Religion: Spiritual Foundations

Over his purple-sashed cassock and heavy gold pectoral cross, Episcopal Bishop James Pernette De Wolfe of Long Island tied a white apron. Over his purple-edged skullcap he put a chef’s white hat. In the spacious grounds of his cathedral at suburban Garden City, the bishop was chief cook (but not bottle-washer) at a clambake last week for the Episcopal Actors’ Guild.

Afterwards, the bishop led the party to the Cathedral House, where 1,200 clergy and laity of the diocese had gathered to watch a radio recording of Dark Victory, with Celeste Holm, and Walter Abel playing the leads and Walter Hampden as announcer. Next month the recording will be heard over 549 stations, including the Mutual Broadcasting System, as part of an ambitious effort to reach the 70 million Americans who belong to no church.

Battle of Life. Because “the people we want to reach would be scared away by religion,” the new nationwide Episcopal-sponsored program will have no prayers, no sermons, no hymns or Bible reading. It will not be broadcast on Sunday, but on Friday evenings from 8 to 8:30, competing with regular commercial programs. Titled Great Scenes from Great Plays, it will devote nearly the whole half-hour to a drama. The only moral drawn will be a reference to the relevance of religion.

The series will start Oct. 1 with Cyrano de Bergerac, starring Walter Hampden. At the close of the program a voice will ask: “How can we make sense out of this confused and troubled world? . . The place to begin is with ourselves.” The voice, referring to “Cyrano’s lifelong, self-denying love for Roxane,” says that Cyrano made sense out of his existence “not by crying out in bitterness over his physical ugliness . . . [but] by making something out of himself.” Listeners are told that it will be easier to win the battle with themselves if they have a church’s guidance. Those who belong to no church are invited “to discover just how much help you can get when you receive that which only the church can give.” In smaller cities, a local clergyman will come on for the local tie-in.

Home Missions. Many a key Episcopal bishop and layman opposed the program at first, but most who have heard a sample transcript are now enthusiastic. Other Episcopalians will make up their minds during the first 13 weeks of the series, for which the money is on hand. If the show is to be continued, an extra 3% will be asked in the Every-Member-Canvass pledges for 1949. The program will cost about $15,000 a week, over $11,000 of it for radio time at regular commercial rates. Musicians, technicians and minor actors will receive regular rates; the stars have volunteered for a fraction of their usual fees.

Among the first few plays: The Corn Is Green, with Jane Cowl; The Barretts of Wimpale Street, with Basil Rathbone; On Borrowed Time, with Boris Karloff; Little Women, with Joan Caulfield.

Said Bishop De Wolfe last week: “We speak of missionary programs and think of Asia and Africa. But there are 70 million pagans in America, and we have missionary work to do right here. The conventional type of religious radio program has been ineffective in reaching the unchurched. This is a good place to begin building spiritual foundations.”