Peter Ames Carlin's Landy obit

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

From http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article354992.ece

Eugene Landy
Psychotherapist to Brian Wilson
Published: 01 April 2006

Eugene Ellsworth Landy, psychologist: born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 26 November 1934; four times married (one son); died Honolulu, Hawaii 22 March 2006.

The controversial psychotherapist Eugene Landy was best known for his relationship with the Beach Boys' troubled leader Brian Wilson. In a life that included stints as a music promoter, a radio producer, a pop culture analyst and psychologist, Landy earned his greatest notoriety during the years he served as Wilson's 24-hour-a-day therapist.

At first, Landy earned credit for weaning the musician off the drugs, alcohol and junk-food binges that had swollen his body and dampened his creativity. But by the late 1980s, after Landy eased into the role of his patient's co-writer, co-producer and financial manager, the psychologist became the target of lawsuits and a government investigation.

In the early 1990s Landy surrendered his psychologist's licence and was barred from contacting Wilson. The episode proved so explosive that, even 15 years later, the central figures in the drama - Landy, Wilson, the minders hired to enforce the psychologist's rules, musicians and collaborators - usually refused to speak about it on the record. "I can't say anything, because you just don't know what Landy's going to do," one former employee said to me last year while fending off an interview request for my Wilson biography, Catch a Wave: the rise, fall and redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson (due to be published in June).

Unpredictability had long been a Landy hallmark. Born in Pittsburgh in 1934, he was the son of a doctor, Jules, and a psychology professor, Frieda. Despite his family's academic background, Landy dropped out of school after sixth grade (he later claimed to be dyslexic) and worked in the fringes of showbusiness. An early supporter of the jazz guitarist George Benson, Landy served briefly as the then-struggling musician's manager.

Landy served in the American Peace Corps and Vista (Volunteers in Service to America) before returning to school in the early 1960s. He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the California State College, Los Angeles, in 1964, then a master's degree in psychology from the University of Oklahoma in 1967, capping his training with a PhD in 1968. Moving to Los Angeles, Landy set up a practice that specialised in treating drug abuse, particularly among young people. He soon parlayed his mastery of the hippie lexicon into a reference book, The Underground Dictionary, published in 1971.

Working with drug addicts helped Landy design a therapeutic system he called "milieu therapy", during which the doctor and his assistants would control every aspect of a patient's life. The programme proved especially popular among Hollywood's élite class of dissolutes - Landy later claimed patients ranging from the shock rock star Alice Cooper to the actor Rod Steiger. And when Brian Wilson's first wife, Marilyn, sought help for her famous husband in late 1975, Landy was the first, and only, psychologist she called.

What Landy found, tucked into the shadows of Wilson's mansion, was an overweight, unwashed 33-year-old musician whose once-flawless ear for creating dazzlingly innovative pop music had been dulled by years of depression, drugs and alcohol. Given free reign to restore his patient's mental health, Landy threw water on Wilson to get him out of bed in the morning. He enforced rigid exercise and diet regimes, then led him to the piano to write new songs. Within weeks, Landy had Wilson back in the recording studio. Six months later, the trimmed-down Wilson made a dramatic return to the stage, just as the Beach Boys' new album, 15 Big Ones - the first to be produced by Wilson in a decade - soared up the sales charts.

You couldn't argue with the results. But Landy's skyrocketing bills infuriated the Beach Boys' managers, who fired him in November 1976. By the early 1980s Wilson was in even worse shape than he had been in 1975. Contacted by the Beach Boys management, Landy agreed to take on his old patient with one condition: this time he would have complete control over Wilson's life, with no exceptions.

Once again, Wilson got free of drugs, lost weight and got back to work. By 1985 he looked healthier and happier than he'd been in two decades. But friends and colleagues noticed troubling things, too. The bodyguards surrounding Wilson - nicknamed "the surf nazis" by his friends - had become a constant, sinister presence. Old friends and even family members said they had been barred from contacting him. And Landy had also added his name to his patient's creative and personal affairs.

A 1988 solo album, Brian Wilson, earned rave reviews. But Wilson confessed to one reporter that he heard voices in his head. Friends and colleagues were dismayed by the amount of medication Wilson was given, and by the tremors and black-outs it seemed to cause.

The California Board of Medical Quality Assurance filed an official case against Landy, accusing him of "grossly negligent conduct" in his treatment of Wilson and other patients. In 1989 Landy agreed to surrender his licence, but his work with Wilson continued. The duo set up a corporation, Brains & Genius, and worked together on a new album, titled Sweet Insanity. The album was never released. In 1991 a court ordered Landy to stay away from Wilson.

"His one regret was that he didn't get out sooner," says Landy's wife, Alexandra Morgan. "If anything, he lost sight of what was best for Eugene in his desire to help Brian."

Landy moved to Honolulu in 1993, where he set up a new practice. His primary hobby in his final years was Argentinian Tango. "The last chapter of his life was very quiet," his wife says. "He was starting over."

As had Brian Wilson. And though the musician often spoke angrily about the control the psychologist wielded over him, he also spoke warmly of him, as in a 1998 interview with the American radio interviewer Terry Gross. "I miss him," Wilson said.

Peter Ames Carlin

Eugene Ellsworth Landy, psychologist: born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 26 November 1934; four times married (one son); died Honolulu, Hawaii 22 March 2006.

The controversial psychotherapist Eugene Landy was best known for his relationship with the Beach Boys' troubled leader Brian Wilson. In a life that included stints as a music promoter, a radio producer, a pop culture analyst and psychologist, Landy earned his greatest notoriety during the years he served as Wilson's 24-hour-a-day therapist.

At first, Landy earned credit for weaning the musician off the drugs, alcohol and junk-food binges that had swollen his body and dampened his creativity. But by the late 1980s, after Landy eased into the role of his patient's co-writer, co-producer and financial manager, the psychologist became the target of lawsuits and a government investigation.

In the early 1990s Landy surrendered his psychologist's licence and was barred from contacting Wilson. The episode proved so explosive that, even 15 years later, the central figures in the drama - Landy, Wilson, the minders hired to enforce the psychologist's rules, musicians and collaborators - usually refused to speak about it on the record. "I can't say anything, because you just don't know what Landy's going to do," one former employee said to me last year while fending off an interview request for my Wilson biography, Catch a Wave: the rise, fall and redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson (due to be published in June).

Unpredictability had long been a Landy hallmark. Born in Pittsburgh in 1934, he was the son of a doctor, Jules, and a psychology professor, Frieda. Despite his family's academic background, Landy dropped out of school after sixth grade (he later claimed to be dyslexic) and worked in the fringes of showbusiness. An early supporter of the jazz guitarist George Benson, Landy served briefly as the then-struggling musician's manager.

Landy served in the American Peace Corps and Vista (Volunteers in Service to America) before returning to school in the early 1960s. He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the California State College, Los Angeles, in 1964, then a master's degree in psychology from the University of Oklahoma in 1967, capping his training with a PhD in 1968. Moving to Los Angeles, Landy set up a practice that specialised in treating drug abuse, particularly among young people. He soon parlayed his mastery of the hippie lexicon into a reference book, The Underground Dictionary, published in 1971.

Working with drug addicts helped Landy design a therapeutic system he called "milieu therapy", during which the doctor and his assistants would control every aspect of a patient's life. The programme proved especially popular among Hollywood's élite class of dissolutes - Landy later claimed patients ranging from the shock rock star Alice Cooper to the actor Rod Steiger. And when Brian Wilson's first wife, Marilyn, sought help for her famous husband in late 1975, Landy was the first, and only, psychologist she called.

What Landy found, tucked into the shadows of Wilson's mansion, was an overweight, unwashed 33-year-old musician whose once-flawless ear for creating dazzlingly innovative pop music had been dulled by years of depression, drugs and alcohol. Given free reign to restore his patient's mental health, Landy threw water on Wilson to get him out of bed in the morning. He enforced rigid exercise and diet regimes, then led him to the piano to write new songs. Within weeks, Landy had Wilson back in the recording studio. Six months later, the trimmed-down Wilson made a dramatic return to the stage, just as the Beach Boys' new album, 15 Big Ones - the first to be produced by Wilson in a decade - soared up the sales charts.

You couldn't argue with the results. But Landy's skyrocketing bills infuriated the Beach Boys' managers, who fired him in November 1976. By the early 1980s Wilson was in even worse shape than he had been in 1975. Contacted by the Beach Boys management, Landy agreed to take on his old patient with one condition: this time he would have complete control over Wilson's life, with no exceptions.

Once again, Wilson got free of drugs, lost weight and got back to work. By 1985 he looked healthier and happier than he'd been in two decades. But friends and colleagues noticed troubling things, too. The bodyguards surrounding Wilson - nicknamed "the surf nazis" by his friends - had become a constant, sinister presence. Old friends and even family members said they had been barred from contacting him. And Landy had also added his name to his patient's creative and personal affairs.

A 1988 solo album, Brian Wilson, earned rave reviews. But Wilson confessed to one reporter that he heard voices in his head. Friends and colleagues were dismayed by the amount of medication Wilson was given, and by the tremors and black-outs it seemed to cause.

The California Board of Medical Quality Assurance filed an official case against Landy, accusing him of "grossly negligent conduct" in his treatment of Wilson and other patients. In 1989 Landy agreed to surrender his licence, but his work with Wilson continued. The duo set up a corporation, Brains & Genius, and worked together on a new album, titled Sweet Insanity. The album was never released. In 1991 a court ordered Landy to stay away from Wilson.

"His one regret was that he didn't get out sooner," says Landy's wife, Alexandra Morgan. "If anything, he lost sight of what was best for Eugene in his desire to help Brian."

Landy moved to Honolulu in 1993, where he set up a new practice. His primary hobby in his final years was Argentinian Tango. "The last chapter of his life was very quiet," his wife says. "He was starting over."

As had Brian Wilson. And though the musician often spoke angrily about the control the psychologist wielded over him, he also spoke warmly of him, as in a 1998 interview with the American radio interviewer Terry Gross. "I miss him," Wilson said.

Peter Ames Carlin
Also in this section

    * William Davies
    * John McGahern

So, he DID marry Alexandra Morgan. I also didn't know that the medications Brian was given were causing black-outs. 

Oh, and THIS

"His one regret was that he didn't get out sooner," says Landy's wife, Alexandra Morgan. "If anything, he lost sight of what was best for Eugene in his desire to help Brian."

That was rich.

[Surfer Joe]

I think there's a children's author named Alexandra Morgan.  I wondered for a while if it could possibly be her.

The statement  that he regretted not getting out sooner struck me, too- what else could he say?  Almost no one thinks of himself as a villain.  I always thought that while Landy's fifteen years of silence must have been tough on him- it was so obvious how badly he craved fame and attention- he was in a trap of his own making.  The only think I could imagine he could say was that Brian was now being manipulated by the people around him (Landy's enemies: the band and the family).  You can imagine the laughter that would have produced, so he kept quiet.

But the "I should have gotten out sooner- for myself" line is an ingenious piece of spin that never occurred to me.  I'm surprised that card wasn't played years ago.

[Reverend Joshua Sloane]

The man was human. He did wrong. I've done wrong. You've done wrong.

Why nobody can just stay at peace with his passing is beyond me. Brian is a big boy now, he doesn't need us sitting on a message board holding his hand.

He had enough time to look back on what he did and possibly recognize the error of his ways.

I didn't read the article.

[Surfer Joe]

Oh, I'm at peace with him- I'm not trying to solve Brian's problems or pass judgement.  I just made an observation about the low profile he kept during the last fifteen years.

I think Landy's fair game for comment on a message board; it's just a question of taste at the moment- how much you want to say and how soon after a guy dies.  Maybe I should have laid off a little longer.

[Reverend Joshua Sloane]

Is he the one that got Brian into jogging? Or yogging with a soft J? 

If so, good for him. If not Brian might've been 7000 pounds now.

[PMcC]

I am wondering how this will affect the eventual release of Sweet Insanity (the remix)?

[Peter Ames Carlin]

Hi guys,

Glad you saw the Independent piece. I have to confess I felt a twinge of sadness when I heard that Landy had died. I'm not sure why. What's interesting to me is how closely Landy echoed Murry in so many ways. The powerful personality; the pugnaciousness; the grim determintion to make it at all costs; the fierce commitment to Brian; the even fiercer commitment to profiting from Brian. Both of them all but loved him to death. If you catch my drift.

My favorite new detail was Landy's new-found love of Argentian tango. And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the tango all about two people being locked in a dance of passion and control? I believe  that may be a metaphor for something.

And yet Landy was a guy with a wife, son and grandchild. Alexandra clearly loved him a lot. Maybe he found a way to redeem himself during these last 15 years. I hope he's at peace now, and I especially hope Brian hasn't been rocked too hard by this. He was, for good or ill, quite close to the man for quite a long time.

 

[Aegir]

Brian & Genius.. ha!

[Roger Ryan]

Brian & Genius.. ha!

That would be Brains & Genius, actually...but, yeah, still hard to swallow. Between the master being lost and Brian re-recording many of its best tracks, why would "Sweet Insanity" see an "eventual release"? I'd say we're much more likely to see a "SMiLE" box than an official release of the second solo album.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

The masters for SI were stolen.

[PMcC]

The master tracks for "sweet insanity' were stolen??? It this true? What the hell is this?

[GoofyJeff]

The master tracks for "sweet insanity' were stolen??? It this true? What the hell is this?

Yep, when Brian replied "it'll never come out it's destroyed, the tapes are destroyed" we all assumed he was talking about SMiLE, when in actuality he was talking about Sweet Insanity.    *LOL*

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I read about this a LONG time ago. I don't remember exactly who said it, but it was in a discussion about whether or not SI would ever get official release. Don't quote me, but I *think* it was either AGD or Brad Elliot. It's been several years, but I'm 99.9% certain.

edit...

Found this on Andrew's site

   The recording of the follow-up to the critically-acclaimed but commercially mediocre Brian Wilson began almost as soon as the dust had settled from that release. This time round, the good Doctor Landy decreed that Brian would produce his own album - under his direction, of course. That Sire completely rejected the product that was turned in was hardly surprising, for with Landy's hand on the tiller, the album - tentatively titled Brian - was something of a dog's dinner, the few worthwhile compositions swamped under an inept production. Smarting from this rebuke, Landy prevailed upon Brian to revise the tapes, now retitled with outstanding sensitivity and tact, Sweet Insanity. The result, despite a campaign by Landy that included the mailing out of the dreadful "Smart Girls" rap as a promo cassette and promising journalists access to Brian in return for a positive review of the album (and astonishingly, some took the bait), was a scarcely improved product that was once more rejected. Shortly thereafter, Landy and Brian were legally separated and no more was heard of the project. the 2004 release of Brian's Gettin' In Over My Head saw the release - in newly recorded form - of the following songs: "Make A Wish", "Rainbow Eyes", "Save The Day" (with new lyrics,  retitled "Fairy Tale") and "Let's Stick Together" (new lyrics, retitled "The Waltz").
Possibility of release: None, for two reasons: one, it's plain bad product…  and two, according to Brian, the master tapes have been stolen.

[JRauch]

May I remind you that this is the same guy who said that he burned the SMiLE-tapes?

[Roger Ryan]

The story was recounted in Goldmine about 8 or 9 years ago. The interviewer asked Brian about "Sweet Insanity" and he replied that someone had stolen the masters to it when the Brains & Genius office was shut down. David Leaf was present in the room during the interview and volunteered that he had a cassette of the completed album. Brian reponded with something like "oh, could you make me a copy? I'd like to hear some of that stuff again."

[The Shift]

I have to confess I felt a twinge of sadness when I heard that Landy had died. I'm not sure why. What's interesting to me is how closely Landy echoed Murry in so many ways. The powerful personality; the pugnaciousness; the grim determintion to make it at all costs; the fierce commitment to Brian; the even fiercer commitment to profiting from Brian. Both of them all but loved him to death. If you catch my drift.

I think I know what you mean. Despite the reportedly deplorable way Landy took advantge of his position with Brian, I'm of the church that believes Brian wouldn't be alive today but for Landy weaning him away from the destructive self-abuse that was taking Brian towards an early grave. Okay, many would argue that Landy merely replaced one form of abuse with another, and might have harmed Brian in other ways that Peter Reum is probably the best-qualified I know to set out here, but to my eyes he did pull Brian back from the brink. (And in my selfishness I realise that, without that, albeit indirectly, we wouldn't all have a released version of SMiLE sitting on our CD shelves right now.)

[Surfer Joe]

O.K., I guess enough time has passed.

I've never bought into that logic, and I'll tell you why: if I rush into a burning building and remove someone, and then exploit that person for fifteen years, I'm no longer a hero.  You're a hero when you save someone's life for them- not when you save it for you.  And especially not when you collect an exhorbitant fee every step of the way.

Also, based on a lot of reliable first hand accounts I've been given, I would seriously question whether Brian's mental health was better in 1992 than in 1976.  His living habits were better.  He wasn't being treated, as far as I could ever tell, he was being managed.  He didn't have a doctor so much as a supervisor, a keeper, a one-man institution- a man who sailed past the ethical lines and even had a will rewrtitten in his favor by someone who was extremely vulnerable ans susceptible.  And I won't get into the issue of medication.

I extend my sincere condolences to his family, and I'm truly sorry that someone else Brian regarded as a friend is gone.  But in terms of remembering him as any kind of hero- he's not so much a man who rushed into a burning building as a fox who rushed into a burning henhouse- for a hundred thousand dollars a month.

[Peter Ames Carlin]

Surfer Joe: I laughed, all the way to Tokyo. I dreamed I was Surfer Joe, but what that means, I don't know. Or maybe Paul Westerberg said that.

I dig where you're coming from, vis-a-vis Landy's relationship with Brian. And I agree that the not-so-good doctor went way over the line when it came to his, uh, therapeutic relationship with Brian. Particularly when it came to medication and then Landy's participation in BW's creative, financial and personal lives. But that said, I think it's also important to recognize that Brian wasn't entirely helpless. I'm not saying it was a HEALTHY relationship for him to be in. But as a guy raised in a highly dysfunctional household, one headed by an autocratic tough guy who taught him to use the words "love" and "fear" as synonyms, living with Dr. Landy was both a very familiar and very comfortable life. It gave him a structure to live by (which he had lacked consistently since the death of Murry in '73)  and a buffer against the uncomfortable/uhappy relationships he didn't want to deal with.

So maybe Landy wasn't the only guy doing the manipulating in that Malibu house. And maybe Brian got the worst of it in the end (almost goes without saying). But he was getting something out of it, too. Not enough, ultimately, but still.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Okay, I agree that enough time has passed. Here we go...

Landy redrafted Brian's will, right? Supposedly, he forged Brian's signature,right? Main benficiary:Landy. That by itself doesn't really mean too much...until you add in the fact that the medication Brian was on was causing seizures and blackouts. Landy *knew* the meds were taking a toll on Brian's health. Repeat:he KNEW. And *then* changes Brian's will to make himself the sole heir, completely cutting out everyone else?! Now, what does that sound like to you?

[Surfer Joe]

Billy C: I get your drift.

Peter: I respect your point of view, too, but still just don't agree.  To say that Brian wasn't helpless is, to me a very subjective statement and one I would tend to disagree with.  As a mentally ill person, he may have been more helpless as an adult than he had been as an abused child.

The structure and the buffer that he was provided (and paid a stiff premium for) were things he should have had coming to him - without all the abuse of trust and long-term damage that were inflicted.

But heck, nothing wrong with disagreeing.

[Wilsonista]

A friend of Brian's is quoted as saying "Landy wasn't Landy until Brian made him that way". 

[Peter Ames Carlin]

Wilsonista's quote, which I'd also heard, makes the point beautifully.

Don't get me wrong, though. I'm not trying to justify anything Landy did in doping Brian up, horning in on his business and creative affairs and controlling his personal life. As I said above, it wasn't a HEALTHY relationship for Brian. But he is nothing if not a wiley guy, crazy or not, and he maneuvered Landy into precisely the Murry-like position he wanted him to be in. Then Landy took rich and awful advantage of the situation, while at the same time falling prey to his own weaknesses. It was a totally f***ed up situation, and Landy, as the saner half, should have known better. All I'm saying is that Brian wasn't totally helpless.

And guess what? When he wanted out, what happened? He leaked just enough to the press, ("I hear voices!") that the wheels went into motion. And then he got out.

[Surfer Joe]

A friend of Brian's is quoted as saying "Landy wasn't Landy until Brian made him that way". 

On the face of it, that reminds me of what someone charged with sexual assault might say- "but look how she was dressed!"  So his victim made him over into a predator...I don't know.  I know that Humbert Humbert claimed that Lolita had seduced him.

Actually, I  think I've heard some stories that suggest that Landy was Landy before Brian's svengali-like influence over  him began... for example, when did Landy first claim to have produced "Eve Of Destruction"?