For all that, you also fear for a world in which the influence of modern-day Gantries shows no sign of diminishing. Anative of the midwestern United States, Sinclair Lewis (18851951) chronicled through novels, THE LITERARY WORK I'm not talking about what happens just before the end, but As a sojourner on this earth, she goes on, trying to explain how in these months she has kept her sanity and her faith, I dont feel terribly entitled. In Nebraska, he attends a meeting of the evangelist Sharon Falconer. And Tom Cruise, and the whole celebrity-studded cult of Scientology; Cruise jumping on Oprahs couch or in his fantastic role as the preacher of male supremacy in Magnolia. Elmer, with the help of T. J. Rigg, turns the tables on her and preserves his career. Webdc.title: Elmer Gantry. But it certainly was worth the wait. Pengilly sees through him with the spiritual eye of an eagle, and asks, Mr. After several years as a travelling salesman of farm equipment, he becomes manager for Sharon Falconer, an itinerant evangelist. Within the sphere of a traveling troupe of bible beating, evangelicals on a religious crusade, the author's hero, one Elmer Gantry (supurbly played by Oscar wining Burt Lancaster) is as energetic as his tales. Lewiss attack upon the villagesnowhere so embittered as in Elmer Gantry occurs through exposure of the cultural opportunities which the village provides, and these are thin indeed, Most literary materials found in the village are reflections of American popular culture before the turn of the century. 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. Gantrys beliefs are left ambiguous, as are his motives for evangelizing. Lewis indicates the shaping of minds and values in such a village as Elmers: The church and Sunday School at Elmers village, Paris, Kansas, a settlement of nine hundred evangelical Germans and Vermonters had been the center of all his emotions, aside from hell-raising, hunger, sleepiness, and love. It begins as a satire of revivalism: Elmer is thrown out of a Baptist seminary, becomes a farm implement salesman, and then finds his nicheor pedestalas a Billy Sunday partnered with an Aimee Semple McPherson. Also, Neil Diamonds 1976 live performance of his song Brother Loves Travelling Salvation Show, here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brt4r_y1y4Q#t=68In 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 it the key to what must be her hotel room. Higher criticism was a method of Biblical criticism that originated in Germany. Aubrey holds a Ph.D. in English and has published many articles on twentieth century literature. 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. Burt Lancaster's Oscar Winning performance in the title role was well-worth the accolades. That night she seduces him. Hes the all-American salesman: hed believe, really believe, in anything he thought youd buy. He is a well-educated Englishman in his early thirties with a colorful past. Come! They also name Billy Sunday. 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. He marries well and eventually obtains a large congregation in Lewis's fictional Midwestern city of Zenith. Starring Shirley Jones Arthur Kennedy Burt Lancaster Patti Page Jean Simmons. She sinks into Elmers arms. Simmons is too wispy, and her plummy accent slips through and jars this very American story. At the novels beginning, Gantry is captain of the football team at the rowdy campus at Terwillinger College, a Baptist school. Another minor character who serves as one small brick in the vast anti-clerical edifice that is Elmer Gantry is Dr. Howard Bancock Binch, a renowned defender of the literal truth of the Bible. The evangelist Sharon Falconer, although she is not attached to any particular church, is no exception to the anti-religion theme. The woman who does match Lancaster is Oklahoma-born Patti Page, making her film debut. He befriends Frank Shallard. Undoubtedly many of the excesses Lewis describes, especially those connected with revivalism, deserve the treatment they get. When Elmer is converted, Jim moves out of his room in disgust. The subject was tastefully handled and written for adults. 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. Evangelist Billy Sunday called Lewis "Satan's cohort". The fundamentalists believe that if even one thing in the Bible is questioned it is only a matter of time before faith is undermined completely. Lewis seems to have had a particular loathing of the conversion experience that is so central to Protestant spirituality. His father was a physician. Literally, in one case, when the tabernacle catches fire at the end of the movie. Gantrys descendants stretch from Neil Diamonds 1969 song Brother Loves Travelling Salvation Show to the 2012 film The Master, by Paul Thomas Anderson (who also made Magnolia). He goes to Mizpah Seminary, where he entertains his classmates with tales of his sexual escapades. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2022 The University of Alabama (205) 348-6010 Ed. (Courtesy of Degebo, Berlin, Germany.) Despite this though the film is still quite engaging and enjoyable as it delves into this world with a certain amount of glee; the fact that it peels off this world to look at Gantry specifically is a bit of a shame because it cuts under that focus a little. Connected to this it must be said that I did think the plot was a little thin at times and the strength of film does lie in the general portrayal of the world rather than the nitty-gritty of any one character or thread (although even the thin bits are pretty good). Amoral and relentlessly ambitious, Elmer builds a statewide and national reputation as a fiery preacher who never tires of denouncing vice, while at the same time feeling no need to curb his own vices, particularly adultery. One might say that on matters of truth, he is neutral; he is not a believer or a nonbeliever. Playing the title character, Lancaster won his first and only Oscar, for Best Actor. Elmer Gantry: Sin. Elmer Gantry appears as a minor character in two later, lesser-known Lewis novels: The Man Who Knew Coolidge and Gideon Planish. Afterward, he must resign himself to helplessness for the rest of his life. ." Lit by fire, Lancaster (Elmer Gantry) preaches to a crowd. Af Gantry's noisy methods seem to work, even if they draw derision from the religious establishment and attacks from the cynical press. Definitely a film to see on the big screen. But they could be healed constantly, and of the same disease.. McGarry is accused by the fundamentalists of heresy, and he does not seem to accept the traditional dogmas of the Methodist Church: [T]he only dogma he was known to give out positively was the leadership of Jesusas to whose divinity he was indefinite.. Shirley Jones small part made the movie. J. E. North is the executive secretary of the National Association for the Purification of Art and the Press (Napap). In fact, the question of whether Elmer is a human being or an ogre in the novel is a relevant one. Gantry introduces savvy business practices to Sharons ministry and manipulative psychology to the services themselves, and Sharon becomes wealthy as a result. During his final year he is restless and bored, but he is given a Sunday appointment at a country church in Schoenheim, eleven miles away, with Frank Shallard as his assistant. At Mizpah Theological Seminary, Elmer and his fellow students all smoke in their dormitory, even though smoking is practically forbidden. Continuity mistake: At the end, there is a scene in a burning church. Gantry's entire repertoire is performed with encyclopedic thoroughness and accuracy. He welcomes Elmer into the Methodist church. Driven by ambition to become a bishop, he is hugely successful, and is given bigger and bigger churches. In another service a couple comes forward to ask that Falconer cure the husbands deafness. Bill Morgan sees thru Elmer and tells Sharon that in 1917 he was expelled from the seminary for seducing the deacon's daughter. | He befriends local reporters in hopes of getting his name in the papers, and eventually he leads a raid on Zeniths red-light district. He uses the church to further his own ambitions for power and fame. 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.. The portrayal of revivals as a necessary service with a precarious balance between helping and hurting both the revivals leaders and attendants is masterful. In Lincoln, he persuades her to let him speak at the meeting about how he, a businessman, was converted. Lewis said, flatly enough, that religion in the United States has become stifling; that, like the pioneer economy and the pioneer mentality of which it is a manifestation, it has become a threat instead of a benefit. After Elmer dumps her for Hettie, Lulu loses interest in life. Based on the evidence in the novel, there is some truth in this comment. He is immediately taken Webthe return nicholas sparks ending explained; Nach Altersklassen. 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. Or maybe as something more. It is not merely a case of the good priest versus the bad priest. The Pilgrim's Regress (1933) Fire is mentioned throughout the film, and cinematographer John Alton sets the mood by casting dark red and brown shadows. But what perhaps made Elmer Gantry seem like such an act of outrage to so many readers is that Lewis did not simply treat religion in relation to other aspects of American life; he saw it instead as the molder of basic attitudes, most of which were, in his opinion, bad. 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. This site -- maintained by the faculty but also involving our students, our alumni, and the graduate teaching assistants who help us in our classes -- discusses the relevance of the study of religion, in particular, and the liberal arts, in general, for understanding both the past and present, by seeing religion as but one element of wider cultural practices. In many ways, of course, Elmer is the worst of them all. 4748; originally published in the Bookman, March 1927. [4] One cleric suggested that Lewis should be imprisoned for five years, and there were also threats of physical violence against the author. Anywhere. Sharons real name is Katie Jonas; she picked out the name Sharon Falconer when she was working as a stenographer. Lewis researched the novel by observing the work of various preachers in Kansas City in his so-called "Sunday School" meetings on Wednesdays. 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.

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