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TH TINY BATISAfcO
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OPINIONS. BACH OF PHO
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HAMOWAinMG.
AiUnv OF YOU Mr. Natural Pans have
asked that we ran an article on -the man's
past life and early background. Certainly
a liFe history on Mr. MaWa I is a fascin
ating idea, and so, with a certain amount
of sKeptictsm, we set about investigating
Our doubts were confirmed as we ran in
to one blind alley after another, and fin
ally were forced to abandon trying to fill
in several large Sops in his past. whole
decades,infact. are entirely missiry. At Hs •
tratinA experience for "the conscientious
historian and Mr. Natural enthusiast.
His childhood is comple-tey clouded in
obscurity. His birthplace and birthdate
are entirely unknown. No records have
fceen fauna, and ruo reJitiwes, ana, of course, TIP
one fus been able -to squeeze an ounce of in
formation out of the Ola Man Himself (except,
according to him, that his father is stiUalive
and wtU, but he won't telt us All
Knowledge of his life has been gathered
without rus help or support* the whole
project leaves him "Cold." as be puts it.
The Ijod photograph is the earliest proof
we have of his existence. The photo was sent
to us by Mrs. AJa Cooper, a Mr. Natv/nl Pari
who found the old picture in a trunk full of
her mothers Mrs. Cooper aays she
can never remember her mother now deceased,
ever mentiomrg that she fmeui Mr. Matural.
As for his ate at the time the photograph,
was taken, he appears to have been between
thirty-five ana forty, which vwuld make hLm
close to one-hundred years old toaay/r
Not a clue exists as-to his whereabouts
between 1908 ana foOXjtVie year our wild young
urisemanmoved to Chicago, where he stayG
UP to 1919. Here we lose track of the elusive
sage for another seven, years- Bvt we man
aged to hunt down several people who knew
him in''that toddlin town' tn the twenties, 3n,
So have fathered a fairly complete picture of
Mr. .Natural's adventures through that lurid dcJt
In -the fall of 1921 Mr Natural got a job in a
drugstore as an errand runner on the near now*
tide ■ LSomt btbeve -the drvjstof* uo*s a front tor- a
speaK- eety ana -tht it was Nitch't job to telivtr
. •• *cc.6.wt thi Ct tm€
"IT"** OCItT, W ,o F.VMO mt *CTUe. -IMHO t US COULD IT Af f'tWll 1*
Caouft iNoekD. T*£e lS o rrnoKt im™ MltCols of
*nuT > £, c 2?fc ° f _ Twt "' m •>> m( T u
F r0 / PUT OMC MAI njUf&x> y# MHo KMfcM HIM 1NE(( IH9.
*he illegal booze to thfrs'ty customers birt Oris
is mere hft*ayj. It may have been while
n -tVi*. employ of this pharmacy that ie be
came ixirbtretimi tn the drug mid, far two
years later. In I2X h was promoting a
* Wonder Drug "-inat he claimed could Cure
ail 'taenia! and spiritual ifls" arid had a snail
bat enthusiastic cult of foUowers,mostly
jjidorsed iis cWm vptwly..
Going voder the name of "Dr. Um WMUrfich,
he travelled through -the. midwest rfl short w
time, "wonder elx(r"Bnd healing
the eteK, unta.l he was arrested tn Peoria,
Illinois,connoted of Bnl sper-t
months in the county Jail. There are Stilt
those who applaud t)r Uon Naturtich'j Wnder
srvj, and curse th* dv his entire, stack WJ
Confiscated by the pwlce. Mrs.Viclritfoijetbs.
how ot Vos An4les, 88id -is pie when I -talked,
•with bar "vWell-.ys. r H certainly was a won
der drug; 1 tenowit was, because 1 was absolute
ly neurotic.' 1 was twaarablabeiicveme/ Then
alanfl comes this pr. Von Naturllch.. .and. well,
Vue been, a very nappy parson ever since!.'"
The police file op tne case, which was stilt
in the Peoria Courthouse, states, Although
perportedtopoaaess potent powers over the
mind and spirit, a close aerotin y of this So
called "Wonder Druj"under a microscope has
proven without a shadow of a doubt that tt is
nothing tnonp than plain ordinary tap-*ier."
uFrtuw* a-**!!' £T, TX
VIHfXABCC oxe l txu MATIMITSiCMtO "I, NATURAL.
WIIJIM6TOM sr*mti, f.D v ISOftV KAHOVHUTINt e€M
M VMIFICD we nswi-rvn, *> km oio n *ujwZluwis
m Aixesrn>ouTx DAKOTA, RECALLS A PV>S MM mao
MATUAAI. WHO JOttfcO AtOUMOTMTt AMA IX HlOl* OAVi.
Kt KIM At A-mce Ql/iCT feixawV
THE GUILFORDIAN
o/> Gr—t MwMtsnS* •f
KIfIJ.AILIPIKI
N> 1 " '_"''' ~A KtALTHYMIW
O -tIOUSSA HIALTHY
HMDW.L HtDMWK MmUftLIUI'
lifter his release frun jail, he turned tvis
talents -to tragic, ana for a few nwnths performed
his Seats of mystic hood*o fn Vaudeville
houses around Chicago. He was billed as 'Mr.
Natural the Magnificent" This carter,-too,
n*efc with opposition from-the conservatives of
that primitive -time, ana his show was cut
Short one night by 4 panic- stricken theatre
manager who ordered -the cutaift brought
down on Mr. Naturals "Unnatural Aefwhich.
he was a boat to perform on en hypnotized
lady participant, tfe was blacklisted and
never performed as a magician again.
Evidently, he voas undaunted by past
defeat*, and tn the spring of 926 lie some
how mauated to set a small
dance band and beyan a successful career
in the music, business as a band-leader.
This band was Known as "Mr. Nairn - *] and his
Seven Lyrical Lechers "at first and later the
jnmpuws thirteen members under
xhe name of "Mr. Naturals Lyrical Lechars and
their Orchestra? Th*y were a popular group
around Chicago ft*- almost -two years, ptoyintj
In madhouses and Cafes, and an occasional
Colled* from ar Hotel Ballroom. Mr. Natural
hrmself -wrote many of the sends in -their
repatoire and even, played an assortmerrtoE
unlikely instruments. Their arrangements IwJ
a strangely unique sound as evidenced by a fe.w
Surviving rcords •
O2!h?TIV MSam
1 1 MM V-/ I CUT %Y
\/lT AII.TffiMEAT YOUCAME*T W}/ MR-MAiWMi'S
\C|l //// lAKT> l*mt
//// JWMM 0*
•V%l VERY SNOID JJJ M
(Jt ws an era of easy money and within
a yean Mr. Natural had accumulated a small
fortune. ? n t9l ahe was living in a iartfe plush
home In a Chicago suburb, owned twoPadtarrf
limousines,employed the services of a maia, but
ter and chauffer and threw hvjeu)il&parties.
Then, suddenly, and imejcpec+edly, he p'eve
it all away to some bum he'd picke 3 up an -the
street, typical ofthe restless, unfathomable
nature of his perfect being- Hi s friends vere
totally baffled by this sudden change.,
and when h.e moued to a cheap skid-row ho
tel, he sre dually lost contact with his for
mer vfll-to-do "whoopee-making friends-
Harry iaine*, -the drummer in the band, say*
"We had some good times bach then. I'll never
understand why Matchy threw it all away.
Everybody thought he was nuts/ Of course.
tiAio years later, the nest of us went down
the tubes along with htm.'"' , .
"It looked to me tiKed he just flipped iliS
noodler'- J°y Morton., banjo player in the ijroop
*l still can't figure it.' 1 ysedj*he
was a smart operator til heputfeithat frtimt.'
And he even had jt put in writing/ Cnickers/ -
Oorls Hall wife of Cafe owner Monte Hall.
From -the winter of '2B-'29, when Mr. Natu
ral trwed to skid-row? until afull seven yers
later, nothing Is known of him.
FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 1972
On 1936 he fofpeci ut> ajafnon -the west
" 2iu S v. J w>u "*, fvl , T r^ t 'another sr*t America a
folk seft,the w O M Poop
eroo. The Old Poop was working s a fruit
pwlwr in Central CsliCornta in tto late thir
ties, and he and Mr. Natural crossed paths
in a worhirtf-man's par in Modeato one niW
in October, 1936. They became close frienJy
and traveled together, picking up a few
dollars now ana then working in tHe
Fields or on construction jobs, iettind
drunJt and and frte|H.-t
car* all over -the Cjn.He4 States.
"Natural was a flood ol boy. yep... -we
•went throvtfh plenty of troubles togeth
er, you bet! Why, we musta been in every
calaboose in-this land o£ Liber iy. fn"" Mai"*,
to California and back again.' We fought
about, women an3 cried on each other* shoul
der over lost romances,-we. talked about
old it mas bach homa for hours, an'when we
had a few bucks wxe lived liHe royal Turns.'
But they was generally timeus, so 1
£ot in with some sharpies in. Phuly and
for awhile there 1 was rakin." Lt in. This
was around '3 9 or'to. J dlJ . n '" t . s s e !f rvHai
much after that. J guess I s>ot too Boashwah
fer him.. Ke woz uneasy around rny busi
ness associates. J s'pose we did put on some
airs., haw "haw... strictly So he jot
hore.3. and headed back west an' 2 didn't see
him ajjain,, liked I said. Bat I started hearing
Storios about him in with smalltime
croobs an' dope fiends,so 1 sent hi™ some cash
to come east an fet in the businesjwithnie,
but of course he Just spent the money and
wrote asktn me forniore and rrwre til l ad
fed up and wouldn't send him any, I figured
he was Hell-bent on a dead-end caurse.
I heard.he wurrimriin around with,
a ~taysh twerp trom Tulsa name of Jvdv Holi
day.. not IK same one as-tv movie star but a
nice lootun 1 dish, from what 1 heard.* 1 jib one
stems -to know what become of -this Tulsa
Swecth.eart-
. "When -the War broKe out Mr. Matvral once
again vanished from the. seen®. He has -talked vag
uely of this period ofhv's life ..but win not.
give us any epeci£,' C details(;rte. claim he can't
remember). Ay har own. admission, if voe cart
trust him, he was in. the 4/liddle and Fai~
East through -the war y ears and after. Ke
says he waa in frviia, traveled to China., "the,
Himalayas, Tibe-t and AfghaniStan,v>hjßne
he sot work as a Taxi driver, anil, in. h.is
own word 4 "learned many strande and
wonderfiul things "in those distant lands.
He returned to America in U)S3y'£ar
seme stupid reason "and loafed around Par a
Year v/ery depressed about -th world
Situations he-tells us, and so, rftnouncind all
■worldly pursuits and pleasures, he retreated
to BeatVt Valley in 195S to "start anew
In Jurxe, i960, a small gn>up of ardent devo
tees formed -the first chapter of the Mr. ATat"
irral Pan Clubs o£ America in Southern Califcrm'9.
They Kept close ties with his spiritual develop
ment in the desert, as wetl as loohinj after his
Financial metiers- in. t)&s he mafcina
speaking tours,visiting Colleges and Universit
ies, and t>y be was already csminj tntohis
cwn as a recotf nizjed powerful spiritual fence
on -this planet, a dreat religious leader, and a
living model of SedliKe perfection fcrall of
Humanity *-o emulate. His movind words of
wisdom have been translated into uerwan,
FVenoh, Spanish, Italian, Morweiiarv,Dutch an 3
Japanese., and his present* on -t>us tflobe. has
changed it for the better, as we all Know"
fSW®H
A>.. /jr.yjiiwm.'—iii.il Kinm'tu'