One Sunday, he is surprised to see Lulu in church, and the next day he begins an affair with her. The debate between fundamentalists and liberals is conducted amongst the students at Mizpah. So scandalous was Lewiss portrayal of religion that the novel was banned in several cities and denounced from Elmer is, obviously enough, an example of the latter. As a preacher, he shamelessly plays on peoples emotions and their fear of Hell. A serious obstacle to her goal is Gantry, but more so is the cautionary and caustic pen of Jim Lefferts (Arthur Kennedy), a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who questions the personal and financial motives of her entourage. 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. WebElmer Gantry; Keith Phares, Sharon Falconer; Jennifer Rivera. They also name Billy Sunday. Elmer Gantry is a satirical novel written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926 that presents aspects of the religious activity of America in fundamentalist and evangelistic circles and the attitudes of the 1920s public toward it. That night she seduces him. Bishop Wesley R. Toomis is a bishop in the Methodist Church who has a great reputation as an orator and thinker. The wife is full of complaints about the life she has had to lead, married to a preacher, criticized by the church women if they thought her clothes werent suitable, sick of having to pretend to be so good when we were just common folks all the time! Her tirade at her husband, who only wants to be allowed to go to sleep, includes the following passage: Oh, dear. Shirley Jones small part made the movie. It was both a popular and critical success, selling 295,000 copies in the first year. ." In Newark, New Jersey, Alvin Shipwreck Kelly sat atop a flagpole for twelve days, and in Chicago, the gangster Al Capone was tightening his grip on bootlegging. 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, Diamond stretches out his hand toward a young woman who places in Mrs. Evans Riddle is the proprietor of the Victory Thought Power Headquarters in New York. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Elmer Gantry was drunk, the novel opens, and Lancaster is terrific as the boozing, womanizing traveling salesman.Gantry is a believer, of a sort. In his preparation for the ministry, it is ironic that Elmer plagiarizes his first (and most frequently useful) sermon from the social reformer Robert G. Ingersoll: Love is the only bow on lifes dark cloud. 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. This is indeed what happened to Dr. Bruno Zechlin, one of the faculty at Mizpah, who lost his fundamentalist faith even before he received his theological doctorate. REL 360: Popular Culture/Public Humanities, Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ, Humans and Nazis: Reevaluating the Conversation of. Then read chapter 30, section 5, where Jim reappears. Simulation Theory: How is Religion Part of It? Her maiden milk is proof of Gods goodness act supposedly converts tents full of adults, but one wonders if even Midwestern farmers without television (this is the 1920s) would find her compelling. ", Movie Lacks Something, But a Stunning Lead Performance Isn't It. The new Wellspring Church has been built, and Elmer is awarded an honorary doctorate from Abernathy College. He is immediately Every decision Elmer makes thereafter is one of compromise. Elmer Gantry may have a rather unsavoury past but the one thing he can do better than anyone is sell himself, pots, pans, anything. Novels for Students. 98107. In a notable passage Lewis tells us sympathetically of the problems of the rebel, of the preacher or the writer who suffers from sensitivity and innocence: He was supposed to cure an affliction called vice. Burt Lancaster is bold and provocative as the title character who is preaching to you one moment and drunk and surly the other. These blossoming words, these organ-like phrases, these profound notions, had been rammed home till they stuck in his brain, ready for use. Elmers start at religious leadership is rocky. 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. However, the date of retrieval is often important. A novel set from 1920 to 1922 in Zenith, an imaginary midwestern American city; published in 1922. What of Jesuss teachings? The public has the power to end the careers of Falconer By so doing they give themselves an advantage over the general public. 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, He becomes the symbiotic antithesis to Sister Sharon: while he tells of heading toward the depths of hell for his many sins, she tells of being saved from that fate if repentance is forthcoming. 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. Binch is a dreadful character who leers at Sharon and has an excessive interest in church fundraising. Dr. Otto Hickenlooper is a prominent Methodist minister in Zenith, and one of Elmers rivals. In a sense it is more centrally concerned because the pull between the old American and the new American was so apparent in the religious controversies of the time. When I was a youngster fascinated by the Batman TV show and Lost in Space, I saw Elmer Gantry for the first time. 5 Mar. In his travels he comes across the traveling revival show of evangelist Sister Sharon Falconer. A typical picaresque narrative chronicles the exploits of a rogue, an immoral but not criminal character who lives by his wits. Equity is one part of a broader vision for the Hiawatha network of schools. He long ago lost his faith in the literal truth of the Bible and has become an atheist. The following was written for REL 360: Popular Culture/Public Humanities. He returns to it in the context of Sharons revival meetings. Gantry threatens to avenge him but takes no action. While managing to cover up certain sexual indiscretions, he is thrown out of the seminary before completing his BD because he is too drunk to turn up at a church where he is supposed to preach. Using his sales techniques, especially on one of Sister Sharon's underlings, the nave Sister Rachel, Elmer is able infiltrate her entourage. John K. Roth. Directed and written by Richard Brooks, based on the 1927 novel by Sinclair Lewis. WebElmer Gantry, novel by Sinclair Lewis, a satiric indictment of fundamentalist religion that caused an uproar upon its publication in 1927. After two more For such a high-spirited boy as Elmer, this was such a limited, stifling environment to grow up in that it effectively steered him away from the kind of occupation that would have suited him much better: It was lamentable to see this broad young man, who would have been so happy in the prize-ring, the fish-market, or the stock exchange, poking through the cobwebbed corridors of Terwillinger.. He ends up as a minister in the Episcopal church. Elmer Gantry and his roommate, Jim Lefferts, have traveled from their college in Kansas to Cato, Missouri, to see their girlfriends. 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. In the following essay excerpt, Light examines quixotic elements in Elmer Gantry. Lewis researched the novel by observing the work of various preachers in Kansas City in his so-called "Sunday School" meetings on Wednesdays. The Baptist influences to which Elmer is subjected in his youth, particularly at Terwillinger College and Mizpah Theological Seminary, are handled very roughly. Sharon Falconer is an equally striking example of his satiric power. Like everything else in the Lone Star State, our dreams were big from the start. Oh, my dear people, my dear people, I am not going to preach tonightwe are all so weary of nagging sermons about being nice and good! Originally a London soul band called Five Proud Walkers, they threw their lot in with According to such people: A proper school should teach nothing but bookkeeping, agriculture, geometry, dead languages made deader by leaving out all the amusing literature, and the Hebrew Bible as interpreted by men superbly trained to ignore contradictions, men technically called Fundamentalists., Christian beliefs about the proper observance of Sundays also comes under heavy satirical fire in this passage: [T]he Maker of a universe with stars a hundred thousand light-years apart was interested, furious, and very personal about it if a small boy played baseball on Sunday afternoon.. Light examines what he sees as quixotic elements in the novel, especially in the characters Sharon Falconer and Frank Shallard. It's a first rate film! Elmer Gantry is a satirical novel written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926 that presents aspects of the religious activity of America in fundamentalist and evangelistic circles and the attitudes of the 1920s public toward it. Frank suffers from self-consciousness about his occupation; it is the same sense of doubt which Lewis has expressed about the writing career: Frank still resented it that, as a parson, he was considered not quite virile; that even clever people felt they must treat him with a special manner; that he was barred from knowing the real thoughts and sharing the real desires of normal humanity.. Elmer escapes by knocking other people out of the way, but Sharon is burned to death. Elmer Gantry is not, however, a movie about making good choices. He is treasurer of the Congregational church, but Elmer succeeds in getting him to support the Methodists instead. Those who believe in the doctrines of the church are presented as fools or morons, and are easy targets for malicious fun. Gantry's entire repertoire is performed with encyclopedic thoroughness and accuracy. He takes care to point out that people return again and again to get converted, which would seem to negate the idea that they are saved in a once in a lifetime experience. He hates piety and prefers drunkenness, profanity, and seducing women. They make enough money to build a temple, and Sister Sharon falls for Elmer. WebLove is the voice of music. Jim doubts the literal truth of the Bible and has contempt for the church. Cleo Benham is the high-minded daughter of Nathaniel Benham. There Her voice was warm, a little husky, desperately alive. Gantry introduces savvy business practices to Sharons ministry and manipulative psychology to the services themselves, and Sharon becomes wealthy as a result. 2023 . The church filled him with awe, frightened him, became the center of all his emotions. In the novel, people in Nebraska say that Sharon Falconer compares with the great evangelists of the past, naming Gipsy Smith as one of them. Sinclair Lewiss Elmer Gantry (New York, 1927) is a ferocious satire against Protestant fundamentalist religion in the American Midwest. Elmer seems a demonic figure. Here she kneels. 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. Elmer Gantry, then, is notable as the book in which Lewis moved religion to the center of his critique of American values and declared it to have failed. One cleric suggested that Lewis should be imprisoned for five years, and there were also threats of physical violence against the author. 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. I think she does a brilliant job but I wished that she had more speaking moments. It is a fairly narrow assault, since Lewiss targets are confined to Protestant churches and revival campaigns, but within that range, Lewiss fire is deadly and continuous. When the pious Eddie leaves the room, all they want to talk about is sex. This is tantamount to an admission that the church is happy to receive money that is tainted by the very practices it denounces so vehemently. Falconer gives of herself throughout the film to help her congregants, often going outside her comfort zone to preach to angry crowds and secure the donations she sees as a necessary evil for the continuance of her sermons. Edward A. Martin, "The Mimic as Artist: Sinclair Lewis". When a charismatic preacher comes to town for a revival meeting, he seeks out Gantry and tricks him into attending. But not long after that he lost his faith in God altogether and became an atheist. 2 hr 26 min. 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." The result is as discouraging, as horrifying, as it would have been if Huck had been converted by Miss Watsons Bible stories. But both the show and their relationship are threatened when one of Gantry's ex-lovers decides that she must settle a score with the charismatic performer. Is there really a conflict between science and religion, between reason and faith, or can the two live in harmony? All those who profess to be religious in the novel are shown as hypocrites or morons; the best we can expect, apparently, is a nominal profession of belief for the sake of convenience: the good shepherd is the one who sees that his lambs are fed with material food, not stale spiritual claptrap. There is a good priest whose career runs counter to that of the bad priest Gantry, but he ceases to be a priest. Gantry was in the middle of trying to settle down and marry Sharon when she saw that shooting star at the end, and from that moment, she seemed to feel truly touched by God. Of course, turmoil closes in on them as their inherent instincts of love overpower their adherence to the Christian principles they attempt to profess. date the date you are citing the material. The growth of fundamentalist Christianity in contemporary America is a source of bafflement to those who just don't get it; including, by and large, the movie industry, which may like to end its films with sanctimonious moralising, but which usually reserves the right to serve us substantial portions of sex and violence beforehand. B. Every one knew of some case in which each of the others had stolen, or was said to have tried to steal, some parishioner, to have corrupted his faith and appropriated his contributions. There is a definite give and take between Gantry and Falconer and the congregants in Elmer Gantry. 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. British actress Jean Simmons as Sister Sharon, the evangelist Elmer falls for is similarly too airy. Required fields are marked *. Quarles has no time for vain arguments that lead nowhere! Quarles is hostile to the kind of free intellectual inquiry that the liberals advocate, and he relies instead on prayer and faith. It was on the steamer home that he met and became intimate with J. E. North, the renowned vice-slayer, executive secretary of the National Association for the Purification of Art and the Pressaffectionately known through all the evangelical world as the Napap. Mr. North was not a clergyman (though he was a warm Presbyterian layman), but no clergyman in the country had more furiously pursued wickedness, more craftily forced congressmen, through threats in their home districts, to see legislation in the same reasonable manner as himself. The purpose of Napap is to make life conform to the ideals agreed upon by the principal Christian Protestant denominations. This would be accomplished by combining into one association all the moral organizations in Americathe Anti-Saloon League, the Lords Day Alliance, the Watch and Ward Society, and the Methodist Board of Temperance, Prohibition, and Public Moralsand then lobbying for legislated morality. The legal profession does not suit the unethical Gantry. He calls out to God for help. The pious but stupid Eddie complains that [E]verything we Baptists stand for is threatened by those darn so-called liberals . He is referring to the practice of open communion, which is favored by liberals, as opposed to the closed communion of the fundamentalists, according to which only Baptists are allowed to participate in the rite. He wont harm you! If there was a soul to be saved - Gantry would save it. Elmer Gantry is a fast talking, hard drinking traveling salesman who always has a risqu story and a hip flask to entertain cronies and customers alike. After Elmer writes a critical comment about him on a blackboard, Zechlin, who is suspected of heresy, is forced into retirement by the Seminary. Nevertheless, Lewis supplies sufficient background to account for Elmers going into the ministry. Ad Locust is a traveling salesman for the Pequot Farm Implement Company who befriends Elmer on the train to Monarch. Elmer thinks he is fat and pompous, but respects him nonetheless. Pengilly is an old Methodist pastor who is something of a saintly figure. Reverend Dr. Willoughby Quarles is president of Terwillinger College. Duke mentioned that he would love to play Puck, []. The Allegory of Lov, Lewis, Sinclair He has an affair with female evangelist Sharon Falconer, which ends with her death in a flaming tabernacle. But throughout his career he wonders whether there is any value in his work. This abridged version of Sinclair Lewiss novel of the same name focuses on Elmer Gantry, a con man expelled from seminary school, and Sister Sharon Falconer, a character loosely based on evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. The target of his earthly desires is Beautiful Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) a sincere, but fallible woman out to build a ministry. Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. The trouble is, he needed a good reason for his broad and over-the-top acting. You're all doomed to perdition! But he had never encountered vice . Dont be afraid! Drama. T. J. Rigg is a famous criminal lawyer and a trustee of Wellspring Methodist Church in Zenith. But shifting moods again, she can acknowledge that she is just an ignorant young woman with a lot of misdirected energyand even an evil one: Oh, I hate the little vicessmoking, swearing, scandal, drinking just enough to be silly. He feels little desire to practice what he preaches. He speaks in many big cities and acquires a new secretary, Hettie Bowler, with whom he has an affair. Well, he didn't disappoint here, either, with a fantastic performance as those of you who have seen this already know. The last date is today's Anywhere. The Trylon features 50 deluxe rocker seats, a 20-foot screen, and a pair of Century Model SA 35mm projectors. The attendants give her their money, she leaves after a short period of time, and then the attendants are no better off and short on money. 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. Gantrys pugnacious sermons quickly make him popular in Zenith, but the workload soon overwhelms him and alienates him from Cleo. I am above sin! His decision to enter the ministry is dishonest and contrary to his own nature, and it costs him the respect and friendship of his agnostic college roommate, Jim Lefferts. Lloyd Naylor, who is in love with Lulu, complains to Lulus father about Elmers amorous conduct towards her. Good drama that had the potential to be one of the greats. Robert J. Higgs. Continuity mistake: At the end, there is a scene in a burning church. because Joness Lulu is a silly, air-spun girl. Gantry, too. He is taken with Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) who runs revival meetings. Nothing reveals Lewiss isolation from an overview of life more clearly than the way he dismisses religion. Since he is ordinarily only a caricature, we cannot consider him a believeable human being; and when Lewis tells us that he has a conscience, we refuse to believe it. 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]. Weave will make its debut on Jan. 12 at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts, a co-commissioner in [], It was kind of a whimsical artistic impulse, recalled Antonio Duke, as he reminisced on this past spring when Ashawnti Sakina Ford drove him home each night after their rehearsals for a production of Imaginary Invalid, a play by 17th-century French actor and playwright, Molire.

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