SINA Newsletter. G. Clifford Prout was a man with a mission, and that mission was to put clothes on all the millions of naked animals throughout the world. To realize his dream, Prout founded an organization called the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, abbreviated as SINA. (It was left unexplained why the society was ‘for indecency’ not ‘against indecency’.)

Prout first appeared before the American public to promote his unusual organization on May 27, 1959 when he appeared on NBC’s Today Show. His appearance generated a huge viewer response and soon thousands of letters were pouring in to SINA’s headquarters (Prout had provided a New York mailing address while on the air).

More interviews followed after the success of this first appearance. Wherever he went Prout promoted his anti-animal-nudity philosophy and repeated his society’s catchy slogans: “Decency today means morality tomorrow” or “A nude horse is a rude horse.” Prout also urged SINA members (he claimed there were over 50,000 of them) to take an active role in their communities by handing ‘SINA Summonses’ to people who shamelessly walked their naked pets down the street.

So was Prout and his quixotic mission for real? Of course not. SINA was actually the creation of the comedian (and professional hoaxer) Alan Abel who played the role of SINA’s Vice President, while actor Buck Henry performed as Prout.

The SINA hoax ran on for years. People were either outraged by it, or quite supportive of it. Abel records that one woman in Santa Barbara tried to donate $40,000 to the cause (Abel politely turned down the money, insisting that the bylaws of SINA forbade him from taking any money from strangers). But surprisingly few called the bluff of Abel and Henry. Apparently almost everybody was willing to accept that such a society could be real.

On August 21, 1962 SINA reached a high point when it was featured on the CBS news with Walter Cronkite. As the segment was airing, a few CBS employees recognized that Prout was actually Buck Henry. Henry was, after all, a CBS employee. This brought a formal end to the hoax. But Abel managed to keep the joke going for a few more years by means of a SINA newsletter mailed to the faithful. The newsletter included features such as press releases and sewing patterns for pet clothes.

References

• Alan Abel. The Great American Hoax. New York: Trident Press. 1966.
• Alan Abel. The Confessions of a Hoaxer. New York: Macmillan Company. 1970.

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