Scientology
has hijacked Cri-Cri the singing cricket, a character known and loved
by generations of Mexican children.
Among
the nonentities wheeled out by Scientology for this year's Christmas
parade down Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles was at least one true
star – or rather the character that made him immortal.
Somebody
dressed up as Mexico’s Cri-Cri, the singing cricket, made an
appearance at the event promoting The Way to Happiness Foundation.
And
according to this
press release, Cri-Cri also appears on copies of The
Way to Happiness booklet
distributed in Southern California.1
The
Way to Happiness is a rather creepy collection of platitudes written
by Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard. It is used both as a public
relations exercise and a recruitment tool.2
And
now they've got Cri-Cri.
Cri-Cri,
el grillito cantor, is the creation of Mexican musical genius
Francisco Gabilondo Soler. He developed the character for a
now-legendary radio series for children first broadcast in 1934,
which he presented for 27 years.
Even
after he gave his final broadcast in 1961, new generations of
children woke up to repeats of the programme and his songs for years
after.
Today,
any Mexican will recognise the theme
music from his show, having grown up listening to his charming
songs. His music is known and loved in much of the Spanish-speaking
world.
Such
is Gabilondo Soler's stature that in 1963 they made a film of his
life starring Ignacio López Tarso, another household name in Mexico.
In
this extract, you get an idea of what the programmes were like and
hear one of his best known songs La Patita: the Duckling. In
the final minute of the clip, actor López Tarso introduces the real
Cri-Cri at an event in his honour.
Gabilondo
Soler died in 1990 but as the press release cited above makes clear,
Scientology got its hooks into the Cri-Cri legacy via the composer's
grandson, Francisco S. Gabilondo.
Documents
scattered around the Web suggest that Scientology's appropriation of
Cri-Cri dates back to at January 2011 – and that the connection
with the movement is very much a family affair, dating much further
back.
According to this press release, Gabilondo Soler's "first grandson", Francisco Sanz Polo, is heavily into Scientology.3
Sanz
Polo's Linkedin
entry, in which he describes himself as President of the Friends
of L. Ron Hubbard Foundation and a supporter of the Way to Happiness
Foundation.4
One account suggests he was a Sea Org recruiter in the 1980s; another locates him on the movement's punishment programme, the Rehabilitation Project Force, back in 2004.
As
far back as 1982, Francisco Sanz Polo is listed as Clear #29969 in
Kristi Wachter's Scientology
Completions database, which is drawn from Scientology's in-house
publications.5 And
a Florencia Sanz Polo pops up in a
2004 ex-member's newsletter listing
those sent to the RPF.
Finally, Wachter's database throws up a Jack Sanz Polo as having attended a State of Man Congress.6 Freewinds is the cruise ship Scientology uses to give its most expensive, top-level training.
A shame to see such a wonderful character, who means so much to so many Mexicans, requisitioned in this way.
Happy New Year.
---
1 Credit
to Harold
Hinkubah at Divided by Zero
for
picking up on this item.
2 If
anyone has any doubt about the links between Scientology and the Way
to Happiness Foundation, have a look at
this diagram (published
in the context of Narconon, a couple of posts ago), from a 2004
edition of International Scientology News. Among the other
supposedly independent satellite groups feeding into the central
Scientology organisation, the symbol of the Way to Happiness
Foundation features twice.
3 Thanks
to "mnql1"
for drawing this to my attention.
4 Thanks
for "mnql1" at Why
We Protest for digging up these details.
5 This
information came from Scientology's Auditor
magazine N°182.
6 This
is from the Freewinds
56
magazine, early 2005.