The Black Pope. The Authentic Biography of Anton Szandor LaVey

263 Pages·2008·3.8 MB·English

by  Burton H. Wolfe

The Black Pope
by Burton H Wolfe
The Authentic Biography of
Anton Szandor LaVey
The Black Pope
Copyright © 2008 by Burton H. Wolfe
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. Up to three paragraphs of this book may be quoted without
permission from the author, provided that whatever is quoted is not taken out
of context. Neither the work in its entirety nor sections of it exceeding three
paragraphs may be reproduced in any form or by any means without
permission in writing from the author. For permission, contact the author via
this e-mail address: bhwolfe(at)msn.com.
Cover photo by Walter Fischer
Other e-books by Burton H. Wolfe
The Case Against 'Jesus'
Lucifer's Dictionary of the American Language
How I Live Healthily with Killer Disease
For information on how to order, visit http://ebooks.burtonwolfe.com.
Print books by Burton H. Wolfe
The Case Against 'Jesus' (World Audience Publishers)
Lucifer's Dictionary of the American Language (Wild West Pub. House)
The Hippies (New American Library)
Hitler and the Nazis (Putnam)
Pileup on Death Row (Doubleday)
i
CONTENTS
Part One
Introduction 1
1968: A Midnight Mass 6
The Great Szandor 17
A Precocious Child 22
Life in the Circus and Carnival 24
Notes on the Carnival Life 31
An Interlude with Marilyn Monroe 34
Nights in Haunted Houses 43
The Magic Circle 51
Anton's 'Magic Seminars' 59
Publicity Galore 69
Part Two
The First Church of Satan 75
The Birth and Baptism of Zeena 77
A Satanic Wedding and Funeral 81
Inside the Black House 84
Anton's W arlocks... 93
Mr. Dooloo and the Homosexuals 97
Peter Papadopoulous 102
.A nd His Witches 109
The Black Pope's Ritual Magic 135
The Last Days of Jayne Mansfield 146
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Part Three
Anton's Devil Baby 164
Zeena Unchained 168
The Real Anton: Musician, Collector, 173
Prankster, Philosopher
Rise and Fall 187
Diane's Rebellion 195
Enter ' Blanche Barton' 198
Diane's Palimony Suit against Anton 200
Bankruptcy 221
Seclusion and Death 223
An effort to save the Black House 226
Part Four
Aftermath 232
A Talk with Sharon Densley/'Blanche Barton' 232
Undevelopments 237
A Talk with Steven Johnson Lebya 239
Mizz Szandora 243
Stanton - the Legacy? 245
The Great Szandor's Great Plan: 250
Artificial Human Companions
Appendix
Those who would not talk - leaving what happened
to Anton's body and other issues of interest unresolved.
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ILLUSTRATIONS
Certificate of birth of Howard Stanton Levey 17
The John Hancock Center 19
Anton the 'Gangster' at age 16, brandishing submachine gun 26
Handbill advertising 'Professor Anton Szandor LaVey, 28
The Great Szandor, Player of the Calliope'
Anton at the Circus with 'Human Cannonball' Edmundo Zachinni 28
and famed Clyde Beatty Circus clown Lou Jacobs
Francisco Lentini, the three-legged man 30
Crafts 20 Big Show 31
The Pike Amusement Park at Long Beach before demolition 32
Anton in 1940's style dress (like Dashiell Hammett) 33
The Mayan Theater at its opening in 1927 34
Los Angeles Times article re burlesque at The Mayan in 1948 35
Marilyn Monroe 41
In two poses naked, and as copied onto a calendar
As Norma Jeane Dougherty
At Columbia Pictures in 1948
Anton in his early twenties, at the giant Wurlitzer organ 42
Carole Lansing, Anton's first and only wife 44
Would-be naturalist Anton in the woods 50
Deed conveying title to the black house to Anton and Diane 53
The black house before and after fencing to keep out intruders 54
Anton emerging from trapdoor in the black house 55
'Tony' LaVey at the Wurlitzer in the Lost Weekend nightclub 57
Mori's Inn 57
Flyer advertising 'Antone La Vey' on organ at Mori's; the inn 58
High Priestess Diane Hegarty 59
Anton in black cape, playing organ for 'Magic Seminars' 61
Exterior shot of the glorious Fox Theater 63
Lobby of the Fox Theater 64
Inside the Fox Theater 65
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Robot Isis plucking at her zither 67
Dr. Cecil Nixon adjusting his creation, Isis 67
Togare the lion in canopied bed with Anton 70
A strikingly handsome Anton before he shaved his head 73
Painting by Flandes of Satan appearing to 'Jesus' as monk 76
Birth certificate of Zeena LaVey, showing Diane 'Joo' as mother 77
The 'baptism' of Zeena Galatea LaVey 79
A Satanic Wedding - photo by Joe Rosenthal 82
Satanic Funeral at U.S. Navy Base on Treasure Island 83
One of Anton's macabre paintings 84
Monique Von Cleef 88
Anton in 1966 after shaving his head 92
Anton with silicon-breasted witch posing for sex magazine 97
Anton with one-time pal Sammy Davis, Jr. 108
Anton and Diane instructing at Witches' Workshop 113
Anton with his pit bull Typhon 125
Lilith with huge black snake wrapped around her naked body 129
Covers of The Compleat Witch and The Satanic Witch 134
Police mug shots of Anton, arrested for 'loud noise' from lion 142
Final photo of Anton with lion Togare 143
Hooded sorcerer and witches executing a curse 145
Jayne Mansfield atop 'Mr. America' Mickey Hargitay 146
Jayne with film producer husband Matt Cimber 146
Jayne with attorney/consort Sam Brody and Chihuahuas 147
Example of how Jayne liked to expose her breasts 149
Jayne drinking from Anton's 'Chalice of Ecstasy' in ritual 150
Wreckage of the car in which Jayne was killed 158
Jayne's heart-shaped gravestone 159
The Pink Palace, Jayne's home, shortly before destruction 160
Jayne pestered by her dogs as she plays on her violin 161
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Mosquito fogger truck of the kind involved in Jayne's death 162
Zeena in early childhood, trying to make contact with Togare 165
Lisa Carver with son Wolf 166
Anton with daughters Karla and Zeena at a carrousel 172
Anton in 'Den of Iniquity' with his lifelike mannequins 176
Anton preparing to play on numerous keyboards 180
Anton's 1937 Cord automobile 182
Anton surrounded by witches, including Susan Atkins 187
The 'Hegarty and LaVey Agreement' of 1985 196
High Priest Anton with High Priestess Diane before the breakup 197
Sharon Densley before and after becoming 'Blanche Barton' 200
Two views of Zeena: artificial and natural beauty 207
Nikolas and Zeena Schreck in the late 1980's 211
An aging Anton with son Xerxes 223
Karla LaVey with wax statue of her father following death 225
The condominiums that replaced the black house 230
Nikolas and Zeena, aging and not looking good anymore 237
Church of Satan Priest Lebya, in his American Indian garb 241
Szandora showing off her breasts 243
Szandora on husband Stanton LaVey's lap 245
Final shot of Anton and Diane conducting a ritual 254
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The Black Pope
Part One
Introduction
In the wake of a shattering divorce, I searched during the late 1960's for a
way of life different from the one that had failed me. It was during those days that
I grew a full beard, moved into the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, and
wrote The Hippies (New American Library, 1968). It was also then that I indulged
in some sexual experimentation, partly within the Sexual Freedom League.
The mindless promiscuity entailed in Sexual Freedom League gatherings
was not for me. One of its sponsored lectures, however, caused me to produce
several magazine articles and a book which in turn led to this present book. That
one lecture was an explanation by Anton Szandor LaVey of modern Satanism as a
philosophy and way of life.
During the late 1960's numerous stories about Anton, dressed in devil garb
featuring a horned cowl and black cape, were appearing frequently on the front
pages of daily newspapers and the covers of national magazines. I was intrigued
by his audacity in appearing that way in public and by the title of the organization
which he had created: Church of Satan. I wondered if his act was just a money­
making scam. Was Anton a mere showman? Or was he seriously mocking Chris­
tianity and creating an antithesis to its religions and churches?
To my surprise, Anton's lecture revealed him in a light different from what
I had expected. He came across as an intellectual who was serious about what he
was doing. His lecture fit its billing. It was a dissertation on Satanism as a way of
life and the underlying philosophy leading to that way of life: a philosophy that
was grounded upon a rejection of deity worship within a faith-based religion and
devotion instead to a materialistic existence based on a perverted reading of the
Darwinian survival-of-the-fittest concept, accompanied by a view toward unin­
hibited reveling in carnality.
Though Anton's lecture was philosophical and it was filled with literary
references, I was not convinced that he was as serious as he sounded. If he rejected
deity, why dress as The Devil, a deity in biblical lore, albeit named differently as
Satan and Lucifer? Were he and his flock actually worshipping that deity in a
church of some kind, or were the Devil and a church as popularly conceived
merely being used by them symbolically or as gimmicks?
1
I approached Anton after he had finished talking and the Sexual Freedom
League officer had closed the meeting. I introduced myself as a free-lance writer
whose work had been published in many newspapers and magazines, and told
him I was interested in writing an article, or maybe more than one article, about
him. Until then, given my credentials, anyone I offered to write about, whether for
ego satisfaction or for a chance to gain publicity, offered immediate cooperation.
But Anton, though no less driven by both of those characteristics than anyone else
depending upon public image, had another surprise for me. He was willing to be
interviewed, but only under one condition: that I show him an assignment from
the editor of a periodical with substantial circulation to write about him.
"I do not provide my time to writers working on mere speculation," Anton
said. "Show me an assignment. Then I will talk to you."
Not only did I wind up showing him one assignment, but also I produced
letters from editors of several magazines who were eager to publish articles about
Anton Szandor LaVey and the Church of Satan. So it was that I gained entrance to
the "black house" on California Street in San Francisco which has been a subject in
scores of articles about Anton and his "church."
As I talked with Anton, I became interested enough in the subject of
Satanism past and present to develop an idea for a book about its history and
famous individuals identified as Satanists. Since Anton had acquired the largest
collection of books on Satanism to be found anywhere, I asked permission to read
them in his library, promising to treat them with the same delicate care that he
took in handling his books. He told me how very unhappy he had become when
friends he had allowed to read some of the books turned the pages of them with
sweaty or dirty hands. Assuring him that my hands would be clean and dry, I
obtained permission to conduct research via the books in Anton's library, and so it
was that I became a daily visitor to the "black house" at 6114 California Street in
San Francisco.
There was one problem: When Anton arose from his 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. sleep,
or sometimes later, he wanted me to join him in the kitchen so that he could talk to
me as he ate his breakfast or snacked on some kind of soup that he liked to slurp
in the manner of Geezle in the Popeye comic strip which was popular at the time.
I was freed for my research after an hour, but later Anton asked me to join him for
philosophical discourse that continued to midnight.
2