Preacher urged: Gimme that new-time religion | Only in Oklahoma

The Rev. William H. “Bill” Alexander was as flamboyant as an Oklahoma City minister as he had been as a nightclub master of ceremonies before switching to preaching.

Almost from the day in 1942 that he became the pastor of the First Christian Church, he struck out for change and drew criticism from other ministers and members of other churches.

He added bowling lanes, pool tables and a dance floor in the church for teenagers of all denominations. He preached against the Jim Crow law as un-Christian, led a conga line through his church and traded jokes with the comedian Red Skelton. He crusaded for better mental health institutions and criticized the “old-time” religion of the “Bible Belt.”

He was criticized for dressing up in a claw-hammer coat and cowboy boots to marry Roy Rogers and the movie actress Dale Evans.

“Why must a good Christian look like an ad for a coffin factory?” he once asked rhetorically. “If we practice Christianity the way Christ would want us to, we will concentrate on happy living and forget the heavy-hearted ritual.”

Alexander became a popular lecturer and speaker throughout the country, ran for the U.S. Senate in 1950, was mentioned several times as a possible candidate for governor and supported the repeal of prohibition.

The Shelbyville, Mo., native wanted “to study anything but theology” when he enrolled at the University of Missouri, where he stayed for a year before taking a $250-per-week job as the master of ceremonies at a floor show at a St. Louis country club. But he changed his mind, decided to follow his father into the ministry and enrolled at Phillips University in Enid. He later switched to the University of Tulsa, where he graduated in 1939.

While attending Phillips, he took a $7.50-per-week job as the pastor of the Christian Church at Stroud, a community of 3,000, but he soon had a radio congregation of thousands through his “Oklahoma’s Little Church Around the Corner” program over Tulsa station KVOO.

He outraged other ministers when he introduced billiard tables and Sunday night dances in his church recreation hall. In reply, Alexander simply said, “I’d rather have the boys and girls of my church dancing and having wholesome fun in our church youth center than hanging around the honky-tonks and beer taverns.”

Alexander endorsed the repeal of prohibition in 1949 when he appeared before a state Senate committee in Oklahoma City. He said he was as much against intemperate use of alcohol as any other minister but that he did not approve of a situation in which his 10-year-old son could dial 100 numbers in Oklahoma City and get whiskey delivered.

“There must be something wrong with the law when every time a minister takes the pulpit and preaches prohibition, dirty bootleggers sing ‘Amen, Amen,’ ” he said. He called the bootlegger system hypocritical.

The flamboyant Alexander’s ministry in Oklahoma City was marked by successes and controversy. He ran into trouble with his draft board in Stroud, which labeled him a conscientious objector, and appealed to Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, the national draft director, after the board refused him permission to go overseas as a war correspondent. He said he was not a conscientious objector.

The issue developed because Alexander had been classified as 4-D as a minister. When he sought to become a war correspondent, the draft board changed that classification to 4-E (objector status) “because we found him to qualify for no other classification.”

Hershey gave him the permission he sought, and he became a war correspondent for The Daily Oklahoman and a religious publication. He flew on bombing missions over northern Italy.

His wife, Charlsie, divorced Alexander in 1951, claiming he treated her like a servant, and she married Dr. Frederick Hulett the next year. Hulett had been Alexander’s campaign manager when he ran for the Senate against Mike Monroney in 1950. Alexander married Hulett’s ex-wife, Maryloise, in 1954.

Alexander was the driving force behind the construction of an ultramodern church building that became known as “The Church of Tomorrow.” It was the building that was used as the survivor center after the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in 1999.

The congregation spent $2 million in 1956 (a large sum then) for the 40-acre tract and buildings that included a shell-shaped sanctuary, fountains, a large torch and special lights. The center also had a large amphitheater where the Miss Oklahoma pageants were held for several years.

Proof that Alexander had a way with words was shown when a bandit jabbed a gun in his chest and demanded money in 1950. He handed over his wallet and overcoat — and started talking.

The thief returned Alexander’s property and walked away, but Alexander was unable to talk the bandit out of his gun.

Alexander, 45, and his wife, 36, were killed in a plane crash in Harrisburg, Pa., on April 3, 1960, while headed to a speaking engagement in Hershey, Pa.

Alexander had told his congregation after their marriage in 1954: “She’s a wonderful woman. I could spend the rest of my life with her.”

Alexander was perhaps best described by Time magazine in 1950: “What Florenz Ziegfeld brought to Broadway and Tabasco sauce to the raw oyster, the Rev. William H. Alexander brought to religion in Oklahoma City.

“He put zing into church going.”

Only in Oklahoma is a series from the Tulsa World Archive that was written by former Tulsa World Managing Editor Gene Curtis during the Oklahoma Centennial in 2007. The columns told interesting stories from the history of the country’s 46th state. The Tulsa World Archive is home to more than 2.3 million stories, 1.5 million photographs and 55,000 videos. Tulsa World subscribers have full access to all the content in the archive. Not a subscriber? We have a digital subscription special offer of $1 for three months for a limited time at tulsaworld.com/subscribe.