{"id":42775,"date":"2015-09-17T00:43:15","date_gmt":"2015-09-17T00:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=42775"},"modified":"2021-07-03T01:10:02","modified_gmt":"2021-07-03T01:10:02","slug":"how-a-black-man-from-missouri-transformed-himself-into-the-indian-liberace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=42775","title":{"rendered":"How a Black Man From Missouri Transformed Himself Into the Indian Liberace"},"content":{"rendered":"

How a Black Man From Missouri Transformed Himself Into the Indian Liberace<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The New Republic<\/a>
\n2015-09-12<\/p>\n

Liesl Bradner<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nPhoto: John Turner<\/small><\/p>\n

Before Liberace<\/a>, there was Korla Pandit<\/a>. He was a pianist from New Delhi, India<\/a>, and dazzled national audiences in the 1950s with his unique keyboard skills and exotic compositions on the Hammond <\/a>B3 organ. He appeared on Los Angeles<\/a> local television in 900 episodes of his show, \u201cKorla Pandit\u2019s Adventures in Music\u201d, smartly dressed in a suit and tie or silk brocade Nehru jacket<\/a> and cloaked in a turban adorned with a single shimmering jewel. The mysterious, spiritual Indian man with a hypnotic gaze and sly grin was transfixing.<\/p>\n

Offstage, Korla\u2014known as the “Godfather of Exotica<\/a>“\u2014 was living the American dream: he had a house in the Hollywood hills<\/a>, a beautiful blonde wife, two kids, and a social circle that included Errol Flynn<\/a> and Bob Hope<\/a>. He even had his own floral-decorated organ float in the Rose Bowl parade<\/a> in 1953.<\/p>\n

Like most everything in Hollywood<\/a>, it was all smoke and mirrors. His charade wasn\u2019t his stage name\u2014it was his race. Korla Pandit, born John Roland Redd, was a light skinned black man from St. Louis, Missouri<\/a>. It was a secret he kept until the day he died…<\/p>\n