![]() ![]() Looking to broaden their appeal, they created a puppet show for children who attended their meetings. They married on April 1, 1961, bought a used Plymouth Valiant and set off to become Pentecostal healing evangelists, traveling a circuit throughout the Bible Belt. There she met Jim Bakker, who had arrived the year before. In 1960, Tammy left home to attend North Central Bible College in Minneapolis. She attended Pentecostal churches with her mother and aunt and never wore lipstick or went to the movies until she was married. ![]() Getting startedīorn in 1942, Tammy LaValley grew up in a house without indoor plumbing in International Falls, Minnesota, the oldest of eight children. And while evangelicals are often portrayed as intolerant fundamentalists, Tammy represented a different side of the faith. Viewers watched just to see what she would say next. She said exactly what was on her mind, no matter how inappropriate. They all remember Tammy in pretty much the same way: candid, spontaneous and charismatic. For my book “ PTL: The Rise and Fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s Evangelical Empire,” I spoke with dozens of former PTL staffers. The format of “The PTL Club” was largely Jim’s invention, but it was Tammy whom people came to love. It was reality television before there was a name for it, and the show, at its peak, was beamed via satellite into 14 million American homes. Jim and Tammy rose to fame in the 1970s and 1980s as the married hosts of a Christian television talk show called “The PTL Club.” The show was broadcast live, with a studio audience, five days a week, with little scripting. While Tammy Faye died in 2007, a new biopic about her, “ The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” stars Jessica Chastain as Tammy. ![]() Jim Bakker still makes headlines selling survival food and miracle cures from his television compound near Branson, Missouri. What is it about televangelists Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker that continues to fascinate nearly 35 years after the fall of their evangelical empire? ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |