John Leslie Coogan (October 26, 1914 – March 1, 1984) was an American actor and comedian who began his movie career as a child actor in Charlie Chaplin’s film classic The Kid (1921).  This made him one of the first child stars in film history.
 
 
 
 

Later on he sued his mother and stepfather over his squandered film earnings and provoked California to enact the first known legal protection for the earnings of child performers, widely known as the Coogan Act. Coogan continued to act throughout his life, later earning renewed fame in middle age portraying Uncle Fester in the Addams Family.

Last week I went to a seminar on Chiron by Brad Kochunas at SOTA in Cheektowaga, New York.  He gave the history of Chiron from its astronomical discovery to its astrological descriptions showing how originally it was supposed to mean “maverick” and then someone with the advent of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, both coming out the year before, changed that to “culture changer.”

I had to agree with Kochunas that the amount of ideas, names and identities to Chiron is mind boggling and often stymies me as well on how to use him, but “culture changer,” or “breaker” rang home for the next slide was the album Never Mind the Bollocks by Johnny Rotten and I remembered how the 70’s had an ongoing rivalry between Poco, the Allman Brothers,  and the Eagles vs. Ramones,  and the Sex Pistols & the Clash.  Of course it was not that simple, there was Disco and Saturday Night Fever that perhaps influenced Close Encounters and all the coloured lights, but that was really another venue and not a major change in pop music.

 
 

Looking at Jackie Coogan’s chart, it is very noticeable that Chiron, our culture maker-breaker is right on his first house conjunct his Ascendant in Koch format.  The time is from Elbert Benjamine and the Church of Light via Coogan’s mother.  The other on Astro.com is at 3:00 pm; we are going with Mom.
His Grand Trine does not fit the typical quadruplicity rules: the sun is fixed water in Scorpio, Uranus is in its Lord in fixed air in Aquarius but Pluto (also not discovered until Coogan started his petition on September 26 1936) is in cardinal water in the fourth house, sort of suggesting that he woke up and got that trine active.  Coogan is a Splay temperament type.

Zain notes:

1. In 1919 Jackie gamed fame playing the Kid in Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid.   His Sun is square Uranus RX in the 5th and Mercury is conjunct Mars in different houses, Mars in creative Scorpio and Mercury in his higher calling of Sagittarius showing he will suffer some hard knocks as he matures.
2. 1925 At 11 years of age, Jackie left the movies for ten years.  He has Sun square Jupiter RX and Venus sextile Jupiter RX.
3. In 1937, now 23, Jackie went on a vaudeville tour.  Venus transiting conjunct Venus RX.
4. Next year, May 15 1938, Jackie sued without avail mother and stepfather for an accounting of the money he had earned.  Venus is the Court conjunct Venus natal, Mercury in the 2nd, square Uranus Rx.
5. He won on appeal in 1939 and the Coogan Law was put into effect to protect figure young actors from finding themselves in the same situations as Jackie.  Unfortunately this edition of the law was flawed.

1. It was not until 2000, nearly twenty years after Chiron was discovered, that the Coogan Law was updated that 15% of all minor’s earning must be set aside in a blocked trust account commonly called the Coogan account.