A PARSON IN VAUDEVILLE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1579, 29 July 1920, Page 34

A PARSON IN VAUDEVILLE.

REV. FRANK GORMAN’S PURPOSE IN LIFE. To reach the people either in church or theatre the missioner and entertainer in his respective spheremust needs be a magnetic personality, otherwise he falls short of his objective. It is exceptional to come across a man who combines the two callings. The Rev. Frank Gorman, known widely through America as “the Singing Parson,” is a case in point. An engagement on the Fuller vaudeville circuit brings him into local touch. A few moments’ chat with him and you feel that he’s a man of vigour, sincerity of purpose, and with a direct view of life —a man who will get his goal. Add to this a sense of comedy, a gift of narration, and vocal talent, and you understand why he makes a hit. Mr. Gorman was born at Devonport, England, in 1884, and graduated at Cliff College, Sheffield. He made a study of sociological conditions in the slum areas' of London, and after a period of mission work went to America, where he was ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1910. Later he joined the Congregational denomination and was called to the Atkinson Memorial Church, Portland, Oregon. During his three and a-half years there he became moderator of the local Association of Churches. His singing powers were in frequent demand at festivals and men’s meetings. Madame Schumann-Heink happened to be present at one of his popular concerts, and her commendation of his voice helped him to be more widely known. Then he tells you how he came to enter the profession. “I was always organising concerts and entertainments, and I had often said I wished I could raise money for myself. At last the opportunity came. A big theatre was opened in Portland (Oregon) where my church was. At the last moment, they were disappointed by their star turn, and friends recommended me. The theatre people came and offered me 500 dollars if I would sing for them for a week just to fill the gap. I was receiving 150 dollars a month, and was overdrawn at the bank. The difficulty lay in the fact that I should have to sing on Sunday—they don’t close there. At the Sunday morning service I told my congregation what I thought of doing, and that it meant singing that afternoon in the theatre. No one objected, and in the evening I preached again. Later on I took vaudeville up altogether, and for the past five years have been fulfilling engagements. “There is nothing inconsistent in my religious convictions and my association with the stage.” he emphasises. “The church didn’t pay a living wage. I went into vaudeville because I needed money. But I look on it as a stepping stone to reach my aspirations and permit me to run my church without outside interference. I have not left the church, and I hope to be able to return to my calling as soon as I can see my way clear to keep above water. Apart from my theatrical engagements I intend to do a good deal of Sunday preaching. I am out on a crusade for the attainment of a bettei’ knowledge of social conditions, because I believe that the church has more to do than save the soul. The body also must be saved. Now that I am being paid a salary by the large theatrical combine which enables me to live comfortably, I can preach and be independent of every other person. A parson should meet all people. If vaudeville patrons won’t go to see the parson in church, the parson must go to see the vaudeville patrons in the music halls. The act I present is to please and amuse, but I hope that after vaudeville people have seen me on the stage thev will come and hear me in the pulpit. “My sermons are just plain heartspoken messages to the soul of the listener with a punch in it to send it home. If people come to listen to me who are afraid of home truths they had better stay away. I go in for no hair-raising stunts, likely to scare some of the older folk. There is nothing rude, crude, vulgar or slangy in anything I say. But I promise all the same there will be a ‘punch’ in it!”