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ERIC’S SAVING AIMEE DIRECTOR’S NOTES
Five years ago on a return trip to Washington, I listened to five songs that had been written by David Friedman, David Pomeranz, and Kathie Lee Gifford for a new musical based on the life of Aimee Semple McPherson. When the last song ended, I immediately got on my cell phone to tell Kathie Lee that she had something special. And so the journey began.
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Aimee Semple McPherson |
I knew nothing about Aimee Semple McPherson. But now I can tell you that she was a pioneer. Her life is one of the most complicated and celebrated in the history of women in America. Her journey is shrouded in both mystery and controversy, but she has left an everlasting impression on our society.
Kathie Lee Gifford based her book of the musical on countless pages of published material as well as personal interviews with Aimee’s 95-year old daughter and her 91-year old son. The end result is a fascinating look at one of the most influential leaders in our country — the first woman to drive across the country without the company of a man, the first woman to build her own religious temple, the first woman to hold a radio license, and the list goes on. She defied the odds, broke the rules, but ended up breaking herself in the end.
Saving Aimee is not a musical about religion — no more than The Sound of Music is about Catholicism. Saving Aimee tells the story about how one woman fought back in a male-dominated society, broke barriers, and stood up for her beliefs. That’s something we could all learn from.
I can’t thank enough the talented artistic team who has come to our new theater to be part of this world premiere production. Their dedication and commitment to this piece says everything: “You gotta’ stand up!”
Eric Schaeffer
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Kathie Lee Gifford and Eric Schaeffer |
ERIC AND KATHIE LEE GIFFORD’S SAVNG AIMEE REHERSAL NOTES
Listen to director Eric Schaeffer and book/lyricist writer Kathie Lee Gifford’s thoughts behind the creation of the world premiere musical Saving Aimee as presented by these two collaborators at the first rehearsal.
Click here to download the MP3 file.
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THE LIFE OF AIMEE SEMPLE MCPHERSON
A Chronological Look at the Life of a Remarkable Woman
by Chrystyna Dail
1890
Aimee Elizabeth Kennedy is born near Salford, Ontario on October 9, 1890, to a Salvation Army member, Mildred “Minnie” Kennedy neé Pearce (age 18) and wealthy gentleman farmer, James Morgan Kennedy (age 54).
1906
Aimee spends her youth attending Salvation Army services and performing in local Methodist pageants and plays. Struck by the hypocrisy of the religious who attend movies, dance, and play cards as well as spurred on by her school science text, she enters the Darwin/Creationism debate when she writes a letter to the Montreal Family Herald and Weekly Star, which is published on July 18, 1906. Her letter sparks an international debate.
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Robert and Aimee Semple - c. 1910 |
1907
Aimee falls in love when she hears Irish-born preacher Robert James Semple speak for the first time in December 1907.
1908
Aimee speaks in tongues for the first time and converts to Pentecostalism in 1908. Six months later, on August 12, she marries Robert Semple.
1909
In 1909, Aimee Semple experiences her first miraculous healing when a preacher in Findlay, Ohio lays hands on her broken ankle and it is instantly healed.
1910
Aimee Semple preaches for the first time to an audience of fifteen thousand in the Victoria and Albert Hall in London in the spring of 1910.
In June 1910, Aimee and Robert Semple travel to China on a conversion mission. Aimee is pregnant when the two embark. On August 17, 1910, Robert dies from dysentery and malaria in Hong Kong. After a month in the hospital Aimee is well enough to return to the United States where her daughter, Roberta Star, is born on September 17, 1910.
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Aimee and her children, 1917 |
1912
Aimee marries a New York City accountant, Harold McPherson, on February 28, 1912. The couple move to Providence, Rhode Island later that spring and their son Rolf is born on March 23, 1913.
1915
In the spring of 1915, Aimee Semple McPherson leaves her husband and takes her children to follow her religious calling and begins preaching. She preaches in Berlin, Germany for a short while and then travels to Mount Forest, Ontario where the Victory Mission becomes filled with her converts on a nightly basis for over a year.
1916
From 1916 to 1923, Aimee Semple McPherson travels across the United States by automobile six times and preaches her way to fame, performing healings and preaching to all classes, races, and ethnicities.
Her initial healing occurs in Corona, Long Island at the Free Gospel Church in November 1916, when she heals Louise Messnick who is on crutches and in the advanced stages of rheumatoid arthritis.
1917
In June 1917, Aimee begins publishing a monthly Pentecostal bulletin called The Bridal Call, which originally sold for twenty-five cents for a one-year subscription.
1918
In the fall of 1918, Aimee begins appearing publicly in her signature white maid’s dress and secondhand military cape.
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Aimee and Minnie Kennedy in the parsonage of Angelus Temple, c.1924 |
1919
In the spring of 1919, Aimee’s mother Minnie begins touring with Aimee, the children, and a female assistant. Minnie cares for the children, books the preaching shows, handles correspondence, and controls The Bridal Call subscriptions. This same year Aimee publishes her autobiography, This Is That, and has her first newspaper interview with a Baltimore Sun journalist on December 5. On December 11, 1919, at the Lyric Theater in Baltimore, Aimee heals Sarah Matthews of her blindness and several other people of their physical ailments as well.
1920
March 21, 1920, in Washington, DC at the McKendree Methodist Episcopal Church, Aimee heals ten-year old and twelve-year old paralyzed boys, an eight-year old paralyzed girl, and a host of others. The Washington Post records over 1,000 crippled and sick are healed by Aimee Semple McPherson during her three week preaching visit.
1921
In 1921, Aimee and Harold McPherson’s divorce is legalized and Harold gives up his rights to see his son on weekends.
1922
In 1922, Aimee begins preaching over the radio, “becoming the foremost pioneer of religious broadcasting” (Epstein, 235). On June 17 of the same year, she is abducted in Denver by the KKK and released later the same evening. She also preaches in Australia for several months during this year.
1923
Aimee Semple McPherson’s Angelus Temple opens on New Year’s Day in Los Angeles in 1923. The Temple seats 5,300 in the auditorium and also includes sewing circles, an employment program for ex-cons, a commissary, nurseries, a Sunday school, and a prayer tower, which has volunteers answering phone calls and praying “around the clock in two-hour shifts” (Epstein, 249). On Sunday evenings, Aimee begins staging “illustrated sermons” or little biblical plays in the Angelus Temple. These plays are generally humorous and include live animals, becoming one of the most popular events at the Temple.
1924
February 1924, Aimee builds the first religious broadcasting station, Radio KFSG and becomes the first woman granted a commercial license by the FCC.
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Aimee with the Gospel Car, 1918 |
1925
December 7, 1925, Aimee opens the L.I.F.E. Bible College. Later that year a scandal hits the papers that Aimee is having an affair with her married radio producer, Kenneth Ormiston. The scandal causes Aimee to have a nervous breakdown and ruins Ormiston’s marriage.
1926
On May 18, 1926, while swimming at Ocean Park, Aimee disappears and is feared drowned. Her followers keep a vigil for 32 days and ransom letters begin appearing. A twelve hour memorial service by 20,000 mourners is held for her on June 20, and three days later she re-appears claiming to have been abducted and brought to Mexico by two men, Steve and Jack, as well as a woman called Mexicali Rose. She claims to have escaped by cutting the rope around her wrists with the jagged edge of a syrup can then walking seventeen miles through the desert until she collapsed inside the gate of Ramon Gonzales’ house in Agua Prieta. For the rest of the year she battles grand jury court cases regarding the alleged affair with Ormiston and the Mexico kidnapping. She is never convicted.
1927
During 1927, Aimee tours Baltimore, New York City, and Washington, DC with a show titled “The Story of My Life” to try to re-build a positive public persona. During this time she also cuts her hair, begins wearing make-up, and stops wearing her white nurse’s garb. In the Service of the King, published the same year as the tour, is the literary version of her stage show. At the end of the year, Aimee and the board of the Temple oust Minnie Kennedy as the business manager and instate Ralph Jordan, Aimee’s tour publicist. On August 11, 1927, Minnie resigns from the Temple and receives one hundred thousand dollars in cash and property through her court settlement with Aimee.
1930
August 1930, the newspapers announce that Aimee broke Minnie’s nose during an argument. Minnie and Aimee’s daughter Roberta deny this, but it is the last time Minnie and Aimee work together or speak for several years. Aimee suffers a complete mental and physical breakdown following this argument with Minnie.
1931
In the spring of 1931, while traveling (and recovering) in Marseilles, Aimee befriends Charlie Chaplin. He secretly designs the proscenium arch for the religious theater performances at the Temple.
In the fall of 1931, Aimee marries her third husband, a thirty-year-old, obese, baritone in the Temple choir, David Hutton Jr. They divorce less than four years later.
1933
In 1933, Aimee preaches on Broadway and on the vaudeville circuit, but her $5,000 a week booking price soon proves too steep for producers and her act is cancelled.
1935
In 1935, Rheba Crawford, the anti-government women’s rights activist and proto-type for Sara in Guys and Dolls, preaches for Aimee at the Temple pulpit while she travels abroad. Aimee later accuses Crawford of trying to take-over the Temple.
1936
Aimee publishes Give Me My Own God, a religious travel book, in 1936.
1937
On April 13, 1937, Roberta sues Aimee’s lawyer Willedd Andrews for slander which leads to a falling out between Roberta and Aimee. Roberta and Aimee never communicate again.
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Aimee selling war bonds in Pershing Square, L.A., 1942 |
1940
1940 to 1943, much of Aimee’s time is devoted to teaching at the L.I.F.E. College and to weekly theatrical performances (illustrated sermons) at the Temple.
1942
June 21, 1942, Sister Aimee sells war bonds in Pershing Square. In one hour she sells $150,000 worth of bonds.
1944
September 26, 1944, Aimee preaches to a crowd of 10,000 in Oakland and later that night she dies after overdosing on barbiturates. Aimee Semple McPherson is pronounced dead at 11:45am on September 27, 1944. Sixty thousand mourners attend her lying-in repose and 600 vehicles escort the hearse to Forest Lawn Memorial Park for her funeral, which includes 3,700 people in attendance.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Epstein, Daniel Mark. Sister Aimee: The Life of Aimee Semple McPherson. New York: Harcourt Brace Vovanovich, 1993.
Leighton, Isabel, ed. The Aspirin Age, 1919 – 1941. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1949.
Numbers, Ronald L., ed. Creation-Evolution Debates. New York: Garland Publishers, 1995.
Ross, Ishbel. Charmers and Cranks; Twelve Famous American Women Who Defied The Conventions. New York: Harper & Row, 1965.
Thomas, Lately. Storming Heaven; The Lives and Turmoils of Minnie Kennedy and Aimee Semple McPherson. New York: Morrow, 1970.
Click here to purchase any of these books on Amazon.com
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MEET THE CAST OF SAVING AIMEE
Meet the lead actors in Signature’s World Premiere production of Saving Aimee.
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E. Faye Butler |
E. Faye Butler (Emma Jo) SIGNATURE: Gospel According to Fishman. BROADWAY: Blues. OFF-BROADWAY: Nunsense. LOCAL: Arena: Ain’t Misbehavin’, Polk County, Dinah Was; Centerstage: Trouble in Mind, Once on this Island, Ain't Misbehavin', Dinah Was. REGIONAL: LaJolla Playhouse: The Wiz:; Goodman Theatre: Purlie, A Christmas Carol; Pasadena Playhouse: Purlie; Mercury Theatre: Could it Be Magic? The Barry Manilow Songbook; Court Theatre: La Bete, Little Foxes, Once in a Lifetime; Steppenwolf Theatre: Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Marriot Lincolnshire: Little Shop of Horrors, The Wiz ; Drury Lane Evergreen Theatre: Jerry’s Girls; Hello, Dolly!; Hot Mikado, Sophisticated Ladies; Victory Gardens Theatre: Blue Sonata. TOURS: Mamma Mia!, Dinah Was, Nunsense, Nunsense II, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Hair. OTHER: Washington Ballet at Teatro de Mayo in Havana, Cuba: Blues Until June (accompanied by the Howard University Jazz Ensemble). AWARDS: five Jefferson Awards, After Dark Award, Excellence in the Arts Award, two BTAA Awards, John Barrymore Award, RAMI Award, three Helen Hayes nominations, Ovation Award nomination. Proud AEA member.
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Carolee Carmello |
Aimee Semple McPherson |
Carolee Carmello (Aimee Semple McPherson) BROADWAY: Donna in Mamma Mia!, Gabrielle in Lestat (Tony nomination, Drama Desk nomination), Lucille Frank in Parade (Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award), Kate in Kiss Me, Kate, Marguerite in The Scarlet Pimpernel, Abigail Adams in 1776, Oolie in City of Angels,Cordelia in Falsettos, Ms. Pennywise in Urinetown. OFF-BROADWAY: Elegies, A Class Act, john and jen, Das Barbecü, I Can Get It for You Wholesale, Vagina Monologues, Hello Again (Obie Award for Outstanding Performance). NATIONAL TOURS: Chess, Big River, Falsettos, Les Misérables. TV: Maple La Marsh on Remember W.E.N.N. (SAG Award nomination), Frasier, Ed, Law & Order.
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Ed Dixon |
Ed Dixon (James Kennedy/Brother Bob) BROADWAY: Gore Vidal’s The Best Man (Senator Carlin), The Iceman Cometh (General Wetjoen), Les Misérables (Thenardier), Cyrano (Rageneau), The Three Musketeers (Cardinal Richelieu), The Scarlet Pimpernel (Ozzy). OFF-BROADWAY: York Theater: Shylock (Shylock, Drama Desk nomination), National Actor’s Theatre: The Persians; Zipper Theatre: Here Lies Jenny, Under the Bridge. NATIONAL TOUR: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Governor of Texas), Pippin (Charlemagne), Sunset Boulevard (Max, Joseph Jefferson Nomination). OTHER: author/composer: Cather County (Leon Rabin Award), Richard Cory (Steinberg Grant, Festival Citation, NYMF Audience Award), Fanny Hill (two Drama Desk nominations, Dramalogue nomination, two Dean’s Lists Awards). www.eddixon.biz
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Florence Lacey |
Aimee and Minnie Kennedy in the parsonage of Angelus Temple, c.1924 |
Florence Lacey (Minnie Kennedy) SIGNATURE: Nevermore, The Rhythm Club, The Gospel According to Fishman, Follies, One Red Flower. BROADWAY: Evita; The Grand Tour; Hello, Dolly!; Les Misérables; An Evening with Jerry Herman. OFF-BROADWAY: Sweet Feet, Elizabeth and Essex, Styne After Styne, Under the Bridge. REGIONAL: Kennedy Center: Sunday in the Park with George; Goodspeed: Pal Joey; Connecticut Rep: A Little Night Music, Wings. AWARDS: Theater World, MAC, Drama Logue, Critics Outer Circle.
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Andrew Long |
Asa Keyes |
Andrew Long (Asa Keyes) SIGNATURE: My Fair Lady (Henry Higgins). NEW YORK: Summer Play Festival: Swansong (Ben Jonson). LOCAL: Studio: Frozen (Helen Hayes nomination); Shakespeare Theatre: Lady Windermere’s Fan(Lord Windermere), Henry IV Parts 1 and 2(Hotspur/Pistol), Coriolanus (Coriolanus), Don Carlos (Posa), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon), Hamlet (Claudius), King Lear (Edmund), The Merchant of Venice (Gratiano), Richard II (Bolingbroke), The Duchess of Malfi (Bosola), and manyothers; Arena, Studio, Theater J, Olney. REGIONAL: Guthrie Theater; Cincinnati Playhousein the Park; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis: Copenhagen (Heisenberg), Pirandello’s Henry IV (Henry IV, Kevin Kline nomination); Pioneer Theatre; Chautauqua Theater; Oregon,Illinois, New Jersey, and Alabama Shakespeare festivals. TRAINING: BFA, University ofNevada; MFA, Alabama Shakespeare Festival/University of Alabama.
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Adam Monley |
Adam Monley (Mac/Kenneth) BROADWAY: Mamma Mia! (original cast). OFF-BROADWAY: York: Fanny Hill (Will Plenty); Playwrights Horizons: A Gingerbread House (Harley). NATIONAL TOURS: Deaf West: Big River (Mark Twain/Voice of Huck), The Phantom of the Opera (Raoul). REGIONAL: Goodspeed: The Baker’s Wife (Dominique); Papermill Playhouse: Romeo & Bernadette (Romeo); Coconut Grove: Romeo & Bernadette (Romeo); Northshore Music Theater: A Little Night Music (Henrik). EDUCATION: The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
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Steve Wilson |
Robert Semple and Aimee Semple McPherson |
Steve Wilson (Robert Semple/David Hutton) BROADWAY: Sweet Charity (national tour, Vittorio Vidal), By Jeeves (Cyrus Budge III, Jr.), The Frogs (ensemble), Lestat (Swing). OFF-BROADWAY: New Girl In Town (Matt); Love, Janis (Interviewer). REGIONAL: includes Walnut Street Theatre: The Philadelphia Story; GeVa Theatre: 1776; Pittsburgh Public Theatre: By Jeeves; Shakespeare Theatre of NJ: The Rivals, The Importance of Being Earnest, Illyria, Pygmalion, As You Like It, Cyrano deBergerac, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry V; North Shore Musical Theatre: Sweet Charity, Victor/Victoria; Asolo Theatre Company: Visiting Mr. Green, The Kentucky Cycle; Cape Playhouse: Visiting Mr. Green, Thumbs, The Lion In Winter. RECORDINGS: Lestat, The Frogs, By Jeeves, Illyria.
Saving Aimee also features Doug Bowles, Priscilla Cuellar, James Gardiner, Evan Hoffmann, Jennifer Irons, Carrie A. Johnson, Diego Prieto, Tammy Roberts, Margo Seibert and Harry A. Winter
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