This article or section includes a list of references or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations.

This article or section may contain too much repetition. Please help improve this article, or discuss the issue on its talk page. Editing help is available.

For information on the UK singer Elmer Gantry, aka Dave Terry, see Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera

Elmer Gantry is a 1927 novel by Sinclair Lewis. It tells the story of a young, narcisistic, womanizing college athlete who, upon realizing the power, prestige, and easy money that being an evangelical preacher can bring, pursues his "religious" ambitions with relish, contributing to the downfall, even death, of key people around him as the years pass. Although he continues to womanize, is often exposed as a fraud, and frequently faces a complete downfall, Gantry is never fully discredited and always manages to emerge triumphant and to reach ever greater heights of social status. The novel ends as the Rev. Gantry prays for the USA to be a "moral nation" and simultaneously admires the legs of a new choir singer. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sinclair Lewis Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 — January 10, 1951) was an American novelist and playwright. ... This article is about narcissism as a word in common use. ... Look up evangelist in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The novel

In the novel, Gantry continues to womanize, is often exposed as a fraud, and frequently faces a complete downfall, yet he is never fully discredited and always manages to emerge triumphant and reaching ever greater heights of social standing. Mark Schorer, then of the University of California, Berkeley, notes that "the forces of social good and enlightenment as presented in Elmer Gantry are not strong enough to offer any real resistance to the forces of social evil and banality." Mark Schorer, or Marc R. Schorer (1908 - 1977) was an American writer, novelist, critic. ... Sather tower (the Campanile) looking out over the San Francisco Bay and Mount Tamalpais. ...

Lewis did research for the novel by observing the work of preacher Burris Jenkins, pastor in the Linwood Boulevard Methodist Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Missouri. Jenkins introduced Lewis to many other clergymen, among them the Reverend L.M. Birkhead, a Unitarian and an agnostic. Schorer says that both of these associations, as well as others, influenced characters in the novel. There's no record of the character of Elmer Gantry or any other characters as being fictionalizations of the careers of Billy Sunday or Aimee Semple McPherson. Schorer also says that, while researching the book, that 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." The result is a novel that represents the religious activity of America in evangelistic circles and the attitudes of the 1920s toward it. Elmer Gantry also appears in another, lesser known Lewis novel, Gideon Planish. The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784. ... Nickname: Location in Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass Counties in the state of Missouri. ... Historic Unitarianism believed in the oneness of God as opposed to traditional Christian belief in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). ... The term agnosticism and the related agnostic were coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869. ... Billy Sunday William Ashley Sunday (November 19, 1862 – November 6, 1935) was an American athlete and religious figure who, after being a popular outfielder in baseballs National League during the 1880s, became the most celebrated and influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century. ... Aimee Stewart she was also the founder of the Foursquare Church. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Sinclair Lewis novel, Gideon Planish, takes aim at less-thаn-honorable fund raising organisations. ...

The novel is dedicated by Lewis "to H. L. Mencken, with profound admiration." i still feel like being nice H.L. Mencken who: journalist, satirist, social critic, cynic, and freethinker, what: most influential American writers of the early 20th century. ...

On publication in 1927, Elmer Gantry created a public furor. The book was banned in Boston and other cities and denounced from pulpits across the USA. One cleric suggested that Lewis should be imprisoned for five years, and there were also threats of physical violence against the author. The famous evangelist Billy Sunday called Lewis "Satan’s cohort." Shortly after the publication of Elmer Gantry, H. G. Wells published a widely-syndicated newspaper article called "the New American People," in which he based his observations of American culture entirely on the novels of Sinclair Lewis, including Elmer Gantry.^{[citation needed]} Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Banned in Boston was a phrase employed from the late 19th century through the Prohibition-Era to describe a literary work, motion picture, or play prohibited from distribution or exhibition in Boston, Massachusetts. ... Billy Sunday William Ashley Sunday (November 19, 1862 – November 6, 1935) was an American athlete and religious figure who, after being a popular outfielder in baseballs National League during the 1880s, became the most celebrated and influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century. ... Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was an English writer best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon and The Island of Doctor Moreau. ...

Adaptations

• A Broadway play by Patrick Kearney opened on August 7, 1928 at the Playhouse Theatre, where it ran for 48 performances. The cast included Edward J. Pawley (later of Hollywood and Big Town fame) as Elmer Gantry and Vera Allen as Sister Sharon Falconer.

• The 1960 film of the same name starred Burt Lancaster as Gantry and Jean Simmons as Sister Sharon Falconer.

• A 1970 Broadway musical adaptation titled Gantry opened and closed on the same night.

• In November 2007, an opera by Robert Aldridge will be premiered in the James K. Polk Theater, Nashville.

For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ... Patrick Kearney (born 1940) is an American serial killer who preyed on young men in California during the 1970s. ... is the 219th day of the year (220th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Edward Pawley was born in Kansas City, Missouri on March 16, 1901. ... Big Town was a television melodrama which ran on the CBS network from 1950 through 1954 and on the NBC network from 1955 through 1956. ... Elmer Gantry is a 1960 film based on the 1927 novel by Sinclair Lewis, which tells the story of a confidence man who teams with a woman evangelist in selling religion for profit to small-town America. ... Burt Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an Oscar-winning American film actor, noted for his athletic physique (a rare thing for leading men of that time), distinct smile (which he called The Grin) and, later, his willingness to play roles that went against his initial tough guy... Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons in Angel Face Jean Merilyn Simmons (born January 31, 1929 in Crouch Hill, London, England, United Kingdom) is a British actress. ... Gantry is a musical with a book by Peter Bellwood, lyrics by Fred Tobias, and music by Stanley Lebowsky. ...

See also

Christian evangelist scandals A series of scandals resulted in the destruction of the reputations of several famous Christian evangelists. ...

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• M*A*S*H (TV series) episode 1 (The Pilot Episode) During a fundraiser dance, Hawkeye (Alan Alda) likens Major Burn’s (Larry Linville) character to Elmer Gantry.

• In one scene of the original Broadway production of Elmer Gantry at The Playhouse theater in 1928, the Reverend Gantry (played by Broadway star Edward J. Pawley) raced out into the theater audience in a make-believe attempt to obtain converts!

• After its run on Broadway, Elmer Gantry, was taken on the road. It was not well-received by the religious factions in the mid-west, according to the play's star, Edward J. Pawley.

Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... M*A*S*H is an American television series developed by Larry Gelbart, inspired by the 1968 novel M*A*S*H: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker (penname for H. Richard Hornberger) and its sequels, but primarily by the 1970 film MASH, and influenced by the... Alan Alda (born January 28, 1936) is a five-time Emmy Award-winning, six-time Golden Globe-winning, Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... Larry Linville (September 29, 1939 – April 10, 2000) was an American actor. ... Edward Pawley was born in Kansas City, Missouri on March 16, 1901. ... Edward Pawley was born in Kansas City, Missouri on March 16, 1901. ...

References

• Nelson Manfred Blake. "How to Learn History from Sinclair Lewis and Other Uncommon Sources." American Character and Culture in a Changing World: Some Twentieth-Century Perspectives. Ed. John A. Hague. Westport: Greenwood, 1979. 111-23.
• Wheeler Dixon. "Cinematic Adaptations of the Works of Sinclair Lewis." Sinclair Lewis at 100: Papers Presented at a Centennial Conference. Ed. Michael Connaughton. St. Cloud: St. Cloud State University, 1985. 191-200.
• Robert J. Higgs. "Religion and Sports: Three Muscular Christians in American Literature." American Sport Culture: The Humanistic Dimensions. Ed. Wiley Lee Umphlett. Lewisburg: Buknell UP, 1985. 226-34.
• James M. Hutchisson. The Rise of Sinclair Lewis, 1920-1930. University Park: Pennsylvania State U P, 1996.
• George Killough. "Elmer Gantry, Chaucer's Pardoner, and the Limits of Serious Words." Sinclair Lewis: New Essays in Criticism. Ed. James M. Hutchisson. Troy, New York: Whitston, 1997. 162-74.
• Edward A. Martin. "The Mimic as Artist: Sinclair Lewis." H.L. Mencken and the Debunkers. Athens: U of Georgia P., 1984. 115-38.
• Gary H. Mayer. "Love is More Than the Evening Star: A Semantic Analysis of Elmer Gantry and The Man Who Knew Coolidge." American Bypaths: Essays in Honor of E. Hudson Long. Ed. Robert G. Collmer and Jack W. Herring. Waco: Baylor UP, 1980. 145-66.
• James Benedict Moore. "The Sources of Elmer Gantry." New Republic 143 (8 Aug. 1960): 17-18.
• Edward J. Piacentino. "Babbittry Southern Style: T.S. Stribling's Unfinished Cathedral." Markham Review 10 (1981): 36-39.
• Elizabeth S. Prioleau. "The Minister and the Seductress in American Fiction: The Adamic Myth Reduz." Journal of American Culture 16.4 (1993): 1-6.
• Mark Schorer. Sinclair Lewis: An American Life, 1961.
• Mark Schorer. "Afterword." Elmer Gantry, 1970.
• Robert Gibson Corder, Ph.D., "Edward J. Pawley: Broadway's Elmer Gantry, Radio's Steve Wilson, and Hollywood's Perennial Bad Guy", Outskirts Press, 2006
• Edward Shillito. "Elmer Gantry and the Church in America." Nineteenth Century and After 101 (1927): 739-48.