Work from home. BE A YOGI! Torn bed sheet required.

Still looking for a way to run a business from home? Selling donuts didn't work for you? Resoling shoes just made a mess on your dining room table? Well, do you have an old bed sheet and a very large barrette? Be a Yogi. Not Yogi Bear. That would be silly. When listed in the phonebook you'd be alphabetically second. No, you need to be Yogi Alpha. See? "A" before "B" makes sense to me.

This ad is from the March 1934 Delineator. Imagine my dismay at finding this ad and thinking there was surely a whole slew of information online about this mesmerizing con-man only to find virtually nothing. I'm so disappointed. I was hoping to discover his name was Ted Smith and he was long ago proven to be a charlatan and was outed while spending his ill gotten gains on hookers and booze. Alas he just seems to be nothing more than leftover ephemera. I will share what I found.

At this site you'll find a large ad for Yogi Alpha from a 1934 Modern Mechanics. I'm thinking Omar Shariff would star in the film version of Yogi's life.

And then there's the following from a book I found on Google Books. An excerpt from Astrology: Science of Prediction 1945 by Sidney Kimball Bennett.

Shortly thereafter I received a letter from Mr. Proskauer. He wrote, in part:

"Dear Mr. Bennett,
Personally, and officially as Chairman of the Press Bureau of Parent Asscmbly No. 1, Society of American Magicians: permit me to congratulate you on the fairness of your Reply to Critics of Astrology as printed by you.

We were particularly pleased with your statements in Wynn's Astrology Magazine that astrologers who are worthy of the name should be examined and licensed by state boards, that 'phonies' should be barred by law from handing out boilerplate 'horoscopes' and that newspapers should be severely censured for accepting advertisements from 'Yogi Alpha' who, under the guise of being an astrologer, gives such predictions as 'You will marry the lady you
have in mind in the second week of May. next year.'

Another thing that pleased us was your expose of the astrological forecasts sold by Simmons of Chicago to the 'trade' [carnival 'astrologers") .. ..

Sincere people, entitled to their own opinions, are not the target for our guns. It's those fakers, who yearly steal large sums from the public, that we arc exposing and showing up in their true colors.. . .

The Federal Radio Commission's action in citing two stations for 'alleged broadcasting of improper astrological programs' should go a long way to warn every broadcast station in the country not to engage any astrologer who predicts definite future events, marriage, deaths, travel. etc, And your stating the Commission did right in these two instances should go a long way toward backing our campaign to prevent fakers from using the air. It is too bad the
innocent must suffer for the sins of the guilty."

Somebody was a little bent out about Alpha male Yogi. So, ol' Yogi was outed, but it wasn't long until another charlatan stepped into his shoes. Anyone remember EST, the Erhard Seminars Training founded and run by a car salesman? Two day seminar with the now famous "No you cannot leave the room to go to the bathroom" rule?

You know they're out there. Hoping to get a fool to part with their money.

Dear Sir,

I am a Prince in Nigeria whose father the King has died and I cannot access  his funds. With your help and bank account number...

You get the point. Yogi is just the old game but he had a costume. You could see him coming...all the way from San Diego, a hotbed of Yogis. Alpha males everywhere!

And hey, if the whole Yogi thing doesn't work for you there's always growing mushrooms in your basement. "Really officer, they're mushrooms. I sell them to the restaurant down the street and I also ship them across the border to Canada. That's where the Mushroom HQ is located."

I hope this has been useful. Be your own charlatan or maybe not. Just grow mushrooms in the shed. No bed sheet required.