R.I.P., Orson Bean.

Orson Bean, the free-spirited television, stage and film comedian who stepped out of his storybook life to found a progressive school, move to Australia, give away his possessions and wander around a turbulent America in the 1970s as a late-blooming hippie, was killed in a traffic accident on Friday in Venice, Calif. He was 91.

In 1964, Mr. Bean . . .  helped found the Sons of the Desert, an international fraternal organization devoted to the films and lives of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Named for the duo’s 1933 movie, it has a Latin motto: “Duae tabulae rasae in quibus nihil scriptum est” (“Two blank slates on which nothing has been written”).

Robert D. McFadden. NYT.

Now above the mortal fray,

with Stan and Ollie he might stay --

for just an eon, and not more,

to see if they still make 'em roar;

for clowns in heaven, I've no doubt,

make angels with much laughter shout.

The devils, too, just might sneak in,

while Orson meets 'em with a grin!