Tuesday, January 21, 2025

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 21st of January 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

It’s another show, and the coincidences abound!

On yesterday’s show, I answered a mailbag question about a dinner party scenario with figures from church history. I mentioned the St. Agnes Cookie, the Agnesenplätzchen, a jam-filled shortbread—good stuff. But today’s show is not about Agnes.

On the Weekend Edition this past week- the “Entertainments” episode I mentioned, briefly Cecil B. Demille who made the “Biblical Epic” a standard genre in Hollywood and I jotted down a number of notes for use on a later show- there is some fascinating stuff there… and then as I sat down to look at this, the 21st of January… well well… it happens to be the anniversary of his death on this day in 1959.

So, Cecil B. Demille’s story is that of early Hollywood- the son of a Jewish mother and Episcopalian father he left his stage career in New York and came to Flagstaff Arizona to use as the home base for his sets and movies- far from the condescension of the New York stage and Thomas Edison’s lawyers who tried to claim that anything filmed constituted patent infringement. But Flagstaff wasn’t to his liking, and so he headed to Los Angeles where he quickly found suitable space near the future site of the Hollywoodland housing project, which would give its name to that section of LA.

By his own admission, DeMille was deeply affected by his Christian faith. In his early years of marriage and failed film projects, he found solace in the Scriptures and a book of paintings by Gustav Dore, whose biblical paintings stuck in his imagination.

When DeMille came out to California, he wasn’t yet the religious firebrand that he would become in the late 40s and 50s- in fact, according to various biographers, he lived something of a double life with the excesses of the new industry and his faith. We see the tensions in his early films- these were biblical stories (a bible story he believed would be acceptable to critics while it also gave enough material suitable for entertaining and exciting audiences.)

His first take was on the Ten Commandments in 1923- still, the silent era- this production filmed in the Guadalupe Dunes north of Santa Barbara this was a two-part film that told the story of Moses and the Exodus in the first part and then in the second half told a modern story of two brothers and their lives as they are challenged by the 10 Commandments in their own lives. 1) it’s in the public domain, so you could watch it at the internet archive 2) They buried the giant sets there in the dunes, which are now considered a protected archaeological site because of the Hollywood history just now being excavated. As I mentioned on the weekend show- his early films seemed to use a “Biblical” background to push the limits of decency as we see in films such as “the Sign of the Cross” which is peak pre-code Hollywood in its material that would be at least R rated today.

But DeMille seems to have been fired up in the 1950s by the threat of Communism, the Cold War, and Los Angeles minister James W. Fifield Jr.- the “apostle to the millionaires” who helped create synergism between Hollywood and the church- or at least “faith-friendly” ventures like Biblical Epics and the foundation for Religion in American Life.

And with a newfound faith in the possibility of films as moral agents and teachers, he would recreate his older 10 Commandments film-m this time with a cast of thousands on location in Egypt- this 1959 film would go on to become one of the most beloved American epics and helped catapult Charlton Heston to fame. Fun fact: many of the court cases in the past decades on religion in public life and the display of the 10 Commandments is not an example of “old faith traditions” and their “residue in American public life,” as some have argued… DeMille teamed up with the Fraternal Order of Eagles to place 10 Commandments displays in courthouses and schools, with appearances by DeMille and the actors to celebrate the occasion. [Please note, this show is anti-Eagle, at least for the time being] These examples of film advertisement stayed up in some cases and led to the hubbub over them in cases like Van Orden V. Perry and McCreary County v the ACLU.

DeMille left a note before he died of a heart attack on this day in 1959 in which he admitted his faults and sins but was hopeful- he wrote: The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. It can only be a short time . . . until those words, the first in the Episcopal funeral services, are spoken over me. . .” and they were at his funeral- a man remembered for his role in Hollywood history, reconciling his own actions and faith and the biblical epic as a standard genre in film. Cecil Blount DeMille was 77 years old.

The last word for today from the daily lectionary and a warning seemingly unheeded for 2,000 years of church history from 1st Corinthians:

10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 21st of January 2025 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who thinks it would be funny if they kept the Roman sets buried in the dunes to really confuse archaeologists in 500 years… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by your number one Washington Commanders fan, at least for the next week… you have one job… 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.