Comments on: The Billy Graham Library: Serious legacy or Disney-style Attraction? A Lesson in Branding

By: Jeff Reid

Jeff Reid — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I think it could be very cool for a family experience. I think they probably wanted to make it as user-friendly as possible. (Imagine a Mom saying, "Hey kids. We're going on vacation to see a library." Gee, thanks Mom. That's swell.) So, I guess it'll be good to hear the public's reactions before we hear from the news critics, 'cause they may be totally different. (Although, the gigantic cross door-way does sound a bit kitchy... I think producers and designers imagine Christians to be terribly impressed by those type of things. Oh, well). But, if this causes the secular public to debate the legacy of Billy Graham, then bravo. The fact that it would stir conversation is worth all of the money they've put into it.

By: ptler

ptler — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I traveled to the Holy Land years ago with a Catholic group. I was so saddened to see all the giant, ugly, broken churches that had been built on top of key Bible landmarks (as the Catholics understood them) by well meaning followers with bad taste and little money.

I left wishing Disney had gotten there first...give me a manger in Bethelem...

My point? I would rather see the story told in a compelling, creative way. Maybe its overboard..but better than moving his childhood home ....

By: Jean Giese

Jean Giese — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I've been reading about the Billy Graham Museum. My husband and I plan to make a trip there as soon as we can get away. In 1959, my husband, Jim Giese, and two of his siblings recorded "The Ballad of Billy Graham", written by Red River Dave McEnery. We recently came across the 45 rpm record, and took it to a studio to have it played and recorded on CD for us to keep. We also found the original score of the music and words with the record. Jim would love to release this song to the public, as he so admires Mr. Graham's work. The song does tell about Billy Graham, but it also tells the message he has preached so many years. How would we get your approval for this project?

We've been told by someone that has seen the museum that a copy of this record hangs on a wall in the museum.

Jean Giese

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

If it's your song, then you own the copyright, and shouldn't need anyone's approval. I would consult with an attorney just in case, but without knowing more, if it's your creation, then it should be yours.

By: Matt Keegan

Matt Keegan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wrote about our family's account visiting the Billy Graham Library, an all-around enjoyable experience for all. We were there some ten days after Ruth had been buried and were able to visit her burial site, the homestead, and the library.

The talking cow was fun (at least our two young boys thought so) with nothing else present to suggest that the library was designed to be a tourist trap. I understand that Disney was consulted, but beyond the blithe bovine there weren't any other characters chattering away.

During our tour, we learned a lot about Billy Graham, his wife, his family, and the ministry and the sacrifices many people made so that the evangelist could carry the gospel to the far reaches of the earth.

If a brand was being promoted, I think it got lost in the gospel message.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In a week a group from my church and I are going up to visit the Graham Museum and we have several ladies who are not (really spry) and have a difficult time walking long distances and climbing stairs, we even might need a wheel chair for one, do they have stairs and do they have aids for those who find it difficult to walk? Any help would be so appreciated in these matters,

Yours in Christ

Barbara

By: James Gerke

James Gerke — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

There was a comment about Mr graham being humble and not buying new suits or fixing up his house. This must have been when he just started. His salary is now $465,000.00 a year from tith payers money. That would not include all the expenses payed by the association. Mr Graham and his son, who also makes over $400,000.00 a year have become very rich from Christianity. The Apostles were poor, but they preached the Gospel into all the known world and never took money for it.

By: suleiman.

suleiman. — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

After trying vainly since the barn-like museum opened to get anyone to accompany me, I finally got an out-of-town friend (a NASA engineer) to visit the site with me. The restored house is a marvel–most things, and all of the kitchen, are of the period (1920s). The SCALE of the barn, with its 40-foot-high glass cross that contains the doors (not “is the door,” as news reports have it) is appropriate. We had to wait a few minutes while a film, in an open niche between the animatronic cow’s mini-barn and part of the large gift shop, played out. Then the cow began to…TALK, not–again, as news reports said–sing. The skin of the cow is a real cow’s skin–you can see the stitches–and that IS a bit creepy. (Don’t point that out to the kids.) Only the mouth/nose and ears are fake. And atop the cow’s head is a horizontal row of tight blond CURLS; after all, the cow is female. This bit of tasteless kitsch jarred me. Then…the cow began to talk, in a Southern accent, really “down home-y,” to tell the story of the Franklin family’s dairy farm and how serving the Charlotte community milk led to Billy’s desire to serve the world religion. The narration goes on…and on…and ON…and the whole thing got tiring and very, very creepy. I just wanted a “Stop now” button. Behind it, in a compressed fake dairy barn, eight flattened-perspective fake cow rumps stuck out from their stalls, four on a side. Their tails periodically twitched. Near the vocal cow, on a ledge, an animatronic cat twitched its tail and ears and moved its head and mouth. But I can see why Billy Graham himself had reservations about this Disneyland-like creation, and its prominence right inside the entrance. But showman Franklin (who recently [2009] was forced to give up one of his two half-million-dollar salaries, “unbecoming to a leader of a charity,” was determined to have the cow–and the barn, and the gift shop, with its $1 postcards (not top quality, either) and its myriad baseball caps and T-shirts. It’s all too much, and it does not befit a minister of God, and it will not likely, I think, convert anyone to Christianity or to being a Baptist. It’s a place of pilgrimage for the already-cleansed. When we inquired about walking quickly through the rest of the museum, to the library, a nearby guide almost pushed us into taking the whole trip; he was actually a bit forceful. Later however another guide behind the gift shop, where the tour begins, suggested that if we had limited time we “just walk through at your own pace, pausing when you want to.” The first guy was a pushy Pentecostal, the second a Unitarian! We had frozen dairy product ($1) in the large cafe adjacent to the gift shop, then left. I felt that the Lincoln soliloquy in Epcot Center in FL was preachy enough to be weird, but this cow was way too much. Even the Vatican doesn’t (yet?) have an animatronic Pius Xii, explaining his cozy relationship with the Nazis, or a John Paul II, in a computer-generated recreation of his travels to nearly all the world’s political divisions. But if they want to get more competitive, they’ll probablyl go talk to the Disney engineers…