"The Wizard of Oz" had an impact on people because it came out in during the miseries of the Great Depression" and people needed hope that there was something better "somewhere, over the rainbow." "Gone with the Wind" was a huge best-seller as a book, so it had a built-in audience before it was released for its debut in Atlanta. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"is about Jefferson Smith, a naive local hero who stands tall for what he believes to be right against the political bosses who got him into the office so he'd cooperate with their nefarious plans.
That's quite a line-up. I've seen "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and I've seen "The Wizard of Oz," in spite of the fact that there's a lot of singing in it, but I've never seen "Gone with the Wind." My family tried to educate me to its greatness, but I fell asleep somewhere during that long, long movie.
But regardless of my Philistine ways about "Gone with the Wind," those were the big three movies of 1939, movies that are now considered classics.
But, how about another 1939 movie, Secret Service Of The Air, featuring Lt. “Brass” Bancroft — a pilot who gets recruited by the Secret Service to infiltrate and help bring down a ruthless gang of smugglers based just below the American border in Mexico? Ever hear of that film? They made four Brass Bancroft movies.
You never heard of Brass Bancroft? Me neither. Join the crowd. One critic wrote: "In all earnestness, none of these films about Brass Bancroft are what most people would refer to as 'good.' These were little more than wartime B movies when they were made."
Forgettable. Certainly not "Gone with the Wind." The Brass Bancroft movies were so bad that those who played in them said they were awful, just awful. Even the star said that the first Brass Bancroft movie was the worst film he ever made.
But there was this little boy, a kid named Jerry Parr, living in Miami, who made his father take him to see that first one. More than once. Jerry was ten years old at the time and he loved that movie. It captured his imagination so much, he vowed that, when he grew up, he would become a Secret Service agent.
But you know boys. Growing up, they want to be baseball players, cowboys, firemen, or policemen, but their immature, impossible hankerings go away as they mature and they settle for being plumbers, accountants, lawyers, and regular, boring 9-5 guys, not Secret Service agents.
But not Jerry Parr. Jerry fulfills his dream and becomes one of those few, super-select men, a Secret Service agent.
Jerry Parr
Forty-two years later, on March 30, 1981, he's there when John Hinckley opens fire at President Ronald Reagan. It's the duty of Jerry Parr to guard the President of the United States, and, if necessary, to give his life for the Chief Executive.
Parr braves the bullets, grabs Reagan, and pushes him into the waiting car. It's Parr who sees the President coughing up blood. It's Parr who makes the split-second decision to head straight to the hospital, although he doesn't know just how bad it is--a bullet had sliced into Reagan's chest, causing massive internal bleeding.
It was Jerry Parr's lightning fast actions and decisions that saved the President's life that day, 42 years after seeing that movie. Brass Bancroft could not have done better.
Jerry Parr was there that day because his dad took him to a bad B movie way back in 1939. If his Dad lived to see that day, I'm sure he was mighty proud of his son. What father wouldn't be? I'm sure the President was proud of Jerry Parr that day. And the actor who played Brass Bancroft, Secret Service agent would have been proud of Jerry too.
And that actor was proud! You see, it was Reagan who, in 1939, was Brass Bancroft in that movie, the film he said was the worst he ever made. History makes some fascinating turns, doesn't it?
It reminds me of the story Peggy Walters told. Her neighbors, Tom and Nancy, called on her because their baby was on the way and they needed help fast. There was no time to get anywhere for the birth, so Peggy came as fast as she could. Peggy said that her friend Nancy was having a pretty had labor. "Harder than most, but not as hard as some," was the way she put it.
Looking back, after the birth, Peggy remembered that both parents were very proud when the boy was born, that the Tom was beaming, after he learned that Nancy was OK. Peggy said that Tom and Nancy had a name picked out, but Nancy suggested they change it right then and there. Earlier, they had wanted to name the baby "Tom," but that wasn't to be his name. They opted for another name, not "Tom," but "Abraham," and thus baby Abraham was born that Sunday to Tom and Nancy Lincoln.
There's an old story people tell, a fictional one, about that Sunday, February 12, 1809. At the end of the day two men, residents of Hodgenville, Kentucky, are talking about the day's events and one asks the other, "Any news today?" The other answers, "No, nothing much. Tom and Nancy Lincoln had a baby boy this morning, but that's about it."
Few outside the Lincoln family thought much about the event.
If Jerry Parr's dad was a lot like me, I think he forgot all about taking Jerry to see Brass Bancroft. One time when some of my children were asked what they remembered most about growing up and what I said or did with them, what they mentioned were things I didn't even remember doing, and when they refreshed my memory, I still didn't remember those things, but to them, they were important things from 20--30 years ago. Go figure.
We never know what the results will be of the little, forgettable things we do, do we? In retrospect, what 1939 movie had the greatest impact? It wasn't "Gone with the Wind," "The Wizard of Oz," or "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." It was that forgotten little terrible B-movie--the Brass Bancroft movie, the film that inspired Jerry Parr to be there to save the life of the President of the United States who would later command, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," and that Berlin wall came down. The Soviet Union, what Reagan called, "The Evil Empire," crashed and burned, changing world history, both events coming after Parr's heroic saving of the President's life.
You may never see the results that your reading and explaining a story in the Bible will have on some six year old kid. You may never know what that child you tell about Christ will do for God. You may never know the results of your teaching that Sunday school class or taking your children to church or discussing some spiritual truth with them.
A Brass Bancroft movie changing the world? Who would have thought! Long live the memory of Jerry's dad!
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Dr. Mike Halsey is the chancellor of Grace Biblical Seminary, a Bible teacher at the Hangar Bible Fellowship, and the author of Truthspeak. A copy of his book, Microbes in the Bloodstream of the Church, is also available as an E-book on Amazon.com. If you would like to a receive a copy of his weekly Bible studies and other articles of biblical teaching and application, you can do so by writing sue.bove@gmail.com and requesting, "The Hangar Bible Journal."
If you would like to contribute to his ministry according to the principle of II Corinthians 9:7, you may do so by making your check out to Hangar Bible Fellowship and mailing it to 65 Teal Ct., Locust Grove, GA 30248. All donations are tax deductible.
Come visit the Hangar some Sunday at 10 AM. You'll be glad you did.
Other recommended grace-oriented websites are:
notbyworks.org
literaltruth.org
gracebiblicalseminary.org
duluthbible.org
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