Francis X. Bushman, the first of the old-time movie idols, started as a sculptor’s model. He won “the most handsome man” contest sponsored by LADIES WORLD magazine. He was working in 1915 for the Essanay studio in Chicago for $250 a week. His agent David Freedman, however, knew that in the gold-rush atmosphere that prevailed among the competing film studios in those early days of movie making, the sky was the limit for talent with a proven following. How to prove it was the problem, and Freedman conceived of a plan.
The agent instructed Bushman to take the train to New York. Freedman met him at Grand Central Station, carrying a large sack of pennies. The sack had a small hole, and as the two gold-diggers walked along Forty-second Street they were followed along the trail of pennies by a surging crowd. By the time they arrived at the Broadway offices of the Metro Film Corporation, the movie executives looking out the window beheld such a mass of followers that they felt lucky to sign Bushman on for a mere thousand dollars a week. (1)
It’s easy to draw a crowd for the wrong reasons. Sometimes I think that’s happened with Jesus. In our eagerness to evangelize the world we have painted a very attractive picture of Christ — who he is and what he has done. We have offered people the grace, peace and love of Christ and millions have responded. Christ has followers in every part of the globe. We have brought countless crowds of people into the church. But have we made them disciples?
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1. Peter Hay, MOVIE ANECDOTES, (New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 155.