Gantry's entire repertoire is performed with encyclopedic thoroughness and accuracy. 3360. The dean sends Gantry and classmate Frank Shallard to pastor a nearby church. As Elmer (Burt Lancaster) is a saleman with a powerfully persusive tongue who joins up Sister Sharon Falconer (glamorous Jean Simmons) along with her colleagues , Sister Rachel (Patti Page) , William L. Morgan (Dean Jagger) touring grass-roots evengelist circus during the depressed twenties . Philip McGarry, Ph.D. in economics and philosophy, is made to show that no educated person can believe in Christianity except in a very vague way: the only dogma he was known to give out positively was the leadership of Jesusas to whose divinity he was indefinite. The good pastor, the Reverend Andrew Pengilly, finds God in nature, feels religion rather than reasons about it, and doesnt give a hang for doctrinal differences. Edward Shillito, "Elmer Gantry and the Church in America", This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 16:54. Lewiss reputation as a satirist of American life continued to develop in the 1920s with the novels Babbitt (1922), Arrowsmith (1925), Elmer Gantry (1927), and Dodsworth (1929). In Nebraska, he attends a meeting of the evangelist Sharon Falconer. The consulting analyst's duties generally include planning studies and analyses of the business problems or issues, the consultants have been asked to help resolve. He preaches at the service that gets Elmer converted. cheyenne mountain resort presidential suite; spartanburg county building setbacks FAQ When a charismatic preacher comes to town for a revival meeting, he seeks out Gantry and tricks him into attending. Ashley Daugherty is a senior majoring in Anthropology and Spanish. As with any service, the revivals in Elmer Gantry would not be put on if the pastors and congregations of these areas did not have a demand for them. Elmer Gantry Elmer Gantry (film There was a timebetween the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11when Elmer Gantry might have felt outdated. He is immediately taken A fast-talking traveling salesman with a charming, loquacious manner convinces a sincere evangelist that he can be an effective preacher for her cause. Lulu later meets Elmer again many years later in Zenith, where they resume their clandestine affair. He is drawn back to preaching when he falls in love with Sharon Falconer, and he hones his publicity and fundraising skills with her for several years until her death. They hypnotize themselves, says Jim Lefferts to Elmer, trying to persuade him not to go along with it. Lewis divorced his wife in 1928, and married Dorothy Thompson. Elmer We see Gantry the narcissistic conman, Gantry the philanthropist, Gantry the flamboyant showman. Then from 1918 to 1920 he is in Sparta, where the population is 129,000. He joins up with Mrs. Evans Riddle, who teaches New Thought, a Westernized version of Indian religion. Ed. publication in traditional print. Gantry is bored by school, but Shallard is drawn to a professor who eventually confesses his atheism to Shallard. 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. If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original After a brief interlude with Mrs. Evans Riddles New Thought movement, and teaching Prosperity classes on his own, Elmer joins the Methodist Church. Though it makes its position on for-profit religious functions clear from the very beginning of the film, it attempts its critique in a fair manner. 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. Bess Needham marries Frank Shallard and bears him three children. GENRE: Fiction, nonfiction Burt Lancaster acted in a number of excellent films during the late 1950s and early 1960s. When he finally got the green light, it was United Artists that agreed to distribute the film. Playing the title character, Lancaster won his first and only Oscar, for Best Actor. One of the first scenes with Sister Sharon Falconer involves her asking for donations from these people. In 1905, after two years study, he is ordained. Lewiss ingenuity was not exhausted on Elmer. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/elmer-gantry, "Elmer Gantry Of the other characters, Frank Shallard and Dr. Philip McGarry are examples of the liberal tendency in the church. It seems unlikely that Lancasters character would risk immolation for her. Of course, turmoil closes in on them as their inherent instincts of love overpower their adherence to the Christian principles they attempt to profess. Elmer works diligently and is rewarded at the Methodists Annual Conference by being sent to a bigger church, at Rudd Center. He graduated from Yale in 1908 and worked in various jobs in the publishing industry, including editor, reporter, manuscript reader, and reviewer. He has been educated by Roger Williams, Adoniram Judson, Luther, Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, George Washington, Lincoln, Robert Ingersoll, William James, and Frasers Golden Bough. PG. In this scene at the end of the Elmer Gantry appears as a minor character in two later, lesser-known Lewis novels: The Man Who Knew Coolidge and Gideon Planish. 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. The inspiration for Falconer, Aimee Semple McPherson, on the other hand, was thought of as a celebrity, and many felt her intentions were dubious. His specialty is in denouncing vice, and in Zenith he even leads a police raid on the local dens of iniquity. In fact, the film could be seen as prescient, as both religious revivalism, and celebrity-scandal driven journalism (another of its subjects), have arguably become more prevalent since it was made. They were intended to feed the American dream, but instead fashioned the nightmareout of books! If all of them are there, he says. Throughout the novel, clergymen and the church are presented in an extremely unflattering light. Lewis preferred the liberal Birkhead to the conservative Stidger, and on his second visit to Kansas City, Lewis chose Birkhead as his guide. But throughout his career he wonders whether there is any value in his work. Elmer Gantry Summary - eNotes.com Once Gantry accuses the city government of protecting the brothels and drug dealers, he becomes one of the most powerful men in Zenith. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. "Elmer Gantry" is an amazing film that does not seem dated at all, having lost none of its bite or appeal with the passing of time. Earthy and real, she and Elmer both sing the hymn Im on My Way, a sort of religious counterpart to I Did It My Way. Elmer romances her only as a way to Sharon, but Rachel is the woman Elmer should have gone with. The following was written for REL 360: Popular Culture/Public Humanities. He is treasurer of the Congregational church, but Elmer succeeds in getting him to support the Methodists instead. Contact UA. 4748; originally published in the Bookman, March 1927. Later, he is kidnapped and beaten nearly to death, an episode that leaves him blinded. 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. Shirley Jones small part made the movie. This has been the hottest school board race Ive seen in 25 years of living in Minneapolis, with lots of conspiracy theories and pearl-clutching. WebHollywood legend Burt Lancaster nabbed a Best Actor Oscar as glad-handing, soul-redeeming charlatan Elmer Gantry, a huckster who spins his talent for preaching into a mtier behind the pulpit. The subject was tastefully handled and written for adults. As Elmer turns an attractive and charming preacher with a large audience . WebElmer Gantry; Keith Phares, Sharon Falconer; Jennifer Rivera. Its hero makes his way, with the help of native cunning and oratorical ability, through almost the whole domain of religion in the United States. There, Gantry befriends the Methodist bishop and is appointed pastor of a church in Banjo Crossing. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance 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. At a revival meeting he does not like to include all the preachers in town. Other Protestant groups also get their share of abuse, as do the Jews and the Catholics. He thinks they might, for all he knows, be true, and that is enough for him. Elmer Gantry Book Details Author Bio for Lewis, Sinclair Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) was a noted American writer. Elmer Gantry Though the bulldog of the football team in college, Elmer shows his cowardice during the fire in Sharon Falconers tabernacle (which is built out over the water): In howling panic, Elmer sprang among them, knocked them aside, struck down a girl who stood in his way, yanked open the door, and got through it the last, the only one, to get through it. He then ran out a little into the surf and dragged in a woman who had already safely touched bottom, and then at least thirty more who had already rescued themselves. Firearm Discussion and Resources from AR-15, AK-47, Handguns and more! Nevertheless, Lewis supplies sufficient background to account for Elmers going into the ministry. Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/elmer-gantry. During the 1930s and 1940s, Lewis published a further nine novels, as well as plays and short stories. Bill Morgan sees thru Elmer and tells Sharon that in 1917 he was expelled from the seminary for seducing the deacon's daughter. He has an affair with his secretary, who then tries to blackmail him, and only escapes ruin because he has a clever lawyer. | Dont be afraid! 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. 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. Elmer Gantry 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. Yet at the fire, it is Sharon who is heroic. 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! The couple abandons their campaign against Elmer and leave The Reverend McGarry tells Frank simply to accept the church with all its imperfectionswith its Gantrysand turn to giving hope and comfort to the piteous human beings who come to the church for help. [4] One cleric suggested that Lewis should be imprisoned for five years, and there were also threats of physical violence against the author. 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, like other Lewis protagonists, fears marriage. He marries a woman he does not love. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. A lady runs by Elmer in a blue jacket, and her jacket is on fire. Grebstein, Sheldon Norman, Sinclair Lewis, Twayne United States Authors Series, No. Lewiss personal life was troubled, and he and his second wife were divorced in 1942. Elmer Gantry Early in his preaching career he jilts a country girl who loves him and whom he has seduced. B. Known as the enfant terrible of the Methodist church, he is ruthlessly critical of others. After several years as a travelling salesman of farm equipment, he becomes manager for Sharon Falconer, an itinerant evangelist. Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. 73738. 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. Box sets galore! 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. Already a member? Now famous, Elmers ambitions know no bounds, especially when he starts to work with the National Association for the Purification of Art and the Press. He really shines as a tarnished, immoral salesman who spends Christmas at a bar and leaves with one of the ladies during the Great Depression in the heartland. Like Matthew Arnold, whose thinking Lewis often paralleled, Lewis maintained that Hebraism has too much prevailed over Hellenism and that what is needed is more sweetness and light (Elmer, with his black hair and black eyes, is, of course, the enemy of light). In 1903, Lewis went to Yale University, where he served as editor of the Yale Literary Magazine. Eddie is an enthusiastic Christian who becomes a student at Mizpah Theological Seminary and later a minister in western Kansas. Only the novels It Cant Happen Here (1935) and Kingsblood Royal (1947) have stood the test of time. Some characters from Lewis even read Sinclair Lewis himself; the Reverend Philip McGarry asks his friend Frank Shallard to forget that you have to make a new world, bettern the Creators, right away tonightyou and Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells and H. L. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis (Lord, how that book of Lewis, Main Street, did bore me ).. Under pressure from Elmer, Shallard resigns. Ferguson, Charles W., Review of Elmer Gantry, in Critical Essays on Sinclair Lewis, edited by Martin Bucco, G. K. Hall, 1986, pp.
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