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116 Yes, Mr. DeMille had injected into a Biblical picture a very elusive quality called "popular appeal"—an evanescent term used on every Holly- wood level. Many a producer has said to the front office, and many a front office has said to a producer, "This is a great picture. This the people will love/' and often the people have not loved it. It therefore became a mysterious casualty, a great picture that somehow was rejected by the public. Popular response to The Ten Commandments established DeMille's reputation as a combination soothsayer and miracle man. He had played equal amounts of sex, religion and spec- tacle against a Biblical background, a "western" set to Old Testament. The formula was to be with him always—the fate of a nation or a way of life hanging on the outcome of a con- flict between powerful individuals, one good, the other bad. The story of the Christ would not fit into DeMille's plot formula of sexual sound and historical fury. That was pretty plain to all hands from the very start and it was only a matter of time until one would surrender, the New Testament or DeMille. He told his scenarist, the late Jeanie Macpherson, that he wanted "a story of Christ with popular appeal," indi- cating the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John lacked "boxoffice." This deficiency could not be charged against the authors, it must be charitably acknowledged, inasmuch as they were not writing with Hollywood in mind. It was shaping up as quite a battle, DeMille vs. the Inspired Word. Maybe there could be a compromise, namely, retain the original and at the same time weave in Hollywood's concept of popular appeal, which it was now decided the Gospels lacked. At first DeMille thought of dividing The King of Kings into two parts (as in The Ten Commandments): the first part would be the Christ story, the second would be strictly mod- ern, thus permitting a byplay of sin and razzmatazz. The sin and razzmatazz would deliver a shattering sermon to those who ignored the Savior's admonitions, as set forth in the first part of the story.