Heart - Breaking Statements
We call special attention to the article on the front page of this issue. We have run this article before in the Guardian, and think it worthy of repetition. Brother Woodbridge printed it in leaflet form, and has had calls from all over the nation for copies of it to be distributed into the hands of sincere people who were wavering (or already led astray) over current issues. He has re-printed the leaflet, and now has it in adequate supply. They are free for the asking. If you would like to hand some of them to friends who are willing to read and ponder the things said, you may' have a supply by simply addressing your request for such to Judson Woodbridge, Mulvane, Kansas. Incidentally, since he will send you the leaflets with no cost to you, it seems not inappropriate that we suggest you send along a few pennies to pay the postage.
Irresponsible Journalism
The Gospel Guardian from time to time has carried various news stories from magazines and newspapers across the nation in which these journals have reported a wide assortment of the capers and cavortings of brethren (and sisters) in the Lord's body who have been (and are) held up as shining examples of all that is virtuous, valiant, and worthy of imitation by those who would serve Christ. Among the institutions, and individuals, about which reports have been carried are Pepperdine College and teenage idol Pat Boone.
The Firm Foundation, indefatigable promoter, defender, apologizer, and guardian of both Pepperdine and Pat has had much to say, pointed in our direction. On another page we publish the most recent shaft (from the Firm Foundation of April 18, 1961) of this sort. Incidentally, we are glad to get the correction on that item about the Homecoming Dance at Pepperdine. The Gospel Guardian was one of the organs that printed the story from the California paper, having never a doubt, of course, as to its accuracy. After all, brother Boone, the hero of the festivities, and chief drawing card for the occasion, makes no secret of his dancing. The story was quite in harmony with that which we would have expected from an occasion in which this Hollywood personality was featured. We did not suppose that either brother Pat or Pepperdine would consider a report of a dance as a reflection on them.
Anyhow, just to show you what a Catholic, worldly-wise, and sophisticated news magazine thinks of the public morals of "our Pat" we give herewith the full story as it appeared in Time magazine of April 14, 1961:
Pat's First Pat
All Hands On Deck (20th Century-Fox). Charles Eugene "Pat" (Pat is short for Patricia. Mama, as Pat still calls her, was expecting a girl) Boone, a pop singer known in show business as "the apostle to the adolescents," has a face as wholesome as a glass of milk, though perhaps not quite so interesting. He does not smoke, drink or swear. Some people also say he does not sing, but then some people don't like the way Albert Schweitzer plays the organ. Certainly he does not act, but perhaps that is expecting too much of a lad who is only 26, and who, as he shyly confesses, was spanked by his mother (with a sewing-machine belt) until he was 17.
In his first two movies, Hero Boone righteously refused to kiss the heroine. In his third, he gave her a shy peck on the cheek. In his fourth, he actually kissed her on the mouth — though, as one moviegoer saw it, the kiss was not so much a kiss as an "oral handshake." But after seeing this film, 'Mama Boone's hand may well reach instinctively for the Singer. Pat Boone kisses the leading lady with his mouth wide open. What's more, in full view of those millions of suggestible young people to whom he has preached "the teen commandments," Pat pats her pretty little derriere. "With each picture," says Pat, "I get a little closer."
Closer to what? Certainly not to an Academy Award. In this routine piece of USNonsense — aptly epitomized in the ship's mascot: a turkey — Pat plays a two-striper, second in command on an LST in the peacetime Navy. When not scuttling his principles with a girl reporter (Barbara Eden), Hero Boone consoles a pointy-headed skipper (Dennis O'Keefe) who dearly loves to fish but sadly catches the only thing that seems to swim in the average gagman's Pacific: a brassiere. Whenever he has nothing worse to do, Pat sings a song. The music will not seriously disturb anybody except musicians, but the words ("She's a new destroyer type/Every turret round and ripe") are really going to raise Ned in the 4,400 Pat Boone fan clubs. Anyway, after 98 minutes on a clich-cluttered Deck, even the most loyal Boone companion may say amen to this unwittingly witty bit of dialogue:
"The admiral's ready to abandon ship!" "Who isn't?"
Is any comment needed? If the secular press can have this evaluation of the moral value of "our Pat's" pictures, is he still to be crammed down the throats of decent people and idolized as "all that is wholesome in American Christian youth"? We will let the Firm Foundation, Pepperdine College, and other Boonophiles answer!
— F. Y. T.