Departures of note

Korla Pandit, born John Roland Redd, was an African-American musician from Missouri who created a fictional Indian persona to navigate racial barriers in mid-20th-century show business. In the 1940s, he moved to Los Angeles, where he initially used the name Juan Rolando to join the Musicians Union, which was closed to African-Americans. With his wife Beryl, he later developed the Korla Pandit identity, claiming to be a French-Indian from New Delhi, and maintained this deception publicly and privately for the rest of his life.

In 1949, Pandit's television show, Korla Pandit's Adventures In Music, premiered on KTLA, becoming the first all-music program on television. He performed over 900 episodes without speaking on camera, playing the Hammond organ and piano simultaneously. His exotic persona and musical skill made him a star, and he befriended celebrities like Errol Flynn and Bob Hope. In the 1950s, he moved to San Francisco, where he began speaking on his show about spirituality, influenced by his friendship with Paramahansa Yogananda.

As his television career waned in the 1970s, Pandit performed at various venues, including supper clubs and department stores. He experienced a revival in the 1990s with the tiki-lounge music scene, recording with The Muffs and performing a sold-out show at Bimbo's 365 Club. He also made a cameo in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994). Pandit died in 1998 in Petaluma, California, and his true ancestry was revealed posthumously in a 2000 article, leading to a 2014 documentary, Korla, which explored his life and racial identity.