Monday, March 25, 2024

It is the 25th of March 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A happy Monday to you- today’s question is a first. It came in the actual mail! A little-known fact, like with Santa, is that you can write “Christian History Almanac” on an envelope, and all post offices know where the plush CHA studios are in Lake Forest, CA. The question comes from a friend of mine, Chris, who wanted to know about the history of Billy Graham’s World Wide Pictures- part of his youth, his father volunteered with them. Chris is in Greenville, South Carolina; he tells me it's the home of the largest Andrew Wyeth Watercolor collection, Bob Jones film school, and I’ll add the hometown of Shoeless Joe Jackson.

A great question, Chris. I should also note that Chris is the writer/director of Electric Jesus- a movie I really like- coming of age, 1980s, Christian Rock… and in an early scene, one of the characters is drawing on the cover of a Lifesavers album- the notorious Kiss of Life (the one Michael Knott didn’t like).

Billy Graham certainly put himself in the crosshairs when he decided to make movies. At this point, many Christians believed attending movies to be sinful, but Graham- always looking to scale up, had begun to film his crusades. For context, his first Crusade was in 1947, and his first filmed Crusade was in 1950 in Portland. That crusade was filmed but a small outfit called Great Commission Films, run by Dick Ross. Ross was a WWII vet who worked at the Moody Institute of Science and had a vision for spreading the Gospel via film.

Ross impressed Graham and assumed his project under the name of Billy Graham Films, then Billy Graham’s World Wide Pictures.

Their first project, Mr. Texas, got a write-up in the October 8th, 1951 edition of Time Magazine. Time notes that this was premier (and gives us the phonetic spelling for pronunciation) and was at the Hollywood Bowl. The review says it’s no De Mille film with a budget of only $35,000, but Time failed to mention that Graham’s guest at the premier was Cecile B. De Mille himself.  

The early films are pretty formulaic; a hardened character or wayward teen sees the error of their ways and is converted at a Billy Graham Crusade- which you would then see. Graham would rent out theaters and have local volunteers ready at the front of the theatre so that people could come forward, pray, and fill out cards to be connected to a local church. The first of these, in the theaters, was The Restless Ones in 1965, and Kathie Lee Gifford (of Regis and Kathy Lee, the Today Show), which marks her conversion from her experience at a theatre seeing that film.

World Wide Pictures realized that it couldn’t keep making the same formulaic movie and attempt to change things up with different directors and writers for each project. This model produced the British “Two A Penny” starring English Pop star Cliff Richard. In 1975, World Wide Pictures had its high water mark with “A Hiding Place,” a telling of the Corrie Ten Boom. Jeannette Clift, the actress playing Corrie, received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. The movie received extra promotion when, at the L.A. premiere with both Graham and Ten Boom in attendance, a smoke bomb with a swastika was thrown into the theatre- they were all safely taken outside, where Graham prayed and gave an impromptu sermon.

In the 1980s, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association began to pare down, partly because of Graham’s advanced age and desire to leave his ministry in good financial order. They would sell their building in Burbank and relocate to Minnesota. As is the story of Christian art in the 80s and 90s, the issue was the cost of distribution. World Wide Pictures would begin focusing on producing straight to home movies and television. World Wide Pictures' last film was 2003’s “Last Flight Out”, which was about a pilot sent to rescue a woman working in a jungle clinic amidst a war. World Wide Pictures deserves much of the same praise due to Graham himself as a pioneer, attempting to do things on a large scale to spread the news of Jesus. Are the methods and modes a little outdated? Yes. But such is the story surrounding Christians and the arts, and Christians creating art, and Christians creating art for the direct purpose of evangelism. Questions, Chris, I know you and I are very keen on asking, and the story of World Wide Pictures is a great jumping-off point for that.

You can send me your questions at 2522… no… danv@1517.org.  

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary- for many, this is Holy Week, and Monday is “Annunciation Monday,” so we read from Luke 1.

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 25th of March 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who was surprised to learn that his favorite Christian film, the ButterCream Gang, was actually from the LDS- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who was sure “Mac and Me” was a “Christian E.T.” only to learn it was financed with help from McDonalds… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.