The Living God

Radio stations have good reason to be skittish about the sort of religious programs they put on the air. Last year, before Easter, a religious drama was submitted to NBC which gave its executives quite a turn. Called The Living God, translated from the French of Cita and Suzanne Mallard, the program attempted to take its hearers back to Jerusalem during the last days of Jesus Christ, whose Passion and Resurrection were supposedly broadcast by an announcer with a portable microphone. Even in a toned-down version this drama scared NBC. But when it was finally broadcast in Holy Week, under the auspices of the National Council of Catholic Men, The Living God was widely praised, nowhere condemned. Next week, again in collaboration with N. C. C. M., NBC is to broadcast it on 56 stations (April 4 to 8, at 6 p.m. EST).

The voice of The Living God--whose words are mostly verbatim from the Gospels--is that of Actor Pedro de Cordoba, good Roman Catholic. The reporter is Walter Connolly. Oldtime Cinemactress Mary Carr (Over the Hill) plays an old woman, selling palm leaves at a church, who guides the reporter back to Jerusalem. What he sees there he tells with straightforward reverence. His description of the Crucifixion is considerably less lurid than that of the French original (soon to be published in translation by Sheed & Ward). Excerpt from the NBC version:

"His whole body is twisting in a useless effort. His chest tries to expand to inhale some air, and His head has fallen sideways. . . . Convulsions shake His body from head to foot. His heart is beating wildly. Red tears are streaming down His cheeks. Oh! His head has fallen completely backwards, and it looks as if He had fainted. .

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.