Monkey Band Leader Dies

Dr. Gene Scott has departed this earth and gone on to his reward (whatever that will be, I'm not too sure). Some years ago Scott, who was probably a very bright guy, crossed that line which separates brilliance from insanity and had become a comical figure in Los Angeles. His TV show could be seen on Sunday afternoons and frequently featured Scott in long rants about various subjects while being cheered on by young, well endowed women seated in the front row. He would often smoke cigars and swear as he chastised his viewers for not calling in enough pledges.

I never met Scott, but did have an interesting experience back in 1980 in what was then his television studio. At that time Scott owned Channel 30 in LA and was engaged in a fight with the FCC. To demonstrate his hatred for the FCC, he decided to make fun of them by employing a host of wind-up monkeys which he'd fire up while the music played and he harrangued.

The group I was in at that time was scheduled to tape a television show for the Nazarene church at Scott's studios. We were not in Scott's main studio, but while we had a little bit of a break, I wandered over to the main studio just to check out the monkey band. Sure enough, there they were in all their glory - dozens of wind-up monkeys with big lips and cymbals at the ready.

It's a sad day in wind-up monkey land, for their leader is no more.