FULTON OURSLER - AGNOSTIC TO POPOLAR BIBLICAL SCHOLAR.
THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD
This might be taken as a latter day Christmas Carol with the added twist of a radio dial.
It’s the story of (Charles) Fulton Oursler, born into a poor Baltimore, Maryland family in January, 1893. His childhood obsession with reading led him into researching the fields of magic and the occult. Then, as a teenager, he abandoned his family’s Baptist religion to proclaim himself an agnostic - a non-belief that would loosely hold him for the next 27 years.
He had no reason to know at the time that his return to Christianity would led to unimaginable fame and wealth.
Over those 27 years, Oursler was married, divorced, fathered two children and remarried His career path was one of a man of accomplished letters. He began as a young reporter for The Baltimore American in in 1914 then moved to New York City as editor of The Music Trades magazine. (1)
That position was a good springboard into larger publications but left more than a little to be desired in the way of compensation. So Futon Oursler put his imagination to work and became a writer of mystery stories for popular pulp fiction magazines of the day - The Black Cat, Detective Story, Mystery Story, etc. - under the pen names of Anthony Abbott and Samri Frikell. (2)
He kept his reportorial skills sharp by assisting Harry Houdini’s crusade against phony mediums with his book Spirit Mediums Exposed, published in 1930.
Oursler’s personal beliefs began to shift back to Christianity in 1935 when he and his second wife, novelist and screenplay writer Grace Perkins, herself a lapsed Catholic, toured the Middle East and spent some time in the Holy Land. At first the prolific Oursler, by now the editor of Bernarr MacFadden’s influential Liberty magazine, had meant to write a travel guide to the area. But that quickly changed as he, still an objective reporter despite his six published novels and scores of short stories, realized how little he knew of the true history of Christianity.
That realization changed his life, beginning with the publication of A Skeptic In The Holy Land in late November, 1936. Its forward contained a disclaimer seldom seen before: “If you are an old fashioned Christian, please do not read this book. The author means to be as reverent as you but he does not wish to hurt you and this book is outspoken in its criticism of many things which church members believe.”
Oursler left Liberty in 1941 and joined Readers Digest three years later as a senior editor, but by this time he was pre-occupied with writing The Greatest Story Ever Told - (A Tale of The Greatest Life Ever Lived), his reporter’s version of the life of Jesus Christ told in serial form. (3)
Unlike many written works adapted to radio, The Greatest Story Ever Told would become a successful radio series adapted to book form. The process began in mid-1946 after much negotiation among the principals involved: Oursler, Henry Denker, (Oursler’s designated writer to convert his story material to radio), producer Wadill Catchings, director Marx Loeb, assistant director Leonard Blair, representatives from ABC, sponsor Goodyear and its Kudner advertising agency and an interdenominational advisory board, The Greatest Story Ever Told evolved as a simple dramatization of Christ’s life as presented in the Four Gospels.
As John Dunning observes in his Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio: “Oursler and writer Henry Denker approached the show in terms of modern problems then found a corollary in the life of Christ and emerged with a theme."
The Greatest Story Ever Told debuted at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 26, 1947. Variety was there to praise it the following week with this review: “ABC’s new Sunday evening show, ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’, for which Goodyear Tire & Rubber is picking up the tab without benefit of a single commercial save for a front and back identification as sponsor, rates allocates as one of the truly sock public service programs of the year. The web had been touting the Biblical-inspired series weeks in advance, and on heels of last Sunday’s premiere performance, there was justification for its pride.
“Whether the intent of the program is to dramatize episodes from the Bible in such a manner that its precepts gain a wide audience via ABC’s coast-to-coast facilities, or whether it is to use Biblical incidents as an analogy for the presentation of modern day evils, on both counts ‘The Greatest Story’ merits acclaim.
“The first in the series, ‘The Good Samaritan,’ scripted by Henry Denker, was as forceful an indictment of intolerance and its henchmen, prejudice and bigotry, as any 20th Century characterization could project. … As such the dramatization could stand as an emblem for ushering in universal brotherhood.
“Revived by modern verbiage, the adaptation of Bible tale was made meaningful. Similarly, the production itself struck the same tempo of timeliness with the clear diction of the cast, the bypassing of pompousness and unction, and the utter simplicity that permitted the tale of The Good Samaritan to speak for itself.”
The opening night cast included 16 speaking parts spoken by New York City’s first call radio talents including Joe deSantos, Roland Winters and Karl Swenson. (See Karl Swenson.) The role of Christ was voiced by Warren Parker. But none of the actors were ever identified with typical credits announced at the end of typical dramatic programs. Obviously, The Greatest Story Ever Told was hardly typical - given its weekly production budget of $7,000 which included original scores by William Stoess performed by a full studio orchestra and a 16-voice chorus.
Unfortunately, audience ratings did not reflect this expenditure. Over the remainder of the 1946-47 season at 6:30 on Sunday nights, Greatest Story on ABC averaged a weak 3.6 compared to Kate Smith’s 9.8 on CBS and Bob Burns’ 9.4 on NBC. It became the final prime time season for both the queen of Network Radio and the king of hillbilly comedians when General Foods cancelled Smith and American Home Products dropped Burns at the end of the 1946-47 season. Their single digit ratings were blamed, but in reality no sponsor wanted to be seen opposing the powerful new stories of Christianity on ABC.
As a result from the lack of competition, the 1947-48 season saw a dramatic 250% improvement in The Greatest Story’s ratings - a leap to 8.9. Ratings fell off again to 6.4 during the 1948-49 season when confronted with new competition from Ozzie & Harriet on NBC and Percy Faith’s pops concerts on CBS and the Nick Carter mysteries on Mutual. Nevertheless, The Greatest Story Ever Told scored a 10.8 in December, 1948 with a repeat presentation of the Advent series first broadcast 73 years ago.
Gold Time Radio presents this series of five Christmas broadcasts which began with And Her Name Was Mary from November 30, 1947, followed by Blessed Among Women on December 7, 1947, then Go And Be Counted on December 14, 1947, No Room At The Inn on December 21, 1947 and concluding with Flight Into Egypt from December 28, 1947. It is arguably the clearest explanation of the events surrounding the birth of Christ ever broadcast.
The Greatest Story Ever Told was moved to 5:30 Sunday afternoons on the ABC schedule on September 18, 1949 and remained there until December 30, 1956. By 1949, the name Fulton Oursler was known nationwide and his collection of Biblical stories was published by Doubleday as The Greatest Story Ever Told. The book has since enjoyed scores of reprints and has been read by millions. It was then made into a highly successful film in 1965 directed by George Stevens. (4)
Unfortunately, Fulton Oursler never witnessed the phenomenal popularity of his writings. He died in May, 1952. But the former agnostic left directions to the Christian faith for all who wished to follow his journey.
(1) Music Trades magazine still exists as an on-line publication.
(2) Samri Frikell was an inside joke combining the names of two popular magicians and friends of Ourslers, Samri Baldwin and Wiljalba Frickell. It was used by Oursler when the hero of his fictional stories was a magician or a detective unmasking swindlers posing as magicians or mediums.
(3) Fulton Oursler’s personal involvement with his Biblical information influenced his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1943. His wife, son and daughter followed in subsequent years.
(4) The original filmed version of The Greatest Story Ever Told was shot and shown in the three-camera, wide screen Cinerama process and ran 260 minutes. It was nominated for five Academy Awards.
Copyright © 2020, Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
This might be taken as a latter day Christmas Carol with the added twist of a radio dial.
It’s the story of (Charles) Fulton Oursler, born into a poor Baltimore, Maryland family in January, 1893. His childhood obsession with reading led him into researching the fields of magic and the occult. Then, as a teenager, he abandoned his family’s Baptist religion to proclaim himself an agnostic - a non-belief that would loosely hold him for the next 27 years.
He had no reason to know at the time that his return to Christianity would led to unimaginable fame and wealth.
Over those 27 years, Oursler was married, divorced, fathered two children and remarried His career path was one of a man of accomplished letters. He began as a young reporter for The Baltimore American in in 1914 then moved to New York City as editor of The Music Trades magazine. (1)
That position was a good springboard into larger publications but left more than a little to be desired in the way of compensation. So Futon Oursler put his imagination to work and became a writer of mystery stories for popular pulp fiction magazines of the day - The Black Cat, Detective Story, Mystery Story, etc. - under the pen names of Anthony Abbott and Samri Frikell. (2)
He kept his reportorial skills sharp by assisting Harry Houdini’s crusade against phony mediums with his book Spirit Mediums Exposed, published in 1930.
Oursler’s personal beliefs began to shift back to Christianity in 1935 when he and his second wife, novelist and screenplay writer Grace Perkins, herself a lapsed Catholic, toured the Middle East and spent some time in the Holy Land. At first the prolific Oursler, by now the editor of Bernarr MacFadden’s influential Liberty magazine, had meant to write a travel guide to the area. But that quickly changed as he, still an objective reporter despite his six published novels and scores of short stories, realized how little he knew of the true history of Christianity.
That realization changed his life, beginning with the publication of A Skeptic In The Holy Land in late November, 1936. Its forward contained a disclaimer seldom seen before: “If you are an old fashioned Christian, please do not read this book. The author means to be as reverent as you but he does not wish to hurt you and this book is outspoken in its criticism of many things which church members believe.”
Oursler left Liberty in 1941 and joined Readers Digest three years later as a senior editor, but by this time he was pre-occupied with writing The Greatest Story Ever Told - (A Tale of The Greatest Life Ever Lived), his reporter’s version of the life of Jesus Christ told in serial form. (3)
Unlike many written works adapted to radio, The Greatest Story Ever Told would become a successful radio series adapted to book form. The process began in mid-1946 after much negotiation among the principals involved: Oursler, Henry Denker, (Oursler’s designated writer to convert his story material to radio), producer Wadill Catchings, director Marx Loeb, assistant director Leonard Blair, representatives from ABC, sponsor Goodyear and its Kudner advertising agency and an interdenominational advisory board, The Greatest Story Ever Told evolved as a simple dramatization of Christ’s life as presented in the Four Gospels.
As John Dunning observes in his Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio: “Oursler and writer Henry Denker approached the show in terms of modern problems then found a corollary in the life of Christ and emerged with a theme."
The Greatest Story Ever Told debuted at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 26, 1947. Variety was there to praise it the following week with this review: “ABC’s new Sunday evening show, ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’, for which Goodyear Tire & Rubber is picking up the tab without benefit of a single commercial save for a front and back identification as sponsor, rates allocates as one of the truly sock public service programs of the year. The web had been touting the Biblical-inspired series weeks in advance, and on heels of last Sunday’s premiere performance, there was justification for its pride.
“Whether the intent of the program is to dramatize episodes from the Bible in such a manner that its precepts gain a wide audience via ABC’s coast-to-coast facilities, or whether it is to use Biblical incidents as an analogy for the presentation of modern day evils, on both counts ‘The Greatest Story’ merits acclaim.
“The first in the series, ‘The Good Samaritan,’ scripted by Henry Denker, was as forceful an indictment of intolerance and its henchmen, prejudice and bigotry, as any 20th Century characterization could project. … As such the dramatization could stand as an emblem for ushering in universal brotherhood.
“Revived by modern verbiage, the adaptation of Bible tale was made meaningful. Similarly, the production itself struck the same tempo of timeliness with the clear diction of the cast, the bypassing of pompousness and unction, and the utter simplicity that permitted the tale of The Good Samaritan to speak for itself.”
The opening night cast included 16 speaking parts spoken by New York City’s first call radio talents including Joe deSantos, Roland Winters and Karl Swenson. (See Karl Swenson.) The role of Christ was voiced by Warren Parker. But none of the actors were ever identified with typical credits announced at the end of typical dramatic programs. Obviously, The Greatest Story Ever Told was hardly typical - given its weekly production budget of $7,000 which included original scores by William Stoess performed by a full studio orchestra and a 16-voice chorus.
Unfortunately, audience ratings did not reflect this expenditure. Over the remainder of the 1946-47 season at 6:30 on Sunday nights, Greatest Story on ABC averaged a weak 3.6 compared to Kate Smith’s 9.8 on CBS and Bob Burns’ 9.4 on NBC. It became the final prime time season for both the queen of Network Radio and the king of hillbilly comedians when General Foods cancelled Smith and American Home Products dropped Burns at the end of the 1946-47 season. Their single digit ratings were blamed, but in reality no sponsor wanted to be seen opposing the powerful new stories of Christianity on ABC.
As a result from the lack of competition, the 1947-48 season saw a dramatic 250% improvement in The Greatest Story’s ratings - a leap to 8.9. Ratings fell off again to 6.4 during the 1948-49 season when confronted with new competition from Ozzie & Harriet on NBC and Percy Faith’s pops concerts on CBS and the Nick Carter mysteries on Mutual. Nevertheless, The Greatest Story Ever Told scored a 10.8 in December, 1948 with a repeat presentation of the Advent series first broadcast 73 years ago.
Gold Time Radio presents this series of five Christmas broadcasts which began with And Her Name Was Mary from November 30, 1947, followed by Blessed Among Women on December 7, 1947, then Go And Be Counted on December 14, 1947, No Room At The Inn on December 21, 1947 and concluding with Flight Into Egypt from December 28, 1947. It is arguably the clearest explanation of the events surrounding the birth of Christ ever broadcast.
The Greatest Story Ever Told was moved to 5:30 Sunday afternoons on the ABC schedule on September 18, 1949 and remained there until December 30, 1956. By 1949, the name Fulton Oursler was known nationwide and his collection of Biblical stories was published by Doubleday as The Greatest Story Ever Told. The book has since enjoyed scores of reprints and has been read by millions. It was then made into a highly successful film in 1965 directed by George Stevens. (4)
Unfortunately, Fulton Oursler never witnessed the phenomenal popularity of his writings. He died in May, 1952. But the former agnostic left directions to the Christian faith for all who wished to follow his journey.
(1) Music Trades magazine still exists as an on-line publication.
(2) Samri Frikell was an inside joke combining the names of two popular magicians and friends of Ourslers, Samri Baldwin and Wiljalba Frickell. It was used by Oursler when the hero of his fictional stories was a magician or a detective unmasking swindlers posing as magicians or mediums.
(3) Fulton Oursler’s personal involvement with his Biblical information influenced his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1943. His wife, son and daughter followed in subsequent years.
(4) The original filmed version of The Greatest Story Ever Told was shot and shown in the three-camera, wide screen Cinerama process and ran 260 minutes. It was nominated for five Academy Awards.
Copyright © 2020, Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
