Barrel Cactus

 

In the 1940’s, there were rumors of a hermit living in a cave under one of the Ls in the Hollywood sign. He mostly kept to himself, but in 1947, the hermit tried to get backstage at L.A.’s Lincoln Theater. He had something to give Nat King Cole, who was performing there. No one dared let him get anywhere near the singer, but the man handed his gift to Cole’s manager before leaving. The gift was a tattered song sheet for “Nature Boy,” which the hermit had written about himself. When Nat King Cole eventually saw the song, he liked it and wanted to record it, but first he had to track down the author and get written permission. “Nature Boy” became one of Nat King Cole’s biggest successes, topping charts for fifteen weeks. RKO Pictures reportedly paid the hermit $10,000 for permission to use the haunting song in the 1948 movie “The Boy with the Green Hair.”