a theology, it simply requires that you say something insulting, or even insufficiently reverent, about a major religious figure or belief. By that standard, joining the Church of Satan was almost certainly blasphemous, given the openly contemptuous attitude LaVey and his group had towards mainstream religion. As such, Davis joining the CoS was likely a violation of either the 2nd or 3rd commandment, depending on whose numbering system you follow.
What it does not do is violate the first commandment, which is an injunction against either apostasy or paganism - as you said, it’s not a proper belief system, it’s just an excuse to get high and have a lot of sex. Which is a violation of the seventh (or, arguably, sixth) commandment.
As far as I know Hagman never professed to be a Christian so why would a church bring it up? Davis actually converted to Judaism so I would think that Davis actually believed in it if he made the effort to leave Christianity to join Judaism (which as far as I know did not offer drug induced sex orgies in Hollywood the way that LaVey’s church did). “I Dream Of Jeannie” is a fantasy television show so I am sure that the Christian Churches were well aware of this. LaVey’s church, whether it was atheistic or not, was GENUINE and Davis joined it.
That being said, we’ll just have to accept each others’ thoughts even though we may disagree on this. On the note about Hagman vs. Davis, I appreciate the information but I have to wonder: Why all the nastiness and vitriol from Hagman in the first place? I don’t see any reason why Hagman should have been so disrespectful to Davis, and furthermore if I had to put up with that baloney from Hagman I probably would have responded the same way that Davis did. I have to wonder how Barbara Eden did put up with Hagman if that’s the way he treated others, especially any guests on the show. I know in the article that you cited that Barbara Eden had fondness for him just the same, but I admire the fact that she didn’t hold back on the warts and all about Hagman. Perhaps he was drug-addled, or angry, or just a spoiled brat, but he sounds like a first class DICK, and if I were an actor on that set I would probably want to do want Davis did as well. FYI—I recall Bill Daly (Major Healy) mentioning that he got along with Hagman but Daly emphasized that since Daly himself had a history of being a stand up comic that he was able to deal with Hagman better than a lot of others probably could have (dealing with hecklers in the audience perhaps). Again, any thoughts?
Davis spent most of his youth on the road with his father and uncle in a stage act. He had little formal religious background. He chose Judaism at a time of upheaval in his life, but he made no real effort to leave Christianity. He never displayed highly religious behavior any time in his life. He wrote a book about his early life, Yes I Can, you should read that to get a better picture of his religious background.
I will have to see if “Yes I Can” is in my local library. Thanks for the update.
You know what the title of that book should be? “Yes, I Can If Frank Sinatra Says It’s OK”. 'Cause Frank calls the shots for all of those guys. Did you get to the part yet where uh… Sammy is coming out of the Copa… it’s about 3 o’clock in the morning and, uh, he sees Frank? Frank’s walking down Broadway by himself…
Well since I haven’t read it yet, no I haven’t gotten to that part yet. However, you are certainly right about Sinatra’s domineering attitude toward the Rat Pack. In fact, here’s another tangent that perhaps YOU might know the answer to: At some point I am told that Sammy Davis, JR. was on the outs with the Rat Pack because he offended Sinatra somehow. From what I understand, Sinatra could often be a mean and petty man. Do you know what Davis did that pissed off Sinatra and how he got back in his good graces?
Hottius, you’re being whooshed. Beastly’s post is a quote from the movie “Spinal Tap”.
Thanks for letting me know that I’m being whoosed. While I enjoyed “Spinal Tap” it was never a movie that I quoted from or cared to see more than once.