Christmas Library 2024: Christmas with Lilie A. Faris

New Testament Stories Retold For Children (1936) by Lillie A. Faris. Published by Platt & Munk Co. 
Cover scan from Blogger's Collection. A digitized version is available from the Internet Archive at: https://archive.org/details/newtestamentstor00fari 

Lillie A. Faris (1869 - 1945) was a pioneering book author, publisher and storyteller in Christian education. In some accounts she introduced flannel board educational products for Bible teaching. Most of her books were published by the Standard Publishing Company of Ohio. 

A few years ago I shared illustrations by Arthur O. Scott from her 1936 collection of New Testament Stories for Children. 

As a frequent thrift store customer, it is still possible to acquire works by Ms. Faris in good condition. I recently found this Bible Story Reader and wanted to share a portion for Christmas. 

Standard Bible Story Reader, Book Two (1935, rev. 1947). Standard Publishing Company.

It is a 1947 revision with edits by Dorothy Kay Foster of a 1935 edition by Faris. I hope to find more of Faris' works in bookstores and thrift shops. 

Sources:

Lillie A. Faris. Find-A-Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74492302/lillie-a-faris

Nickell, Pamela. Historical Society celebrates 50th year of Highland House Museum. Highland County Press. January 15, 2016. https://highlandcountypress.com/social/historical-society-celebrates-50th-year-highland-house-museum-10#gsc.tab=0  

 

Building a Marshall Family Collection - Part 002

9 Books by the Marshall family, including "A Man Called Peter" by Catherine Marhsall, and "The Light and the Glory" by Peter John Marshall.

For nearly a decade I have collected books and audio visual media by or about the family of Peter and Catherine Marshall.

Rev. Peter Marshall. Image from Wikipedia Commons

The Rev. Peter Marshall (1902-1949) was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister who became the chaplain for the U.S. Senate. After he passed away at the age of 46, his wife Catherine (1914-1983) wrote a book about his journey. Titled " A Man Called Peter" (1951) it was a bestseller and led to a motion picture from 20th Century Fox in 1955. His life was also adapted as serialized story on the Moody Bible series "Stories of Great Christians". Their son Peter John Marshall (1940-2010) would also become a pastor. 

The success of her first book encouraged Catherine to write many additional books like Christy (1967) which was later turned into a 1990s tv series starring Kellie Martin. Catherine Marshall also wrote children's books and devotionals. She later married editor Leonard LeSourd. The LeSourd were co-founders with John and Elizabeth Sherrill of Chosen Books.

My Marshall Family Collection is still in storage, but I just came across the top image from my former library. 

Part of my former library shelf, with books about Bible Storytelling Media. 

Who was June Hadley - The Bible Story Lady?

 

Image from Discogs.com

While researching the history of women storytellers, or "Story Ladies" I learned about a single record album from 1955 with Bible stories narrated by a June Hadley "The Bible Story Lady". I have not found a reference so far suggesting that she was a radio or TV story teller. 

Image from Discogs.com

The label and sleeve for album says that the recording was produced by "Hadley Productions, Inc" in Fort Wayne, Indiana. A June Hadley for TV station WANE was a winner of the Grocery Manufacturers of America award for outstanding TV series in 1955. So after this, I began searching for "June Hadley" of Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

This led to the obituary for Douglass Hadley Bateman who passed away in 2004. Bateman was a long time figure in broadcast advertising and a believer in Jesus Christ. His first wife was a June "Hadley" Bateman who passed away in 1976. The Batemans were a hard working couple in radio, television and advertising, and yes including time in Ft. Wayne at station WANE. 

Finally after taking another closer look at the record label edges on the internet, I could read "Copyright 1952 Winifred June Batmen" was printed around the edges.

So could June Hadley, or Winifred June Bateman (1917 - 1976) have also produced a Bible children's series for radio or TV in Ft. Wayne, or was this series only for released on records? More research is needed. 

Also, Hadley was not the only "Bible Story Lady", and that can wait for another post.  

Building A Marshall Family Collection

For nearly a decade I have collected books and audio visual media by or about the family of Peter and Catherine Marshall.

The Rev. Peter Marshall (1902-1949) was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister who became the chaplain for the U.S. Senate. After he passed away at the age of 46, his wife Catherine (1914-1983) wrote a book about his journey. Titled " A Man Called Peter" (1951) it was a bestseller and led to a motion picture from 20th Century Fox in 1955. His life was also adapted as serialized story on the Moody Bible series "Stories of Great Christians". Their son Peter John Marshall (1940-2010) would also become a pastor. 

The success of her first book encouraged Catherine to write many additional books like Christy (1967) which was later turned into a 1990s tv series starring Kellie Martin. Catherine Marshall also wrote children's books and devotionals. 

Among the materials in my collection on The Marshall family is this signed copy of her children's book "God Loves You". It was purchased at a thrift store for just .99 cents.

This edition is particularly special as it was used by more than one generation.

Right now, the whole collection is in storage and I hope to share more of it in the future. 

From The Collections: Ilustrated by Adele Garneret

Bible storybooks and readers for children are favorite finds from local thrift stores, especially ones that fund ministries for Christ.In my quest for creative Bible Storytelling media, I learn about a new author or artist every week. 

Title page for "New Testament Crosswords" (1973) by Marian Bennett, illustrated by Adele Garneret

 Today I picked up a copy of "New Testament Crosswords" (1973) by Marian Bennett*, and published by the Standard Publishing Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. The black and white illustrations were "by Adele Garneret". That was distinct name and her illustrations are terrific, so I became curious. 

Adele Garneret (1920-2023) was a very familiar and prolific artist to the Cincinnati arts community and she had only this year gone home to be with the Lord. Her name is reference in multiple art exhibits and events across 6 decades in the Cincinnati Enquirer. Mrs. Garneret was a former president of the Women’s Art Club of Cincinnati and founded an arts club called "The Brushettes".  From what I read she specialized in watercolors, which confirms she also illustrated the cover of this book. 

According to her obituary, she loved art and her church. With more research, I may write a "Phil 3:17 Portrait". Also in the meanwhile when I am look for Bible storytelling media, I will be on the lookout for the words "illustrated by Adele Garneret" 

* Marian Bennett is the author of several Christian books for children. More information is also wanted about her and her works. 

Updates to the Television Page - September 2, 2023

Dear Readers, 

It has been a while since I have regularly worked on this blog post. I am happy to see that the resource pages for radio and TV are still widely use. A strong goal is to continue to update them to help others find the best in Christian creative storytelling today, and to learn from the best series from the past. 

Today I have added the following series to the TELEVISON page:

Cowboy Dan's Frontier (2013 - 2021) TCT, SMILE

Owlegories (2014 - present)

Bibleman: The Animated Adventures

Links to the Gospel Bill YouTube Channel were added to:

The Gospel Bill Show 

Bill Gunther, US Marshall. 

Also, I have continued to find and collect many unique artifacts and broadcast from the best Christian storytellers, and God willing, I will have posts about them soon. 

Best,

James

70th Anniversary of Cathedral Film''s "I Beheld His Glory"

 

I Beheld His Glory is a TV Movie produced by Cathedral Films and was generally released over 70 years ago on April 5th, 1953 as a episode of Family Theatre. The 55 minute film reportedly cost $100,000 to produce. It fell into public domain status and continues to inspire viewers to this day. The film depicts the events of the resurrection as told by Cornelius a Roman Centurion, (actor George McCready) who will share the Gospel.

The episode was directed by John T. Coyle (1890 - 1970). Coyle also directed several other productions for Cathedral Films including the feature film Day of Triumph (1954), The Living Christ Series (or serial), and The Life of Paul Series (1949). 

Jesus is portrayed by Robert Wilson (1919-1996) [real name Robert Holton] as son of a Texas minister who portrayed Christ for the majority of his film career. 

Snippet of the Rev. James K. Friedrich, from Radio Annual 1953. CLICK HERE for full page from the Media History Digital Library.

Cathedral Films was the ministry of The Rev. James K. Friedrich a prolific Christian film and educational media producer. Friedrich was also the first Protestant minister to produce a feature length Christian Film The Great Commandment (1939). 

As a stand alone film, "I Beheld His Glory" was released to the educational and home film market that same year. Newspaper listings reveal that the film was popular at church screenings around Easter Sunday.

EXTRA LINKS:

Chronicling America "I Beheld His Glory" Search: 1953-1963. - A selection of newspapers from 1953-1963 that list this film as part of church screening schedules: