Christ of Ozarks dark after 45 years

Rain clouds roll past the Christ of the Ozarks statue in this ÿ le photo from Dec. 23, 2009, at the Great Passion Play grounds in Eureka Springs.
Rain clouds roll past the Christ of the Ozarks statue in this ÿ le photo from Dec. 23, 2009, at the Great Passion Play grounds in Eureka Springs.

— For the first time since 1967, the floodlights that illuminated a seven-story statue of Jesus have been turned off.

For more than 16,000 nights, the Christ of the Ozarks statue was a beacon in the night overlooking Eureka Springs from Magnetic Mountain.

The statue has been an important landmark in a tourist town where streets curve around hills in a disorienting manner and people sometimes need a point a reference in the darkness of night.

Mike Maloney, executive director of the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission, said he looks toward the statue while walking his dog at night, and it’s strange to see darkness on Magnetic Mountain.

“It is a little shocking not to see it lit up,” he said.

Dani Joy, who was mayor of Eureka Springs from 2007-10, agreed.

“It’s a little eerie,” she said.

Charles Cross, president of Cornerstone Bank, said the lights were turned off last month to save money on the electric bill.

The statue is normally lit by two large General Electric spotlights, and it is visible from miles away, according to passionplaytickets.com/Play_ and_Attractions_Info.html .

The bank will take over the 700-acre The Great Passion Play property in lieu of foreclosure proceedings. The bank may turn the lights back on after it acquires the property early next year, Cross said.

After 45 years, the Passion Play closed for good after its Oct. 27 performance. And a drive-through Christmas display that had been on the mountain is also dark this year.

Alderman James DeVito said the city won’t foot the bill for turning the lights on this month because the statue is outside the city limits and there are other things that need to be paid for.

Maloney said since the statue is on private property, it’s also out of his commission’s jurisdiction.

Christ of the Ozarks is Arkansas’ largest and best-known sculpture, said Ralph Wilcox, National Register and survey coordinator for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

Sam Ray, who was executive director of The Great Passion Play, claims that it’s the most photographed image of Jesus Christ in the United States.

The open arms of the statue spread 65 feet from fingertip to fingertip. The statue is made of 24 layers of white mortar on a steel frame and weighs more than 1,000 tons.

The statue was designed by Emmet Sullivan, an apprentice to Gutzon Borglum , sculptor of The Shrine of Democracy on Mount Rushmore.

Gerald L.K. Smith came up with the idea for the Christ of the Ozarks statue as well as the Passion Play. Both were built by the foundation that bears his wife’s name: the Elna M. Smith Foundation. The statue was completed in 1966.

Gerald L.K. Smith, a minister and political agitator, was an organizer for Louisiana political boss Huey P. Long in the 1930s.

But Smith was known more for his far-right activism, particularly for anti-Semitic and fascist causes, according to The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture.

Smith ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate and president several times. His last presidential race was in 1956. The couple moved to Eureka Springs in 1964.

Smith’s “sacred projects” helped rejuvenate a spa-town that was having hard economic times, according to the encyclopedia.

But Jewish groups denounced his Passion Play because they viewed it as anti-Semitic.

Keith Butler, chairman of the nonprofit Elna M. Smith Foundation, which operated the Passion Play, said Smith, who died in 1976, didn’t hold as strongly to his anti-Semitic stance later in life.

“Perhaps it was the zealousness of his youth that led to ignorance in indiscretion,” said Butler. “I think we all have some duality in our lives.”

Some is just more public than others, he said.

Butler said the play has been changed several times, beginning in the 1980s, to remove anything that might be considered anti-Semitic, such as the line, “Let His blood be on us and on our children.” (Matthew 27:25)

This year, the following prelude was added to the play: “We here at the Great Passion Play believe that we are all equally culpable for Jesus’ death. No one people group was or is solely responsible. No, it was the sins of the world - our sins that put him on the cross. But praise be to God that Jesus did not stay dead.”

“We cannot say it enough.We respect Jewish traditions, and we love the Jewish people,” which has been true for some time now, Butler said.

“I think it could be said that Gerald Smith’s anti-Semitism died with him. Again though, despite Smith’s many failures and shortcomings in life, it was his faith that eventually saw him through.”

Smith’s legacy will be the play and statue, Butler said.

Beau Satori, who was mayor of Eureka Springs from 1999 to 2002, said some people view the darkness on Magnetic Mountain as “karmic destiny.”

“Emmet Sullivan put Gerald’s face on the statue, and that’s his tombstone,” said Satori.

“It’s obviously a monument to himself. He’s buried at the foot of it.”

Arkansas, Pages 9 on 12/10/2012

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