MovieChat Forums > Night Tide (1963) Discussion > Night Tide's Marjorie Cameron's connecti...

Night Tide's Marjorie Cameron's connection to darker forces

posted 14 years ago by samsan_lee
6 replies | jump to latest

Trivia; Actress Marjorie Cameron was a sex partner with rocket designer Jack Parsons. Jack Parsons was a member of the O.T.O (Ordo Templi Orientis). which was a version of the Sovereign Knights of Malta or Knights Templar. Apparently, Parsons was into kabbahlic alchemy. A very dark force of Satanism. Parsons had sex acts done in Pasadena.

Whether or not this is true is up to you.

from the imdb trivia entry;

"She was in the Navy in WWII, and served in Washington as an aide to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as a photographer. After the war she moved to Los Angeles. There she was introduced by a friend to the Agape Lodge of the OTO, where she met future husband John W. (Jack) Parsons. He was a pioneering genius in rocketry, an author, and very involved in the occult. He was associated with Aleister Crowley. Parsons considered her to be an "elemental" and in early 1946 she, Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard undertook the famous "Babylon Working", a long complex magical working attempting to create a magical child. She married Jack Parsons on October 19, 1946 in San Juan Capistrano, California. They were friends of many science fiction writers. Jack was killed in a mysterious explosion in Pasadena in 1952. At the time they were living with several artists and actors, and the house was reputed to be a hotbed of occult and sexual behavior not in keeping with Pasadena's image. "

one of the "friends" of science fiction writers was L.Ron Hubbard, nick named "Freta H" for at least one of Parsons' rituals.

[–] The_Dying_Flutchman 14 years ago

Have hobknobbed with OTO types on occasion and for the most part are just peeps with degraded personalities and the most unheard of desires you have ever heard of. Aside from that, they are all uncanny and do not bring any cans to sacrifices. Try bota.org -- I heard it on the X. Art Bell, like you, knows all, but he smells.

When you're green, you're growing, but when you're ripe, you rot.

[–] ozymandias312 14 years ago

I have been curious about her since I first discovered this film a few years ago. No, I have no occult involvement of any kind that I am aware of. I just find the whole connection between this excellent film and Marjorie Cameron's earlier involvement in apparenty serious occultism to be morbidly fascinating.

Her presence in the film definitely darkens its mood somewhat. And perhaps gives it a bit more of an air of authenticity, sort of the way real-life former bank robber Edward Bunker's presence lent _Reservoir Dogs_ a little bit of authenticity.

Ozy

And I stood where I did be; for there was no more use to run; And again I lookt with my hope gone.

[–] pery-1 13 years ago

She also worked with Kenneth Anger. The type of "Satanism" involved was magic, of the Crowley-LaVey type, not evil.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Cameron

[–] samsan_lee 12 years ago

."magic, of the Crowley-LaVey type, not evil."..

Ah yeah, the same heroin addicted Aleistar Crowley who drove 3 wives insane, and the Kenneth Anger with brain-washed Tate killer Susan Atkins playing in one of his plays in S.F? Uh yeah, ....got it. *eyes roll*

I'm not saying magic is evil, but really, in the case of THAT bunch, i must protest.

[–] VinnieRattolle 10 years ago

Night Tide writer/director Curtis Harrington met Kenneth Anger when he was in college. The two shared similar backgrounds, interests and aspirations, so they became fast friends who drifted in and out of each other's lives until after the end (when Anger crashed Harrington's funeral). By the 1950s, Cameron was in Anger's close circle of friends and ended up working with Harrington on "Pleasure Dome" (which Harrington appeared in as an actor). Harrington was intrigued by her and featured her in his 10 minute short "Wormwood Star," which features brief glimpses of Cameron, meandering shots of her art canvases (according to Harrington, she went nuts and destroyed all of the featured art soon afterward), and the film was underscored by mod-music and Cameron's babblings. Currently it's on You Tube. Personally, I find it to be his least interesting directorial effort, and he admitted in his autobiography that he was more interested in the aesthetic value of her artwork than the occult angle that she was pushing in her recital. When it came time to make Night Tide, Harrington thought she'd be perfect as the water witch, which she was. I think he and Dennis Hopper discussed her more on the LD/DVD/BD commentary, but I'm blanking on the specifics.

[–] aegoss 9 years ago

More likely to be "Frater H".