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Korla Pandit
Korla Pandit (born John Roland Redd; September 16, 1921 – October 2, 1998), was an American exotica musician, composer, pianist, and organist. Redd was an African-American man from Missouri who moved to California in the 1940s. After getting involved in show business, Redd became known as "Korla Pandit" and claimed to be a French-Indian musician from New Delhi, India. A pathbreaking musical performer in the early days of television, Redd is known for Korla Pandit's Adventures In Music; the show was the first all-music program on television. He also performed live and on radio and made various film appearances, becoming known as the "Godfather of Exotica". Both publicly and privately, Redd maintained the Korla Pandit persona and continued to pass as a native of India until the end of his life.
John Roland Redd was born in St. Louis on September 16, 1921. His father, Ernest Redd, was an African-American Baptist pastor. Redd's mother, Doshia O'Nina Johnson, had white and African ancestry. Both parents were descended from African-American slaves. Redd was one of seven children. He had light skin and straight hair. In 1922, Redd's family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, where they lived for nine years.
In 1931, the family moved to Columbia, Missouri, where Redd's father was a pastor of the Second Baptist Church. Given the Jim Crow restrictions in the state, Redd and his siblings attended Frederick Douglass High School, a racially segregated public school for African-American children.
The Redd family later described Redd as a musical prodigy from the age of three. He could hear a song once and have it memorized, and family members taught him to play piano at an early age. A contemporary of Redd's, jazz pianist Charles Thompson, knew Redd from Columbia; they attended high school together. Thompson has said that as a teenager, Redd was a better piano player than he was. The whole Redd family was musically talented; Redd's two sisters sang, and one played piano. His older brother, Ernest Redd Jr. (1913–1974) (known as "Speck" because of his freckles), became a jazz pianist and later a band leader in Des Moines, Iowa. John and Ernest Redd played in groups with their older brother Harry, who was also a musician.
In the early 1940s, Redd met his sister Frances's white friend and roommate, Beryl June DeBeeson, a Disney artist and former dancer. They fell in love and, in 1944, traveled to Mexico for a marriage ceremony in Tijuana, as interracial marriages were then illegal in California. Redd and his wife had two sons.
By the 1940s, Redd had moved from the Midwest to Los Angeles, where his sisters Ruth and Frances had lived since the late 1930s. Redd used the name "Juan Rolando" to gain a job playing the organ on the Los Angeles radio station KMPC. Passing as a Mexican allowed him to join the Musicians Union (which was not open to African-Americans) and opened up additional opportunities for studio and club work. Contemporaries who knew Redd before his move to Los Angeles were aware of his deception; a 1943 Columbia, Missouri newspaper article detailed how "Johnny Redd, Negro band leader and pianist" had been using the Juan Rolando name for two years to obtain bookings in Southern California. The article included a photo that showed Redd in an early version of his Korla Pandit costume.
Redd and his wife later created a new entertainment persona for him. They thought he could have exotic appeal by passing as an Indian because most Americans did not know much about people from India. Beryl designed the makeup and clothing, and Redd took the name "Korla Pandit". He developed an elaborate false history and continued to add to it during his career. He claimed that he had been born in New Delhi, India, to a French opera singer and an Indian Brahmin government official. Supposedly raised in an upper-class Indian household, Redd claimed to have studied music in England as a child, arrived in the United States at age 12, and studied at the University of Chicago. Redd used the Korla Pandit persona—in public and in private—for the rest of his life. His deception was so successful that when he began using the Indian backstory, California newspapers indicated that Korla Pandit was the real name of the musician who had been known as Juan Rolando.
In 1948, Redd created and played background music as Korla Pandit for the revival of radio's occult adventure series, Chandu the Magician. He achieved an air of mystery on the Novachord and the Hammond CV electronic organ. In 1949, he became a regular organist on Hollywood Holiday, a show broadcast from a Los Angeles restaurant.
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Korla Pandit
Korla Pandit (born John Roland Redd; September 16, 1921 – October 2, 1998), was an American exotica musician, composer, pianist, and organist. Redd was an African-American man from Missouri who moved to California in the 1940s. After getting involved in show business, Redd became known as "Korla Pandit" and claimed to be a French-Indian musician from New Delhi, India. A pathbreaking musical performer in the early days of television, Redd is known for Korla Pandit's Adventures In Music; the show was the first all-music program on television. He also performed live and on radio and made various film appearances, becoming known as the "Godfather of Exotica". Both publicly and privately, Redd maintained the Korla Pandit persona and continued to pass as a native of India until the end of his life.
John Roland Redd was born in St. Louis on September 16, 1921. His father, Ernest Redd, was an African-American Baptist pastor. Redd's mother, Doshia O'Nina Johnson, had white and African ancestry. Both parents were descended from African-American slaves. Redd was one of seven children. He had light skin and straight hair. In 1922, Redd's family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, where they lived for nine years.
In 1931, the family moved to Columbia, Missouri, where Redd's father was a pastor of the Second Baptist Church. Given the Jim Crow restrictions in the state, Redd and his siblings attended Frederick Douglass High School, a racially segregated public school for African-American children.
The Redd family later described Redd as a musical prodigy from the age of three. He could hear a song once and have it memorized, and family members taught him to play piano at an early age. A contemporary of Redd's, jazz pianist Charles Thompson, knew Redd from Columbia; they attended high school together. Thompson has said that as a teenager, Redd was a better piano player than he was. The whole Redd family was musically talented; Redd's two sisters sang, and one played piano. His older brother, Ernest Redd Jr. (1913–1974) (known as "Speck" because of his freckles), became a jazz pianist and later a band leader in Des Moines, Iowa. John and Ernest Redd played in groups with their older brother Harry, who was also a musician.
In the early 1940s, Redd met his sister Frances's white friend and roommate, Beryl June DeBeeson, a Disney artist and former dancer. They fell in love and, in 1944, traveled to Mexico for a marriage ceremony in Tijuana, as interracial marriages were then illegal in California. Redd and his wife had two sons.
By the 1940s, Redd had moved from the Midwest to Los Angeles, where his sisters Ruth and Frances had lived since the late 1930s. Redd used the name "Juan Rolando" to gain a job playing the organ on the Los Angeles radio station KMPC. Passing as a Mexican allowed him to join the Musicians Union (which was not open to African-Americans) and opened up additional opportunities for studio and club work. Contemporaries who knew Redd before his move to Los Angeles were aware of his deception; a 1943 Columbia, Missouri newspaper article detailed how "Johnny Redd, Negro band leader and pianist" had been using the Juan Rolando name for two years to obtain bookings in Southern California. The article included a photo that showed Redd in an early version of his Korla Pandit costume.
Redd and his wife later created a new entertainment persona for him. They thought he could have exotic appeal by passing as an Indian because most Americans did not know much about people from India. Beryl designed the makeup and clothing, and Redd took the name "Korla Pandit". He developed an elaborate false history and continued to add to it during his career. He claimed that he had been born in New Delhi, India, to a French opera singer and an Indian Brahmin government official. Supposedly raised in an upper-class Indian household, Redd claimed to have studied music in England as a child, arrived in the United States at age 12, and studied at the University of Chicago. Redd used the Korla Pandit persona—in public and in private—for the rest of his life. His deception was so successful that when he began using the Indian backstory, California newspapers indicated that Korla Pandit was the real name of the musician who had been known as Juan Rolando.
In 1948, Redd created and played background music as Korla Pandit for the revival of radio's occult adventure series, Chandu the Magician. He achieved an air of mystery on the Novachord and the Hammond CV electronic organ. In 1949, he became a regular organist on Hollywood Holiday, a show broadcast from a Los Angeles restaurant.