Rheba Crawford
A young white woman, standing, wearing a dark bonnet-style hat with long fabric ties, and a plain dark dress with long sleeves and skirt
Rheba Crawford, from the Library of Congress
Born
Irene Rebecca Crawford

February 14, 1898
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
DiedJanuary 7, 1966(1966-01-07) (aged 67)
Los Angeles, California
Occupation(s)Social worker, evangelist

Irene Rebecca "Rheba" Crawford (February 14, 1898 – January 7, 1966), known as "the Angel of Broadway", was an American Christian religious figure and social worker. She was associate pastor of the Angelus Temple in Los Angeles. Her romances and her bitter rivalry with head pastor Aimee Semple McPherson were covered in newspapers nationwide. "Publicity pursued her," commented a 1948 profile, "and she never ran away from it very fast."[1]

Early life

Crawford was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,[2] the daughter of Andrew Crawford and Isabella Clark Crawford. Both parents were active in the Salvation Army, a Christian denomination aligned with the Wesleyan-holiness movement.[3][4] Her mother died in 1903, and her father remarried. She was raised mainly in Georgia and California,[5] and she attended school in Sacramento.[6]

Career

Roberta Semple, Aimee Semple McPherson, and Rheba Crawford in a 1935 parade

Crawford was briefly a reporter at the Atlanta Constitution as a young woman. In the 1920s, she edited the Salvation Army publication The Young Soldier, at the church's national headquarters in New York, and was called "the Angel of Broadway"[7] because she was a constant[8] and striking presence at prohibition and moral hygiene rallies in Times Square.[9] After she was arrested in 1922 for blocking traffic, she resigned from Salvation Army work.[1][4] The character of Sarah Brown in the 1950 musical Guys and Dolls is based in part on Crawford in these years.[6][10]

Crawford was appointed director of the California State Department of Social Welfare in 1931,[11][12] and held office until 1934,[13] when she became assistant pastor at the Angelus Temple.[3][14] She became a popular if controversial preacher from the Angelus pulpit,[15] and gave "reckless, explosive" political sermons on local radio broadcasts.[10] Her work supporting Angelus head pastor Aimee Semple McPherson soon became contentions, and by 1937 the pair exchanged multiple public accusations of libel, slander, blackmail and defamation,[16][17] in what Time magazine called "an ugly squabble".[18] McPherson settled with Crawford, out of court, for an undisclosed sum.[1][10] Crawford founded a new church in 1936, with plans for expansion.[19][20]

In her later years, Crawford worked with the Los Angeles County Department of Senior Citizens Affairs.[3]

Personal life

Crawford married three times. Her first husband was a newspaper publisher, John Harold Sommers; they married in 1924[5] and divorced in 1928.[21] Her second husband was stockbroker Raymond Bachelder Splivalo; they married in 1930,[22] and he died in 1937. Her third husband was rancher Arthur Lawrence Lambertz; they married in 1948.[23] She died from meningitis in 1966, aged 67 years, in Los Angeles.[3] Her grave is in Inglewood Park Cemetery in California.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mavity, Nancy Barr (1948-02-11). "Aimee's Rival Marries Again". Oakland Tribune. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ Some sources give her birthplace as Detroit, Michigan; her birth was recorded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in several records from 1898; via Ancestry.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Rheba Crawford, Ex-Evangelist Called 'Broadway Angel,' Dies; California Welfare Director Times Square Preacher Was McPherson Aide". The New York Times. 1966-01-08. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  4. 1 2 Ferguson, Ruth M. (1930-07-23). "Professional Good Man's Day Over in Politics, Declares Rheba Crawford on Visit". Stockton Independent. p. 12. Retrieved 2022-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 Vogdes, Walter (1924-04-27). "How Broadway's Angel Found Love--on Main Street". The Tulsa Tribune. p. 45. Retrieved 2022-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 Blumhofer, Edith Waldvogel; Blumhofer, Edith L. (1993-12-22). Aimee Semple McPherson: Everybody's Sister. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 352–358. ISBN 978-0-8028-0155-5.
  7. ↑ "Rheba Crawford Plans Farewell Talks Tomorrow". Oakland Tribune. 1925-07-04. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Rheba Crawford Forced to Rest". The News. 1923-06-02. p. 16. Retrieved 2022-08-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Niemeyer, H. H. (1935-03-03). "Sketches from Life". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 59. Retrieved 2022-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. 1 2 3 Epstein, Daniel Mark (2014-02-11). Sister Aimee: The Life of Aimee Semple McPherson. HMH. pp. 390, 395, 416. ISBN 978-0-547-54498-4.
  11. ↑ "Social Work Chief Files Resignation; Rheba Splivalo Asks to Quit". The Los Angeles Times. 1934-12-08. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-08-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Mrs. Rheba Splivalo Undecided on Movie or Political Career". The Sacramento Bee. 1934-02-28. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-08-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Evangelist in Critical Condition". The San Francisco Examiner. 1936-01-13. p. 30. Retrieved 2022-08-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Aimee Signs Assistant; Rheba Splivalo Declared Aide". The Los Angeles Times. 1934-01-24. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-08-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Aimee Aide Ducks Blow from Man". The Windsor Star. 1935-08-26. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-08-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Rows Often Split Temple; Aimee Suied for $1,000,000 Damages by Rheba Crawford". The Los Angeles Times. 1936-11-26. p. 14. Retrieved 2022-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Aimee to 'War'; Defense Fund Gifts Large". Des Moines Tribune. 1937-04-19. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-08-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Religion: Sisters' Squabble". Time. 1937-05-03. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  19. ↑ "New Church Founded by Rheba Splivalo". The Napa Valley Register. 1936-12-24. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-08-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "Rheba Splivalo Incorporates Church Group". The Sacramento Bee. 1936-12-24. p. 9. Retrieved 2022-08-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ Sinnott, Philip J. (1928-09-15). "It's Back to the Pulpit Again for the 'Angel of Broadway'". Times Colonist. p. 11. Retrieved 2022-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ "Why the 'Perfect Romance' of 'Broadway's Angel' Blew Up". Argus-Leader. 1930-03-23. p. 64. Retrieved 2022-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ "Broadway's Angel Becomes a Housewife". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. 1948-04-18. p. 91. Retrieved 2022-08-28 – via Newspapers.com.
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