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Speaker 1: Pushkin Hey, Lost Tills listeners, it's Dana. I wanted to

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Speaker 1: let you know that you can hear the entire new

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Speaker 1: season of Lost Hill's ad free, along with other great

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Speaker 1: binge listens by becoming a Pushkin Plus subscriber. Find Pushkin

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Speaker 1: Plus on the Lost Hills Show page in Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or at pushkin dot fm, slash Plus.

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Speaker 2: Mickey was highly intelligent, well read, and he didn't give

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Speaker 2: a fuck, and he saw that what the future was

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Speaker 2: going to bring to surfing, and so he acted accordingly,

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Speaker 2: and he wouldn't capitulate.

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Speaker 1: This is Chris molloy. He's a documentary filmmaker who moved

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Speaker 1: to Hawaii to be a professional big wave surfer in

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Speaker 1: the nineties. Chris is a big fan of Mickey Dora.

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Speaker 2: He was like, you know what, I can get paid

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Speaker 2: to surf, But he said, I'm going to take credit

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Speaker 2: cards and checks and go around the world and surf

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Speaker 2: waves that nobody knows about. And he said, God damn it.

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Speaker 2: He goes, if they gave you this plastic card and

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Speaker 2: you could just go get stuff for free, what the

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Speaker 2: fuck would you do.

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Speaker 1: I'm visiting Chris at his sprawling ranch on California's Central Coast,

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Speaker 1: where he and his wife are raising three kids on

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Speaker 1: one hundred acres. He's part of that Kelly Slater generation

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Speaker 1: of surfers who grew up on Mickey Dora Lore. Mickey's

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Speaker 1: status as an iconoclast spoke to them.

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Speaker 2: He was very aware of the big public and governmental

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Speaker 2: systems and was smart enough to go, Hey, I'm going

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Speaker 2: to do it my way and you guys can pretty

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Speaker 2: much fuck off. That was Mickey, you know what I mean,

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Speaker 2: and he did it with style.

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Speaker 1: Two years before Mickey died, Chris got to spend a

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Speaker 1: couple of weeks with him in Chile surfing.

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Speaker 2: I was very very focused when I was with him,

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Speaker 2: just taking it in because I knew I knew I

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Speaker 2: was in a special space.

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Speaker 1: So Mickey talked a lot on the trip and Chris

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Speaker 1: was listening, but he was also thinking about posterity, and

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Speaker 1: so secretly at first, because Mickey was so paranoid, he

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Speaker 1: started recording him. As Chris is telling me this, he

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Speaker 1: hands me a mini disc.

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Speaker 2: So this is a recording that you guys can take

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Speaker 2: if you want. That I did with him. So this

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Speaker 2: is very unjournalistic, but I'm not a journalist, so I

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Speaker 2: can do whatever the fuck I want. He didn't know

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Speaker 2: I was recording, and I don't think there's anything good

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Speaker 2: in there, honestly, Like I listened to it once and

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Speaker 2: it's horrible. Sound testing Testing one, two three, Avocado Balloon.

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Speaker 1: There are very few recordings of Mickey Dora. He rarely

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Speaker 1: sat for interviews, and when he did, they tended to

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Speaker 1: be incredibly contrived, not to mention, full of lies. But

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Speaker 1: this tape is different. It captures the final chapter of

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Speaker 1: Mickey's life. He was sixty five and he knew he

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Speaker 1: was falling apart.

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Speaker 3: People do what they want. They have to live with

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Speaker 3: their conscience. I want to live the way and I

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Speaker 3: want to live.

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Speaker 4: It's hard to do and it's an experiment, but I don't

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Speaker 4: want anyone to live the way. I wanted to serve

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Speaker 4: like everybody else. I want to do anything like anyone

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Speaker 4: outside just struggle in my life what suitable for me.

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Speaker 1: After years of seemingly perpetual youth, Mickey looked his age.

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Speaker 1: A picture from around this time shows him with a

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Speaker 1: silvery goatee, wearing some kind of cravat, a soft twinkle

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Speaker 1: in his eye, like the most interesting man in the world.

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Speaker 1: If he was left on the beach for a week.

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Speaker 1: The cancer that would kill him was most likely already

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Speaker 1: eating him away. Mickey had been on the outside for

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Speaker 1: so long, in exile, in prison, forsaken and the surf world,

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Speaker 1: the whole world had moved on. He'd lost his kingdom

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Speaker 1: and most of his fawning fans. His fame was underground,

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Speaker 1: deep underground. Did the new wild kids of Surf Rider

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Speaker 1: even know who Mickey Door was. Mickey always said he

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Speaker 1: hated attention, but he craved relevance. He wanted to be wanted.

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Speaker 1: The one thing Mickey hadn't lost was his legendary charm.

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Speaker 1: So when he met Chris molloy and Kelly Slater, two

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Speaker 1: of the surf world's biggest celebrities, he turned it on.

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Speaker 1: Mickey was ready for his last act. I'm Dana Goodyear

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Speaker 1: and this is Lost Hills, episode eleven, Writing on the Wall. Hi, Kelly,

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Speaker 1: how good?

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Speaker 3: How are you doing good?

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Speaker 1: I'm on a zoom with Kelly Slater.

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Speaker 5: You guys see me? No, no cameraw oh I didn't.

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Speaker 6: Realize I never had an on cool?

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Speaker 5: Okay great.

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Speaker 1: He's at home on the north shore of O Wahoo

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Speaker 1: and when the camera turns on his zoom. Background's got

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Speaker 1: real Hawaii vibes, whitewashed wooden walls, a ceiling fan, and

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Speaker 1: surfboards stashed in the roof beams.

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Speaker 5: Cool.

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Speaker 1: Well, I'm going to start by asking you a question

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Speaker 1: that you probably haven't been asked in twenty five years,

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Speaker 1: which is who are you and what do you do?

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Speaker 6: Funny enough, I get asked that a lot to set

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Speaker 6: up interviews. But I'm Kelly Slater. I'm a professional surfer.

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Speaker 6: I have been for I've actually been a professional for

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Speaker 6: thirty thirty three years now and I'm still competing full time.

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Speaker 6: I'm a father. I do a little bit of business

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Speaker 6: here and there, so that's kind of my thing.

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Speaker 1: It's taken a while to schedule this call because Kelly

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Speaker 1: is busy right now.

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Speaker 6: I'm actually just I'm in a process of packing and

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Speaker 6: kind of closing up my house for the winter because

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Speaker 6: I'm going to Portugal tomorrow for a competition.

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Speaker 1: It's March, and Kelly's on the World Tour and he's

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Speaker 1: hoping to qualify for the Olympics.

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Speaker 6: The results from the World Tour feed into the Olympics,

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Speaker 6: so it's really essentially like a year long Olympic trials

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Speaker 6: and I need to make the top two from the

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Speaker 6: US and the men's in order to make the Olympics.

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Speaker 1: Kelly Slater is fifty two years old and the winningest

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Speaker 1: pro surfer of all time. He just barely missed making

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Speaker 1: the US team for surfings first Olympics in Tokyo in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. He really wants to make it in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 6: This would be my one and probably only Olympics that

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Speaker 6: I would ever do.

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Speaker 1: Kelly Slater met Mickey in the late nineties, right in

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Speaker 1: the middle of a streak in which Kelly won the

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Speaker 1: world title five years in a row. Mickey was spending

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Speaker 1: time in Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa, another perfect rite, another

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Speaker 1: stand in for Malibu. After he was released from prison,

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Speaker 1: Mickey kind of alternated between Gettorie, his spot in France,

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Speaker 1: and Jay Bay. His constant companion was a small King

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Speaker 1: Charles Spaniel named Scooter Boy after a hot dogging Hawaiian surfer.

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Speaker 1: Scooter Boy ate at the table from a plate. Mickey

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Speaker 1: was surviving on the kindness of others and the fumes

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Speaker 1: of his legend. The surf apparel company Quicksilver had come

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Speaker 1: to Mickey's rescue when he got out of prison and

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Speaker 1: appeared destitute, they paid him a monthly stipe, got him

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Speaker 1: a small apartment, and gave him a tab at a

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Speaker 1: local restaurant. In return, he agreed to be essentially their mascot,

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Speaker 1: showing up at parties and attending surf events. It was

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Speaker 1: more or less the same gig Gidget has at Dukes

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Speaker 1: in Malibu.

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Speaker 6: Over the years. I've told a few of the stories

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Speaker 6: that I know where Mickey did like rip people off

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Speaker 6: and treated people kind of badly, you know, And I

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Speaker 6: don't say those stories to like tarnish his image or

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Speaker 6: anything like that. To me, it was a defining part

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Speaker 6: of his personality and who he was, that he was

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Speaker 6: so paranoid and untrusting of other people. That it was

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Speaker 6: maybe because of his own skeletons, but you know, he

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Speaker 6: had all these tricks he would pull, and people who

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Speaker 6: knew him well would get ahead of his tricks.

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Speaker 1: Though Mickey was too scared after prison to pull any

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Speaker 1: serious scams, he was still seemingly incapable of paying for

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Speaker 1: his own meal.

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Speaker 6: One thing that comes mind is he lived in France

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Speaker 6: for a long time and he would go to dinner

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Speaker 6: with people there, and he always had this trick where

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Speaker 6: he'd show up at dinner with one hundred dollar US bill.

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Speaker 6: And at the time, it was French Francs, and you

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Speaker 6: couldn't just readily exchange a hundred dollars bill at any restaurant,

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Speaker 6: and so when the bill would call me, go oh,

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Speaker 6: all I have was one hundred dollars bill. And so

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Speaker 6: my friend's wife caught onto it. She goes, oh, I

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Speaker 6: know he's gonna pull that trick on us again this dinner.

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Speaker 6: So she brought enough money to exchange his one hundred

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Speaker 6: dollars bill in Frank's at dinner, and as soon as

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Speaker 6: he picked it up, when I have one hundred dollars bill,

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Speaker 6: she grabbed it out of his hand and goes, I

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Speaker 6: got changed for that.

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Speaker 1: Kelly was charmed by Mickey. It was incredible to meet

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Speaker 1: someone who had been there back at the birth of

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Speaker 1: California surfing. His little brother was a big Mickey Dora fan.

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Speaker 1: So the first time he met Mickey, Kelly asked if

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Speaker 1: he would sign a picture for his brother, and he

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Speaker 1: just like.

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Speaker 7: Went, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

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Speaker 6: No, Kelly, I really like you. He seemed like a

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Speaker 6: great guy. But I can't do that, and I said,

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Speaker 6: why not, you can like personalize it to my little brother.

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Speaker 6: You know, I'd probably signed a thousand autographs at any

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Speaker 6: particular event, and Mickey just said, no, you know, these

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Speaker 6: Japanese think that my autograph's worth five thousand dollars and

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Speaker 6: I can't change that. I can't let him down. And

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Speaker 6: what he meant by that was that every surfboard that

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Speaker 6: he signed, him and Greg Noel had a surfboard deal

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Speaker 6: together and they would sell these boards in Japan and

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Speaker 6: they would sell for about five thousand dollars. So he

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Speaker 6: equated his signature to being worth about five thousand dollars.

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Speaker 1: I guess Mickey's weirdness about signing, about giving any part

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Speaker 1: of himself away was a motif Kelly noticed. It might

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Speaker 1: have been the fact that in the forged passport case,

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Speaker 1: the FBI forced Mickey to submit hundreds of handwriting samples.

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Speaker 1: They were never able to get a match, but maybe

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Speaker 1: Mickey wasn't taking any chances. Sometime later, Kelly ran into

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Speaker 1: Mickey in France. Kelly was sponsored by Quicksilver. He'd been

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Speaker 1: invited to play a round of golf with Mickey, the

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Speaker 1: Quicksilver mascot and a couple of executives. At the end

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Speaker 1: of the round, Mickey and Kelly sat down for a

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Speaker 1: drink and Bruce Raymond, who ran Quicksilver International, passed around

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Speaker 1: the scorecard for everyone to sign, and.

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Speaker 6: Mickey gets up and goes to the bathroom. And I've

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Speaker 6: already told you this story about Mickey's autograph, but the

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Speaker 6: problem is that Bruce is basically his boss and the

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Speaker 6: oneer determines whether he gets a paycheck every month, and

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Speaker 6: he gets his travel and all that stuff. So I said,

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Speaker 6: you know, Mickey's not going to sign this, Bruce, and

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Speaker 6: he goes, he'll sign it, and I said, no, he

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Speaker 6: won't sign it. I'm telling you this will be a fight.

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Speaker 6: He goes, just put it in front of his seat

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Speaker 6: and when he gets back, he'll sign the scorecard. And

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Speaker 6: so after about he gets back and he sits there

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Speaker 6: for about five or ten minutes and he hasn't signed

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Speaker 6: it yet, and Bruce finally goes, Hey, Mickey signed the scorecard,

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Speaker 6: and Mickey goes, he just totally freaked out here, Who's

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Speaker 6: is this, Who's going to where's this going? I'm no,

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Speaker 6: I don't sign things. And Bruce real calmly goes Mickey

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Speaker 6: signed the score card, and he goes, well, where's this

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Speaker 6: going to go? Who's keeping this? And Bruce goes, don't worry, Mickey,

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Speaker 6: it's mine. I'll keep it. All gentlemen signed their scorecards.

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Speaker 6: You have to sign your scorecard.

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Speaker 1: Mickey agreed reluctantly.

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Speaker 6: And Bruce to this day has that scorecard framed on

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Speaker 6: his wall at home. He put it in a box

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Speaker 6: frame behind glass and I told him, I said, Bruce,

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Speaker 6: if you ever pass away before me, I want that

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Speaker 6: to go into my house.

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Speaker 1: During the golf game in France, Kelly had noticed that

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Speaker 1: Mickey's clubs were badly out of date.

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Speaker 6: After we had our drinks and he'd signed the scorecard,

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Speaker 6: and we're walking to our car and I said, Mickey,

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Speaker 6: you know you should probably get a new set of

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Speaker 6: golf clubs. I go, those things are like thirty years old.

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Speaker 6: You want to get a new set. And he goes,

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Speaker 6: what do you mean how am I going to get

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Speaker 6: a new set? And I said, I'll get you a

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Speaker 6: set of clubs. And he goes, well, if you're not

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Speaker 6: going to get me a set of clubs, I need

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Speaker 6: to make other plans. You need to let me know

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Speaker 6: right now, because I need to make some other plans.

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Speaker 6: And I said, Mickey, you haven't made plans of twenty

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Speaker 6: five years. I don't think you're worried about how long

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Speaker 6: this is going to take. I said, don't worry. I'll

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Speaker 6: send you a set of golf club and he goes, well,

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Speaker 6: how long is it.

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Speaker 8: Kind of taken?

239
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Speaker 6: But I said, I don't know. I got a friend

240
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Speaker 6: at a golf company and I'll order them and i'll

241
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Speaker 6: send him over here to you, and I think I

242
00:14:22,916 --> 00:14:25,916
Speaker 6: flew to California and within a few days I got

243
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Speaker 6: a fax from him. That was when we had faxes

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Speaker 6: in the late nineties, and it said, you know, if

245
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Speaker 6: the same thing, Kelly, if you're not going to be

246
00:14:32,756 --> 00:14:36,556
Speaker 6: able to get this set of golf clubs, you're gonna

247
00:14:36,556 --> 00:14:38,116
Speaker 6: have to let me know because I need to make

248
00:14:38,156 --> 00:14:39,876
Speaker 6: other plants, the same exact thing he had told me.

249
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Speaker 6: And I said, Mickey, I don't want to hear from

250
00:14:41,756 --> 00:14:43,956
Speaker 6: you again until you get your golf clubs.

251
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Speaker 9: Okay.

252
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Speaker 6: A month or so later, I got the clubs and

253
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Speaker 6: I sent him to him, and then he sent me

254
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Speaker 6: this fax and it said, Kelly, thank you, thank you,

255
00:14:52,436 --> 00:14:55,476
Speaker 6: thank you. These King Kobra Golf clubs have changed my life.

256
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Speaker 6: Signed to Mickey Dora. I had a really bad facts,

257
00:14:58,676 --> 00:15:00,556
Speaker 6: but I saved the facts and I have his signature

258
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Speaker 6: and stuff. But I'm almost positive that that fact has

259
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Speaker 6: faded to nothing now.

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Speaker 1: I was thinking that if you find your facts and

261
00:15:08,676 --> 00:15:12,196
Speaker 1: the signal has vanished, that would be like a perfect

262
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Speaker 1: Mickey from the Grave moment.

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Speaker 8: Yeah.

264
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Speaker 6: Really, yeah, he'd be like, I got you, I got you.

265
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Speaker 1: Mickey's greatest accomplishment, in the eyes of many of his admirers,

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Speaker 1: is that he managed to orient his life entirely around surfing.

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Speaker 1: He was free of the obligations that anchor most of

268
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Speaker 1: us to the shore. He didn't let anything or anyone

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Speaker 1: get in the way of his wave.

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Speaker 6: He told me, he goes, Kelly, I've almost made it,

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Speaker 6: and I said, what, he goes, I'm going to be

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Speaker 6: whatever age, sixty two years old, sixty three years old

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Speaker 6: next year, and I've never worked a day in my life.

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Speaker 6: And that was success to him, was never working. I

275
00:16:01,196 --> 00:16:03,476
Speaker 6: think that was very sincere, you know, like he felt

276
00:16:03,596 --> 00:16:06,476
Speaker 6: that was his accomplishment, that was his legacy. I got

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Speaker 6: all the way through life without ever having to work

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Speaker 6: a day of my life. He worked harder than he

279
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Speaker 6: probably would have had he just had a job, I.

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Speaker 10: Mean Chili on the coastline in a little town called

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Speaker 10: Pici Limo.

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Speaker 5: I'm in a little one bedroom hotel room. It's Mickey Dora.

283
00:16:41,996 --> 00:16:46,836
Speaker 1: That's Chris molloy, the former pro surfer and documentarian. It's

284
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Speaker 1: the year two thousand. Mickey has just left the room

285
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Speaker 1: to run an errand, and Chris has pulled out his

286
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Speaker 1: mini disc recorder.

287
00:16:56,916 --> 00:17:00,756
Speaker 5: It's been an interesting stay with Mick.

288
00:17:02,156 --> 00:17:04,116
Speaker 10: I feel like after a few days now, I can

289
00:17:04,156 --> 00:17:06,556
Speaker 10: ask him anything I want and he likes to talk

290
00:17:06,596 --> 00:17:08,676
Speaker 10: about it, and she's offended.

291
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Speaker 5: He just skips it and keeps going, doesn't get mad.

292
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Speaker 5: So far. We'll see I set the recorder up and

293
00:17:17,836 --> 00:17:24,956
Speaker 5: he seems to ignore it. Anwer Micky Dora.

294
00:17:32,836 --> 00:17:35,676
Speaker 2: I was living in Hawaii at the time, and my

295
00:17:35,836 --> 00:17:40,356
Speaker 2: friend he called me and then he said, hey, Mickey,

296
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Speaker 2: door's in town. I said, and he goes, I think,

297
00:17:43,236 --> 00:17:45,516
Speaker 2: you know, YouTube should get together, and I'm like, yeah,

298
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Speaker 2: that will never happen.

299
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Speaker 1: At his ranch on the Central Coast, Chris is describing

300
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Speaker 1: how he ended up traveling to Chile with Mickey Dora.

301
00:17:53,316 --> 00:17:56,836
Speaker 1: It was one of the last great adventures of Mickey's life.

302
00:17:57,596 --> 00:18:00,196
Speaker 2: At the time. I was living with my two brothers

303
00:18:00,196 --> 00:18:03,476
Speaker 2: on the North Shore right near pipeline. And I get

304
00:18:03,516 --> 00:18:05,836
Speaker 2: a phone call. And so this is when we just

305
00:18:05,876 --> 00:18:07,716
Speaker 2: had phone a phone on the wall, right, there's no

306
00:18:07,836 --> 00:18:09,076
Speaker 2: cell phones and stuff like that.

307
00:18:10,276 --> 00:18:12,276
Speaker 7: So I pick up the phone.

308
00:18:12,316 --> 00:18:12,796
Speaker 6: Hello.

309
00:18:13,476 --> 00:18:18,716
Speaker 2: He goes, who's this. That's rude, like you just called

310
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Speaker 2: me if I didn't say that. And I'm like, this

311
00:18:22,276 --> 00:18:24,836
Speaker 2: is Chris. Who's this? And he goes, Mick.

312
00:18:25,716 --> 00:18:27,436
Speaker 3: So I go.

313
00:18:29,916 --> 00:18:33,796
Speaker 2: Mick. Who He goes, it's Mick. And so now I

314
00:18:33,836 --> 00:18:36,156
Speaker 2: don't know who it is, and he goes, I heard

315
00:18:36,196 --> 00:18:36,956
Speaker 2: you're going south.

316
00:18:38,196 --> 00:18:41,876
Speaker 1: Chris was planning a trip to Antarctica to go surfing,

317
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Speaker 1: the kind of crazy surf odyssey that Mickey was famous for.

318
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Speaker 2: Anyway, so uh, he goes, well, I'm going to Chili

319
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Speaker 2: and I had never been to Chili, and he goes,

320
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Speaker 2: you want to go? And I didn't.

321
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Speaker 3: Still, I was like, I don't know who this is.

322
00:18:59,716 --> 00:19:02,036
Speaker 2: And I'm like, yeah, no, I'm not stopping in Chili, man,

323
00:19:02,076 --> 00:19:05,916
Speaker 2: I'm going from Lima to Ushiwaia or wherever we're you know,

324
00:19:06,036 --> 00:19:10,276
Speaker 2: my flight plan was. He goes, okay, bye, click, and

325
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Speaker 2: then I'm like kind of like making dinner. I go,

326
00:19:12,356 --> 00:19:13,516
Speaker 2: that was fucking Mickey Dora.

327
00:19:13,676 --> 00:19:14,396
Speaker 3: Ohle shit.

328
00:19:14,996 --> 00:19:18,316
Speaker 2: And so back then you could do the Star sixty nine.

329
00:19:18,756 --> 00:19:24,876
Speaker 2: So call I go chick jink jink Mickey. Yeah, Hey,

330
00:19:25,796 --> 00:19:28,876
Speaker 2: when do you want to fly? And so I changed

331
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Speaker 2: my whole flight plan.

332
00:19:30,836 --> 00:19:34,356
Speaker 1: Chris was born in nineteen seventy one. His generation of

333
00:19:34,396 --> 00:19:38,676
Speaker 1: surfers grew up in the era of established surf brands, competitions,

334
00:19:39,036 --> 00:19:43,156
Speaker 1: and an official professional surf league. He grew up and

335
00:19:43,196 --> 00:19:46,996
Speaker 1: started surfing and the Dora Lives era when Mickey had

336
00:19:47,076 --> 00:19:50,236
Speaker 1: vanished from Malibu, but traces of him lingered in the

337
00:19:50,276 --> 00:19:54,876
Speaker 1: writing on the wall. Chris grew up on a farm

338
00:19:54,996 --> 00:19:59,636
Speaker 1: in Ohi, California, about an hour from Malibu. He'd heard

339
00:19:59,676 --> 00:20:03,276
Speaker 1: the stories from his dad, who knew Mickey back in

340
00:20:03,316 --> 00:20:03,876
Speaker 1: the fifties.

341
00:20:04,876 --> 00:20:09,636
Speaker 2: My dad had served with them. I always loved surfing history,

342
00:20:09,716 --> 00:20:13,716
Speaker 2: so I was aware of the Dark Knight. And so

343
00:20:14,636 --> 00:20:17,316
Speaker 2: it's somebody you thought you'd never meet because he was

344
00:20:17,316 --> 00:20:20,196
Speaker 2: so elusive, you know, he was so elusive.

345
00:20:20,276 --> 00:20:21,356
Speaker 3: That was sort of if.

346
00:20:21,196 --> 00:20:25,676
Speaker 2: There's an adjective that might be the most appropriate for

347
00:20:26,156 --> 00:20:29,996
Speaker 2: meekless Dora is how elusive he was.

348
00:20:31,396 --> 00:20:33,916
Speaker 1: When Chris told his dad that he was going surfing

349
00:20:33,956 --> 00:20:37,596
Speaker 1: in Chile with Mickey Dora. His dad was not too thrilled.

350
00:20:38,836 --> 00:20:44,436
Speaker 2: Anybody that knew him didn't miss him.

351
00:20:44,716 --> 00:20:47,476
Speaker 1: Chris and Mickey agreed to meet at Lax and head

352
00:20:47,516 --> 00:20:51,316
Speaker 1: south from there. But first Mickey had a little job

353
00:20:51,356 --> 00:20:54,836
Speaker 1: for Chris. Mickey was going to send a surfboard to California.

354
00:20:55,396 --> 00:20:57,316
Speaker 1: He wanted Chris to pick it up and bring it

355
00:20:57,356 --> 00:20:57,996
Speaker 1: to the airport.

356
00:20:58,716 --> 00:21:01,396
Speaker 2: And I said, of course, you know, of course, and

357
00:21:01,236 --> 00:21:05,796
Speaker 2: and my dad said, keep your fucking wallet in your

358
00:21:05,796 --> 00:21:08,476
Speaker 2: front pocket. Then he took the border out of the

359
00:21:08,516 --> 00:21:12,236
Speaker 2: box and he held it up. It was nighttime. He

360
00:21:12,236 --> 00:21:14,916
Speaker 2: held it up to his headlights because he was convinced

361
00:21:14,956 --> 00:21:21,156
Speaker 2: that Mickey had like put contraband in the surfboard. He

362
00:21:21,276 --> 00:21:23,236
Speaker 2: was like, there's no way that this is on the

363
00:21:23,316 --> 00:21:23,796
Speaker 2: up and up.

364
00:21:25,676 --> 00:21:30,076
Speaker 1: Chris understood his role. Mickey had made it clear. Mickey

365
00:21:30,156 --> 00:21:33,636
Speaker 1: was sixty five years old and getting weaker. Chris was

366
00:21:33,676 --> 00:21:36,116
Speaker 1: there to carry his stuff like a caddy.

367
00:21:37,156 --> 00:21:41,836
Speaker 2: So we land in Santiago and I'm like, okay, this

368
00:21:41,916 --> 00:21:45,236
Speaker 2: is your trip, you know, and You're I'm coming at

369
00:21:45,276 --> 00:21:45,836
Speaker 2: your behs.

370
00:21:45,876 --> 00:21:47,156
Speaker 10: Okay.

371
00:21:47,316 --> 00:21:49,636
Speaker 2: I've never been a chip. I don't even know if

372
00:21:49,676 --> 00:21:53,716
Speaker 2: there's waves here. I don't know anything. And we land,

373
00:21:53,916 --> 00:21:57,636
Speaker 2: I load all his shit. Well, he's just standing there

374
00:21:58,356 --> 00:22:02,636
Speaker 2: and the cab drivers like, Okay, where are we going?

375
00:22:03,756 --> 00:22:09,356
Speaker 2: And he goes, well, take us to the take us

376
00:22:09,356 --> 00:22:14,316
Speaker 2: to the beach. And the guy's like, it's a big country,

377
00:22:14,396 --> 00:22:17,316
Speaker 2: like you know in Spanish, and he's.

378
00:22:17,156 --> 00:22:18,996
Speaker 3: Like, just just take us to the ocean.

379
00:22:19,756 --> 00:22:22,116
Speaker 2: And I'm like, I'm fucked, Like I don't even know

380
00:22:22,156 --> 00:22:23,916
Speaker 2: what I don't even know where we're going.

381
00:22:24,916 --> 00:22:27,716
Speaker 1: The cab driver took them four hours to pitch a lemu,

382
00:22:28,036 --> 00:22:30,036
Speaker 1: a surf spot on the coast.

383
00:22:30,396 --> 00:22:33,196
Speaker 2: Then we get to the first hotel, haul all of

384
00:22:33,236 --> 00:22:35,876
Speaker 2: my shit in there, haul all of his shit in there.

385
00:22:36,316 --> 00:22:40,596
Speaker 2: There's no hot water because we're not staying here, and

386
00:22:40,636 --> 00:22:43,116
Speaker 2: I'm like, yes we are. I'm like, we just flew

387
00:22:43,156 --> 00:22:47,596
Speaker 2: all night. I'm not, no, we're moving. So I got

388
00:22:47,636 --> 00:22:52,396
Speaker 2: everything out, freaking dragged it through the streets, found another hotel,

389
00:22:52,956 --> 00:22:56,356
Speaker 2: and yeah, he was a bit of a prince.

390
00:22:59,316 --> 00:23:02,916
Speaker 1: Mickey was high maintenance, but for Chris it was worth it.

391
00:23:03,556 --> 00:23:06,796
Speaker 1: He couldn't believe he was traveling and surfing with the

392
00:23:07,236 --> 00:23:12,916
Speaker 1: Mickey Dora, not just Prince the Dark Prince we had so.

393
00:23:12,956 --> 00:23:16,716
Speaker 2: Much like solitude, you know, And this is a short

394
00:23:16,716 --> 00:23:20,676
Speaker 2: period of time, but I was just locked on at

395
00:23:20,716 --> 00:23:24,156
Speaker 2: all times. We were in a hotel room and I

396
00:23:24,156 --> 00:23:27,076
Speaker 2: had been I was tired of listening to him talk,

397
00:23:27,156 --> 00:23:29,156
Speaker 2: and I wanted to go sleep, but I don't want

398
00:23:29,196 --> 00:23:32,516
Speaker 2: to miss anything. I didn't want, so I put on

399
00:23:32,516 --> 00:23:41,796
Speaker 2: my little mini disk.

400
00:23:43,676 --> 00:23:46,636
Speaker 3: It's hard to get vitamins in France, very difficult, is it.

401
00:23:46,676 --> 00:23:48,276
Speaker 3: I can't get anything of that. That's why you must

402
00:23:48,276 --> 00:23:49,636
Speaker 3: see them my nutcase. No, I don't.

403
00:23:49,636 --> 00:23:50,836
Speaker 7: I don't think in that case at all.

404
00:23:50,956 --> 00:23:54,516
Speaker 3: I just try to ward off any type of room.

405
00:23:54,756 --> 00:23:59,556
Speaker 3: Louis following rics from your movie to Fiji. And if

406
00:23:59,596 --> 00:24:00,956
Speaker 3: I got sick, man, I'm screwed.

407
00:24:02,636 --> 00:24:05,676
Speaker 1: It was an intimate experience being with Mickey like that,

408
00:24:06,116 --> 00:24:07,916
Speaker 1: one on one for two weeks.

409
00:24:09,636 --> 00:24:10,516
Speaker 3: Well you're doing well.

410
00:24:10,796 --> 00:24:13,236
Speaker 7: I can't believe you're sifting fire years old.

411
00:24:14,196 --> 00:24:16,636
Speaker 3: I can't believe it either. I don't know what happened.

412
00:24:16,636 --> 00:24:19,116
Speaker 3: It was like that. It was fun.

413
00:24:21,636 --> 00:24:26,116
Speaker 4: See, yeah, it's not the end.

414
00:24:28,836 --> 00:24:29,716
Speaker 3: I'm afraid silver.

415
00:24:34,436 --> 00:24:37,756
Speaker 1: In spite of his age and signs of infirmity, Mickey

416
00:24:37,836 --> 00:24:40,076
Speaker 1: was still an unbelievable surfer.

417
00:24:40,996 --> 00:24:45,916
Speaker 2: Yeah, we happened upon some incredible surf. There was this

418
00:24:46,276 --> 00:24:50,956
Speaker 2: left and it went from here to that ridgeline right there.

419
00:24:51,036 --> 00:24:53,596
Speaker 2: I'm not kidding. He gets us way from the top

420
00:24:53,636 --> 00:24:58,196
Speaker 2: all the way through and it's a left and I'm

421
00:24:58,196 --> 00:25:01,036
Speaker 2: at the bottom because I got the way before. And

422
00:25:01,836 --> 00:25:05,796
Speaker 2: he kicks out and I'm like, Mick, we did it,

423
00:25:07,276 --> 00:25:12,756
Speaker 2: and he goes, I fucking hate left. You just got

424
00:25:12,756 --> 00:25:16,036
Speaker 2: the most beautiful wave I've ever seen. And he's like,

425
00:25:16,396 --> 00:25:21,036
Speaker 2: we got to find it right. So, and that sums

426
00:25:21,236 --> 00:25:22,156
Speaker 2: Mickey Dora up.

427
00:25:23,396 --> 00:25:26,396
Speaker 1: The whole time they were together, Chris avoided talking about

428
00:25:26,396 --> 00:25:30,996
Speaker 1: his surf career. He'd read Mickey's rants about commercialization. He

429
00:25:31,036 --> 00:25:35,436
Speaker 1: didn't want Mickey to know he was a sellout a pro, so.

430
00:25:35,476 --> 00:25:37,676
Speaker 2: I hid the fact that I was a pro surfer

431
00:25:37,716 --> 00:25:42,636
Speaker 2: from him. Okay, he didn't know that I was a

432
00:25:42,676 --> 00:25:45,996
Speaker 2: pro serfer. Any loathed pro servers, even though he was

433
00:25:46,036 --> 00:25:49,916
Speaker 2: the prototype of a pro surfing right.

434
00:25:51,196 --> 00:25:54,916
Speaker 1: But Chris delicately inquired about the surf industry and what

435
00:25:55,036 --> 00:25:56,916
Speaker 1: Mickey thought about other pros.

436
00:25:57,876 --> 00:26:02,676
Speaker 9: I played tennis golf with these guys, Slater and Rabbit.

437
00:26:03,196 --> 00:26:06,516
Speaker 9: You know, they played with tennis and real good golf minutes.

438
00:26:07,196 --> 00:26:08,756
Speaker 9: But I don't get in involved with their lives. I

439
00:26:08,796 --> 00:26:10,556
Speaker 9: just you know, as a exercise.

440
00:26:10,636 --> 00:26:13,556
Speaker 3: And they're really decent to be no problem.

441
00:26:13,596 --> 00:26:14,076
Speaker 8: I mean I don't.

442
00:26:14,076 --> 00:26:16,436
Speaker 3: I don't tell them, you know how they should be relaxing,

443
00:26:16,436 --> 00:26:18,316
Speaker 3: and they don't tell me. So I mean it's let

444
00:26:18,316 --> 00:26:29,276
Speaker 3: them live, no big deal. But I mean I won't.

445
00:26:29,316 --> 00:26:32,996
Speaker 3: I would never do what they do. It's a whole

446
00:26:32,996 --> 00:26:37,796
Speaker 3: different way of looking at me. Who am I to say?

447
00:26:38,916 --> 00:26:41,796
Speaker 7: I think it's more like the industry that the businessmen,

448
00:26:41,836 --> 00:26:44,476
Speaker 7: that everyone in the sport, not the surfers. The surfers

449
00:26:44,476 --> 00:26:49,556
Speaker 7: are just opportunity to say, just take what's given to them.

450
00:26:49,836 --> 00:26:52,156
Speaker 11: You can't you relax? How can you do anything with

451
00:26:54,116 --> 00:26:56,956
Speaker 11: caravans or camera people and going everywhere you go and

452
00:26:56,996 --> 00:27:06,676
Speaker 11: you have no privacy nothing. I don't conserve that lifestyle ridiculous.

453
00:27:08,156 --> 00:27:11,116
Speaker 1: Chris kept his secret for two weeks, the whole time

454
00:27:11,156 --> 00:27:15,156
Speaker 1: they were together. But after Chris had left Jile, Mickey

455
00:27:15,196 --> 00:27:18,076
Speaker 1: discovered the truth at a local restaurant.

456
00:27:18,596 --> 00:27:22,476
Speaker 2: And there was there there's this poster of me surfing

457
00:27:22,516 --> 00:27:27,796
Speaker 2: the pipeline, and Mickey goes, wat's that And apparently he

458
00:27:27,876 --> 00:27:30,676
Speaker 2: tore it off the wall and threw it. I pretended

459
00:27:30,716 --> 00:27:33,476
Speaker 2: like it was on fire, and it was like I

460
00:27:33,516 --> 00:27:36,916
Speaker 2: thought I knew who that kid was. I felt so

461
00:27:37,076 --> 00:27:41,076
Speaker 2: bad and I'm like, in the same breadth though, I'm like,

462
00:27:41,116 --> 00:27:44,036
Speaker 2: fuck you, Mickey, Like you made money surfing. I made

463
00:27:44,116 --> 00:27:48,116
Speaker 2: money surfing and you made money and Chesthai Malibu, the

464
00:27:48,156 --> 00:27:51,596
Speaker 2: wave that you got pissed off was like twenty foot pipeline.

465
00:27:51,636 --> 00:27:53,476
Speaker 3: So what do you got?

466
00:27:53,716 --> 00:27:54,756
Speaker 2: What shit are you talking?

467
00:27:55,876 --> 00:27:59,596
Speaker 1: Mickey, Chris said was part of surfing's original sin.

468
00:28:00,796 --> 00:28:06,076
Speaker 2: He was complicit in what occurred at Malibou hugely. I

469
00:28:06,156 --> 00:28:09,316
Speaker 2: was able to take money from the man, no problem.

470
00:28:09,836 --> 00:28:12,476
Speaker 2: I did the dance. I was a dancing bear. I

471
00:28:12,676 --> 00:28:15,396
Speaker 2: was Otherwise I was going to be driving a bulldozer

472
00:28:15,876 --> 00:28:19,156
Speaker 2: for my dad. So it's like if I can put

473
00:28:19,196 --> 00:28:23,596
Speaker 2: on like a bright singlet and go, you know, do

474
00:28:23,716 --> 00:28:27,956
Speaker 2: the deal, and I'll get paid for it. Like I

475
00:28:27,956 --> 00:28:31,876
Speaker 2: I did what I did, I got work. And just

476
00:28:31,916 --> 00:28:35,116
Speaker 2: like when I sort of critique modern surfing and what

477
00:28:35,236 --> 00:28:39,236
Speaker 2: it's become, I have to accept my own complicity and it,

478
00:28:39,436 --> 00:28:42,996
Speaker 2: you know, because we made surf films and all that stuff.

479
00:28:43,036 --> 00:28:43,276
Speaker 3: You know.

480
00:28:47,756 --> 00:28:51,156
Speaker 2: There was a kind of an endearing moment where I

481
00:28:51,196 --> 00:28:57,596
Speaker 2: was leaving to head to Antarctica and I said, all right, Mick,

482
00:28:57,716 --> 00:29:00,196
Speaker 2: you know it meant a lot to me, you know.

483
00:29:00,596 --> 00:29:04,676
Speaker 2: And I'm heading out and he goes, I'm going to

484
00:29:04,716 --> 00:29:08,116
Speaker 2: go find that, right, all right, buy new swalks away.

485
00:29:11,716 --> 00:29:16,076
Speaker 1: So that was it. No sentimental moment, no nothing.

486
00:29:17,596 --> 00:29:20,116
Speaker 2: And then we're getting the track and I'm going to

487
00:29:20,156 --> 00:29:25,236
Speaker 2: the bus station and all of a sudden, I hear

488
00:29:25,276 --> 00:29:27,556
Speaker 2: this on the side of the truck. I would go

489
00:29:27,556 --> 00:29:28,156
Speaker 2: where it's Mick.

490
00:29:29,196 --> 00:29:31,836
Speaker 1: Mickey made up some excuse to join Chris on the drive,

491
00:29:32,476 --> 00:29:36,156
Speaker 1: but Chris didn't believe it. He could tell that Mickey

492
00:29:36,236 --> 00:29:39,396
Speaker 1: wasn't ready to say goodbye.

493
00:29:50,596 --> 00:29:53,196
Speaker 5: Might have to take these in case we lose each other.

494
00:29:56,236 --> 00:29:58,596
Speaker 5: Try it out. Just press the side, Yeah, press the

495
00:29:58,636 --> 00:29:59,236
Speaker 5: side and talk.

496
00:29:59,836 --> 00:30:01,916
Speaker 3: Oh why why it's not working?

497
00:30:02,156 --> 00:30:05,116
Speaker 5: Turn your ears on. Oh you're not pushing there.

498
00:30:05,116 --> 00:30:05,476
Speaker 2: You go.

499
00:30:09,316 --> 00:30:09,956
Speaker 3: Over and out.

500
00:30:14,716 --> 00:30:19,196
Speaker 9: Jerry's at three o'clock, I am like coming in loud

501
00:30:19,236 --> 00:30:19,636
Speaker 9: and clear.

502
00:30:21,676 --> 00:30:22,956
Speaker 5: Yes you are, sir.

503
00:30:23,276 --> 00:30:26,436
Speaker 12: I think I'm gonna need backup. Sending back up at

504
00:30:26,476 --> 00:30:32,396
Speaker 12: five o'clock, candle a thing for you. I haven't got

505
00:30:32,396 --> 00:30:33,636
Speaker 12: my welfare trick yet.

506
00:30:42,836 --> 00:30:43,676
Speaker 3: How do you turn him up?

507
00:30:45,996 --> 00:30:48,916
Speaker 1: Chris and Mickey stayed in touch after the trip. They

508
00:30:48,956 --> 00:30:52,116
Speaker 1: even had dinner in Santa Barbara, near Mickey's dad's house.

509
00:30:53,076 --> 00:30:56,836
Speaker 1: This must have been pretty soon before Mickey died. Chris

510
00:30:56,876 --> 00:30:59,716
Speaker 1: has a story about the dinner. I've heard a lot

511
00:30:59,756 --> 00:31:02,676
Speaker 1: of Mickey Dora stories by now, but this one is

512
00:31:02,756 --> 00:31:03,276
Speaker 1: my favorite.

513
00:31:06,076 --> 00:31:08,276
Speaker 2: Mickey had told me I'm going to find her right

514
00:31:09,436 --> 00:31:12,876
Speaker 2: in Chile when I left. But the way the Southern

515
00:31:12,956 --> 00:31:17,036
Speaker 2: Hemisphere works, all the swell comes this, it's all lefts.

516
00:31:17,716 --> 00:31:20,196
Speaker 2: There's a couple rights, but it's all lefts.

517
00:31:21,876 --> 00:31:25,036
Speaker 1: Remember Mickey had spurned that beautiful wave he and Chris

518
00:31:25,076 --> 00:31:28,076
Speaker 1: surfed in Chile because it was a left and Mickey

519
00:31:28,076 --> 00:31:28,956
Speaker 1: preferred to go right.

520
00:31:29,476 --> 00:31:36,956
Speaker 2: So we go to dinner and I took my brother

521
00:31:37,076 --> 00:31:40,756
Speaker 2: Keith with me. And my brother we look like twins.

522
00:31:41,236 --> 00:31:44,356
Speaker 2: So Keith has used the restaurant and he goes, who

523
00:31:44,436 --> 00:31:48,876
Speaker 2: is that? Who's that guy? It's my fucking brother. And

524
00:31:48,916 --> 00:31:50,916
Speaker 2: then he pulls out a slide and he goes, I

525
00:31:50,956 --> 00:31:55,676
Speaker 2: found the right. I found the right, and he's making

526
00:31:55,716 --> 00:31:58,956
Speaker 2: sure to do it before my brother gets back. And

527
00:31:58,996 --> 00:32:03,716
Speaker 2: he holds up this slide and it's a left that

528
00:32:03,796 --> 00:32:08,996
Speaker 2: he turned the slide backwards, like it's clearly backwards, and

529
00:32:09,196 --> 00:32:11,636
Speaker 2: he's like, I found it, like kind of like I

530
00:32:11,716 --> 00:32:14,276
Speaker 2: missed out on it, you know, and then my brother

531
00:32:14,316 --> 00:32:17,516
Speaker 2: comes back and he's like this stuffs it in his fucking.

532
00:32:20,836 --> 00:32:24,436
Speaker 1: For Chris, Mickey's surfing style is seductive, but it's his

533
00:32:24,596 --> 00:32:29,356
Speaker 1: attitude towards surfing that he admires most. Mickey represented the

534
00:32:29,396 --> 00:32:32,916
Speaker 1: rebel soul of surfing. Of course, he wanted to plug

535
00:32:32,956 --> 00:32:33,316
Speaker 1: into that.

536
00:32:34,476 --> 00:32:37,196
Speaker 2: My favorite surfers are the guys that are doing amazing

537
00:32:37,276 --> 00:32:44,276
Speaker 2: things in a subtle way. But really the thing about

538
00:32:44,356 --> 00:32:48,556
Speaker 2: Mick that is the most lasting it was fuck society.

539
00:32:50,076 --> 00:32:53,396
Speaker 2: It was fuck everybody. I'm going to do it whatever

540
00:32:53,436 --> 00:32:56,716
Speaker 2: I want, whenever I want, the way I want, and

541
00:32:56,756 --> 00:33:01,276
Speaker 2: that like that really, you know, if we go into

542
00:33:01,316 --> 00:33:05,436
Speaker 2: the sixties, seventies and even early eighties, you know, and

543
00:33:05,516 --> 00:33:09,396
Speaker 2: that carried on into punk rock and skating and and

544
00:33:09,476 --> 00:33:12,556
Speaker 2: roll and all that, you know, it was fuck everybody,

545
00:33:13,116 --> 00:33:15,116
Speaker 2: like I'm not going to do it your way. I'm

546
00:33:15,156 --> 00:33:17,636
Speaker 2: going to do it my way, you know, And it

547
00:33:17,676 --> 00:33:20,196
Speaker 2: doesn't It's not just in the water, it's on land.

548
00:33:21,236 --> 00:33:27,836
Speaker 2: That's the most lasting signature of Mickey Dora to me

549
00:33:29,036 --> 00:33:29,676
Speaker 2: do it my way.

550
00:33:33,276 --> 00:33:37,516
Speaker 1: Listening to Chris, I think he identifies with Mickey's disappointment too,

551
00:33:37,916 --> 00:33:40,636
Speaker 1: that the California of old is disappearing.

552
00:33:41,796 --> 00:33:45,116
Speaker 2: The ocean was a gift to him, as it is

553
00:33:45,156 --> 00:33:47,676
Speaker 2: for all of us, you know. I mean, he talked

554
00:33:47,716 --> 00:33:51,036
Speaker 2: to me about like riding horses up into the canyon

555
00:33:51,316 --> 00:33:56,196
Speaker 2: and catching trout to beach blanket bingo. And he watched

556
00:33:56,436 --> 00:34:00,516
Speaker 2: La turn into an absolute shit show and it pissed

557
00:34:00,596 --> 00:34:04,796
Speaker 2: him off to no end, as it should have. He

558
00:34:04,916 --> 00:34:08,676
Speaker 2: watched the La River turn into concrete and he said,

559
00:34:08,716 --> 00:34:11,476
Speaker 2: fuck y'all, I'm not cool with this.

560
00:34:14,676 --> 00:34:17,156
Speaker 1: There was one more story Chris wanted to tell me.

561
00:34:17,956 --> 00:34:20,156
Speaker 1: This one had stayed with him because it was so

562
00:34:20,276 --> 00:34:25,316
Speaker 1: mysterious and painful and unresolved, and it was about the

563
00:34:25,356 --> 00:34:30,116
Speaker 1: person in Mickey's family circle. You almost never hear about Ramona,

564
00:34:30,476 --> 00:34:33,836
Speaker 1: his mom, who Mickey seemed to worship as a little

565
00:34:33,876 --> 00:34:36,796
Speaker 1: boy and who had basically abandoned him.

566
00:34:38,396 --> 00:34:43,076
Speaker 2: One night, We're in this cabin where we were gifted

567
00:34:43,116 --> 00:34:46,116
Speaker 2: a place to say. I was staying on the couch

568
00:34:47,116 --> 00:34:50,036
Speaker 2: and he got the bedroom like there was a little bedroom.

569
00:34:52,636 --> 00:34:53,036
Speaker 3: And.

570
00:34:54,516 --> 00:34:54,996
Speaker 5: He was.

571
00:34:57,236 --> 00:35:01,436
Speaker 2: Besmirching his mother pretty heavily and saying how I never

572
00:35:01,476 --> 00:35:04,476
Speaker 2: got anything from her and that she didn't take care

573
00:35:04,516 --> 00:35:13,676
Speaker 2: of him, and I just listened, and that next morning

574
00:35:14,636 --> 00:35:19,476
Speaker 2: I wanted to go surfing and he wasn't up, and

575
00:35:19,516 --> 00:35:21,876
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, that's kind of curious. So I

576
00:35:21,956 --> 00:35:26,956
Speaker 2: went up and he was laying there awake, and there

577
00:35:26,996 --> 00:35:32,436
Speaker 2: was a picture of his mother with two candles on

578
00:35:32,516 --> 00:35:34,756
Speaker 2: each side.

579
00:35:35,596 --> 00:35:38,756
Speaker 1: Did you know if she was already dead at that point?

580
00:35:38,836 --> 00:35:38,996
Speaker 13: Oh?

581
00:35:39,156 --> 00:35:42,596
Speaker 5: She was long dead, right, Yeah.

582
00:35:41,556 --> 00:35:45,916
Speaker 2: But it was like that wasn't for show. He didn't

583
00:35:45,956 --> 00:35:48,316
Speaker 2: know I was going to climb the ladder up to

584
00:35:48,436 --> 00:35:52,916
Speaker 2: his little loft. It showed me that like he truly was,

585
00:35:52,956 --> 00:35:57,716
Speaker 2: like when he speaks in these sort of code and

586
00:35:58,676 --> 00:36:03,316
Speaker 2: is here nor there and then back again, like he

587
00:36:03,436 --> 00:36:07,236
Speaker 2: really that really was him. It wasn't all show, is

588
00:36:07,276 --> 00:36:12,716
Speaker 2: my point. I've been trying to figure that out since

589
00:36:12,796 --> 00:36:16,716
Speaker 2: two thousand. I don't know what the hell that worked out.

590
00:36:16,836 --> 00:36:20,796
Speaker 2: You know, he didn't say anything super mean spirited, but

591
00:36:20,876 --> 00:36:22,956
Speaker 2: it was like, my mom didn't take care of me,

592
00:36:23,156 --> 00:36:26,796
Speaker 2: you know, she basically you know, didn't didn't you know,

593
00:36:27,196 --> 00:36:34,956
Speaker 2: just turned me out, really, you know, And yeah, I've

594
00:36:34,996 --> 00:36:37,876
Speaker 2: never I really thought a lot about that, and I'm like, wow,

595
00:36:38,436 --> 00:36:43,236
Speaker 2: like that psychologically, like what it meant is that he

596
00:36:43,236 --> 00:36:48,516
Speaker 2: he was maybe venting because he was hurt by that,

597
00:36:48,636 --> 00:36:58,156
Speaker 2: you know, and wishes things would have been different. Maybe.

598
00:37:00,436 --> 00:37:04,116
Speaker 1: After the Chili trip, Mickey's health declined. He got a

599
00:37:04,156 --> 00:37:08,236
Speaker 1: diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. In November two thousand and one,

600
00:37:08,396 --> 00:37:12,356
Speaker 1: his patrons Quicksilver Bottom a round trip ticket back to California,

601
00:37:12,796 --> 00:37:18,356
Speaker 1: first class. The return portion was just a kindness. Everyone

602
00:37:18,436 --> 00:37:23,476
Speaker 1: knew Mickey was leaving France for good. Miklosch was still alive.

603
00:37:24,156 --> 00:37:27,116
Speaker 1: He lived another twenty years to the age of one

604
00:37:27,196 --> 00:37:31,596
Speaker 1: hundred and seven. So from France, Mickey went to Montecito

605
00:37:31,956 --> 00:37:35,876
Speaker 1: and spent his last days at his father's house, lying

606
00:37:35,996 --> 00:37:40,356
Speaker 1: naked in the sun. He died in early January two

607
00:37:40,356 --> 00:37:44,316
Speaker 1: thousand and two. He never went back to the beach

608
00:37:44,396 --> 00:37:47,556
Speaker 1: that made him famous. But on the day he died,

609
00:37:47,996 --> 00:38:00,796
Speaker 1: someone painted the wall at Malibu Dora Lives. But Mickey

610
00:38:01,476 --> 00:38:03,236
Speaker 1: still had a few tricks up his sleeve.

611
00:38:05,236 --> 00:38:07,236
Speaker 13: We found out after he died that he had four

612
00:38:07,316 --> 00:38:09,476
Speaker 13: hundred thousand dollars in US was bank acount out, but

613
00:38:10,396 --> 00:38:13,276
Speaker 13: he didn't go afterwards. He was living like a poor man,

614
00:38:13,356 --> 00:38:17,076
Speaker 13: and he, you know, went from hand to mouth and

615
00:38:17,276 --> 00:38:18,596
Speaker 13: acted like a poor person.

616
00:38:19,156 --> 00:38:21,796
Speaker 1: That's Bob Simpson, the lawyer who knew Mickey at the

617
00:38:21,876 --> 00:38:25,716
Speaker 1: end of his life. Mickey for years had pretended to

618
00:38:25,756 --> 00:38:29,956
Speaker 1: be destitute. That turned out to be another ruse in

619
00:38:30,036 --> 00:38:31,556
Speaker 1: a long line of ruses.

620
00:38:33,156 --> 00:38:35,796
Speaker 8: And the thing that's so strange about the whole Mickey thing,

621
00:38:35,876 --> 00:38:38,396
Speaker 8: he didn't have to do any of it. It was

622
00:38:38,436 --> 00:38:39,516
Speaker 8: all unnecessary.

623
00:38:40,636 --> 00:38:43,716
Speaker 1: This is Denny Auburg, the surfer who knew Mickey way

624
00:38:43,756 --> 00:38:45,396
Speaker 1: back in the fifties in Malibu.

625
00:38:46,556 --> 00:38:48,596
Speaker 8: Any dark thing that he did, he could have done

626
00:38:48,636 --> 00:38:55,396
Speaker 8: it in another way. His dad had money. He didn't

627
00:38:55,436 --> 00:38:57,356
Speaker 8: have to do it, you know. But that's that thing,

628
00:38:57,436 --> 00:39:01,476
Speaker 8: that little quirk where he just kind of like he

629
00:39:01,596 --> 00:39:03,516
Speaker 8: just wanted to see if he could get away with it.

630
00:39:03,556 --> 00:39:06,036
Speaker 8: I don't know. I don't I'm not a psychologist, but

631
00:39:07,716 --> 00:39:10,036
Speaker 8: like a lot of people to struck, you know.

632
00:39:18,356 --> 00:39:22,356
Speaker 1: Next time on Lost Hills, what Mickey left behind.

633
00:39:25,636 --> 00:39:31,716
Speaker 14: There are sixty four letters from all over the world

634
00:39:31,836 --> 00:39:33,756
Speaker 14: with addresses and stamps.

635
00:39:34,716 --> 00:39:35,956
Speaker 3: Wow, this is a dance.

636
00:39:36,636 --> 00:39:38,396
Speaker 14: Yeah. I had to let them sit for a couple

637
00:39:38,436 --> 00:39:41,116
Speaker 14: of weeks before I actually would open them to get

638
00:39:41,316 --> 00:39:43,156
Speaker 14: I'm head right, you know, to be sure I was

639
00:39:43,196 --> 00:39:44,836
Speaker 14: ready to read some of this stuff.

640
00:39:47,396 --> 00:39:50,756
Speaker 1: That's next In the final episode of the Dark Prince

641
00:39:51,356 --> 00:39:56,676
Speaker 1: a nasty piece of work. Lost Tills is written and

642
00:39:56,716 --> 00:40:00,276
Speaker 1: reported by me Dana Goodyear. It's created by me and

643
00:40:00,356 --> 00:40:04,156
Speaker 1: Ben Adair and produced by Western Sound and Pushkin Industries.

644
00:40:04,956 --> 00:40:07,956
Speaker 1: Subscribe to Pushkin Plus and you can binge the entire

645
00:40:08,036 --> 00:40:11,756
Speaker 1: season right now ad free. Find Pushkin Plus on the

646
00:40:11,756 --> 00:40:14,996
Speaker 1: Lost Tail show page in Apple Podcasts, or at pushkin

647
00:40:15,116 --> 00:40:16,916
Speaker 1: dot fm slash plus