MAY 18th - The Smarmy Affair of Sister Aimee



On this day in 1926, popular evangelist Amiee Semple McPherson, or Sister Amiee, vanished from Venice Beach. Her “friend” Kenneth Ormiston also was misplaced around the same time. There had already been rumors of their involvement, so when the both went absent the rumor mill began swirling. Two people running away from the hustle and bustle to have a bit of alone time doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal, but when one of those people has built a persona and career on religious virtuosity and the other person is a married man with son, dipping out for some hanky-panky might cause a bit of a stir. McPherson turned up a month later with a tale of being kidnapped and dragged into the desert, before escaping 32 days later and walking 13 hours to freedom. Well the papers didn’t believe this tale, and made it seem like Sister Aimee was a liar who just wanted to do some private sinning with Ormiston. Might have something to do with the fact that it is a bit difficult to believe she had the power to heal people through her faith, so her credibility could be seen as a toonsy bit damaged. Things got even weirder. There was a Grand Jury trial because of the hub-bub and wasted police resources and obstruction and all that. Charges were eventually dropped, but depending on whom you talked to, the whole thing was either a media-witch hunt or an hypocritical woman grasping at straws to retain her reputation. The real interest to me is that the story involves a mix of my most hated things--an abusive, agenda-driven media or a hypocrite. These days, agendas in the media make reports so far from unbiased, it’s laughable. I’m sure 1926 was no different. But when a person passes herself off as model of virtue, chastising and condemning the mere mortals among her, and then proves to act on the same base desires she condemns--that’s a bit annoying. Basically, if I had been around for this scandal in 1926, I would have been like, “the whole affair is rather slimy, let’s ignore it and go drink some illegal beer at a speakeasy.” And I would have made sure to invite the Pro-Prohibition media columnists, who liked to get trashed as much as the town drunkards, just to sum up the whole thing in one smarmy, witch-hunting, agenda-driven media hypocritical cluster. And I’d be okay with it. Because there’d be beer and dancing.

This day has been Marked.

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