Among the Intellectualoids
Stillman, J. Whitney
Among the Intellectualoids What does it mean to be a human being? I think that to be human means to love. If that is so, Franklin Vanderloon can only be described as a very human man. Dr....
...one could merely exist—from day to day and hour to hour—never knowing when the tanks and jackbooted soldiers would arrive...
...I think we might have something much bigger than an educational filmstrip...
...The Many Faces of Love has been well received on the junior high level...
...What's important is that the most dedicated and sensitive people in this country thought that it might...
...The End...Or the Beginning...
...I keep returning to the concept I learned last month at the Ecumenical Institute in Chicago: "G-O-B," "the Ground of Our Being...
...Jan...
...As to the script, I think it would be best to try to perfect the page I've got done before going any further...
...8. The Many Faces of Love went into production today, under my personal direction...
...I don't believe that God is an old man who lives in a place called Heaven somewhere up in the sky...
...May 14...
...9. Our progress on the film has been excellent...
...Nov...
...Oct...
...Sarah believes there will be a right-wing takeover this year...
...Jan...
...Sunday, Jan...
...Imust admit, though, the leading actress, Sarah Bosart, has a wonderfully expressive torso...
...There is no chance we'll be getting any in the next year...
...Timmy home from school with the flu today...
...I have been selected to attend a special week of seminars at the Ecumenical Institute in Chicago...
...I doubt they will make their move until later...
...Nov...
...They're scared, too...
...The first group calls out, "Life is good...
...Usual prayers, offertory, etc...
...Got The Many Faces of Love in the can this afternoon...
...For this I must thank my colleague, Dr...
...First there is syncopated hand-clapping...
...Would be totally honest...
...After dinner, as the sun went down, I sat in my chair on the lawn until after it was dark...
...Nov...
...Without her continual encouragement and support this book would never have been possible...
...I think that to be candid means to be human...
...The weather was crisp and the colors beautiful...
...They were...
...Otherwise I feel that a turtleneck with a sports jacket has the right sort of dignified informality...
...Does It really exist...
...The idea behind the word "God" is misleading...
...6. Woke up in the middle of the night last night and couldn't get to sleep for a while...
...I had never thought about it before, but food is good...
...After reading it I couldn't help wondering whether my natural ability doesn't lie more in the realm of poetry than in that of prose or scriptwriting...
...Sunday, Dec...
...I hope that his generation will do better with the world than ours has done...
...April 11...
...Jan...
...Service includes the usual hymns, prayers, offertory, etc...
...A written script would get in my way...
...First day of the New Year today...
...Only strong leadership could get us out of this depression...
...Sermon: "Gob & The Sermon on the Mount...
...Legislation was pending in Congress which would have cut off the funds needed to help young women keep from bringing into the world infants who could not be properly loved or cared for...
...I have not yet had the chance to tell Charlotte about my rela16 The Alternative: An American Spectator August/September 1976 tionship with Sarah, but I am sure she would have no objections...
...Suggest marbled or spiral kind—the latter has the advantage of opening flat, so easier to write in...
...Sept...
...Life was not healthy in 1975...
...Wonder about Gob...
...Sermon: "The Sermon on the Mount...
...At fellowship coffee hour many congregation members express interest in idea of candid diary...
...Gob, not God...
...Jan...
...Augustine, but minus the superstition...
...It is the tribute of over 140 poets from 27 countries to the late Pablo Neruda and to the legacy of Salvador Allende's Popular Unity government, which sought to bring socialism and justice to the Chilean people...
...We both realize that personal growth in a marriage is tremendously important...
...3. Reconsider diary idea...
...In Harlem it was all '68 and '69 Impalas, but Park Avenue was filled with late-model Cadillacs...
...April V. May VI...
...Charlie says that while Gob may at one time have existed, It does not exist now...
...August 11...
...August IX...
...Love in Focus: A- Presbyterian Filmmaker's Odyssey is the title of a book Dr...
...Have some good fellowship: Charlies Parsons makes the point that while Christ was undeniably a great man, he did not know all that we do today...
...Sunday, May 3. Sermon: "The Parable of the Prodigal Son...
...I said that I only wear my collar when I am actually preaching...
...Service as usual this morning, followed by fellowship hour...
...Milton Friedman was still at large...
...May 13...
...She frightens me...
...America is either going to have massive federal planning or it is going to have authoritarianism...
...June 27...
...July 8. Think about Gob, and the idea of Gob...
...In my despair one thought is tremendously reassuring: Gob loves me...
...Dec...
...Sept...
...My relationship with Sarah can only deepen the love I feel for Charlotte...
...But it is my wife Charlotte to whom I owe the greatest thanks...
...I was interested in writing a kind of modern-day Confessions of St...
...Franklin Vanderloon's Love in Focus: A Presbyterian Filmmaker's Odysseybrings 1975 back in the most vivid terms...
...I keep a pencil and small pad of paper with me at all times so that I'll be able to record the ideas which come to me during stray moments...
...An essential factor in this kind of literary venture is an unerring knowledge of the date...
...America was deep in depression that year...
...Charlie Parsons pointed out that none of us was wearing a collar...
...The title does not refer to literal "faces," which will only appear occasionally in the film, depending on the individual means of expressing love...
...Dec...
...Sermon: "Gob & The Parable of the Prodigal Son...
...Tell Charlotte about them afterwards—she says they sound interesting...
...March 6. I resolved to make some headway on the script today and have filled nearly a page...
...March 27...
...7. Sermon: "The Parable of the Prodigal Son and Prison Reform...
...July 25...
...March 3. Spent this afternoon putting together notes I've made for the Many Faces of Love script...
...Sunday, February 1. Sermon: "Christ —What He Didn't Know...
...June 26...
...Told Charlotte and Timmy...
...Vanderloon has written in the form of a diary—but not just any diary...
...This way, I can keep track of the various ideas which occur to me...
...What we are thinking of now is entering it in some film festivals and then trying for commercial distribution...
...Later I can polish them...
...He scares me...
...The others said they felt the same way...
...June VII...
...Dec...
...This way I won't have to backtrack after finishing the rest...
...Perhaps it stemmed from my familiarity with the confessional religious literature of traditional Christianity...
...Driving into Manhattan this morning I was struck by the tremendous disparity between the living conditions of the rich and poor people in this country...
...4. Saw President Ford on television tonight...
...Then one group of children shouts, "Food is good...
...I hope and pray that I do...
...I wouldn't want to write a whole book in the kitchen, but it could be interesting for something shorter, such as a screenplay...
...We plan to take a mature approach...
...Now that I am rolling I want to get as much down on paper as possible...
...Nov...
...Jan...
...Dec...
...June 9. I noticed in going over the film script that the second paragraph, which I wrote while lying down, is considerably better than the first, which I wrote sitting at my desk...
...June 10...
...J. Whitney Stillman, of New York, is an Aquarius...
...Before beginning, I would like to acknowledge the kind assistance of some of those persons who have made vital contributions to the quality of my manuscript...
...I believe there is a little bit of Gob in every one of us...
...What this week has given me is nothing less than an entirely new outlook-on Christianity and on our whole society...
...Jan...
...I don't believe that Gob is just something up in the sky...
...Raked leaves this afternoon...
...Urge congregation members to keep diaries of their most personal thoughts and actions...
...Explain that simplest and least pretentious sort of notebook is preferable...
...Seminar week ends today...
...I prefer to think of it as the beginning of a new one...
...It still has to be revised and polished but that will have to wait for later...
...headquarters at the Interfaith Building on Riverside Drive...
...Feb...
...In some ways I think poetry is the highest means of expression...
...They love and admire a person who isn't really me at all...
...A second group answers, "Right...
...Got up and saw it was snowing outside...
...Idea is that each person is unique and therefore his or hersexuality is unique...
...Think about Salvador Allende and the legacy of his Popular Unity government in Chile...
...Bob, the seminarian who is acting as assistant director, remarked that I seem to have an extraordinary talent for thinking visually...
...Another good day at the studio...
...It enables me to "write with the camera" as we go along...
...Sunday, August 3. Sermon: "The Sermon on the Mount...
...5. Visited sick parishioners this morning, as I do every Wednesday...
...I've decided to use my ministry to try to combat the spread of fascism in this country...
...The world looks as if it were completely new...
...The year 1975 is over now but, for those of us who lived through it, the memory will never fade...
...My discovery of yesterday reminds me that I once wrote Charlotte a note standing up in the kitchen near the refrigerator which she said at the time was rather nicely done...
...Sept...
...Traditional hymns, offertory, etc...
...In the evening I built the first fire in the living room fireplace since last winter...
...The phrase "many faces" in the title is actually being used on a far more sophisticated level, as a metaphor for the many unique ways an individual might choose to express his or her love...
...Ultimately it will make our marriage a richer one...
...Sunday, Dec...
...Sunday, October 26...
...May 15...
...Talk with Charlie Parsons about Gob...
...It's an ability I never knew I had before...
...Saw the Pope conduct Mass on television tonight...
...Sermon: "Gob's Love...
...Sarah Bosart, a talented actress, has given me much excellent advice...
...Sermon: "The Sermon on the Mount and the Authoritarian Personality...
...He decided instead to write something entirely new—a completely candid diary, in which his most personal thoughts and impressions would be faithfully recorded on a daily basis...
...Sermon: "The Parable of the Prodigal Son...
...I am afraid I must agree...
...I prefer to dress for comfort rather than for what people might think...
...Vanderloon is minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Riverdale, New York, and director of the film program for the United Presbyterian Church, USA's Center for Information on Human Reproduction...
...Sunday, June 28...
...Dec...
...I wish I had my weekends free...
...Bob pointed out that I seem to have a unique talent for working with actors...
...May 12...
...Watched the snowflakes falling in the arc of the garden light...
...Sunday, Jan...
...Confide my fears about President Ford and the CIA to congregation members during fellowship hour...
...This idea cuts through centuries of superstition...
...There's something called the F-scale...
...Augustine's confessions but the need to get away from superstition...
...Most people see today as the end of one year...
...There is in this country a network of highly-trained and heavily-armed paramilitary units which could, at any moment, seize total power—the metropolitan police forces...
...Sept...
...As it turned out, the Far Right was not successful in taking power in 1975, but that's not what's important...
...I read the Times, and later did some thinking...
...They were pleased...
...We started talking about appropriThe Alternative: An American Spectator August/ September 1976 15 ate modes of dress in a contemporary ministry...
...When will we learn to control the sale of handguns...
...Attended fellowship luncheon at the U.P.C...
...Sept...
...President Ford would obviously test very high...
...Nov...
...I arrived in Chicago only last night, but the atmosphere here at the Institute is absolutely electric...
...Maybe that will be too late...
...The message of Franklin Vanderloon's diary is, essentially, a human one: 1975 is a year which must never happen again...
...The experience of this chant was profoundly moving for me...
...Nov...
...To be called The Many Faces of Love...
...She's a Sagittarius...
...My love for Sarah could only strengthen our marriage...
...Point out that there are many things, familiar to us, which Christ never even knew about—the pill, the atom bomb, psychoanalysis...
...3. The United States is not in an economic recession but in a depression...
...September X. October XI...
...LOVE IN FOCUS: A Presbyterian Filmmaker's Odyssey Preface I do not recall when the idea to write my diary in a candid style first occurred to me...
...I honestly don't know whether I'll succeed...
...What does it mean to be candid...
...March IV...
...Sunday, August 24...
...Sunday, Nov...
...This ability is tremendously important...
...The following condensation, which preserves the frank tone of the original, is used by permission of the author...
...November XII...
...Dec...
...It measures the degree of fascist tendencies a person has...
...Roman Catholics scare me...
...Each snowflake's pattern is unique—just like a human being...
...More snow last night-1 1/2" in Riverdale...
...The instructors here prefer to use the term "Gob" or "G-0-B"-for "Ground of Our Being...
...What's important to remember is not that Jesus is God, but that he was a very human man...
...Feb...
...Shake hands with parishioners as they depart...
...Several members ask what kind of notebook best for recording frank thoughts and impressions...
...Finally, the first group shouts, "All is good...
...April 22...
...In 1975 the means of production were in the hands of individuals, the freedom to read was under attack, and, lastly but perhaps most importantly, some people had more things than other people had...
...Sunday, July 19...
...And then everyone joins in calling, "It's O.K...
...5. Sermon on New Year and value of resolutions...
...Sermon: "The Parable of the Prodigal Son...
...That's why I am a Democrat...
...I will be sad to leave Chicago and all the friends I have made here...
...There is a great need for honesty with self and God...
...Read a fascinating book today-For Neruda, For Chile: An International Anthology...
...Sermon: "Our Father Who Art In Heaven—Man or Woman...
...Life is beautiful, I think, but lonely...
...Yet in a moment each snowflake would be obliterated...
...One of the things that first struck me is the way the Institute's elementary school students say grace at mealtimes...
...July 24...
...The thought sent a shiver down my back...
...Sometimes I feel that no one really knows me...
...Nov...
...July 26...
...Have been reading about the authoritarian personality...
...Nov...
...Took Sarah out for a drink to celebrate...
...4. Decide to go ahead with diary...
...I believe that there is a little bit of God in every one of us...
...July VIII...
...Mention St...
...March 5. Visited parish shut-ins this morning...
...December Dedication For Sarah 1975 January 1, 1975...
...Sunday, Nov...
...I try to do this every Wednesday...
...headquarters in the Interfaith Building...
...Jan...
...I have been told that it is the bright spot in their week...
...Sunday, July 12...
...Think about the disparity in incomes between rich and poor in this country...
...Richard Breen, who has always either had the information at his fingertips or else known where I might find it...
...Later took it out of the can to screen...
...Charlie Parsons, Timmy -even Charlotte-have no idea who I am...
...Jan...
...In town for meeting at United Presbyterian Church, U.S.A...
...Apparently it makes them feel better...
...2. Had a fascinating idea this afternoon—why not keep a diary in which to record my most personal thoughts and impressions...
...Oct...
...Think about the urban crisis, and about the crisis in our cities...
...For the Love of Gob Table of Contents I. January IL February III...
...8. In town for conference on new film for junior high schools...
...Have some interesting talks during Fellowship Hour...
...1. I saw an ad in the paper this morning for a book entitled Adultery: Your Right to Personal Freedom in Marriage, co-authored by a medical doctor and a doctor of divinity...
...9. I saw an interview with President Ford's daughter Susan on the news tonight...
...The second again answers, "Right...
...Sept...
Vol. 9 • August 1976 • No. 10
