Pardon Rudy Lee
Pardon Rudy Lee
The Issue
In March 1965, a scant six months before the release of Conny Froboess’s “Gestern um dreiviertel Zehn”, former child star Rudy Lee (born Rudolph Ernest Wannberg), who had so memorably employed the Stella Adler Method Technique in his definitive portrayal of “Steady” Ware in the Micky Mouse Club television serial Annette, a full three years before Brando’s debut as Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar on Broadway (give or take thirteen years), and his best bud Lee Stone were frivolously charged with a series of trivial misdemeanours in Park City, Utah. Starving and desperate, they had merely broken into cars to grab anything they could to sell for money to buy food—an unarguably heroic act in their mano y mano with Death. With absolutely no regard given to Rudy’s celebrity, they (Rudy and Stone, not Death) were summarily incarcerated in the Utah State Prison like common hoodlums who had never been on TV. The anonymous young lady who had accompanied them on their crime spree, to whom Rudy was engaged, vanished from his life. His fall from grace complete, Rudy disappeared into pop culture oblivion and remains lost to this day.
We at the Pardon Rudy Lee campaign have one thousand, two hundred and forty-eight core demands, the seven most pressing of which are:
1. A full pardon for Rudy, down to the fourth generation of his offspring.
2. A full pardon for the other guy.
3. The police, prosecutors, judge, prison guards, etc. who put our boys away—and their descendants—to be callously cancelled across all social media.
4. Unbearable social pressure to be levied on the unknown lady whose crushing breaking-off of her engagement from Rudy resulted in the most unforgettably tragic love story of the past hundred years. (Not counting Britney and Jason.)
5. All the world’s combined investigative might to be focused on uncovering what happened to Rudy, including such questions as When was he released from prison?, What did he do then?, and Is he still alive?
6. Half-price carbonated beverages in all self-respecting dining establishments in Park City.
7. World peace.
Rudy Lee is more than just a disgraced child actor and criminal. He’s a symbol—of all that America has always had the potential to become, but never does.
72
The Issue
In March 1965, a scant six months before the release of Conny Froboess’s “Gestern um dreiviertel Zehn”, former child star Rudy Lee (born Rudolph Ernest Wannberg), who had so memorably employed the Stella Adler Method Technique in his definitive portrayal of “Steady” Ware in the Micky Mouse Club television serial Annette, a full three years before Brando’s debut as Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar on Broadway (give or take thirteen years), and his best bud Lee Stone were frivolously charged with a series of trivial misdemeanours in Park City, Utah. Starving and desperate, they had merely broken into cars to grab anything they could to sell for money to buy food—an unarguably heroic act in their mano y mano with Death. With absolutely no regard given to Rudy’s celebrity, they (Rudy and Stone, not Death) were summarily incarcerated in the Utah State Prison like common hoodlums who had never been on TV. The anonymous young lady who had accompanied them on their crime spree, to whom Rudy was engaged, vanished from his life. His fall from grace complete, Rudy disappeared into pop culture oblivion and remains lost to this day.
We at the Pardon Rudy Lee campaign have one thousand, two hundred and forty-eight core demands, the seven most pressing of which are:
1. A full pardon for Rudy, down to the fourth generation of his offspring.
2. A full pardon for the other guy.
3. The police, prosecutors, judge, prison guards, etc. who put our boys away—and their descendants—to be callously cancelled across all social media.
4. Unbearable social pressure to be levied on the unknown lady whose crushing breaking-off of her engagement from Rudy resulted in the most unforgettably tragic love story of the past hundred years. (Not counting Britney and Jason.)
5. All the world’s combined investigative might to be focused on uncovering what happened to Rudy, including such questions as When was he released from prison?, What did he do then?, and Is he still alive?
6. Half-price carbonated beverages in all self-respecting dining establishments in Park City.
7. World peace.
Rudy Lee is more than just a disgraced child actor and criminal. He’s a symbol—of all that America has always had the potential to become, but never does.
72
Petition created on 29 August 2020