Jed Dye
This crooked cult leader started "The Church of Silence" in the early 50's and had his own television broadcast for six silent months. He would stare into the cameras and try to communicate by "mental waves of glory". He never spoke, nor did his 76 member congregation. It seems he never wanted to be misquoted. Everything preached, taught or communicated was through writing on blank music paper.
When Jed Dye was growing up in Noisey, Idaho, he was known as the still-life of the party. He was voted "The Man Most Worthy of Listening To" by the Toastmasters of Sonic Boom, Nevada in 1956.
Jed believed that "religion should be seen and not heard." Each member took a vow of silence to join the church. A vow that lasted 23 hours of each day. The only hour acceptable was the midnight hour. Jed Dye was also known as "Silent Knight".
Some of his beliefs were written on the walls of his church in Cattle Call, Indiana. Here are a few of his doctrines:
Silence is Heaven calling.
We need to be men and women of letters.
Be careful to entertain mimes. For many are angels in disguise.
Live for the moment - and let that moment be a moment of silence.
You have a right to remain silent!
Shut up and practice telepathy daily.
Even hiccups should be done in silence.
The church of silence is the only church in Heaven
Silent movies are sacred.
Silent auctions are too.
Homes should be equipped with silent alarms.
Racquet ball is of the devil.
What you won't find in the small print of TV Guide is that George Lucas was influenced by Jed Dye, when during the heyday of Dye's television program of silence, he had lunch with a young fan, George Lucas. When desert came, the ill-mannered Lucas attempted to scarf down a boysenberry cobbler hand to mouth.
ReplyDeleteJed Dye, using all his mental energies to get George's attention, stopped the boy cold, however, with a puzzled look on his face.
Jed Dye wrote on a napkin with a pencil:
Use the fork, Lucas
I for one, could never figure out what that meant.
Eddie, After I saw this post, I quietly slipped away to do some research on this group, and discovered one of their church bulletins. Here are some of the entries:
ReplyDeleteOpening hymn: The Sounds of Silence, (congregation standing)
Sermon: On the Cessation of the Spiritual Gift of Tongues
Memory verse for this week:
Revelation 8:1: And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
Announcements:
The topic for last Tuesday's board meeting was a discipline case involving a member who had a "Make a Joyful Noise Unto the LORD" bumper sticker on his car. (There was no discussion).
THANK YOU to the ladies' floral society for providing the Mums decorating the podium.
POT LUCK next Sunday. "Hush Puppies" will be the food theme.
Movie night at 5 P.M. on the first Saturday of each month. This month's program is a double feature: The Quiet Man, with John Wayne, and The Silence of the Lambs.
Motto for the week:
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
Jon Jacob Jingleheimer and stranger, many thanks for your research. I just don't know what to say.
ReplyDeleteWell, I really loved J.J.J.C's punch line, even better than the first time I heard it. What ever you are paying Jon, I'm sure he deserves twice that amount.
ReplyDeleteLove the bulletin, SSL,
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for helping me with that raise in salary I've been needing.
With the increase in pay, I'll be sure not to spend it all in none place.
Blessings to you both, my friends.
I will take this opportunity to offer a moment of silence to the genius of my friend, Eddie Eddings...
His Name is My Name 2 Cardwell said...
ReplyDeleteLove the bulletin, SSL,
And thanks for helping me with that raise in salary I've been needing.
With the increase in pay, I'll be sure not to spend it all in none place.
Blessings to you both, my friends.
Don't mention it.