Aimee Semple McPherson

Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944) was born in Ingersoll, Canada. She came to California as an evangelist in 1918, driving an Oldsmobile dubbed the "Gospel Auto." In an era of evangelical fervor, McPherson’s unique mixture of preaching and flamboyancy won a huge following for her Church of the Foursquare Gospel and enabled her to build the 5,000-seat Angelus Temple in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles. The temple opened in 1923 with McPherson seated on a red velvet throne and dressed in a nurse’s uniform and cape; entertainment was provided by a 200-voice choir and three bands, two orchestras and six quartets.

Ever mindful of the news media, McPherson once attempted to faith heal a lion in a zoo. Preaching a religion of love adapted from the Salvation Army Christianity of her Canadian childhood, she advertised her services in the theater section of newspapers, dropped leaflets from airplanes, entered floats in the Tournament of Roses Parade, and started her own radio station. In 1926, she disappeared from the beach at Ocean Park, leading the world to believe she had drowned. Five weeks later she turned up in the Arizona desert with a wild story of kidnap, torture and escape. Although many doubted the story and accused her of fraud and perjury, her popularity soared.

Over the years, McPherson experienced well-publicized failures in her personal and business life. Marital problems, feuds with her mother and daughter, even a report of being spirited away in a coffin, were regular grist for the newspaper mill. She died of an overdose of Seconal in 1944 and was buried at Forest Lawn in a tomb described as "fit for Cleopatra."

--Contributed by Albert Greenstein, 1999

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