The Smiley Smile Message Board

What's the General Consensus Regarding Eugene Landy on this board? On the one hand, it seems he may very well have saved Brian's life; on the other hand, he obviously overstepped his professional boundaries as a Therapist in a major way.
Thoughts?

I think Peter Ames Carlin said it best. Landy saved Brian's life, and then proceeded to destroy it.

Wow. That's really profound.

It is. But more details are called for

Landy was hired in 1976 (mission not accomplished, IMHO, but some improvements, although temporarily) and 1982. The second time around, Brian was 'abducted' to Hawaii (with the group's consent); and a close friend by the name of Carolyn Williams, a nurse, disappeared from the scene. Circumstances not well known (by me, at least). He was taken to Hawaii, and given intensive 24/7 treatment by Landy and his staff, including Landy's girlfriend, Alexandra Morgan. Most agree that that saved his life. Brian was much overweight, and addicted to cigarettes, booze, fat food, and all kinds of drugs. He wasn't expected to live much longer by many.
Landy helped him off of his addictions and got him onto a steady regimen of bodily exercise. Brian slimmed down a lot, and in 1985-1988 (first solo album) he looked more than a decade younger than before, healthy, trim, smart. But there were strange things going on. The new songs were written with Landy and Morgan, not known for their pop genius. And that happened under the moniker 'Brains and Genius' (= 'Brian and Eugene', get it?). Not that much later, Brian recorded a thankfully unreleased psychobabble album, 'Sweet Insanity', on which he even apologized lyrically for ever having written politically incorrect songs about Caiifornia Girls.
Then, intimate friends noticed very unsettling signs. Brian seemed to talk in a very difficult manner, and showed signs of a condition known as tardive dyskynesia, i.e. very stiff and unnatural muscle movements, combined with convulsions. In brief: he was overmedicated, very much and dangerously so, most probably because his will and powers of resistance could be diminshed that way, and he would become a malleable pop star in the hands of a pathologically ambitious and star-struck doctor (a psychologist, and not a psychiatrist, mind). According to those in the know, that could have meant him becoming some kind of an unresponsive vegetable eventually.
Thankfully, friends and relatives (Carl, for instance) intervened, and Landy was forced to severe all his ties with Brian, for having overstepped every possible professional tie with his patient (apparently, he even had sneaked his way into half of Brian's will and testament...).

That is what I know. Additions/corrections are very much welcomed.

How long did it take would people say for Carl et al to get Brian away from Landy?

And how much contact did Brian have with his family in the months that followed?

I feel that stress from the whole Landy experience may have contributed to Carl's untimely demise.

Was Alexandra Landy's wife or long-time girlfriend?  I have heard her referred to as both, did they ever actually get married?

In Landy's obit, Alexandra Morgan was referred to as his wife.

Let's just say that when God placed teeth in Landy's mouth he was wasting a perfectly good butthole.

If you're counting votes, put me in the Carlin camp. Very astute statement.

I agree with the Carlin assessment.

Was Melinda the one to get the family involved, as she once claimed?

He saved Brian's life. Then he was a c***. It's a simple as that.

 :lol

"Money-grabbing, no-talent, big-nosed, mulleted, abusive douchetruck" obviously didn't pass Carlin's editor....

Hard to be more concise or accurate than that.

About right.

Carlin was right........mostly.       Landy wasn't alone in mis leading BW.  And BW is no fool.   He made some choices.

Brian likes being led around -- to a certain extent. It's a role in which he's comfortable. The problem is when the person doing the leading begins to actively harm the person being led.

A few random observations.

Landy was originally hired in late 1975, seemingly by Marilyn and apparently fired in late 1976 when they say how much he was charging.

At the time, I don't recall Melinda being mentioned in the moves to get Brian away from Landy.

The obit was the only place I've seen Alexandra referred to as Landy's wife.

Brain has been manipulated, no question, since maybe the late 50s, but never underestimate his own manipulatory abilities, which are considerable.

He was a dick.

...and a c**t. Wow! :o

As told in the following song....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf1BT2GkL1c&feature=related

I am 50 pages into "The Wilson Project." It arrived in the mail yesterday. So far, I have read up to the point where Melinda and Brian went on a triple date (with Gary Usher/wife and Landy-helper Scott Steinberg/girlfriend.)

I have read the other accounts (The Peter Ames Carlin book, etc.) that detail the control the doctor held over Brian around the clock, so that was not so surprising. This book is written in diary form with narrative from the book's author. It is very detailed in terms of dates and times of day, verbatim quotes, observations of mannerisms, etc.

What really strikes me is the extent of verbal abuse and bullying Brian was subjected to from Landy. He's always in contact on the phone (sometimes 40-50 times a day) and many of these exchanges are filled with four-letter words shouted loud enough people all the way across the room from Brian can hear through the phone. Brian was physically scared of him.  I had believed that Landy's control over Brian was more nuanced with suggestions, bribes for treats, and therapy sessions full of leading statements against his real family. Sure, there's a lot of that, but much of the control also seems to have been derived from straight-forward Murry-like shouting and bullying.

So far, a very sad read. How someone could get away with stealing another person's total being is unthinkable. Like Usher said in the introduction. Imagine putting a bald eagle in a bird cage and never letting it out again. That's what Landy did to Brian Wilson. 

He was an evil and rotten human being.

I'm trying to find a copy of that book for less than $100...unsuccessfully...I'm going to see if there's any chance the library can ILL it from the Library of Congress...sounds fascinating.

Sad? Sure, but we know Brian eventually got away....

Yeah I'd love to read it too, if only for the contemporary first-hand observations and insights. I didn't realize that Landy was so verbally abusive, although I suppose it shouldn't be much of a surprise. Landy was no fool, he knew exactly how to get inside Brian's head and manipulate him to achieve his own ends. It's also a testament to how much damage Murry did that Brian could still be effectively bullied that way even after Murry was long gone.

Wow, didn't know that the bullying was that open and around other people. This creep was exactly like Murry and i don't blame Brian for being controlled because it sounds like this guy could bully anybody.

I do not and having my mother pass from the same illness that took Carl there is only one person to blame and that is the Marlboro man.

Thing is, hadn't he stopped smoking over a decade before he (announced that he) had cancer?

My father gave up in 1979 after smoking since 1926. Died from lung cancer in 1991.

This goes to show that Landy wouldn't have worked for Dennis the way it did Brian. Dennis would not have put up with Landy. It would've likely ended in a fight (or began with a fight).

Quite true - take away the powers of mental manipulation, threats of physical violence and add in Denny's rebellious nature, Landy wouldn't have been able to do much I don't think.  Not to say it wouldn't have been worth trying, but Brian and Denny were very different people, even if their problems were somewhat similar. It's interesting to ponder though - if Denny hadn't drowned and Landy started working with him as well as Brian, would the abuse of Brian ever reach the depths that it did?

I certainly don't have the answer. But I will share a few observations and asides
about Landy and the Brian Wilson thing.


first I went to school with Landy's son Evan in the 70's for a couple years
and I guess the parents were divorced. Evan may have seen his father
on weekends, he lived with his mother in Studio City. Evan had terrible
teenage problems with emotional troubles, substances, unruly behavior
so in other words Landy couldn't even help his own son be well adjusted.
In all the time I went to school with Evan in the valley in LA. I dont recall
Dr Landy ever coming to one school funtion, football game, parents day
or anything else.


Richie Podolor and Bill Cooper responsible for producing, all the Three Dog Night
hits and Steppenwolf and early surf classics like Let There Be Drums and Teen Beat
with Sandy Nelson, etc etc.. Anyway they had a studio for many years in Topanga
not far from Brian Wilson's house in Malibu on Broad Beach. Bill Coper who is a pretty
mellow guy told me Dr Landy was so musically incompetent, and so nasty and arrogant
they threw Brian Wilson out of the studio. Cooper told me Landy would issue some crazy
edict about some nonsensical thing he wanted to record , and Cooper turned to Brian
a(who he has known for 50 years) and said hey, who's in charge here Brian, this guy doesn't know
what he's doing, and Brian Wilson, would just hem and haw, and let it continue.

Now bear in mind Richie Podolor put up with all that insanity with Three Dog Night and Joe Schermie
and Chuck Negron and the crazy Steppenwolf people and Iron Butterfly..they were not  timid about working with
eccentric difficult people. Podolor himself can be a tyrant,  A couple days of Eugene Landy though
and they threw Brian Wilson ouit the door. They said, if you wanna get rid of Landy you can come back.

Going through a divorce circa 1982 I stayed with my folks for several months at the beach
every day I would take a walk and Brian Wilson would take a walk, he was so medicated
on thorazine or tegritol or whatever it was, he would shuffle past in tow with a strern looking
blonde woman, nurse / getsapo Landy employee.  he was so medicated it was unbelievable
I find it hard to believe this was proper therapy.

Landy may or may not have meant well, but I view him as something of a menace. Or did when
he was alive.

Interesting that you knew his son and saw that Landy couldn't even control his own son. Seems like he should have helped his own son instead of ruining Brian's music and life through overuse of medical drugs after saving Brian from death.

About time someone acknowledged Landy's mullet!
I mentioned it before as a joke on here or the Bloo-board and didn't get a laugh, a handshake, a nod, or anything.  ;)

eugene landy? more like eugene (http://i.imgur.com/5DhHo.gif)

I finished the book today, and my opinion has only hardened.

Obnoxious, insufferable, tyrannical, loathesome, scum. And those were Landy's good points.

Brian should have been pried loose from this guy as early as 1985. But the problem was....who wanted the headache of dealing with him, or much worse taking him in to their own personal living situation?

BTW, having heard many of the G.U. versions of the Project's songs, I feel that, in this book, he did overplay the quality of many of these cuts.  Also a historical question, perhaps to AGD or someone who has talked to people involved.....did G.U. really get pushed around and lied to that much by even Seymour Stein, Waronker, and others?

Also, I did encounter some new names, too. For one, who is Andy Dean? 

This book was well worth the expense. If you're at all interested in this era of Brian's life, you must obtain it. Good luck.

My first impression on reading The Wilson Project was disgust, revulsion and disbelief. A true eye-opener.

My second was that Usher sometimes didn't help himself a lot - how many meetings did he have with Landy without having his legal brief present ? - and that his, for want of a better phrase, 'cosmic' outlook not only colored his dealings with Brian but also got to be rather annoying after a while. Similarly, the recounting of Brian's 'jokes' (notably the golf club one) struck me as being close to unkind. I'm much better versed in Brian's humor and overall persona now than I was then, but still, if you come to the book cold and as a non-fan, it reads like Brian back then was close to retarded.

And yes, the quality of many of the tracks has been bigged up - even Usher's son admitted that they were in essence high-quality demos - some being pretty uninspired. It's also emerged in recent years that some of Usher's recollections and dates might be hard to reconcile with current research.

That said, this document was central to the court case that got Landy out of Brian's life, and for that alone - never mind a host of new info and pictures - it is to be forever cherished. But remember, any participant who writes something like this has an agenda, whether they intend to or not.

Andy Dean is a good friend of Andy Paley - gets a credit on the 1988 album (although he has no idea why).

can you imagine having sex with landy? can you imagine having sex with that man. running your hands through his greasy mullet. just imagine it! holy jumpin' fuckin' jesus, i can't even believe it happened.

Can of worms there - stay clear.

AGD...I felt the same thing about G.U. constantly walking into the situations with Tom Hulett, Landy, record execs. It's like when someone keeps knocking you upside the head and yet you keep coming back for more.

Also, I tuned out the metaphysics stuff early in the book and ignored it the rest of the way. Totally unnecessary.

I was also opened up a little to BW's manipulitive traits, like showing up right at dinnertime on a regular basis, pretending to have no idea he was interrupting anything.

Although I enjoyed the golf club story (understanding the humor), we could have done without some of the intended-to-be-private comments of a "prurient" nature.

Why would you bring up something so horrid. Stuff like that can
give people nightmares.

"Some things are best left unsaid.........."

Whats the golf club story?

Usher's wife: "Hey Brian, what are you doing?"

BW: "Oh, I'm just sitting here in the chair with a golf club in my hand."

(then a few minutes of silence goes by)

BW: "Now there is no golf club in my hand."

(Wife looks over, noticing he had put golf club down. She goes back to strumming guitar, then looks over and notices he has picked the golf club back up.)

Usher's wife: "And now you have the golf club back in your hand."

(Brian looks at her and cracks up laughing.)

:brow

I think it sounds like he was messing more with Mrs. Usher by seeing her reaction (WTF) to his goofy antics. I guess he was hard pressed for humor in the dark days under Landy.

The "and now you have the golf club back in your hand" was what I thought was weird. Like she was talking down to him.

Sounds like everybody talked down to Brian due to him being so darn medicated and out of it most of the time.

I like the pager in the toilet one myself!

Is this all in the "Wilson Project" book? I've never been able to find it. This is kind of off topic, but I've always thought that the best Brian "moment" was the "I doubt she's a virgin" in reference to Madonna.  ;D

http://youtu.be/45aeUdq9Zj0

Pff. That's legit funny. I'm glad I can appreciate something like this, I'm hoping it actually happened.

This plays like a scene written by David Lynch.

Doesn't strike me as anything more than Brian and Usher's wife goofing around in a non sequitur manner.

It sounds sooooooooo Brian, too...

Considering the new marriage equality laws, do you think if they existed back in the day that Landy would have convinced Brian to marry him in order to legally keep their symbiotic relationship going?

I dunno; Brian's too much of a Californian to have to move to New York...