Jack & Jane
Jack and Jane were seeking fame,
Each in their own quarter;
Jane pushed the bar and went too far,
And Jack came to the slaughter.
“…but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” – II Corinthians 10:12
I was half-watching the Academy Awards from Los Angeles a couple weeks ago when something happened that grabbed my attention – the presentation of awards paused to air a video memorial of actors and actresses that had died in the preceding year.
As it happens, I started out in the ministry in California in the very early fifties. Los Angeles was a much tighter knit community back then. And at that time I came to know, or at least meet, a number of actors, directors, musicians, cameramen, peripheral talent and wannabes involved in the entertainment business.
Some of the people featured in the 2012 video memorial tribute were of special interest to me, including Ben Gazzara and Jackie Cooper. But the one who really got my attention was Jane Russell. Jane had played with Bob Hope in the movie Buttons and Bows where Hope was the bumbling, innocent, good-hearted dentist from the East trying to make his way in the West, and Jane was the gun-toting, hard-bitten, worldly “lady” of the prairie towns. Sultry-eyed and raven-tressed, Jane Russell was a natural fit for the part of the femme fatale. By contrast, Jane’s mother was a committed believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who held fellowship meetings in her home for those in the entertainment industry who were seeking the Lord. For her part, Jane Russell eventually came to know the Lord.
Jane Russell’s ultimate “claim to fame” was her role in a movie titled The Outlaw which included a scene where there was a suggestion of “kindly” fornication. The industry was scandalized, outraged, indignant and “thoughtful.” Standards and ratings were emphasized afresh, and Jack Valenti from Houston received the nod to ride morality detail on the Hollywood herd…Thank you, Senator.
Time and entertainment have obviously moved on. Teenagers watching The Outlaw today would probably be bored. If they were told it included a scene that once was regarded as “too sexually explicit” to be suitable for public audiences, they would be hard pressed to pick it out. Compared to the content of today’s films, many would consider The Outlaw to be closer to an episode of Leave It to Beaver or Father Knows Best.
Over time, Hollywood has become a sink-hole that threatens to change our culture, destroy our moral fiber, and justify the antagonism of Islamic enemies who equate Christianity with the cesspool we call “entertainment.” Now if you’re under twenty and reading this, you may not see any problem because these things haven’t changed much in your lifetime. However, compared with the moral baseline of the early fifties, the decline is precipitous.
The bottom line is it’s time to quit measuring and comparing ourselves with ourselves, compare ourselves with the Biblical word, and pray the day will come when we can look at the big screen and say like Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets – “You make me want to be a better man.”
By John G. Cathcart
http://www.wme.org
World Missionary Evangelism 