A charismatic and gifted Pentecostal preacher, Aimee Semple McPherson gained fame as a barnstorming evangelist in the era of Billy Sunday (depicted so tellingly by Sinclair Lewis in Elmer Gantry). In every respect, she was a pioneer and an original—her flamboyant style and colorful personal life guaranteed that she was good press, and her radio broadcasts from the Angelus Temple in Los Angeles drew her flock from coast to coast to hear "Sister Aimee." Her Church of the Foursquare Gospel was a hybrid of show business and Bible-based simplicity. As a minister, her message was "to bring sinners to Jesus." Renowned for her stirring sermons and for healing by a laying on of hands, her following was such that her personal appearances resembled those of movie stars. Charlie Chaplin, an admirer, remarked that "… You give your drama-starved people who absent themselves...