She is flirtatious, and able to get men to do her bidding. I guess it's hard to imagine that your beloved one has faded into nothingness, so religion brings you a certain psychological comfort in knowing that there's such a thing as a soul and that, depending on a man's life, it gets the treatment it deserves. Elizabeth Taylor, Best Actress winner for Butterfield 8. WebElmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) is a slick traveling salesman who is a boozer and a dog hound. Elmers lawyer outwits Hetties lawyer, and she is forced to withdraw the charges she made against him and state that she was part of a plot by the liquor interests to ensnare him. British guitarist and vocalist. JayDee's Movie Musings - Page 106 - Movie Forums International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, "Elmer Gantry, a Flawed Preacher for the Ages", "The Censorship Crusade: A Story For Banned Books Week | Americans United", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elmer_Gantry&oldid=1142298283, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, A 1970 Broadway musical adaptation, titled. It also underscores what Lewis saw as one of the greatest dangers in American societythe tendency toward excess not only in religion but also in production, consumption, patriotism, and the proliferation of institutions . Im grateful to them for proving the book. Very few observers, however, thought that he had been as fair and dispassionate as he pretended; one comparatively balanced review of the novel was entitled Red Lewis in a Red Rage, and his former professor William Lyon Phelps declared in an interview that the book must have been written when Lewis was literally foaming at the mouth . Edwin Muir was one of the few critics who found some complexity in Lewiss attitude toward his central character; he thought this complexity was due to the division of intentions which was evident in other Lewis novelsLewis wanted to write both a satire and a novel, to indict his hero and to sympathize with him at the same time. Elmer Gantry For the most part, he does not create complex human portraits but caricatures. Starring Shirley Jones Arthur Kennedy Burt Lancaster Patti Page Jean Simmons. After the fire and Sharons death, Elmer is conscience-stricken. The following was written for REL 360: Popular Culture/Public Humanities. In Elmer Gantry, Sinclair Lewis uses the character of Elmer Gantry to represent, without nuance or ambiguity, what he viewed as the prototypical evangelical minister of his day: ambitious and charismatic; driven by his lust for women, money, and power; and completely unrepentant in his scorn for those who believe in the faith he deceptively proclaims. The journey of Judge Joan Lefkow Hartford Courant Elmer escapes by knocking other people out of the way, but Sharon is burned to death. The Chickasha Daily Express (Chickasha, Okla.), Vol. 57, No. 175, Gaining and keeping followers is the key to the success of any religion, and religious leaders must recognize this and figuratively, though sometimes literally, sell the religion. Harry Zenz does not believe a word of what he is taught at the seminary. A brooding look at revivalist religion in which the over-the-top acting of Burt Lancaster steals the show . He is a born salesman well versed with the bible. Gantry is an over-the-top opportunistic traveling salesman who teams up with evangelist Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) to promote religion in 1920's America. 14, Twayne, 1962, pp. Judson Roberts is an evangelist who is the state secretary of the Y.M.C.A. He starts to teach Prosperity classes on his own but cannot make a living from them. On the trip to his new church, he gets drunk and carouses with women; he is discovered and is dismissed from the seminary. His flamboyant preaching style makes a big impression on the small town. He is a complete hypocrite and a complete opportunist. She is certainly not the saintly evangelist she presents herself to be, and she maintains a smug sense of superiority over the common folk she seeks to save. Elmer Gantry shows the necessity and sincerity involved in these functions, as well as the dangers of falling into the trap of hypocrisy and greed, through its highly humanized leads, Elmer Gantry and Sister Sharon Falconer. The debate between fundamentalists and liberals is conducted amongst the students at Mizpah. He raises money to build a new church. After two more "Elmer Gantry" United Artists Simon received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her performance as a runaway housewife in "The Happy Ending" (1969), Other Protestant groups also get their share of abuse, as do the Jews and the Catholics. He just didn't do subtle very well, as his acting tends to magnify the focus on himself--which, once again can be either good or bad. . Gantrys fame continues to grow, and he is soon preaching at churches across America. Finally, in the summer of 2005 I took a look after seeing several Burt Lancaster films and being reminded how good an actor he was. The steady accumulation of damning portraits of those whose spiritual home is the Protestant church, and the lack of any serious counterweight to them, led Rebecca West, in a hostile review of Elmer Gantry that first appeared in 1927, to write that Lewis lacked the necessary requirement of the satirist, which was to fully possess, at least in the world of the imagination, the quality the lack of which he is deriding in others. Wests point was that Lewis effectively exposes the charlatans and the way they misuse their power, but fails to show how that religious power might better be used. He would be the executive of that combination; he would be the super-president of the United States, and some day the dictator of the world [409]. Amplifying and connecting marginalized voices, Dance as deep listening: Weave by Rosy Simas Danse comes to the Ordway, Ritual and revelation: Black Ensemble Players reimagine Shakespeare, North Minneapolis takes back food systems, land through urban agriculture, Ha Tien Market still finds home along the Green Line, despite problems, St. Pauls school resource officer policies still leave district room for improvement, Hiawatha Collegiate High School goes beyond beating the odds for students of color, [COMMUNITY VOICES] Non-criminal technical violations are increasing Minnesotas prison population, Community Voices: [PHOTOS] Minneapolis comes out strong for Families Belong Together nationwide march, IGGERS DIGEST | Katar River: flavors and aromas of Ethiopia. Mrs. Gantry is Elmers mother. Known as the enfant terrible of the Methodist church, he is ruthlessly critical of others. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of Gantry is portrayed as a smooth talking but frustrated salesman, struggling to make a living. These help her to put on a dramatic show that wins many converts. Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) is a slick traveling salesman who is a boozer and a dog hound. What has educated Elmer (a few books, oratory, sermons, tracts, hymns, and a smattering of a college education) must be ridiculed in order to purge it from the land. Indeed, why doesnt he? He sees her as a conquest. The relentless, unrelieved exposure of religious hypocrisy, while amusingly presented in parts, tends to become wearying. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there were many evangelists, like Elmer and Sharon Falconer in the novel, who traveled around the country conducting revival campaigns for large audiences. Elmer himself had owned two volumes of Conan Doyle, one of E. P. Roe, and a priceless copy of Only a Boy. His literary inspirations were McGuffeys Readers, Nick Carter, Bible stories, and such stock characters as Little Lame Tom who shamed the wicked rich man that owned the handsome team of grays and the pot hat and led him to Jesus. It might seem that the last thing in the world Lewis wanted was sympathy for Elmer Gantry, whom he regarded, he told Allen Austin years later, as a hypocrite through and through. Yet he wrote in the Nation in 1928, Actually, I like the Babbitts, the Dr. Pickerbaughs, the Will Kennicotts, and even the Elmer Gantrys rather better than anyone else on earth. Furthermore, he told Betty Stevens that the Babbitts were my children and I wanted to reform them. While Gantry seeks and eventually gets forgiveness from Sharon, tragedy strikes when she finally manages to get out of her revivalist tent and opens a permanent church. For the evangelists, the irrational is valued more highly than the rational, but for the novelist, the reverse holds true. Those who believe in the doctrines of the church are presented as fools or morons, and are easy targets for malicious fun. Afterward, he must resign himself to helplessness for the rest of his life. It is clear that the revivals rely on the approval and demand of the public and that the revivals certainly could not survive without the support of a large number of congregants; however, there are several points in the film in which it appears the congregants are being taken advantage of by town and religious leaders. Nothing reveals Lewiss isolation from an overview of life more clearly than the way he dismisses religion. Transforming the community and its residents is the main goal of Northside food system organizers, who are using food as a tool to aid in that transformation. And yet Lewiss attitude to his character is a little more complex than this long list of his faults might suggest. It applied the methods of historical and literary analysis in order to determine the authorship, date and place of composition of the books of the Bible. A hundred and eleven people died that night, including all the gospel-crew save Elmer.. Later, he is kidnapped and beaten nearly to death, an episode that leaves him blinded. But was booted out of seminary for seducing the preachers daughter, Lulu Baines (Shirley Jones). He also raised large amounts of money at his meetings, and like Elmer Gantry, he was one of he first evangelists to spread his message through the new technology of radio. Elmer thinks he is fat and pompous, but respects him nonetheless. They were intended to feed the American dream, but instead fashioned the nightmareout of books! During the opening service, with a crowd of more than four thousand, fire breaks out. Elmers next position is at a church in Monarch. Web1. But what did he know of the forces which cause wars, personal or class or national; what of drugs, passion, criminal desire; of capitalism, banking, labor, wages, taxes; international struggles for trade, munition trusts, ambitious soldiers? Laws, the number of times youve explained! His portrait of a golden-tongued evangelist who rises to power within his church-a saver of souls who lives a life 12630. But we sure view it differently 80 years after the book and 55 years after the movie debuted. We're confident we succeeded and have no doubt you'll agree. Schorer also says that, while researching the book, Lewis attended two or three church services every Sunday while in Kansas City, and that: "He took advantage of every possible tangential experience in the religious community." After Sharon dismisses him in favor of Elmer, Cecil tries to conduct a rescue mission in Buffalo. ." He advises Elmer not to denounce vice directly, by naming names and giving addresses of illegal drinking places, because the owners of such buildingswho of course have no knowledge of any illegal activitiesare often leading church contributors and attacking them would jeopardize their support for the church. WebVoila! But the only good ministers of the Gospel seem to be those who, like Dr. Bruno Zechlin, the Old Testament scholar at Mizpah, have given up their religious beliefs. Lewis seems to have had a particular loathing of the conversion experience that is so central to Protestant spirituality. He seeks out Shallard, who has largely given up his faith but has been persuaded by a Methodist pastor to continue in the ministry and is now at a church in Zenith. He became known in the 1920s for his books that satirized the spartan materialism and intolerance that Aubrey holds a Ph.D. in English and has published many articles on twentieth century literature. Who was elmer gantry? Explained by Sharing Culture In Zenith, when a group of local clergymen meet as the Committee on Public Morals, they reveal a distinct lack of brotherly love amongst themselves: They all detested one another. He became a Presbyterian preacher, and was famous for his energetic, fiery sermons in which he denounced liberalism, the theory of evolution, and the evils of drinking. This site built with Project Largo from INN and proudly powered by WordPress. Many of my neighbors and friends see the furious posts on Facebook, with all the hysterical warnings about the imminent destruction of public education as we know it, and are honestly confused. Elmer Gantry In Bible stories, in the words of the great hymns, in the anecdotes which the various preachers, quoted, he had his only knowledge of literature. Lewis exercises his bitterness against the failures of the church by making the church itself accountable for Elmers being no better educated. He is a gigantic, larger-than-life character. But Frank rages on at the inconsistencies in doctrine, the contradictions in the Bible, the evil men who are ministers, and the fools and dullards who work about him in Zenith: Gantry, Bishop Toomis, Chester Brown, Hickenlooper, and PottsPotts especially, who gets his idea of human motives out of George Eliot and Margaret Deland, and his ideas of economics out of editorials in the Advocate, and his idea as to what he really is accomplishing out of the flattery of his Ladies Aid! Frank adds that he doesnt find Jesus an especially admirable characterJesus was more vain and furious than a leader should be. Elmer Gantry and A Little About Race - Studying Religion in Culture The novel is absorbing, and I should like to say a few words about it. ), Elmers friend Jim Lefferts, a freethinker, has a somewhat wider list than Elmer: an encyclopedia, Pickwick, Swinburne, Ingersoll, and Paine. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. Lancaster's performance is so rich, so real, that the viewer knows this man, knows what Gantry smells like (sweat and eau de cologne) and what he eats (big slabs of beef). How long would a drunkard listen to the counsel of one who had never been inside a saloon? Gantrys pugnacious sermons quickly make him popular in Zenith, but the workload soon overwhelms him and alienates him from Cleo. If "Elmer Gantry" worked better than most was largely due to Brooks ability to tell a rattling good yarn at a cracking pace and to the performances of a superb cast. He meets Elmer on a steamer home from Europe and invites him to lecture on behalf of Napap. Even Gantry wouldnt have been such a bad fellow if hed been, say, a salesman. Only a very curious moral outlook could have permitted the creator of such a monster as Elmer Gantry to say that his characters lack of a sense of decency would not have been objectionable if he had changed his profession . Singer Patti Page in her first film role, with Burt Lancaster, in "Elmer Gantry", Opening title of "Elmer Gantry" (1960), directed by Richard Brooks, Richard Brooks directs Burt Lancaster and Shirley Jones in "Elmer Gantry", Jean Simmons & Lancaster: Italian movie poster for "Elmer Gantry", Shirely Jones (2nd from left) & Lancaster (far right), with Oscars, 1961, Lancaster as Elmer Gantry: "When I was a child, I understood as a child", Rosy Simas of Rosy Simas Danse is Haudenosaunee, Seneca, Heron Clan. Thats Elmer Gantry. Everyone congratulates him on his conversion. Elmer Gantry and Sister Sharon Falconer, the two main religious leaders of the film, are portrayed as morally dubious though Gantry has a small redemption and Falconer clearly truly believes in her cause. MAJOR WORKS: This film is not only good; it misses being great by a narrow margin. Gantrys conversion makes him the talk of the campus, and Jim soon moves out. Modern, yet extreme examples of this include ISIS, a violent terrorist organization that is somehow able to recruit privileged teens from Western countries, and the Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ, which used liberal ideology to attract minorities and young people. After North invites him to lecture for Napap, Elmer is filled with ambition to combine all the moral organizations in America, with himself as the leader. With a long line of charismatic cinematic rogues to his credit, Burt Lancaster pulls off a barnstorming performance as Elmer Gantry, the salesman turned opportunistic evangelist whose fast-talking pitch scarcely slackens, off-stage or on. Nellie Benton is Jim Lefferts girlfriend when he is a student. He has been educated by Roger Williams, Adoniram Judson, Luther, Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, George Washington, Lincoln, Robert Ingersoll, William James, and Frasers Golden Bough. Cecil Aylston is Sharon Falconers assistant. It is the call! He follows her to her bedroom where he sees a couch high on carven ivory posts, covered with a mandarin coat; unlighted brass lamps in the likeness of mosques and pagodas; gilt papier-mch armor on the walls; a wide dressing-table with a score of cosmetics in odd Parisian bottles; tall candlesticks, the twisted and flowered candles lighted; and over everything a hint of incense. She gives him a robe for the service of the altar. Leap Of Faith He also analyzes the characterization and structure of the novel and Lewiss occasional failure to integrate his story-telling with the social facts he presents. Buy, Sell, and Trade your Firearms and Gear. In the novel, when Elmer takes up his first appointment in a small-town Methodist church, one of the first questions the fundamentalist trustees asks him is, Do any monkeying with this higher criticism? Against the tide of modernist thought that included science and secularism, fundamentalists insisted on the truth of their core doctrines, including the virgin birth, the physical resurrection of Jesus, the atonement, the infallibility of the Scriptures, and the second coming of Christ. Another famous name was Aimee Semple McPherson (18901944), a female evangelist who clearly resembled the fictional Sharon Falconer. A lady runs by Elmer in a blue jacket, and her jacket is on fire. but I have my doubts ", Wow! He urges Elmer to become a minister. Concerning about some preachers exact wealth and power from their congregration . Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window). Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. British actress Jean Simmons as Sister Sharon, the evangelist Elmer falls for is similarly too airy. Elmer Gantry appears as a minor character in two later, lesser-known Lewis novels: The Man Who Knew Coolidge and Gideon Planish. There are glimmers of this in Sister Sharon Falconer, like when she admits that she knows Gantry is lying but allows him to continue preaching because she believes it is for the greater good. After exposing the professors secret, Gantry receives an anonymous gift of thirty dimes, which he uses to buy photographs of strippers. Eddie Fislinger is a student at Terwillinger College and the president of the Y.M.C.A. After dinner, the drunken Elmer picks a fight with a man who is heckling Eddie Fislinger, a fellow Terwillinger College student, as he preaches to an outdoor crowd. you have to deal with a lot of these two-by-four hick preachers with churches about the size of woodsheds and getting maybe eleven hundred a year, and yet they think they have the right to make suggestions! In Zenith, Elmer meets Bishop Toomis, a prominent figure in the Methodist Church. They are encouraged by Dr. Zechlin, who tells him that no reasonable person can be a believing Christian; nevertheless, he ought to stay in the church to liberalize it from withinin effect, to destroy it. He does not really hate sin, because it is useful to him: the more vice he can discover and denounce, the more his reputation as a man of God grows. Bishop Wesley R. Toomis is a bishop in the Methodist Church who has a great reputation as an orator and thinker. WebJones had probably read in the library at Schofield Barracks or from Lowneys collection Sinclair Lewiss Elmer Gantry, a satirical novel about a hypocritical revival preacher. The film is beautifully visual and as Elmer Gantry's past comes haunting again to tarnish the tent revival and watch Gantry and Sister Sharon fall again. He is known in his church for his piety, but in fact he is an atheist. I can kiss you like this Quickly she touches his cheek, Yes, or passionately, terribly passionately, and it would only symbolize my complete union with Jesus! Fascinating - 1960's "Elmer Gantry," based on the Sinclair Lewis novel, could be made today with nothing changed and be as powerful - maybe more powerful - than it was in 1960. Lewis made the point that Protestantism has nurtured America in the same way it has nurtured Elmer. There are several other minor characters who are introduced with no apparent purpose other than to serve as victims of the authors anti-religious inclination. Anywhere. Elmer (Courtesy of Degebo, Berlin, Germany.) She is also a pious churchgoer who has always wanted Elmer to become a preacher. He is friendly but self-important; everyone thinks he is popular, but in fact he has almost no friends. Harry Zenz vehemently disagrees with Eddie. Traveling in the Southwest, he is beaten and blinded. Shirley Jones won an Oscar for best supporting actress in her role as the woman who can bring Gantry down. Novels for Students. He wears fine clothes, yet he rides the railways like a vagabond. After he had become a celebrity, Lewis usually managed to avoid controversy over his books by being out of the United States when they appeared. Should creationism be taught in public schools? So scandalous was Lewiss portrayal of religion that the novel was banned in several cities and denounced from Sharon believes she is above sin and that she can do anything she wants to because she is Gods messenger. Meanwhile, Hettie turns out to be a married woman who, with her husband, tries to blackmail Elmer. Movies Podcasts Reviews Podcasts Reviews Sin, sin, sin! The merit of this argument is undermined because it is given by Babbitt, not out of caring for the citizens of Zenith, but rather because he stands to gain the most financially from the revival. On his return, Elmer meets J. And even these emotions were represented in the House of the Lord, in the way of tacks in pew-cushions, Missionary Suppers with chicken pie and angels-food cake, soporific sermons, and the proximity of flexible little girls in thin muslin. Anative of the midwestern United States, Sinclair Lewis (18851951) chronicled through novels, THE LITERARY WORK What of Jesuss teachings? During this period, traditional religious believers were deeply disturbed by the encroachments made on faith by science and secularism. He wonders whether he might have become a great chemist, which would surely have been better (and more profitable) than year after year again of standing in the pulpit and knowing your congregation dont remember what youve said seven minutes after youve said it. From discontented dean, who never appears again, the narrative moves immediately to the aged parents of the deans wife. Your email address will not be published. He marries well and eventually obtains a large congregation in Lewis's fictional Midwestern city of Zenith. Reviews There are no It seems unlikely that Lancasters character would risk immolation for her. Harry Sinclair Lewis, best known as Sinclair Lewis, was born on February 7, 1885, in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. In The Master, Joaquin Phoenix plays an alcoholic failure who falls in thrall to cult leader Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman). online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. 'Until the nineteenth century, actors were classed as Rogues & Vagrants. Like Sharon, she drew huge crowds and practiced faith healing. He also forms a Committee on Public Morals, persuades the police to make him a temporary lieutenant, and personally leads raids on the red-light districts. We didn't want to make just any bourbon--we wanted to make the best bourbon. Elmer starts to detest her when he finds out that she is cold, sexually. Good drama that had the potential to be one of the greats. There was a timebetween the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11when Elmer Gantry might have felt outdated. In a very Elmer Gantry moment, starting at 2:54, after singing the Lord gave us two good hands, brothers and sisters, one for the givin and one for the takin, At Sparta, Elmer gains statewide fame for his sensational sermons denouncing drinking and other sins. WebHappy Birthday # 75..Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey, An Actress. After two years as a salesman, Elmer meets Eddie Fislinger at his church in Kansas, and he decides he wants to be a preacher again. Elmer Gantry fails because it is neither a realistic portrayal of the state of religion in America nor a caricature whose manifest unfairness can be forgiven because of the wit and humor which have gone into it. REL 360: Popular Culture/Public Humanities, Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ, Humans and Nazis: Reevaluating the Conversation of. Once Gantry accuses the city government of protecting the brothels and drug dealers, he becomes one of the most powerful men in Zenith. You're all sinners! 2 hr 26 min. Elmer Gantry is a picaresque novel. Directed and written by Richard Brooks, based on the 1927 novel by Sinclair Lewis. Bill Morgan sees thru Elmer and tells Sharon that in 1917 he was expelled from the seminary for seducing the deacon's daughter.

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