Well, I’m still moving slowly through the book I’m reading, my time monopolized by work, so I’ll follow up on last night’s post about Rose O’Neill with the story of another famous creative American who’s almost entirely forgotten today – and who also hung around Branson, Missouri. In fact it was this guy, Harold Bell Wright, who made Branson a center of tourism. Not intentionally.

Harold Bell Wright grew up in difficult circumstances, losing his parents at 11, and ended up in Ohio, working at various jobs. He studied for the ministry, and became a pastor in the non-denominational, non-creedal Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), taking a call in Pierce City, Missouri. He later served churches in Kansas and California.

He wrote a serialized story in 1902 that got printed, though he hated it, in a denominational magazine. His parishioners loved it, however, and so it was published as a book. His second novel was his breakthrough. The Shepherd of the Hills, set in the Branson, MO area, which he’d visited for his health, was published in 1907. It became a blockbuster bestseller – the first American novel to ever earn a million bucks. It has since been filmed four times, most notably with John Wayne starring in 1941. Other novels of his have also been turned into movies, notably The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926) with Ronald Coleman and Gary Cooper.

But today, chances are you’ve never heard of the man or his books. The reason for that is simple – he wasn’t a very good writer. (Owen Wister called one of his novels “a mess of mildewed pap.”)

Now as it happened, I acquired a copy of Shepherd of the Hills on my trip with my parents to Branson long ago, and I read it. As I recall, I found it entertaining and even inspirational, though a little stiff, as old books tend to be. However, it should be noted that my critical sense in those days was almost nonexistent. I aspired to be a writer, but I definitely wasn’t ready, because I couldn’t tell good writing from bad.

The Shepherd of the Hills is a highly moral tale. It tells a complicated story of mountain people who hold long-time grudges, which they are prepared to settle with blood until their hearts are softened by the spirit of forgiveness. In forgiveness they find peace.

Which is nice, as far as it goes. But it’s not a Christian tale in the sense of talking about Jesus or grace. It is assumed that the blessings of forgiveness flow from the world of the spirit in some sense, but it’s a matter (if I remember correctly) of people achieving their true moral stature rather than of their dying and rising again in Christ.

Wright’s church body was and is a pretty tolerant one in terms of doctrine, but still Wright quit the ministry (to make a much better living as a writer), declaring most congregational life hypocritical. His emphasis was on good works. That was well suited to the rising culture of America at the turn of the 20^th Century – an emphasis on progress and self-help, with a sprinkling of Christianity on top, to taste.

I’ve seen the John Wayne movie of The Shepherd of the Hills. Its plot is radically altered and simplified from the book (it would pretty much have to be). It amused me that the film climaxed with John Wayne in a shootout – I guess the writers couldn’t resist that, though it’s not at all in the spirit of the book.

But, who cares? It’s not like the original material was a work of priceless art. Harold Bell Wright toiled in his time, and pleased most of his neighbors, and made a pile of money. His legacy is not his forgotten book, but the tourist mecca of Branson, Missouri, which he fathered unintentionally.

I wonder if he ever hung out with Rose O’Neill in Branson.