4748; originally published in the Bookman, March 1927. 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. Satire ridicules its subject, with the intention of arousing contempt or scorn in the reader. One device after another is employed to introduce him to new denominations and round out the picture. [5], However, the book was a commercial success. On publication in 1927, Elmer Gantry created a public furor. 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 ).. WebLove is the voice of music. Judson Roberts is an evangelist who is the state secretary of the Y.M.C.A. The book was banned in Boston and other cities and denounced from pulpits across the United States. 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. How would you describe his demeanor? Elmer Gantry has been called the purest Lewis by Schorer. Bell, a Black youth who had recently transferred out of Central to the High School for Recording Arts, was on Centrals campus to visit one of his former teachers. Thus equipped, Elmer advances to conquer the world. TAKE NOTE: The films opening title sequence includes this advice: Due to the highly controversial nature of this film, we strongly urge you to prevent impressionable children from seeing it!, You can read the full Sinclair Lewis novel Elmer Gantry online at Project Gutenberg Australia, here:http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300851h.html, You might want to watch some Patti Pagemaybe Whatever Lola Wants, here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSsH_i6xpf8. On the train he meets a traveling salesman who invites him for a drink, which results in Elmer failing to keep his appointment at the church. Only the novels It Cant Happen Here (1935) and Kingsblood Royal (1947) have stood the test of time. Lewis researched the novel by observing the work of various preachers in Kansas City in his so-called "Sunday School" meetings on Wednesdays. There is no character development, and so Elmer, after his character is first established, does not change during the course of the novel. 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. She is a widow who owns a millinery and dressmaking shop. Miss West points to Frank Shallards accusation against Jesus: Did He ever suggest sanitation, which would have saved millions from plagues? She comments, As for the suggestion that Christ should have halted on the way to the Cross to recommend the American bathroom, it ought to go into the Americana section of the American Mercury. She concludes her essay as follows: If [Lewis] would sit still so that life could make any deep impression on him, if he would attach himself to the human tradition by occasionally reading a book which would set him a standard of profundity, he could give his genius a chance. Miss West expresses a prevailing attitude toward Lewis, but she does not, I think, understand what his best books accomplished. For the most part, he does not create complex human portraits but caricatures. Elmer Gantry is a picaresque novel. Indeed, why doesnt he? He befriends local reporters in hopes of getting his name in the papers, and eventually he leads a raid on Zeniths red-light district. 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. Especially ironic is the way he champions love, an emotion he seems incapable of, in his sermons, preaches against ambition, when he himself is so patently ambitious, and organizes crusades against (mainly sexual) immorality, when he has difficulty resisting sexual temptation himself. He searches for his better nature: he will start again, never lie or cheat or boast. He begins a course of home study, in a brief episode which must play ironically against Benjamin Franklins self-education. In Lincoln, he persuades her to let him speak at the meeting about how he, a businessman, was converted. Jean Simmons appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Drumhead (1991) as Rear Admiral Norah Satie. 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 is influenced by the atheistic Dr. Zechlin who lends him theological works by liberals and skeptics. In a southwestern city, he falls into the hands of violent fanatics who beat him so badly he is blinded. Elmer is the great man steadily making his way upward in the worldthe man of immoderate personal ambitionand the great man hasnt time for scruples. Pengilly is an old Methodist pastor who is something of a saintly figure. After Elmer writes a critical comment about him on a blackboard, Zechlin, who is suspected of heresy, is forced into retirement by the Seminary. Its a movie about driving passions so hot and strongfor a sale, for salvationthey burn a person up. Discuss the issue of creationism and evolution. In a scene where Gantry and Falconer are hoping to get funding to set up their revival in the city of Zenith, lack of attendance is straightforwardly given as the reason for seeking out the revival. The result would be the fascist state against which Babbitt, in anticipation of 1984, warns. Some day he would be a bishop, yes, but even that was nothing compared with the fact that he had won a victory over his lower nature. He kneels in prayer, but in that instant he sees Cleo and at once thinks of seducing her. The film leaves the realities of these mystical happenings up to interpretation, and so gives the congregants active, if small, roles in the narrative. When Deacon Bains discovers Gantrys affair with Lulu and forces him to propose, Gantry tricks another man into an entanglement with Lulu and is released from the engagement. Elmer gets converted to Christianity only because he cannot resist the pressures put on him to do so. He later becomes a lawyer. Was a member of the of the bogus Fleetwood Mac band, that the then manager Clifford Davis send on a US tour in 1974 when the real Fleetwood Mac rejected the tour. That night he has doubts, but he is persuaded to speak the following night at the Y.M.C.A. Floyd Naylor is a large and rather stupid farmer in Schoenheim who is in love with Lulu Bains, whom he eventually marries. 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." Over the next few years, he is appointed to larger and larger parishes, eventually to a church in Zenith. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. As a character, Dr. Gantry lacks verisimilitude, and he lacks it more the longer he lives.. Sharons real name is Katie Jonas; she picked out the name Sharon Falconer when she was working as a stenographer. There, Gantry befriends the Methodist bishop and is appointed pastor of a church in Banjo Crossing. The impact of religion on Elmer Gantry symbolizes what it has done to the American spirit. He uses the church to further his own ambitions for power and fame. plus-circle Add Review. He is so good that it is hard to tell the difference whether he's sincere or lying. He thereby makes a defiant gesture, nonetheless, somewhat apart from his customary preoccupation with quixotic heroes whom he could admire for their protests, rebellion, and search for freedom. Like ordinary mortals, she is often weary. 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. William Donninger Styles is a rich businessman in Zenith. 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. They also decried the growth within the church of the higher criticism, that sought to understand the Bible based on modern methods of scholarship. Liking the idea of having power over an audience, Elmer convinces himself he has been called to the ministry. Jones is too frothy, but when she appears halfway through, she adds bubbles to a long movie that was starting to go flat. When a Salvation Army worker enters, Gantry shocks and moves the crowd with an impromptu, impassioned sermon equating God with love. Gantry is bored by school, but Shallard is drawn to a professor who eventually confesses his atheism to Shallard. Then read chapter 30, section 5, where Jim reappears. If a satirist depicts the object of his satire as based on humbug, advocated by humbug, and defended by humbug, he must employ a great deal of wit and fantasy to prevent his attack from seeming cross-grained and peevish. The relentless, unrelieved exposure of religious hypocrisy, while amusingly presented in parts, tends to become wearying. The trouble is, he needed a good reason for his broad and over-the-top acting. Elmer Gantry, like the big Lewis novels that preceded it, is centrally concerned with the struggle between the old and the new. He was supposed to bring peace to mankind. The acting and directing is superb to the point that it becomes difficult to remember that it is only a movie. Elmer is forced to agree, but promises himself he will find a way out of the engagement. "Elmer Gantry", directed by Richard Brooks, is one of his best. Another famous name was Aimee Semple McPherson (18901944), a female evangelist who clearly resembled the fictional Sharon Falconer. He also notes that the more bizarre and irrational the experience, the more the evangelists value it, but he leaves the reader in no doubt about the contempt with which he views such phenomena: once occurred what connoisseurs regard as the highest example of religious inspiration. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2022 The University of Alabama Others praised its accurate reporting and its denunciation of hypocrisy, comparing Lewis to great satirists such as Voltaire and Swift. He hates piety and prefers drunkenness, profanity, and seducing women. As in Babbitt and Arrowsmith, we are made aware that there are sinister forces combining to strike at the very foundations of American liberties. Bains promises Elmer that he will make Lulu marry Floyd. The dean sends Gantry and classmate Frank Shallard to pastor a nearby church. Schorer, Mark, Introduction, in Sinclair Lewis: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Mark Schorer, Prentice-Hall, 1962, p. 4. And she does look sexy in a slip. Binch stopped gulping his fried pork chops and held out a flabby, white, holy hand.. Reverend Andrew Pengilly is the old pastor of the Catawba Methodist Church. Go out slowly! In 1926, Lewis refused the Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith, because he believed it would compromise his artistic independence. He is a well-educated Englishman in his early thirties with a colorful past. 99107. WebBy John Helmer, Moscow @bears_with During the US Army invasion of Morocco and Algeria in 1943, enroute to the invasion of Italy, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), as the CIA was called then, came up with the donkey turd bomb for destroying the enemy.Since 2014, the CIA has come up with the modern equivalent its called the Ukrainian bomb. The film's slant may be predictable, and it also suffers from some common flaws of its era (an ugly, intrusive Andre Previn score, and occasionally wooden acting); but it's hugely entertaining nonetheless. In Elmer Gantry Lewis suggested that what is wrong with the small town, what is wrong with business practices, and even what is wrong with the intellectual attitudes that make it difficult for the scientist to go about his research honestly are all due to the hold Protestantism has on American consciousness. Elmer Gantry was first published in the United States by Harcourt Trade Publishers in March 1927, dedicated by Lewis to the American journalist and satirist H. L. Mencken. A lady runs by Elmer in a blue jacket, and her jacket is on fire. But he had never encountered vice . 5 Mar. Gantry is bored by school, but Shallard is drawn to a professor who eventually confesses his atheism to Shallard. Sharon soon fires her assistant, Cecil Alyston, and appoints Elmer as his replacement. On publication in 1927, Elmer Gantry created a public furor. Fire is mentioned throughout the film, and cinematographer John Alton sets the mood by casting dark red and brown shadows. retrospective of Burt Lancaster films continues at the Trylon Microcinema through November, the month marking the 100th anniversary of Lancaster birth (Nov. 2, 1913), withElmer Gantryon November 11 and 12. 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. Robert J. Higgs. WebOn publication, Elmer Gantry had a sensational reception. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Paperback June 3, 2014. Initially, he is an enemy of Elmer and tries to prevent him from becoming president of the student body for the second time. Their satisfaction comes from functioning healthily, from physical and mental exercise, whether it be playing tennis or tackling an astronomical problem. While this notion of religious rites on the tennis court is rather curious, Lewis seems nevertheless to acknowledge a religious impulse, even if he would eliminate God and organized churches. The supporting staff performed equally well. 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. Introduction of Gantry Girder. George Babbitt, the namesake of one of Lewis' best-known novels, appears in Elmer Gantry very briefly during an encounter at the Zenith Athletic Club. 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. He goes to live with his niece and dies within two years. He is so good that it is hard to Dr. Otto Hickenlooper is a prominent Methodist minister in Zenith, and one of Elmers rivals. According to Mark Schorer, in his introduction to Sinclair Lewis: A Collection of Critical Essays, No novel in the history of American literature outraged its audience so completely, and very few novels in American literature had a larger immediate audience. The book was banned in Boston and other cities and denounced from hundreds of pulpits. In fact, the film's theatricality can almost be seen as a strength, for it's constructed like a well-written play. Nevertheless, Lewis supplies sufficient background to account for Elmers going into the ministry. 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. 12631. There they meet their host, Deacon Bains, and his daughter Lulu, an ingenue whom Gantry continually tries to seduce. Protestant fundamentalism was in part a reaction in the early twentieth century to the development of the higher criticism in Biblical scholarship. He long ago lost his faith in the literal truth of the Bible and has become an atheist. Encyclopedia.com. Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. 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. Elmer reads Browning, Tennyson, Dickens. The character of Sharon Falconer was loosely based on events in the career of the Canadian-born American radio evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, who founded the Pentecostal Christian denomination known as the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in 1927. Equity is one part of a broader vision for the Hiawatha network of schools. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. Ferguson, Charles W., Review of Elmer Gantry, in Critical Essays on Sinclair Lewis, edited by Martin Bucco, G. K. Hall, 1986, pp. Higher criticism also showed that some elements in the Bible were also found in other religions and mythologies (the virgin birth, for example). User Ratings Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/elmer-gantry. 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! Elmer is, obviously enough, an example of the latter. WebElmer Gantry was a labor of love for Brooks, who had dreamed of filming Lewis's novel for more than a decade and spent two years writing the script, which won the Oscar for Best Overhead traveling cranes are used in industrial buildings to lift and transport heavy jobs, machines, and so on, from one place to another. (540) 7.7 2 h 26 min 1960 13+. Consider the character of Jim Lefferts, as revealed in the first three chapters. 4953. 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. I am not going to tell you that youre sinners, for which of us is not a sinner? Frank Shallard is a student at Mizpah Theological Seminary, but he doubts the literal truth of the Bible.