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Cecil B. DeMille, Classical Hollywood, and Modern American Mass Culture pp 89–128Cite as

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The Wanderer

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Abstract

This chapter explores the consensus of cinematic faith. Like the Prodigal Son, DeMille broke away from the proven formula of his consumer films to begin work on a series of high-concept pictures that eschewed stardom and modern hedonism, and tested the limits of dramatic spirituality. Never a church-goer and deeply distrustful of clerical authority, the director melded Biblical fundamentalism with modern science and “New Thought” spirituality. The chapter explores the more conventional spiritual questions facing traditional Christians—addressed in his self-described “Divine Law” trilogy which included The Ten Commandments (1923), The King of Kings (1927), and The Sign of the Cross (1932)—and concludes with three revealing yet lesser-known and more experimental spiritual films—Feet of Clay (1924), The Road to Yesterday (1925), and The Godless Girl (1928)—that expanded the notion of faith beyond Scripture.

A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

Luke 15:12–15, KJV

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For examples of DeMille’s early references to “riotous living,” see BYU, Box 239, Folder 1.

  2. 2.

    Lasky and DeMille’s correspondence concerning The Wanderer in MHL, Lasky, Jesse L., Box 2, Folder 43, “Telegrams to and from DeMille (1916–1919);” BYU, Box 241, Folder 20; Box 244, Folder 18. See also Birchard , DeMille’s Hollywood, 150–152.

  3. 3.

    For numerous letters and memos discussing these religious subjects, see BYU, Box 250, Folder 13; Box 260, Folder 8; Box 264, Folder 2; Box 268, Folder 3; Box 314, Folder 6; Box 353, Folder 14. See also Eyman , Empire of Dreams, 220, 280–281.

  4. 4.

    BYU, Box 250, Folder 15.

  5. 5.

    Garry Wills , Head and Heart: A History of Christianity in America (New York: Penguin Books, 2007), 3–4.

  6. 6.

    Wills , Head and Heart, 383–390. Josiah Strong , The New Era or the Coming Kingdom (New York: Baker and Taylor, 1893), 201.

  7. 7.

    Strong quoted in Martin Marty , Modern American Religion, Volume 1. The Irony of It All: 1893–1919 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 23. For James and Dewey see Ibid., 62–65.

  8. 8.

    Harris quoted in Marty , The Irony of It All, 39.

  9. 9.

    Cooley quoted in Marty , The Irony of It All, 78.

  10. 10.

    For Barton, see Richard M. Fried, The Man Everybody Knew: Bruce Barton and the Making of Modern America (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2005). For quotes, see BYU, Box 263, Folder 1.

  11. 11.

    For diversity of the expression of liberal Christianity, see Wills , Head and Heart, 383–393. For Federal Council of Churches, see Marty , The Irony of It All, 274–276. “Essential oneness” quoted in Marty , Modern American Religion, Volume 2. The Noise of Conflict: 1919–1941 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), 34.

  12. 12.

    Marty , The Noise of Conflict, 147, 255, 304–6.

  13. 13.

    Marty , The Irony of It All, 208–210. See also Wills , Head and Heart, 342–346, 367, 419–423; Mark A. Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2001), 288–290; Charles H. Lippy, Introducing American Religion (New York: Routledge, 2009), 176–179.

  14. 14.

    Marty , The Irony of It All, 208–210, 239. Bryan quoted in Marty , The Noise of Conflict, 191.

  15. 15.

    Marty, The Irony of It All, 42–43, 253.

  16. 16.

    MHL, Hedda Hopper Papers, File #549 “Cecil B. DeMille.” For Urguhart letter, see BYU, Box 506, Folder 15. Richard DeMille quoted in Eyman , Empire of Dreams, 359.

  17. 17.

    DeMille quoted in Noerdlinger, Moses and Egypt, 2. For DeMille’s statement on churches, see BYU, Box 453, Folder 10. For poem, see MHL, Henry S. Noerdlinger Collection, Folder 22. He read from this poem on the Arlene Francis TV show, BYU, Box 489, Folder 16. DeMille frequently held multi-faith prayers readings on the set of his films, Essoe and Lee, DeMille, 114. For his doubts toward organize religion, see Lasky Jr., Whatever Happened to Hollywood, 300; Koury , Yes, Mr. DeMille, 54; Orrison, Written in Stone, 37, 175. For scientific progress, see BYU, Box 249, Folder 2. For Evolution, see BYU, Box 262, Folder 1. For DeMille on Road, see BYU, Box 260 Folder 3. For other examples of DeMille’s early interest in modern science, see BYU, Box 324, Folder 16; Box 324, Folder 18.

  18. 18.

    Orrison, Written in Stone, 37–40; BYU, Box 650, Folder 2; Richard DeMille cited in Eyman , Empire of Dreams, 359, emphasis added.

  19. 19.

    Charles J. Shindo , 1927 and the Rise of Modern America (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2010), 1, 8–9. For “sickness in Hollywood,” see Hayne , Autobiography, 238; For weariness and strain, see deMille, Hollywood Saga, 243. For work with Neilan, Swanson , and Reid , see BYU, Box 240, Folder 1. For exercise diet and regime see BYU, Box 240, Folder 1.

  20. 20.

    Eyman acknowledges “Bebe’s” death left a powerful and “unfulfilled yearning” in DeMille, Empire of Dreams, 205–206. For “if you have a message,” see BYU, Box 421, Folder 2. For letters between DeMille and his mother citing her “riotous living,” see BYU, Box 239, Folder 1.

  21. 21.

    “Laughed to scorn” and “drift” in BYU, Box 250, Folder 15.

  22. 22.

    For “risky,” see BYU, Box 427, Folder 2. For financing problems, see Pratt, “Forty-Five Years of Picture Making,” 141. For “look of terror,” see BYU, Box 650, Folder 2. For correspondence about the problems facing PDC should they produce The Deluge, in 1926, see BYU, Box 268, Folder 1; Box 295, Folder 15. For polling, see BYU, Box 294, Folder 26. In 1941, DeMille toyed with hiring the Gallop agency to examine the feasibility of a film about the Virgin Mary (BYU, Box 363, Folder 7) and, in 1947, rejected Koury’s suggestion to run a similar contest.

  23. 23.

    For 1929 poll results and DeMille’s efforts to secure rights, see BYU, Box 256, Folders 6, 7, 8, and 10. For DeMille’s recollection, see Hayne , Autobiography, 249.

  24. 24.

    For 1925 poll of exhibitors, see BYU, Box 260, Folders 16, 17, and 18; Box 262, Folder 1. For exhibitors comments, see BYU, Box 260, Folder 17.

  25. 25.

    For his early mention of a linked trilogy, see BYU, Box 506, Folder 21; Pratt, “45 Years of Picture Making,” 139–140. For later recollections, see Hayne , Autobiography, 305–306; MHL, Charlton Heston Papers, “Ten Commandments – Publicity;” MHL, Hedda Hopper Papers, “Cecil B. DeMille.”

  26. 26.

    BYU, Box 242, Folder 8. Hayne , Autobiography, 249–251. MHL, Adolph Zukor Collection, Folder 6, “Correspondence 1923.” See this collection for Lloyd’s written piece in August, 1923.

  27. 27.

    DeMille quoted in BYU, Box 268, Folder 3; Essoe and Lee, DeMille, 113; Hayne , Autobiography, 276. For opening scene see, BYU, Box 284, Folder 4.

  28. 28.

    BYU, Box 650, Folder 2. For his comments about these religious subjects, see BYU, Box 468, Folder 8. For his rejection of original sin, see Eyman , Empire of Dreams, 250. DeMille’s interest in filming Paul was lifelong. For an early effort, see BYU, Box 315, Folder 3.

  29. 29.

    DeMille quoted in Essoe and Lee, DeMille, 16.

  30. 30.

    For 1924 correspondence with Lasky, see BYU, Box 250, Folder 13. DeMille’s comments on Revelations quoted in Eyman , Empire of Dreams, 495–496.

  31. 31.

    For comments on The King of Kings , see BYU, Box 268, Folder 3. For MGM promotional material, see BYU, Box 1, Folder 1. Wilcoxon quoted in Orrison, Lionheart in Hollywood, 68. Andre Sennwald’s review of The Crusades in The New York Times (August 22, 1935), 21:3.

  32. 32.

    For Lord’s employment, see BYU, Box 264, Folder 11. For references to spiritual retreat, see BYU, Box 276, Folder 27; Box 353, Folder 14.

  33. 33.

    For “self-control,” see Daniel Lord, Played by Ear, 274. See also the ecumenical principles that inspired his efforts at content censorship in Francis G. Couvares, ed., Movie Censorship and American Culture (Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996), 143–149; Thomas Doherty, Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930–1934 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 6–8. For Lord’s eagerness to work with DeMille, see BYU, Box 284, Folders 2, 4.

  34. 34.

    For Lord’s creative collaboration, see Box 264, Folder 21; Box 284, Folder 4; Box 506, Folder 15. For “it seems inevitable” and “new insight” see BYU, Box 284, Folder 4. Anthony Burke Smith, The Look of Catholics: Portrayals in Popular Culture from the Great Depression to the Cold War (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2010), 132–134.

  35. 35.

    BYU, Box 284, Folder 4, emphasis added. For break between the two men over “Family Portrait,” a fictional account of the mother of Jesus, see Koury , Yes Mr. DeMille, 230–233; Lord, Played by Ear, 279, 284.

  36. 36.

    For the Pompton incident and DeMille’s recollections, see BYU, Box 650, Folder 2. For address to St. Paul’s Cathedral, see BYU, Box 332, Folder 11.

  37. 37.

    For correspondence with Lord, see BYU, Box 353, Folder 14. DeMille quoted in Kenneth Crist, “A Hollywood Movie King Talks About God” Los Angeles Times, Sunday Magazine (March 4, 1934): 3, 15, 20, found in BYU, Box 383, Folder 14.

  38. 38.

    For DeMille’s comments, see MHL, Hedda Hopper Papers, “Cecil B. DeMille;” BYU, Box 650, Folder 2. Lasky Jr. quoted in Orrison, Written in Stone, 42.

  39. 39.

    For DeMille’s expressions on these doctrines, see BYU, Box 324, Folder 11; Box 650, Folder 2. For DeMille’s reference to John and unconventional beliefs, see BYU, Box 469, Folder 2; Eyman , Empire of Dreams, 443, 495, 500.

  40. 40.

    For his 1920 film, see BYU, Box 241, Folder 5. For extended correspondence with Alice George, see BYU, Box 284, Folder 3; emphasis in the original.

  41. 41.

    DeMille’s assessment of the film in BYU, Box 315, Folder 4; Box 250, Folder 13. For Leisen, Iribe , and Bel Geddes , see BYU, Box 250, Folder 3.

  42. 42.

    For Pickford’s efforts to secure the rights in 1923, see BYU, Box 244, Folder 19. For the couple’s wire following the premiere, see BYU, Box 250, Folder 1.

  43. 43.

    DeMille quoted in BYU, Box 250, Folder 5. For DeMille’s strong desire to secure the property, see BYU, Box 257, Folder 4. This folder also contains various memos between DeMille and his trusted legal counselor, Neil McCarthy . Given the lawsuit, caution should be applied to DeMille’s professions of theosophic beliefs. The first reference to Theosophy and William Judge , aside from the memos cited below, appears in 1927. Two other memos, written by DeMille to Lasky, clearly suggest some padding of the historical record; possibly to avoid guilt for plagiarizing Vane’s work. See, for example, BYU, Box 250, Folders 13 and 14 for two memos that conveniently support the defense’s central argument, three years later. The first memo specifically cites Judge as well as a number of other spiritual inspirations. The second memo is signed “CBdeM:PH,” a notation that is unique to all other correspondence of this period. What is clearly authentic is Lasky’s notification, in March 1924, that FPL was unwilling to secure the rights to “Outward Bound” (due to expense) and a warning to DeMille “not [to] get into latter because of any similarity” between the properties. See BYU, Box 257, Folder 4.

  44. 44.

    For DeMille’s correspondence concerning the Pennsylvania censorship , as well as an isolated incident of local censorship practiced on the film by an Iowa exhibitor, see BYU, Box 250, Folder 4.

  45. 45.

    For critics, see The New York Times (September 22, 1924), 16:1; BYU, Box 249, Folder 7, Box 250, Folder 13. For positive responses, see BYU, Box 250, Folder 1; Box 249, Folder 6. For strong revenues in the heartland, see BYU, Box 249, Folder 6.

  46. 46.

    BYU, Box 262, Folder 1.

  47. 47.

    BYU, Box 262, Folder 1, emphasis added.

  48. 48.

    BYU, Box 261 Folder 2.

  49. 49.

    BYU, Box 261 Folder 2. For letters of praise, see BYU, Box 261, Folder 3. For defense against censors and links to The Ten Commandments, see BYU, Box 264, Folders 2, 3.

  50. 50.

    For problems with exhibition, see BYU, Box 262, Folder 1; Box 262, Folder 3. See also Chap. 5.

  51. 51.

    For links see BYU, Box 258, Folder 9; Box 265, Folder 4. For reaction to the film, see BYU, Box 272, Folder 9; Box 274, Folder 13. For the importance of The King of Kings to DeMille’s life, see Eyman , Empire of Dreams, 242–244.

  52. 52.

    Brownlow quoted in Eyman , Empire of Dreams, 257–258.

  53. 53.

    DeMille was given a copy of Judge Ben Lindsey’s The Revolt of Modern Youth by one of his writers, on April 4, 1926; see BYU, Box 264, Folder 15; Box 274, Folder 13. Birchard and Louvish offer alternative origins to the project; Birchard , DeMille’s Hollywood, 229; Louvish , A Life in Art, 277. For extensive reports from the field, see BYU, Box 291, Folder 18; Box 292, Folder 1; Box 292, Folder 2. The transcript from DeMille’s reading of the script is found in BYU, Box 293, Folder 8; Box 292, Folder 13. For the reaction by state authorities to The Godless Girl , both before and after its release, see Louvish, A Life in Art, 277–278; BYU, Box 293, Folder 3.

  54. 54.

    For the leaflets and resulting national media attention, see Birchard , DeMille’s Hollywood, 230. For McGaffey , see BYU, Box 292, Folders 1 and 2; Box 274, Folder 13. For DeMille’s claims, see BYU, Box 293, Folder 8.

  55. 55.

    For his assertion that the film was not a religious picture, see BYU, Box 293, Folder 1. For “contempt” see BYU, Box 293, Folder 2. For script reading and DeMille’s repeated comments on spiritual tolerance, see BYU, Box 293, Folder 8.

  56. 56.

    For letters to and from Lord, see BYU, Box 293, Folder 1; Box 284, Folder 2. For comments about religious “series,” see BYU, Box 276, Folder 27. For comments to crew, see BYU, Box 293, Folder 8.

  57. 57.

    BYU, Box 293, Folder 5. Carr noted that it made no sense to propose that an American judge would sentence religious zealots to jail for violently breaking up a meeting of Atheists. He had seen an Atheist speaking in Pershing Park nearly kicked to death by zealots yet the judge sent the victim to jail.

  58. 58.

    For “pro-atheist” see BYU, Box 293, Folder 5. For other comments, see BYU, Box 293, Folder 8. For sharp clerical condemnation of The Godless Girl and their linking of the film to DeMille’s broader religious catalog, including The King of Kings and The Ten Commandments, see BYU, Box 293, Folder 10. For Douglas , see Ibid.

  59. 59.

    BYU, Box 293, Folder 5; Box 293, Folder 8.

  60. 60.

    Cecelia DeMille quoted in Edwards, The DeMilles, 175.

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  1. Department of History, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, USA

    David Blanke

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Blanke, D. (2018). The Wanderer. In: Cecil B. DeMille, Classical Hollywood, and Modern American Mass Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76986-8_3

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