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.”
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