POPULARITY
We talk Tony Alamo, the children of his cult, the horrible act befallen to his wife, Susan Alamo through a conversation with author Debby Schriver.
In the final episode of the season, creators of the SundanceTV docu-series Ministry of Evil: The Twisted Cult of Tony Alamo discuss how the project all started with a leaflet, what it was like to surface archival footage from inside the cult, and how Tony Alamo's death in prison altered their story. Guests include author and expert Debby Schriver, and producers Fenton Bailey, Leslie Mattingly and Eleanor West.
Behind the cover of their religious status in the 1970s, Tony and Susan Alamo were running a criminal enterprise. Amanda Knox, former members and experts detail the fraudulent business empire that paralleled and amplified the Alamos' coercive cult control tactics. Guests include former members Carey Miller and Jessica Cooper, expert and author Debby Schriver, and Ministry of Evil docu-series producers Fenton Bailey, Leslie Mattingly and Eleanor West.
In the beginning, Tony and Susan Alamo were street-corner hucksters, handing out apocalyptic leaflets to hippies in Hollywood, using the horrors of war and civil unrest in the 1970s as a way to tap into the psyche of the times. Amanda Knox takes a look at the Alamos' fire-and-brimstone evangelism that sucked members into their cult and trapped them there through manipulation and exploitation. Guests include former member Carey Miller, expert and author Debby Schriver, and Ministry of Evil docu-series producers Fenton Bailey, Leslie Mattingly and Eleanor West.
Nikolai DiPippa, Clinton School Director of Public Programs, sat down with Debby Schriver. Debby Schriver is a cult expert, an author, and a human rights activist whose projects connect us to common, core values that lift the human spirit. Schriver earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her study of psychological and sociological development began in college and has been an integral part of her career as an educator at UT and as a writer. “Whispering in the Daylight: The Children of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries and Their Journey to Freedom” is based on numerous interviews from group members and, more importantly, on interviews with the children—second and third-generation followers. Schriver chronicles how this group was formed, documenting its many abuses and its gradual adoption of cult-like behaviors and practices. Her extensive research – including interviews with Tony Alamo himself, harrowing visits to Alamo compounds, and witnessing gut-wrenching confrontations between freed children and their unreformed parents – tells the story of a closed group whose origins and history are unlikely ever to be definitively unraveled.
Matt Besser is a comedian, actor, writer, director and founding member of The Upright Citizens Brigade. He also hosts the weekly podcast improv4humans. He tells J. Keith about the two word prompts he’s banned at shows (hint: one’s a type of fruit and the other is a type of animal), and how it came about that he’s featured on his very own Topps baseball card. Lyric Lewis is an actress and Groundlings Theater performer who’s perhaps best known for her role as Stef on NBC’s A.P. Bio. You may also recognize Lyric from Comedy Central’s Drunk History, and she tells us about an upcoming episode she did about “Cleopatra’s punk ass little sister”. In this episode, we’ll learn about how Matt adapted the visual format of improv to an audio-only medium, how Lyric used astrology to sort out potential dating prospects, and why Matt claims his memory is spotty, even though Lyric has a hard time believing him. What’s the difference? What’s the difference between “damping” and a “dampening”? What’s the difference between “club soda” and “seltzer?” Areas of Expertise Matt Besser: Arkansas cults, Arkansas Razorback football post-1978 and the film Repo Man Lyric Lewis: The film Jurassic Park, Greek mythology and astrology. Appearing in this episode: J. Keith van Straaten Helen Hong Matt Besser Lyric Lewis With guest experts: Debby Schriver, an author whose book Whispering in the Daylight: The Children of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries and their Journey to Freedom is about to become a documentary. Jody Duncan, the author of numerous books about the making of movies. Go Fact Yourself was devised by Jim Newman and J. Keith van Straaten, and produced in collaboration with Maximum Fun. The show is recorded at the Angel City Brewery in downtown Los Angeles. Theme Song by Jonathan Green David McKeever is the Live Sound Engineer. Maximum Fun's Senior Producer is Laura Swisher The show is edited by Julian Burrell.
Debby Schriver to the program today. Debby is a writer of nonfiction who lives in Knoxville, TN and her previous books include, To Read My Heart, the Journal of Rachel Van Dyke 1810-1811, In the Footsteps of Champions: The University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers, the First Three Decades, Ice ’n’ Go: Score in Sports and Life,co-written with noted athletic trainer, Jenny Moshak. Today we'll be talking about her most recent book, Whispering in the Daylight: The Children of Tony Alamo’s Christian Ministry and Their Journey to Freedom, which looks at the religious cult started by Tony and Susan Alamo in the late 1960s in Southern California and expanded to Western Arkansas in the mid 1970s and continued to exploit adults and children alike for five decades.