Remarks at St. Francis of Assisi
Newburgh, New York
By Mary Claire Kendall
Wednesday, March 28, 2018, 6:30-8:00 PM
It’s great
to be back at St. Francis of Assisi!
Some of you
were here last year and I see a lot of new faces.
I’m Mary
Claire Kendall, author of Oasis:
Conversion Stories of Hollywood Legends.
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| Publicity photo of Gary Cooper for Morroco (1936) |
We’re coming
in for a landing on this first edition of Oasis I, and now, I’m writing Oasis
II – including the stories of Hattie McDaniel, Babe Ruth, Spencer Tracy, Jimmy
Stewart, Alec Guinness and Jack Lemmon… The other six, including Frank Capra,
James Cagney, Rosalind Russell, Ronald Reagan, Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly, might
have to go into Oasis III. I’m already at 60,000 words!
Eleven years
ago when I started down this road, I reached out to Betty Hutton. She was not long for this world. She died that
March of 2007.
That summer,
after Newport Life Magazine greenlit
an article about Betty, I reached out to her friend, A.C. Lyles.
He was a legend
at Paramount, having worked there since 1936—and before that at the Paramount
Theater in Jacksonville, starting in 1928 at age 10!
A.C. knew
all the stars. Betty. Gary Cooper, who had helped A.C. get out to Hollywood. James
Cagney, who, along with Ronald Reagan, were his best friends in Hollywood. And,
Spencer Tracy. (A.C. said my next article should be about Spence and his son
John. It was!)
All of the
legends I write about found healing and recovery in the Catholic faith and are
testament to what it is to live with the realization that you are a child of
God, with all the attendant grace. And, what a contrast living without it. As my great grandmother Lillian, herself a convert, wrote in her
diary, the Catholic Faith “lightened the burdens of life.”
The truth
is, the lives of the stars I write about in Oasis
were difficult.
Exceedingly
so—all the glamour and celebrity notwithstanding. But, in the process of suffering the slings
and arrows that only Hollywood can thrust stars’ way with such precision and
sting, God was forming them, priming
them for the time when they would finally look up and ask for his help.
Because
that’s really all God wants any of us to do. He loves us so. But, stubbornly,
we want to do it all ourselves.
Then the
crisis hits.
Every legend
I write about had some kind of crisis that brought them face to face with their
human weakness and need for God.
They all
travelled long and winding roads, including:
Often
difficult childhoods.
Universally
challenging climbs to the top.
Celebrity
and fame. And, what that does to a soul!
But, in the
amazing way that God brings good out of evil, these problems were what led
these stars to Him. Usually after
meeting a priest and/or getting married to a devout Catholic or becoming friends
with someone who guided them into the Church.
The
fascinating thing is how their life trajectories pretty much ran a predictable,
similar course. Like the dramas in which they starred, with the standard
elements: setup, plot point, complication, resolution. It’s the drama of
life.
As Hemingway
wrote, “Every man’s life ends the same way, and it is only the details of how
he lived and how he died that distinguishes one man from another.”
Ah but the details
are rich and varied.
A few
comments about each star.
Alfred Hitchcock. Born into a devoutly Catholic if irreverent
family, he was the only one who did not undergo a religious conversion, per se.
Then, too, he only made cameos in his films. As he became the legendary
director he was, he drifted somewhat from the faith of his childhood only to
return, poignantly so, in the sunset of his life, when he reached out to a
priest, Fr. Thomas James Sullivan, he had met while directing The Paradine Case in the mid-40s. Fr.
Sullivan was “priest to the stars” and told a young friend, Fr. Mark Henninger,
whom I interviewed for this book, “He wants to come back home.” Fr. Henninger
joined him on these visits with the Master of Suspense. “The most remarkable
sight,” he wrote in The Wall Street
Journal, “was that after receiving communion, he silently cried, tears
rolling down his huge cheeks.”
Gary Cooper. Elegantly handsome man. Most gorgeous
actor on A.C. Lyle’s wall of stars. But, all the traps in the spiritual combat
were perfectly laid to trip Coop up. But, through grace, he surmounted them in
perfect Cooper fashion. And, it was not a deathbed conversion. “No way,” said
his daughter, Maria Cooper Janis. It was just eminently good timing as with
virtually every story in this book. Because, in fact, he became ill about a
year after his conversion. Like Hemingway, he liked to carry a crucifix. When
he was very ill, in the waning days of his life, and talking with Hemingway’s
friend, A.E. Hotchner, he clung to his crucifix, asking Hotchner to tell
Hemingway his conversion “was the best thing I ever did.”
Bob Hope. The entertainer to beat all entertainers. And,
when it came to the spiritual life, the drifter par excellence. In the end, he
came face to face with his need for God.
Like many in this book, it was a gradual process. During World War II,
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, told me that
Bob became very close to Cardinal Francis Spellman and was amazed that the
troops gave him bigger applause. That and the dedication of the troops got him
thinking. Five decades later he finally
took the plunge.
Mary Astor. Lovely woman who had a difficult childhood—always
escaping. Her parents viewed her as a
cash cow, and eventually she began escaping with alcohol, only to be rescued by
God. She had a special devotion to St.
Therese of Lisieux, who was pivotal in her conversion. And, she was very
devoted to the Eucharist, realizing how much strength she derived from this
beautiful sacrament.
John Wayne. Invincible, willful, loving and saintly. His was a long, long journey to finding God,
which played out dramatically ’til the very end. And, while this is true of
everyone, his story is particularly dramatic. As he was nearing the end of his
life, after heart surgery in Boston, he was introduced to St. Josemaria Escriva
de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei, which for those who don’t know means
“Work of God.” He was the “saint of
ordinary work.” I find this anecdote absolutely amazing because if you boil
down John Wayne, at his core is a good-hearted, hard worker.
Ann Sothern. The ultimate survivor. Watch her films and
you get this about her. Read her faith journey and you will understand what
lies behind that gutsy exterior. A woman of character who found God and, in so
doing, survived. Now, Hollywood was teaming with Catholics in the 30s, 40s and
50s—Leo McCarey, Frank Capra, John Ford, Fred Zinneman, and, of course, Hitch,
Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Rosalind Russell, Ethel
Barrymore and on and on—which made it more likely that Ann would become a Catholic,
as with so many in this book. It’s important to keep that context in mind as
you read Oasis. Today, there’s a
similar phenomenon—evangelical Christians a force, as well.
Jane Wyman. Hers was also a difficult childhood that bred in
her a steely and quiet determination. She had lots of problems, rooted in her
childhood. And, when she found the Catholic faith, fairly early on, she was a
changed woman and there was no turning back.
Many people in Hollywood led her to the faith, including Loretta Young
and her sister Sally Forrester, whom she went to mass with. She loved going to
Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in the Hollywood Hills. Her nanny was also an
influence.
Susan Hayward. A
red-headed fireball with acting talent on par with Sara Bernhardt. Born into
poverty in Brooklyn, New York, like her idol Barbara Stanwyck, she had an
incredibly difficult childhood. And, she identified with Bernhardt, who lost a
leg. Hayward was terribly nearsighted and as a child, running into the street
to rescue her penny kite, she was hit by a car and disabled, ending up with a
terrible limp because her leg was set improperly. Her father, a fallen away
Catholic who never lived up to his wife’s dreams of success, was loving but
weak, and died young. After many difficult years personally, she finally found
human and spiritual love, when she met Floyd Eaton Chalkley, a southern
gentleman and devout Catholic. But, she died much too young in her mid-50s.
Always kept black onyx crucifix, a gift of Pope John XXIII, close by. Gutsy
talented star.
Lana Turner.
She,
too, had a difficult childhood. You see a pattern here. She became a Catholic
at a young age on her own. And, after she was “discovered” and became the
“sweater girl,” she grew up much too fast, and the problems only compounded.
She did not make great choices in the husband department, but was always
looking for love and stability in men. Then, one day, later in life, she looked
inward, and found God. As she said—one of the most insightful comments in all
my research—she knew God was within her because all the joy and love had to
come from somewhere.
Betty Hutton. Known for Annie Get Your Gun. An extremely difficult childhood. Was fiercely
determined to escape poverty by using her talent, and did she ever! In unique
Hutton fashion! But, the problems continued to multiply. She was always looking
for the father she never had. He abandoned the family when she was 2 and then
wired a suicide note with $100 when she was 18. As the priest who helped her
turn her life around, Fr. Peter McGuire, said, “You’re just a hurt child.” He
tutored her and she finished High School and later got her M.A. and taught. She
also became a Catholic, not going anywhere without her rosary. She was so
insecure and her newfound faith gave her such confidence. She also overcame her
addiction to prescription pills. Her story is a real example for what ails so
many today.
Ann Miller. She also had a difficult childhood and an
incredible heart, and took her mother, who was legally deaf, under her wing,
supporting her starting when she was 11 or 12. You know that film, You Can’t Take it With You? She was just 15! And, God rewarded her. She
was baptized just before she died by
Fr. Padraic Loftus, now Pastor Emeritus at St. Mel in Woodland Hills, CA.
Patricia Neal. Now, she had a stable childhood. The book
is bookended by stability. And, like Hitch and Coop—and everyone else in this
book—she had incredible talent; but was always looking for love, robbed of her
innocence an early age, when she trusted the wrong guy. Then she fell in love
with Gary Cooper who healed that scar, but it was not a proper relationship,
for which both suffered—including Cooper’s family. But, out of that suffering
came a beautiful story of love, healing and forgiveness. She became a Catholic
shortly before she died and was buried at the Abbey of Regina Laudis, where her
“best friend,” Mother Dolores, lives in consecrated life. Read this story and you’ll be moved and
inspired.
Read all
these stories and I think you’ll come away enriched.
And, now let me say a
little about some stars I’m writing about in Oasis II.
Hattie McDaniel. She was the first
African-American to win an Oscar for her supporting role in Gone with the Wind (1939) as Mamie, and
had great faith. She always said, “I did my best and let God do the rest.” Her
father was a saint. He was wounded in the Civil War, and as a former slave, did
not receive proper care and then was denied a disability pension for years. He
and his wife lost several children because they were malnourished. Then came
their bouncing baby girl Hattie, the youngest of 13, born in Wichita, Kansas,
where she lived until her family moved to Denver in 1910. Then it was onto Chicago
singing the blues in 20s, then Milwaukee at the start of the Great Depression,
after the musical, “Showboat,” she was starring in shuttered. She was “discovered”
in a washroom. Then, it was onto Hollywood in the early 30s, where she followed
her performing siblings. She had an indomitable spirit. She needed it. She
faced discrimination from all sides
and died at the too-young age of 52. Interestingly, her sister, Etta, also a
film star, was a Catholic convert.
Babe Ruth. Still researching his murky antecedents. What is
known is he was born in 1894 or 1895 and essentially orphaned about age 7.
Formed by the Xaverian Brothers at St. Mary’s Industrial School in Baltimore,
he converted to Catholicism around age 11 and was taught the game of baseball by
Fr. Mathias, who later helped him get back on the straight and narrow. His
record-breaking talent and skill was “a gift,” Babe said. He was also cursed by
overweening appetites. But, he always returned to God – going to confession and
mass after evenings of alcoholic and carnal excess. He made his peace with God,
receiving the sacraments before he died at the too young age of 53 (54),
something Fr. Damroth has knowledge of.
Spencer Tracy.
Born in Milwaukee in 1900, he was a hyperactive hellion, once nearly
burning the house down. But, he developed a devout side. His father Carroll
always wanted him to be a priest. But, his vocation was to be an actor. It’s
perhaps not too much of a stretch to say he was to acting what the Babe was to
baseball. With a conscience that would not quit. He had great demons he sought
to numb through alcohol. He and his
wife Louise had a deaf son, John, who gradually went blind. His friend Pat
O’Brien said, after he found out the news, he had his first “big drunk.” In
some way, he thought he was the cause of his son’s disability. Which, of
course, could not be further from the truth. It was God’s plan. For his son played
a key role in Spence’s life—helping him overcome a natural laziness and excel
in acting because he needed to support John financially. He was great at
everything but life, he said. John, his son, excelled at life. In the end, Spence
came full-circle, after all his affairs and bad boy behavior, once again fully
embracing the faith of his youth.
Now, I’d be
happy to answer any questions you might have. And, then, I’ll sign some books.
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| Replica of Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto on the grounds of St. Francis of Assisi Church, Newburgh, New York |
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