The Alligator Club

It is a little known fact, but during Meher Baba’s 1958 visit to the Meher Spiritual Center, an emergency surgery was performed in the Barn by three Viennese doctors. One’s name has been lost to history, the other two were Dr. Pfunster and Dr. Schmaltz.1

The patient, with a huge belly, was laid out on an ironing board/operating table under a sheet. The doctors produced a hammer, a saw, and a knife and proceeded to poke and prod and pull assorted junk from him – including an old shoe2 as they tried to figure out what was wrong. Finally, in a moment of inspiration, they came up with their diagnosis: Swollen sanksaras! One then stabbed at the patient’s belly (which turned out to be a big red balloon) until it popped and then pulled out strand after strand of multi-colored tissue paper sanskaras.3

“Baba silently laughed so hard that his face grew pink and his shoulders shook,” Charmian Knowles wrote in Spread My Love. “He seemed to enjoy ringing his alligator bell as applause.”4

Yes, Baba had an alligator shaped bell. It was a gift from the Alligator Club, a group that got together determined to make Baba laugh with slapstick skits, corny spiritual puns, and humorous stories.5 It was for many a high point (or low, depending on one’s taste) of Meher Baba’s 1958 Western Sahavas at the Center.

From the very start of Baba’s visit, He made it clear this Sahavas was about “companionship with God. It means that I come to your level or you rise to my level…. Sahavas means God becoming human.”6 Baba also stressed the importance of loving Him and obeying Him “100 percent.” He repeatedly questioned people whether they were prepared to do this and provided a kind of road map having “My Wish” read out several times in the Barn.7

But laced throughout the serious discourses and challenging questions, Baba repeatedly asked for jokes. Indeed, after the first time “My Wish” was read, He asked Harry Kenmore and Mickey Florsheim each to tell a joke, and then Baba had “My Wish” read out a second and third time.8

Knowing how much Baba loved to laugh, a group decided to form an acting company of sorts, and they called themselves the “Alligator Club.” While it was mostly men, they had lots of help from women as well. Charmian was a keen collaborator and she enlisted Anita Vieillard, the long-time Baba lover and famous contemporary artist to help decorate the barn.

“She laughed and exclaimed, ‘Why, my dear, it’s been years since I painted anything that looked like anything!’ But she pitched right in and painted alligators,”9 Charmian wrote.

After the Barn was appropriately decked out and rehearsals completed, the Alligator Club was ready for its debut. But, knowing Baba’s tendency not to stay through an entire show, they also did an additional bit of advance planning.

“We know Baba leaves half-way through a performance, so we shall make it short,” Mickey Florsheim told people on the Center that morning. “We want to initiate Him in the ‘Supreme and Ancient Order of Alligator Watchers.’ The men will be initiated at the end, so how can he leave?”10

The performance began as Baba was carried into the Barn to shouts of “Avatar Meher Baba Ki Jai!” and a small band played “Hail, Hail the Gang’s All Here” followed by “When the Saints Go Marching In.”11 Mickey, the master of ceremonies, welcomed Baba who was given a toy alligator that beat a drum, a large stuffed alligator, and the small alligator-shaped bell he appeared to delight in.12

And while the various accounts of the infamous afternoon vary, here is an approximate rundown of what happened next. Harold Rudd and Harry Kenmore “did a skit about a novice actor (Harold) and his drama coach (Harry) rehearsing a scene from Julius Caesar. Afterwards, Leonard [Willoughby] sang “He’s Got The Whole World in His Hands.”13

Then the three Viennese doctors were introduced. Dr. Pfunster (Ben Hayman) began by telling Baba that a new kind of alligator bait had been invented – “tender and unwilling”14 – just as Leland De Long dressed as a nursemaid rolled in a wheel barrow with Dana Field dressed as a baby, complete with a bottle15 sitting in it.

Then the famous surgery was conducted. There was one complication, though, that was not noted earlier. One of the doctors fell into a deep sleep. In order to wake him, Dr. Schmaltz (Mickey) began blowing a whistle over and over to try to wake him.

“Baba patted his cheeks, gesturing, ‘I never laughed so much in this incarnation as I laughed today!’”16

At another point, Baba was given a large sign to hold up, which read: “If you can keep a level head in this confusion, you just don’t understand the situation.”17

Charles Purdom then told the story of two monkeys who, after surviving an atomic attack in World War III, surveyed the devastation around them.

“There was nothing left on Earth,” he said, “except for two monkeys, a male and a female. The male monkey turned to the female monkey and said, ‘I am afraid we have to start the whole thing all over again!’“18

This was followed by even more jokes and stories. The afternoon ended with a finale where “Baba was dubbed the Supreme High Alligator because he had seen a record number of six alligators on the lake at one time.”19

After the program ended, Baba embraced all of the performers and helpers, some of whom had tears streaming down their faces.

Baba then gestured, “Today’s performance is one of the few things I shall miss in my next incarnation!” 20

1. Spread My Love, by Charmian Knowles, p.166
2. As Only God Can Love, by Darwin Shaw, p.466
3. The Awakener Magazine, Volume 5 Number 3 p.59
4. Spread My Love, by Charmian Knowles p. 166
5. Ibid
6. Lord Meher Online Edition, by Bhau Kalchuri, p. 4360
7. Ibid, p. 4380
8. Ibid, p. 4380
9. Spread My Love, by Charmian Knowles, p. 165
10. The Awakener, Volume 5 Number 3 p. 56
11. Lord Meher, by Bhau Kalchuri, p. 4401
12. Spread My Love, by Charmian Knowles, p. 166
13. Lord Meher, by Bhau Kalchuri, P. 4401
14. The Awakener, Volume 5 Number 3, p. 59
15. Ibid
16. Lord Meher, by Bhau Kalchuri, p. 4401
17. The Awakener Magazine, Volume 5 Number 3 P. 59
18. Lord Meher, by Bhau Kalchuri, p. 4401
19. Spread My Love, by Charmian Knowles, p.166
20. Lord Meher, by Bhau Kalchuri, p. 4401