Kathie Lee Gifford amassed devoted followers as a singer, actress and talk show host during her 15-year stint on “Live with Regis and Kathie Lee.” Predictably, she tops herself as playwright and lyricist of “Saving Aimee,” a musical based on the life of controversial evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson.
Gifford became intrigued by Aimee during college when she met the evangelist’s son, Rolf McPherson, and her daughter, Roberta Semple, later the wife of bandleader Harry Salter, creator of “Name That Tune,” Gifford’s first television show. That auspicious connection inspired her to visit Angelus Temple and research stories about the subject’s daring lifestyle and impact on society during the Depression.
“She was a completely fearless woman, the first tabloid queen and way ahead of her day,” Gifford says. “People either loved or hated her. When folks were hurting during the Depression, she gave them hope and saved one and a half million from starvation. She was the first woman broadcaster — the Barbara Walters of her day — and the first church leader to welcome other races and homosexuals. She loved the unlovable.”
Aimee grew up traveling with her mother, a Salvation Army worker. After the death of her first husband, a Pentecostal missionary, she became an itinerant minister, and by 1922 had founded the Foursquare Gospel mission in Los Angeles. There she dressed in angelic white, spoke in tongues and carried out faith healing. She acquired such a huge following that the very next year she built Angelus Temple, an enormous, circular church seating 5,000 that continues to prosper.
Before her death in 1944 at age 54 from an overdose of barbiturates, she had been married three times, was accused of corrupting the nation’s morals and endured a public trial before being cleared of perjury charges. To this day it is not known if she told the truth about being kidnapped twice, tortured, drugged and held for ransom by the Ku Klux Klan before escaping and surfacing in Douglas, Ariz.
“There are so many aspects to her life that it was hard to decide which story to tell,” Gifford says. “After new information came to light in a recent book about the trial, I completely rewrote the last scene. Originally I planned for Aimee to be played by two actresses, but Carolee is amazing. She plays Aimee from a rebellious 17-year-old singing ‘Why Can’t I?’ to her death.
“Most people want to believe that people of faith are hypocrites. I’ve tried to show that Aimee was guided by true spirituality, not religiosity, until she had a crises of faith, was seduced by the power of Las Angeles and lost her way. I’ve read many accounts of her documented healing, but I let the audience reach their own conclusions.”
‘Saving Aimee’
Through May 13
» Performances: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday
» Venue: Signature Theatre’s new $16 million building in The MAX Theatre, 2800 S. Stafford St., Arlington
» Tickets: $37 to $63
» Info: Tickets.com, 800-955-5566; 703-820-9771
