"I was so smart when I was a kid, then I learned that I was dumb fast. That's the way
it is with everyone, not just me. You're taught that you can't... they even teach you the
word, they give you the words. Take all the words away and don't think in right and wrong.
Just think in truth, you know, the answers are there. The sound of one hand clapping is
the sound of one hand clapping...there's no big answers. All the big colleges that we've
been building are taking the people the other way. The smartest people in the world are
really the most cut off... It's the common people with the soul...that really moves, you
know?" CHARLES MANSON
An unknown voice asks "In other words, you think that progress is
not good for mankind?"
Manson replies: "Progress? There's no such thing as progress man.
There's only change. You dig a whole in the ground and you build up a city and you fight a
war and you call it progress? And it's a beautiful game and its a perfect game and whoever
wants to continue playing general and go around killing himself, well my goodness. I
wouldn't want to play that game myself, but if they want to play it, I love them for it.
If they want to go over and kill each other, the only reason they're over-there is because
they want to be. They can use any excuse, and they can say but, but and maybe, ugh, uh.
But what it boils down to is just one thing. As long as there's hate in your heart,
there'll be hate in the world, dig? You can't fight for peace and you cannot capture
freedom and it's just a simple little old thing man, that any little baby could figure out
if we didn't put cancer in his mind."
The unknown voice: "Then love is the total answer?"
Manson replies: "If someone beat you with a whip and you loved the
whip, what's he doing? He's making a fool out of himself.. Old J.C. said turn the other
cheek. It's a simple thing man, you know? It's heaven right here Jack..right here."
The unknown voice: "Charlie, is that like what you did when they
put you in prison? You made it a beautiful place?"
Manson replies: "It always was. I was playing the game of the Bad
Guy .... I play the bad guy, other people play the good guys, certainly. I played the
criminal. I play the game with myself, nobody did it to me. While I was in, I didn't play
any game, no I didn't play any game."
The unknown voice: "What did you play?"
Manson replies: "Music" and he breaks into song. "With
your cardboard houses and your tin can cars, you sit and you wonder, you wonder where you
are. . ."
The remarkable aspect of Charlie's dialogue was that if you were under
thirty years of age, you knew that he was RIGHT ON. (a hippie term for correct), but if
you were over thirty, you couldn't figure out what the hell he was talking about. This
fact would prove to be the engine that powered the Manson mystique, even to this day. In
other words, the Establishment could comprehend the "Domino Principle" and the
necessity of Christian soldiers marching to halt the advance of the massive Communist
armies dedicated to the overthrow of the universe. But the young, on the other hand,
lacking education and wisdom could only understand simple concepts, such as Love and
Peace.
After listening to tapes for quite a while, for Mark's benefit, I
agreed that this guy Manson was really "far out" (a positive hippie term), but I
had a more pressing problem to deal with and that was Mark not finishing my film. Another
troubling thought was that of the police crashing through the front door at any minute.
Because if I understood Mark correctly, it was his friends who were being accused of the
Tate murders and ultimately "Charlie" would be blamed, as usual, for everything.
Finally, well into the early morning, Mark proposed a simple, but
rather bizarre solution to my existing problem. Such was, that I discontinue filming
"Well Here I am" and begin filming "The Manson Family," with the real
people of course. Let's see now, earlier that day, my lead actor's friends, who had been
hiding at his place, were being arrested for some pretty gruesome murders. Though Mark
assured me that his friends were innocent, this night was becoming very spooky. With the
shades drawn tight and Mark constantly peeking out for the cops, we casually listened to
Manson and Family on very personal tapes. Tapes the police would undoubtedly love to get
their hands on. I'm absorbing all of this, just ten feet away from what was probably the
scene of some ritualistic human sacrifice. And to top it all off, Mark says "film
it." By this time, I was a little "freaked out" (a hippie term), totally
exhausted and I just wanted to get the fuck out of there. So I told Mark, "let me
think about it" and I left.
The following week proved to be mentally excruciating, as a thousand
questions simultaneously bombarded my brain. What do I do now? My film is ruined. What is
this Manson thing? Could there actually be a commercial value in Manson? Remember, in 1969
news magazine TV shows weren't around yet. Where is a market for real life stories,
besides in books or other print? And Jesus!, do I want to be surrounded by murder? How
grotesque. And at this stage there really are only suspects and police accusations.
Then, grand jury indictments for Manson, and a few others came down. Now, airports in
and around Los Angeles would soon be swamped with reporters, flying in from all over the
world. Somehow, what had been the murder of some "Beautiful People" (a term used
by the media for moviefolks and jetsetters) had just turned into a massacre of
Hollywood's greatest stars, perpetrated by a "monstrous love and terror cult."
