JOHN KEEL NOT AN AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING

1966 was a pivotal year for John.  He had been working in television, and growing increasingly dissatisfied with the world of one-liners and game shows.  He turned to UFOs; and, like many before and after him, became fascinated with the subject.  Beginning with this post, I’ll share some of his correspondence from that year, as he moved from a career in show business to focus on ufolology and forteana.

In January, he wrote to Senator Robert Kennedy, of all people, to complain about the way the Air Force was handling sightings.

Kennedy’s office replied with a short, polite, and dismissive note.

John followed this up with another letter.  The statement that he had “been assigned to do an in-depth probe into this subject for PLAYBOY magazine” was somewhat of an exaggeration.  He had pitched a UFO article to the editor, who agreed to look at it if John was willing to write on spec.  His interaction with Playboy did not go well; I’ll post some material on that next.  Meanwhile, the thought of John Keel and Robert Kennedy meeting to discuss UFOs is intriguing; however, the correspondence ended there.

In the early 1970s, John started to make a film about UFOs. He never finished it. It wasn’t too complicated; it consisted mostly of him speaking to the camera, with occasional shots of relevant books and photos. He shot it in regular 8mm, with magnetic sound, which was, unfortunately, a particularly difficult format. The rough cut has survived: it shows John, in some flamboyant ’70s fashions (he favored ruffles and paisley at the time), delivering his lines before a variety of backgrounds. Apparently the sound was hard to regulate, as his voice is recorded at different speeds, and occasionally drowned out by background noise.

I’m not sure where he planned to show it. It looks as if it was a lot of work. Perhaps he wanted a more elaborate version of one of his talks, something that he could show at conventions. It’s fairly unwatchable in its current state (unless there’s an unsuspected audience for mod Keel on helium); we’ll see if we can standardize the speed. Meanwhile, it does contain some interesting footage of James Moseley interviewing Woodrow Derenberger; I hope to post that online soon.

John also left a packet of script pages and index cards. Here, then, is the beginning, and one of the cards that he used while shooting.

For the final issue of his marketing newsletter, John vents about mail-order swindles and passes along news from colleagues.

John takes on two topics in the ninth issue of his newsletter: “saturation is the name of the game” and “classified ads are dead.”  And, of course, his deeply held belief that “paying for anything is a desperate last resort.”  As a bonus, there are a couple of his inimitable ads for his own booklets.

Ivan Sanderson wrote to John on Thanksgiving, 1966, to tell him that he’d just sighted a UFO.  Well, it turned out to be something else; but the incident him to speculate on how we all respond when we’re “in the face of the marvellous.”  I should warn you that he indulged in a couple of jokey racial and sexual slurs, which you may find offensive.  But it’s vintage Sanderson anyway; and I may as well post it as he wrote it.

“Madison Avenue Confidential” expanded to two pages for the eighth issue.  John needed the extra room for his blistering analysis of the international economy.  And if that proved depressing, you could always cheer yourself up by buying a Keel book.

Ivan Sanderson speculates on Unidentified Aquatic Objects and “instantransference” in this 1966 letter to John.  John responds with his own reservations about what readers and editors will accept.  The Playboy article he mentions was never published; it grew far too long, and he was unable to cut it down to the editors’ satisfaction.  It continued to expand, eventually becoming the book Operation Trojan Horse.

In the seventh issue of his marketing newsletter, John suggests that advertisers decorate their mailings with rubber stamps.  He did like rubber stamps.

The tenth newsletter was the last.  It contained reports on talks by Whitley Strieber, Dennis Stillings, and Antonio Huneeus; as well as clips, photos, and an announcement for an upcoming talk by Ben Robinson.  Also stapled into the packet was a flyer for an upcoming UFO convention.  The NYFS continued after this, but I guess John didn’t feel like putting out more newsletters.

In the sixth issue of “Madison Avenue Confidential,” John grouses about the difficulty of making money in mail order.