Jeff Chamblee: Welcome to Real Truth for Today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. Now, here's Pastor Jeff.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good morning and welcome to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. We have such a great program, on the air today. I wanted to start off by reading from Psalm 92. Beginning in verse 12, it says, the righteous man will flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon, planted in the house of the Lord. They will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age. They shall be full of SAP and very green to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and, and there is no unrighteousness in him. It is such a, privilege for me to welcome to the program, a true icon, in singing and in acting movies. And he's been doing it for many, many years. And he is somebody that epitomizes in my mind those verses that I just read in Psalm 92. He is, full of SAP and very green. And he's still declaring that the Lord is upright. And his name is Pat Boone. Pat, welcome to the program.
Pat Boone: Thank you. Yeah, I'm full of SAP. Some people think I may be a SAP. But good, to talk to you. You look like you're in very good health, too.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, I, don't know about that. My wife might, might tell you about my ailments, but I'm, hanging in there, Pat. Okay. So I was doing some research on your life. You have had, an incredible life. God has blessed you so much. You had success and in music from the time you were Just a young guy, just a teenager, you were hitting the charts and people were buying your songs. And when, when did you know as a young guy, that man, I, I got something here.
Pat Boone: Well, it was, it came on sort of, piecemeal. I mean, I love singing. My, my family and I, we remember the Church of Christ. There was no instrumental music in our worship services. It was all a cappella. So as our family, my brother and I, we would, I'd sing bass along with my dad and my brother Nick tried to sing tenor. Not that we were thinking in the musical terms, but just trying to harmonize and sing our church songs and loving to do it, you know. And then of course we bring some of those songs into our family meetings. We had relatives in Florida, Jacksonville, where I was born in Jacksonville, raised in Nashville. But when we visited with family, you know, just as a family, we would sing and encourage other people to sing with us. And so I grew up and into high school knowing that I could sing. In fact, lead singing in church. when I was in my teens, I became, wanted in various smaller churches in middle Tennessee to come in and lead singing in these smaller churches either for a period of time or just from now and then. But you know, I could take any of the songbooks and just, I'd wave my hands. I didn't know quite what this was, but I was beating time.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Pat Boone: Sing the, wondrous love of, Jesus. Sing his mercy and his grace.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Pat Boone: And I could lead congregations of two or 300 people, just standing there waving my hands and with my voice even without a microphone. So I grew up knowing that I could sing. So in high school, whenever there was any call for somebody to sing, and it was a Christian high school and our principal, a young minister, but also the principal of Lipscomb High School, he wanted to organize, and did organize a chorus. We called them the Choristers. And I was, he picked me as the lead singer for these groups that would travel sometimes to other churches. And it was just a, you know, after school extracurricular thing that we did. But, you know, as I grew up and got older, it was clear that I could lead singing. And I was a good lead singer and developed into a baritone, but I, I could stretch, I could sing bass and I could also sing the tenor part if I needed to. So this was all just a gradual thing growing up in church to the point that when my career began, and that's another whole thing of just miracles, I made my very first Record after I had already won a couple of talent shows across the nation. The, Oh, gosh, the name of the shows. You. Not you. No, that was a radio show I was doing. Anyway, two teenage show. Not teenagers, but, talent shows. I won the shows but got nothing for them, although they were national. And, I thought, well, that's disappointing. And now I'm turning. Getting to be 19. Sherley and I in love with each other. Her mom had died of rheumatic fever. We'd been dating and in love since we were 16. Her dad read Foley, the country hall of Famer, was m. her dad. And, he had three daughters. Sherley was the oldest of three. And he was moving to Springfield to start the Ozark Jubilee. And, it became his program for nine years. And it was the first ever national television, country music show. Well, when he was leaving and taking Sherley with him when we were 19, I said, Honey, I just can't stand this. Going to Springfield, Missouri, might as well have been Shanghai, China. For me. It was. It was too far away. And I knew that the beautiful, desirable young girl she was. She was going to be bombarded with guys and somebody was going to take her from me. So I sort of impetuously said, let's get married. We're 19. I know I can make a living doing something. And I'm going to be a teacher, preacher like, my role models in the Christian high school. And so she agreed. And we asked her dad who. Who, tearfully. Because he had married her mom when. When Red Foley, that is, had married her mom when, When she had been 17 or 18. I'm sorry. She'd been 18 or 19 when they married, in a singing group in Chicago, her sisters. So Red had married Sherley's mama when she was, I think, 18. And now Sherley was now 19 and asking for his position for us to her permission to get married.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Hard for him to say no.
Pat Boone: Yeah. But tearfully, knowing we loved each other, he said, I'll buy your rings. Oh, wow. So. And he said, now, when are you planning? And we said, tomorrow.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh.
Pat Boone: Because this was a. Ah, Friday. He was leaving Monday with the girls, including Sherley. Yeah. So Saturday we went to a store in that jewelry, store in downtown Nashville and bought a simple little ring. I'm wearing it right now. They're just two little simple rings.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh, wow.
Pat Boone: And, And Sherley's was just like this. And we bought the rings. And Matt Craig, the principal, also, of course, a minister, performed a wedding with his wife, Dottie. As the maid of honor on a Saturday before Red Foley went to Chicago with Sherley's sisters. And of course this was, it was sort of impetuous but we really loved each other and Red knew that my own parents loved Sherley already. And so we weren't going to just play house or play marriage and stay with either my parents or her dad was moving. And so we decided to go to Texas where we had some family friends and I could enroll at North Texas, which was a big music school.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Pat Boone: And I thought I'll learn some music. I don't know how to read music or even play an instrument except the Ukulele Bailey, but I can sing and I'd like. And I'll be a singing minister, teaching English and Bible. And Sherley and I went off, we took our possessions in a U haul trailer to Denton, Texas.
Pat Boone: And settled into some the family friends apartment that they provided. And I, and then I get a call out of the blue from Randy Wood of Dot Records who had started a label out of Nashville. And, and it was growing to be a big important label and he'd seen me on these television shows and and, and I but said why aren't you recording? And I said nobody's offered me anything. He said, you want to make a record? And I said sure. And I, he flew me, gave me the ticket to go to Chicago, recorded a rhythm and blues song called Two Hearts. Two kisses make one love One m heart's not enough baby Two hearts will make you feel crazy One kiss will make you feel so nice Two kisses take you to paradise Two hearts, two kisses make one love I love it. Well that as simple as that is, it was a million seller hit. My first record.
Jeff Chamblee: Wow.
Pat Boone: It had been recorded by a group, an R B group called the Charms on the Du Tone label. But my record was on the up and coming Dot label and Brandywood knew how to promote and And my record became a million seller. And that was in March of 55, still in college there at North Texas. And But, but when May comes I have to do another record because, because you know, you have to follow it up. So my next record was Fats Dominoes. Ain't that a shame. You made me cry when you said goodbye Ain't that a shame. And and that was a million seller number one record. I mean these things were just falling on me.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, now Pat, I was looking that up. So Fats Domino had done that song originally, right?
Pat Boone: Yeah, he wrote it. Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: And then you did it and yours, yours was a lot, yours was a lot more popular than his.
Pat Boone: Yeah, because his was in the rhythm and blues market. It was, it was called race music. The, the records, the rhythm and blues records which we came soon to call rock and roll, weren't being played on pop music stations at all. There was, there was, they were two separate genres of music. But, but his version was, was number one rhythm and blues. And it sold about 150,000 records, which was big. When I recorded it, it sold a million and a half and went to number one pop and what we were calling rock and roll. I mean all of this was just happening. I didn't plan just happened to me. And so then.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so you, when, when you started selling all these records, who, who are. Elvis is not on the scene yet.
Pat Boone: Just about at that moment. In fact, the first record was 19, 55. That was two hearts, two kisses in February. Then in May I had to record Ain't that A Shame. And October of that same year I had my third record going to becoming a million seller. In fact, for the next four and a half years, I was never off the pop record charts. Every week had one week, one song going up and another going down on the charts. Nobody else has stayed on the pop charts that long in the stretch. So in October of that year I was doing a sock hop in Cleveland. The nation's number one dj, Bill Randall, asked me to come in from NewSong York where Sherley and I had moved because I was now transferring from North Texas to Columbia University where I was still going to plan on being a teacher preacher, even though I was having hit records which I, I didn't think was going to continue. Well, you couldn't tell.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Your income has to be just going up astronomically.
Pat Boone: Well, not right away, no, because you know, it takes a while to get paid for records.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay.
Pat Boone: And but, but they were million sellers. So soon. Yeah, within a year, year and a half, two years, I was making more money than I thought I ever would. I met Elvis when I went to a sock hop in Cleveland to sing my number three. My three records that were million sellers at that moment. And this young kid named Elvis Pressley had been signed by RCA Victor, but he only had one record and it was a country music song called Blue Moon of Kentucky, Keep on Shining. It was a bluegrass song. And Bill Randall, the head of the DJ who was hosting the sock hop, wanted to see why RCA Victor was excited about this new guy that they had just signed. And so he opened the show he was my opening act the night, that night when we met. Elvis went on before me and sang both sides of his hit and not hit it became a hit because it was Elvis. even though it was country, bluegrass, country, the way he sang it, he, it when it came out, I think, come to think of, was not an instant hit, but they almost recorded immediately Hound Dog. And of course Hound Dog became a very big hit.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: We're talking to Pat Boone. You're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here on American Family Radio. We'll be right back.
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Jeff Chamblee: This is Real Truth for today. Podcasts of the program are available on the podcast [email protected] now back to Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here, talking to music and, silver screen icon Pat Boone. Pat, you won't remember this, but I met you and Sherley at, Mark Burnett's house when we had the Son of God that was being screened and my wife Debbie and I got invited to go to that.
Pat Boone: Malibu, right?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, we were at, at their house in Malibu. And I, got to meet you. That was the first time I ever got to meet you. And then I met you again, when you did the, the Mulligan movie with Rick Eldridge. And, you were, I think you were there at the NRB that year, the National Religious Broadcasters Convention.
Pat Boone: I got an award that night. Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes, you did.
Pat Boone: You did an acting award. Yeah, I was very pleased with that.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: you know what I took away from meeting you those two times is here's a guy that is so successful and yet so humble and such a sweet, spirited guy and not full of his own Achievements. And I just thought that really spoke volumes to me. And so I just wanted you to know that.
Pat Boone: Well, I appreciate that. I say I'm humble because I got a lot to be humble about. I didn't make any of the major decisions that you know, created my career. Other people did. In fact, it was God. I knew that. I knew from the beginning that God was giving me a platform. Not a school room where I was going to be one, one class teacher, not a pulpit, not where I'd be preaching to some kind of small or large congregation, but a platform where I was reaching teenagers who were unbelievably to me, becoming such avid fans by the millions. And I wore white buck shoes, the first guy to do it on television. And they became a necessity for the first couple of years. If I wasn't wearing white buck shoes, you know, the teenagers weren't sure it was me. But it all happened so much so fast. But then I saw the, the opportunities so that while I was in college, I go ahead and finish my college at, at Columbia University, graduated with honors magna cum laude while I had all these hit records. But I was asked to write a book for teenagers of advice. So it was a way to utilize my platform, in, in spiritual ways. And I wrote a book that became a million seller right away. The only two records that, that were selling as much as my song. My, my, my book Twix 12 and 20 was oh gosh, the Minister Power of Positive Thinking.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh yeah, Norman Vincent was that his
Pat Boone: book and art Link Letters Kids say the Darn to sings. Those two books were million sellers. But my book Twix 12 and 20 was outselling them all in many languages because of my records. M. And so that sort of set the stage Jeff for my whole life and career God's been giving me opportunities all the way. In fact, introducing me to people who could help me in my career that I hadn't known before. and then the songs that kept coming up, Randy Wood suggesting most of them in the beginning and then other songs coming to me, eventually writing some of my own songs including the words to the the Jewish national anthem, the second national anthem of Israel, Exodus. I wrote the words for that instrumental music for that song, that record. From that to movie, you know, this Land is Mine. I wrote those words. God gave me the words, the lyrics to the second Jewish national anthem. So I'm just stressing that because I'm not taking credit for much of anything except Being able to sing, wanting to sing well, and then knowing that God was giving me the opportunity for me to use. And I tried to do that the rest of my life.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so Pat, when you're, you're very successful as a singer, but then it's crossing over now into movies. The first movie you did was what, Bernadine?
Pat Boone: It was, ah, it was, had been a Broadway show, it was not a musical. But when we made the movie of it, it was about teenagers and, and the boys gang after school and they were in love with this actress and they, and they, you know, it was just, I don't know, it was a teenage film. And But Johnny Mercer, a great songwriter, wrote the title song, oh, Bernadine. Oh, oh, oh, Bernadine. And that was a hit. I mean my, anything I had recorded a page out of the songbook maybe would have, would have been a hit. But Bernadine became a million seller. And then the next came April Love with Sherley Jones and again Academy Award writers writing the songs for me to sing. I didn't make them up, you know, I just, they created them for me and I sang them. And then that went on and on into other movies, more songs, Journey to the center of the earth, big hit movies.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so Pat, how did you keep yourself from falling into the to the pitfalls of stardom, drugs, alcohol, immorality, all those things? How did that affect your life?
Pat Boone: Wonderful, wonderful. Good question. And, and the answer is multi, sort of multi layered. One is the fact I got married at 19. I took on that responsibility, to marry and be a good husband to Sherley Foley. It didn't take us long until we were expecting our first child. And when I graduated from college at 23, I was on the Cove of TV. God in my cap and gown. Open up in the TV Guide because I'm doing a TV show now that had been given to me the Pat Boone Chevy show, which was high in the ratings and I was on the Cove of TV Guide. You open it up and there's me and my cap and gown and my wife Sherley, and four little girls.
Pat Boone: We had four babies in slightly less than four years and again. So now I have this responsibility. Yeah, I've got all this great fame and all the kids wanted to get to me and buying my records and books, but I've got four little girls and I'm their daddy. And we moved to California, to Beverly Hills, where I am right now, to the house I'm sitting in right now. I've been in this house. 70. No, 66 years in this house. And my wife and four daughters and church. Being in church and then being a song leader and still in church out here, though I was having hit records like Ain't that a Shame and, all the movie songs. I was still leading. Singing in church Sunday mornings, Sunday nights at the Englewood Church of Christ in Inglewood, California, and was a deacon in the church. And so all of this time, while my career is going on, I am making money. I am. I had two royal command performances with the Queen, one while I was still in college, and then another one four years later singing for the Queen of England and all these things. But it was balanced against my responsibilities. I was getting opportunities, sure, but my responsibilities were to my wife, my four daughters and my God.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: what did your mom and dad and your brothers think of your stardom?
Pat Boone: As amazed about it as I was. I mean, mom and daddy, they. They were. They were, really worried about it. When I went to these talent shows, they said, we don't want you to be a pop singer or, you know, in the. In the entertainment. You know, that's not a Christian way to live your life. It'll take you away. Well, when it happened to me, of course, with a wife and daughters and responsibility and of course my parents concern. Echoing. You know, I, It was always a matter for me to keep living my life the way I knew the Lord wanted me to live it. I enjoyed being an entertainer. I enjoyed making the records. I enjoyed making the movies. But I was also at prayer meeting on Wednesday nights, and we had Bible reading here at home. So my family soon relaxed. I mean, my brother and two sisters, my parents soon relaxed. They could see that I was doing what I told Sherley we were going to do when I moved here. We're not going to live like people in Hollywood. We're going to live according to Tennessee standards. She said, what do you mean? Well, we're going to live like we're going to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, we have Bible study with our kids. And we're going to live that life that I would have lived had we lived in, Tennessee. And I was a teacher, preacher. We're going to live that life here in Beverly Hills, California. And we did. We've had baptisms. I'm looking out here at the Baptist, the pool, which has been a baptism, baptismal. We had meetings of all types for the years. We've had over 300 baptisms in my swimming pool. And we've had Bible study Sessions here at home, sometimes with entertainers who didn't go to church, but they would come to our house, to hear a Bible teacher talk about things that they needed to know. But, they weren't going to go to churches. Some of them wound up going to churches, though, afterwards. But so I mixed. I had to. To mix my, Christian faith with the opportunities and the blessings of a. Of being a big entertainer. And my parents and brother. He also became a singer. Tried it for a while, but he didn't want to capitalize on my name because he could sing well too. But, Randy Wood, Adot Records, let him change my brother's name to Nick Todd, which was dot spelled backwards. Yeah. And, But the trouble was, whenever he had a couple of hit records and other. Overseas, in other countries, not so much in America, but he was always introduced as Pat Boone's brother, Nick Todd. So he kind of defeated the purpose.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay.
Pat Boone: Became a teacher.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: How. Let me ask you this, Pat. making the movies like you did April Love with Sherley Jones, you're with these pretty girls. how does your wife handle you having to have kissing scenes and things like that? Was that. Was that difficult for her?
Pat Boone: No. See, now this again is the. Is the result of God's programming, all of this. She was the daughter of Red Foley. He made a couple movies. He, he. He didn't do any love scenes that I'm aware of. But she was. Knew that the movie business would require me. That the first kiss that I was asked to do was in the movie April Love, which was not in the script of the movie. So we hadn't. Hadn't talked about that yet, about me doing kissing scenes until Henry Levin, the director of the film, at this end of a song in. In, April Love says, now lean in and kiss Sherley Jones on the Ferris wheel. as we come to the end of the song and you're feeling very romantic toward each other, I said, henry, that was not in the script. He said, no, but you got to kiss the leading lady. And now this sounds so terribly naive, which it was. But I said, look, this was not in the script. I haven't talked to my wife Sherley about this, about me kissing other, you know, about the actress and can we do it later in the film? And he said, no, it's. We should do it right here. This is the perfect place. Well, okay. So I came home. I told Sherley he wanted. The director wanted me to kiss Sherley Jones. She said, look, I'm ahead of you. I know if you make You've got a seven year movie deal now. There's going to be some kissing scenes. You got to promise me one thing. I said, what? You won't enjoy it. I said, okay, I promise. I went to, I went back to the studio eventually to tell the director I could, okay, I could kiss Sherley Jones. But the story had hit the trade papers. Billboard magazine and daily, Variety and all these movie magazines. Singer Refuses to Kiss Leading Lady. They thought for religious reasons. It wasn't. I just wanted to stay married. I promise Sherley, I wouldn't enjoy the kissing scenes. And it was hard to I must say when she saw me kissing Anne Margaret, which had to be a real movie kiss, and Barbara Eden and Debbie Reynolds and other actresses. but she believed me when I told her that, look, it's not all that it seems to be, not the way I do it anyway. I have to worry about the shadow, the shadow of my nose over my actress, face. And it has to be done certainly certain way. And, and it's work. It is something you have to do. I mean we didn't. I never did any surrender to just outright lasciviousness on camera. I mean my kisses, they didn't set the screen on fire I guess, but they, they did the job.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, did. Pat, when you did that first movie, were you nervous about your acting? You had never done that before?
Pat Boone: I was a little, little Ilities because I, you know, I, I'd been in some school plays but that didn't, that was not much preparation for movies. I did a screen test and just a made up scene. And I just was really trying to be really a young Bing Crosby, try to be myself as if I were young Bing Crosby, relaxed and natural. And they liked the way I did it. And so when I began to do the movies, I was playing somebody else, but I tried to just do it the way I would do it if it was Pat Boone doing it. And it came out very naturally. and so it fit the roles that I was given to the point where, when I was given other roles that were not me, I was confident enough about my, they were really acting lessons. My first movies were really acting lessons.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: When you would go with your with your wife Sherley and your four girls, you guys go out to eat or something like that. Are you being bombarded? You're a celebrity at this point. Can you go anywhere without being flocked for a while?
Pat Boone: No, it was, it really was a hazard. I'd call it that. It was an Inconvenience, of course, something I could take in stride because I knew that the people were glad to see me. And it's because of the career. And it was. I needed to always be polite and sign what they wanted, menus or whatever it might be, because we were only going to meet in person that one time and I didn't want it to be negative. So I created, to give to people that, that would already sign with a gospel, little gospel message about being friends and that Jesus wants to be our friend and why don't you let him make your friend? And I would sign it your friend, Pat Boone. And it was already prepared and I could just hand them out on planes.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, that's great. Well, we're talking to, music and, silver screen icon Pat Boone, who has had a great testimony for all these years. You're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. We'll be right back after the break. Don't go away.
Jeff Chamblee: If you'd like to contact Pastor Jeff, email pastor jeffromhisheart.org now back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here, talking to Pat Boone. We're talking about his life and how, God has used him over all these years to make such an impact and such a great testimony. And Pat, I appreciate the fact that you've been faithful for all these years and, you know, obviously, as, Jon MacArthur said, just about a year before he died, he realized he was, he was getting toward the end of the finish line.
Pat Boone: I love that man.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, great, great man of God. And so at 92 years old, you're still going strong. And, that's why I read that verse in Psalm 92. To be full of SAP and very green, even in old age, to declare that the Lord is upright, he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. So, I was curious with you because you had such a, such a rocket to, to stardom. I mean, just a rocket ship. It just took off. But that, that can't sustain itself. So.
Pat Boone: Right.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: So when that tapered off as. Because you're still a young guy, you're still, what, late 20s, early 30s when things. How did you handle that?
Pat Boone: Mid, mid-30s when the Beatles happened?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay.
Pat Boone: And, and the Beatles, they, they took, at one point, five records off the top ten chart were Beatles. And so they were eating into Thom Jones and Frank Sinatra's and Vic Damones and everybody's record, royalties because the Beatles were taking, taking over. And but fortunately I had 41 chart records in the 50s. Elvis had 40. but I had a six month head start on him. As I say, he was my opening act when we first met. And we matched each other as two Tennessee boys record for record for the, for the 50s into the 60s. And then I matched the Beatles in the 60s for a while with still some hit songs. But gradually of course, I became, I went, I was doing a lot of television. Colonel Thom Parker said he would never let Elvis do TV because you're giving it all away free. You know, you got to do whatever you do, make them pay for it. Well, I did a lot of television. I did movies and gradually, you know, my daughters, we became a family act which is not the most commercial thing in show business. but, but it was the way I kept my, my family together. We had, we had hit records or rather we did, had hit albums together. And the girls sang gospel music on their own. And I did well with gospel music as well. In fact some of the these Google type things that are written about me say that I switched over to gospel music. Well I did take, take up gospel music very seriously then because pop music was going away from me. I could not sing the songs that so many of them were singing. And even though I had some hit records even into afterwards, after the 50s, 60s, 70s, occasionally a hit record would pop in the charts. But you know, you don't maintain your early star heat forever unless you're Elvis. And he did. But he paid terrible prices for his fame too.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so he was a friend of yours. Do you think Elvis was a true, did he understand the gospel? Was he truly a follower of Christ?
Pat Boone: I believe he was. Now he was being drawn away by the success. I made a statement. I knew him very well. We were two Tennessee boys. And at one point when his career was white hot, I was with him at the hotel where he was appearing in Las Vegas. And we went back in a closet, the big walk in closet. He said to talk privately. I wish I could go to church like you do.
Pat Boone: But I can't. I said why not? I go to church. He said no, but if I go I'm going to get all these kids all excited. They're going to take away from the. I said look, don't you think it happens to me at that point still in my career if I go to a church that's not my home? Church. Yeah. I attract autograph seekers. But I say, wait, kids, wait, wait. Let's let me worship like you. You're here to worship. Let me worship. I'll sign your bulletin afterwards. And of course I told Elvis, they'll take them to school. School and show their. Elvis was at your church, Pat. Bu was at your church. Hey, can we come? Let it be an evangelical outreach. And he said, he laughed. He said, I can't do it. I know that I'll be a distraction. I just can't. But do you know Oral Roberts? And I said, I do. I'd like to talk to him sometime. I said, let me give you a clue. Your name is Elvis Pressley. You get on the phone to, to Tulsa, Oklahoma and call Oral Roberts University. And Whoever answers, say, Mrs. Elvis Pressley. I'd like to talk to President Roberts. In 15 seconds he'll be on the phone. And he said, no, I can't do it. He was socially uncomfortable, he always was to the end with people he didn't know well. He was not comfortable. And he sure was not going to be comfortable calling Oral Roberts. So I did. Oral Roberts flew out, met with him in the afternoon, spent a couple hours, told me later. He said, the boy is starved spiritually.
Pat Boone: He's missing what he experienced when he was a boy in church and he feels like he can't have that now. His teammate, his other singers on his musicians, were leading into NewSong Age things, other kinds of religious, but not Christian things things. And he was being drawn into that. In fact, Charlie Hodge, one of his guitarists for most of his career, told me at the end of Elvis's life he was considering becoming a, a minister, singer. He would continue to do his shows but offer invitations at the end of his shows. But he was at that moment, not thoroughly grounded enough in the Scripture. Yeah. To be an effective minister. So he would invite people to come to the beginning, to the stage, not to get his sweaty scarf, but to make a commitment to God, however he or she conceived of God and whatever, not just necessarily Christian. And that was going to be a big mistake. I really think personally, and I haven't said this hardly ever, I think God took him early because what he was about to do with his career was not Christian, it was Christian motivated.
Pat Boone: Because he wanted to serve the Lord. And what he was doing over and over again and having drugs, doing it was not satisfying him at all. And he was wanting to get back to what he knew as a boy. as I Had in church. And and it was not going to happen. He was too corrupted by what, what was going on now. And if he had, he would have created an Elvis religion.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Pat Boone: Which you could, you could worship God however you wanted to see him or her. and that was, that's not the gospel. Now I have a feeling that God took him because Jesus, I mean Elvis really wanted that relationship with Jesus that he had lost in the furor of his career and all the false things that he was being led into and the drugs and so I think the Lord took him.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Pat Boone: and I, and I believe I'm going to see him in heaven. He had recorded some gospel songs and it. And at at his home, What do they call it? Graceland.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.
Pat Boone: He had an album of mine, Pat Boone reads the, reads the Bible and it was among his other records. I had recorded a whole album reading the Old Testament on one side, the NewSong Testament on the other. And Elvis had my album of reading the Bible. And so that's why he asked me, I wish I could go to church like you do. But he didn't think he could. Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay. Pat, I would dare say you can correct me if I'm wrong, but you probably know more well known famous celebrity people, given your longevity of, of life maybe than anybody else or as m. As. As much as anybody else who really stands out to you, People that you've met. Met. That you'd say that person really impacted my life. That people would know.
Pat Boone: Well, you mean performers or just people?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, politicians, performers, ministers. Yes.
Pat Boone: Ronald Reagan. I knew him very well. I knew him. He and Nancy and our kids went to school together. And I was the first one among entertainers to support him when he announced he was going to run for governor of California. I knew him as a Christian, but certainly Franklin Graham, Billy Graham, Johnny Cash, these are people that have influenced my life.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Ah.
Pat Boone: And I got to know them well. I did an album, Well a song really a group singing thing of thank you Billy Graham. And I wish people could know. See these things after they first come out, then they're sort of forgotten. But I did a tremendous multi artist tribute to Billy Graham called thank you Billy Graham. And it was a tribute to this man and even Larry King was on it. And he respected people of faith and often said several times I wish I could have. Like he said to Billy Graham, wish I could have a faith like yours. But with this Jewish kid from Brooklyn, it Just doesn't compute. M. And I tried to. And I tried to share it with Larry King himself, but, I never got through. Through the haze that he was already subject to. But Larry King and even. Gosh, what does I say? Johnny Cash, all these others.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay?
Pat Boone: So respect.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: What people probably don't know about you, Pat, is you live next door to Ozzy Osbourne.
Pat Boone: Yeah. And, I shared with him, too.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Pat Boone: He, as far as I know, did not become a Christian, but he did believe in God. And. And he also believed. Well, he made a career out of devilish things.
: This.
: He.
Pat Boone: And when I. He moved in next door. And, But we got along fine. And I just, you know, in what ways I could. I would, just be a friend and wanting to share spiritual things. We didn't have that. We didn't have any deep discussion. Didn't have the opportunity for that. But I liked him, and I like Sharon. I like the kids. And we got along great.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes. Okay, so I talked to you. This was off air when we talked just a few days ago, but you. You kind of had an open letter conversation to President Trump.
Pat Boone: Oh, yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: You know. You know Donald Trump, correct?
Pat Boone: I do.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay. I loved what you did. It wasn't. It wasn't rude. It was just. It was designed to be helpful. And what you said was really true. He's his own worst enemy so much of the time because he. He just keeps going on and on.
Pat Boone: Yeah, Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: I think you told him just, it would be good to be quiet.
Pat Boone: I wanted to be quiet and quit bragging on himself, which he started when he was starting the running for office. When I first met him, I got to know him. I was at, Mar a Lago on a function raise fundraising thing. We got to know each other pretty well. When he started running for president, he knew I was supporting his candidacy, but he called me. I was on the tennis court at Bel Air, and, he said, I want to thank you. I heard you were talking about me on the television. I said, yeah. Did you hear the whole interview? No, they just told me about it. You said something nice. Want to thank you. I said, look, what I was saying was, I wish you would quit calling people names. It makes you sound like a schoolboy on the schoolyard. And if you want to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate, you need to start sounding like a president. Don't call people names. That's not presidential. Well, he laughed. I said, I'll bet your wife told you that. And he just shrugged it off. He kept on doing it. Well, we were together on, conversations after that. Not much because he was obviously leading his crazy life. But I had a time or two when I got to try to ask him to tone down his bragging about all this and that and be more human. Human. You don't have to be super superhuman, you know. And, so I, I finally did that message you heard me do. Yes. About that. I wanted him to quit calling people names and, and to be kind to the women that were interviewing him and to, And to just. In a while, just be quiet.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.
Pat Boone: And it got several million responses, favorable responses. I've just done another one which you may not have heard or seen.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: I haven't seen it yet.
Pat Boone: Because again, he was not only now he's still doing what he'd been doing, but in this latest round of rallies that he's doing, he's letting himself slip into F words and four letter word languages in front of families and their kids while he's, talking about what he's going to do when he's reelected or whatever.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.
Pat Boone: And I'm begging him, please, because I like him and I know that in his heart and in his mind he wants to be the champion of champions, the greatest president ever, and he wants to make America great again. But he's doing a lot of wrong things along the way, and he needs people around him that can calm him down. I don't know if it's going to happen.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right. Yeah, it may not. Well, Pat, we're out of time, but, man, this has been such a treat and such a privilege. Thank you so much for your time. And thank you for, just the witness you've been for all these years for the Lord. And, I hope God gives you, many more years of good health and a strong witness, a strong voice. But, it's been a privilege of mine. So God bless you and my brother and thank you for coming.
Pat Boone: Thank you, brother.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, go out today, shine for Christ, share what great things the Lord has done for you, and God will use you as his witness. God bless you.
Jeff Chamblee: Welcome to Real Truth for Today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. Now, here's Pastor Jeff.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good morning and welcome to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. We have such a great program, on the air today. I wanted to start off by reading from Psalm 92. Beginning in verse 12, it says, the righteous man will flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon, planted in the house of the Lord. They will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age. They shall be full of SAP and very green to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and, and there is no unrighteousness in him. It is such a, privilege for me to welcome to the program, a true icon, in singing and in acting movies. And he's been doing it for many, many years. And he is somebody that epitomizes in my mind those verses that I just read in Psalm 92. He is, full of SAP and very green. And he's still declaring that the Lord is upright. And his name is Pat Boone. Pat, welcome to the program.
Pat Boone: Thank you. Yeah, I'm full of SAP. Some people think I may be a SAP. But good, to talk to you. You look like you're in very good health, too.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, I, don't know about that. My wife might, might tell you about my ailments, but I'm, hanging in there, Pat. Okay. So I was doing some research on your life. You have had, an incredible life. God has blessed you so much. You had success and in music from the time you were Just a young guy, just a teenager, you were hitting the charts and people were buying your songs. And when, when did you know as a young guy, that man, I, I got something here.
Pat Boone: Well, it was, it came on sort of, piecemeal. I mean, I love singing. My, my family and I, we remember the Church of Christ. There was no instrumental music in our worship services. It was all a cappella. So as our family, my brother and I, we would, I'd sing bass along with my dad and my brother Nick tried to sing tenor. Not that we were thinking in the musical terms, but just trying to harmonize and sing our church songs and loving to do it, you know. And then of course we bring some of those songs into our family meetings. We had relatives in Florida, Jacksonville, where I was born in Jacksonville, raised in Nashville. But when we visited with family, you know, just as a family, we would sing and encourage other people to sing with us. And so I grew up and into high school knowing that I could sing. In fact, lead singing in church. when I was in my teens, I became, wanted in various smaller churches in middle Tennessee to come in and lead singing in these smaller churches either for a period of time or just from now and then. But you know, I could take any of the songbooks and just, I'd wave my hands. I didn't know quite what this was, but I was beating time.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Pat Boone: Sing the, wondrous love of, Jesus. Sing his mercy and his grace.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Pat Boone: And I could lead congregations of two or 300 people, just standing there waving my hands and with my voice even without a microphone. So I grew up knowing that I could sing. So in high school, whenever there was any call for somebody to sing, and it was a Christian high school and our principal, a young minister, but also the principal of Lipscomb High School, he wanted to organize, and did organize a chorus. We called them the Choristers. And I was, he picked me as the lead singer for these groups that would travel sometimes to other churches. And it was just a, you know, after school extracurricular thing that we did. But, you know, as I grew up and got older, it was clear that I could lead singing. And I was a good lead singer and developed into a baritone, but I, I could stretch, I could sing bass and I could also sing the tenor part if I needed to. So this was all just a gradual thing growing up in church to the point that when my career began, and that's another whole thing of just miracles, I made my very first Record after I had already won a couple of talent shows across the nation. The, Oh, gosh, the name of the shows. You. Not you. No, that was a radio show I was doing. Anyway, two teenage show. Not teenagers, but, talent shows. I won the shows but got nothing for them, although they were national. And, I thought, well, that's disappointing. And now I'm turning. Getting to be 19. Sherley and I in love with each other. Her mom had died of rheumatic fever. We'd been dating and in love since we were 16. Her dad read Foley, the country hall of Famer, was m. her dad. And, he had three daughters. Sherley was the oldest of three. And he was moving to Springfield to start the Ozark Jubilee. And, it became his program for nine years. And it was the first ever national television, country music show. Well, when he was leaving and taking Sherley with him when we were 19, I said, Honey, I just can't stand this. Going to Springfield, Missouri, might as well have been Shanghai, China. For me. It was. It was too far away. And I knew that the beautiful, desirable young girl she was. She was going to be bombarded with guys and somebody was going to take her from me. So I sort of impetuously said, let's get married. We're 19. I know I can make a living doing something. And I'm going to be a teacher, preacher like, my role models in the Christian high school. And so she agreed. And we asked her dad who. Who, tearfully. Because he had married her mom when. When Red Foley, that is, had married her mom when, When she had been 17 or 18. I'm sorry. She'd been 18 or 19 when they married, in a singing group in Chicago, her sisters. So Red had married Sherley's mama when she was, I think, 18. And now Sherley was now 19 and asking for his position for us to her permission to get married.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Hard for him to say no.
Pat Boone: Yeah. But tearfully, knowing we loved each other, he said, I'll buy your rings. Oh, wow. So. And he said, now, when are you planning? And we said, tomorrow.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh.
Pat Boone: Because this was a. Ah, Friday. He was leaving Monday with the girls, including Sherley. Yeah. So Saturday we went to a store in that jewelry, store in downtown Nashville and bought a simple little ring. I'm wearing it right now. They're just two little simple rings.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh, wow.
Pat Boone: And, And Sherley's was just like this. And we bought the rings. And Matt Craig, the principal, also, of course, a minister, performed a wedding with his wife, Dottie. As the maid of honor on a Saturday before Red Foley went to Chicago with Sherley's sisters. And of course this was, it was sort of impetuous but we really loved each other and Red knew that my own parents loved Sherley already. And so we weren't going to just play house or play marriage and stay with either my parents or her dad was moving. And so we decided to go to Texas where we had some family friends and I could enroll at North Texas, which was a big music school.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Pat Boone: And I thought I'll learn some music. I don't know how to read music or even play an instrument except the Ukulele Bailey, but I can sing and I'd like. And I'll be a singing minister, teaching English and Bible. And Sherley and I went off, we took our possessions in a U haul trailer to Denton, Texas.
Pat Boone: And settled into some the family friends apartment that they provided. And I, and then I get a call out of the blue from Randy Wood of Dot Records who had started a label out of Nashville. And, and it was growing to be a big important label and he'd seen me on these television shows and and, and I but said why aren't you recording? And I said nobody's offered me anything. He said, you want to make a record? And I said sure. And I, he flew me, gave me the ticket to go to Chicago, recorded a rhythm and blues song called Two Hearts. Two kisses make one love One m heart's not enough baby Two hearts will make you feel crazy One kiss will make you feel so nice Two kisses take you to paradise Two hearts, two kisses make one love I love it. Well that as simple as that is, it was a million seller hit. My first record.
Jeff Chamblee: Wow.
Pat Boone: It had been recorded by a group, an R B group called the Charms on the Du Tone label. But my record was on the up and coming Dot label and Brandywood knew how to promote and And my record became a million seller. And that was in March of 55, still in college there at North Texas. And But, but when May comes I have to do another record because, because you know, you have to follow it up. So my next record was Fats Dominoes. Ain't that a shame. You made me cry when you said goodbye Ain't that a shame. And and that was a million seller number one record. I mean these things were just falling on me.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, now Pat, I was looking that up. So Fats Domino had done that song originally, right?
Pat Boone: Yeah, he wrote it. Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: And then you did it and yours, yours was a lot, yours was a lot more popular than his.
Pat Boone: Yeah, because his was in the rhythm and blues market. It was, it was called race music. The, the records, the rhythm and blues records which we came soon to call rock and roll, weren't being played on pop music stations at all. There was, there was, they were two separate genres of music. But, but his version was, was number one rhythm and blues. And it sold about 150,000 records, which was big. When I recorded it, it sold a million and a half and went to number one pop and what we were calling rock and roll. I mean all of this was just happening. I didn't plan just happened to me. And so then.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so you, when, when you started selling all these records, who, who are. Elvis is not on the scene yet.
Pat Boone: Just about at that moment. In fact, the first record was 19, 55. That was two hearts, two kisses in February. Then in May I had to record Ain't that A Shame. And October of that same year I had my third record going to becoming a million seller. In fact, for the next four and a half years, I was never off the pop record charts. Every week had one week, one song going up and another going down on the charts. Nobody else has stayed on the pop charts that long in the stretch. So in October of that year I was doing a sock hop in Cleveland. The nation's number one dj, Bill Randall, asked me to come in from NewSong York where Sherley and I had moved because I was now transferring from North Texas to Columbia University where I was still going to plan on being a teacher preacher, even though I was having hit records which I, I didn't think was going to continue. Well, you couldn't tell.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Your income has to be just going up astronomically.
Pat Boone: Well, not right away, no, because you know, it takes a while to get paid for records.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay.
Pat Boone: And but, but they were million sellers. So soon. Yeah, within a year, year and a half, two years, I was making more money than I thought I ever would. I met Elvis when I went to a sock hop in Cleveland to sing my number three. My three records that were million sellers at that moment. And this young kid named Elvis Pressley had been signed by RCA Victor, but he only had one record and it was a country music song called Blue Moon of Kentucky, Keep on Shining. It was a bluegrass song. And Bill Randall, the head of the DJ who was hosting the sock hop, wanted to see why RCA Victor was excited about this new guy that they had just signed. And so he opened the show he was my opening act the night, that night when we met. Elvis went on before me and sang both sides of his hit and not hit it became a hit because it was Elvis. even though it was country, bluegrass, country, the way he sang it, he, it when it came out, I think, come to think of, was not an instant hit, but they almost recorded immediately Hound Dog. And of course Hound Dog became a very big hit.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: We're talking to Pat Boone. You're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here on American Family Radio. We'll be right back.
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Jeff Chamblee: This is Real Truth for today. Podcasts of the program are available on the podcast [email protected] now back to Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here, talking to music and, silver screen icon Pat Boone. Pat, you won't remember this, but I met you and Sherley at, Mark Burnett's house when we had the Son of God that was being screened and my wife Debbie and I got invited to go to that.
Pat Boone: Malibu, right?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, we were at, at their house in Malibu. And I, got to meet you. That was the first time I ever got to meet you. And then I met you again, when you did the, the Mulligan movie with Rick Eldridge. And, you were, I think you were there at the NRB that year, the National Religious Broadcasters Convention.
Pat Boone: I got an award that night. Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes, you did.
Pat Boone: You did an acting award. Yeah, I was very pleased with that.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: you know what I took away from meeting you those two times is here's a guy that is so successful and yet so humble and such a sweet, spirited guy and not full of his own Achievements. And I just thought that really spoke volumes to me. And so I just wanted you to know that.
Pat Boone: Well, I appreciate that. I say I'm humble because I got a lot to be humble about. I didn't make any of the major decisions that you know, created my career. Other people did. In fact, it was God. I knew that. I knew from the beginning that God was giving me a platform. Not a school room where I was going to be one, one class teacher, not a pulpit, not where I'd be preaching to some kind of small or large congregation, but a platform where I was reaching teenagers who were unbelievably to me, becoming such avid fans by the millions. And I wore white buck shoes, the first guy to do it on television. And they became a necessity for the first couple of years. If I wasn't wearing white buck shoes, you know, the teenagers weren't sure it was me. But it all happened so much so fast. But then I saw the, the opportunities so that while I was in college, I go ahead and finish my college at, at Columbia University, graduated with honors magna cum laude while I had all these hit records. But I was asked to write a book for teenagers of advice. So it was a way to utilize my platform, in, in spiritual ways. And I wrote a book that became a million seller right away. The only two records that, that were selling as much as my song. My, my, my book Twix 12 and 20 was oh gosh, the Minister Power of Positive Thinking.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh yeah, Norman Vincent was that his
Pat Boone: book and art Link Letters Kids say the Darn to sings. Those two books were million sellers. But my book Twix 12 and 20 was outselling them all in many languages because of my records. M. And so that sort of set the stage Jeff for my whole life and career God's been giving me opportunities all the way. In fact, introducing me to people who could help me in my career that I hadn't known before. and then the songs that kept coming up, Randy Wood suggesting most of them in the beginning and then other songs coming to me, eventually writing some of my own songs including the words to the the Jewish national anthem, the second national anthem of Israel, Exodus. I wrote the words for that instrumental music for that song, that record. From that to movie, you know, this Land is Mine. I wrote those words. God gave me the words, the lyrics to the second Jewish national anthem. So I'm just stressing that because I'm not taking credit for much of anything except Being able to sing, wanting to sing well, and then knowing that God was giving me the opportunity for me to use. And I tried to do that the rest of my life.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so Pat, when you're, you're very successful as a singer, but then it's crossing over now into movies. The first movie you did was what, Bernadine?
Pat Boone: It was, ah, it was, had been a Broadway show, it was not a musical. But when we made the movie of it, it was about teenagers and, and the boys gang after school and they were in love with this actress and they, and they, you know, it was just, I don't know, it was a teenage film. And But Johnny Mercer, a great songwriter, wrote the title song, oh, Bernadine. Oh, oh, oh, Bernadine. And that was a hit. I mean my, anything I had recorded a page out of the songbook maybe would have, would have been a hit. But Bernadine became a million seller. And then the next came April Love with Sherley Jones and again Academy Award writers writing the songs for me to sing. I didn't make them up, you know, I just, they created them for me and I sang them. And then that went on and on into other movies, more songs, Journey to the center of the earth, big hit movies.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so Pat, how did you keep yourself from falling into the to the pitfalls of stardom, drugs, alcohol, immorality, all those things? How did that affect your life?
Pat Boone: Wonderful, wonderful. Good question. And, and the answer is multi, sort of multi layered. One is the fact I got married at 19. I took on that responsibility, to marry and be a good husband to Sherley Foley. It didn't take us long until we were expecting our first child. And when I graduated from college at 23, I was on the Cove of TV. God in my cap and gown. Open up in the TV Guide because I'm doing a TV show now that had been given to me the Pat Boone Chevy show, which was high in the ratings and I was on the Cove of TV Guide. You open it up and there's me and my cap and gown and my wife Sherley, and four little girls.
Pat Boone: We had four babies in slightly less than four years and again. So now I have this responsibility. Yeah, I've got all this great fame and all the kids wanted to get to me and buying my records and books, but I've got four little girls and I'm their daddy. And we moved to California, to Beverly Hills, where I am right now, to the house I'm sitting in right now. I've been in this house. 70. No, 66 years in this house. And my wife and four daughters and church. Being in church and then being a song leader and still in church out here, though I was having hit records like Ain't that a Shame and, all the movie songs. I was still leading. Singing in church Sunday mornings, Sunday nights at the Englewood Church of Christ in Inglewood, California, and was a deacon in the church. And so all of this time, while my career is going on, I am making money. I am. I had two royal command performances with the Queen, one while I was still in college, and then another one four years later singing for the Queen of England and all these things. But it was balanced against my responsibilities. I was getting opportunities, sure, but my responsibilities were to my wife, my four daughters and my God.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: what did your mom and dad and your brothers think of your stardom?
Pat Boone: As amazed about it as I was. I mean, mom and daddy, they. They were. They were, really worried about it. When I went to these talent shows, they said, we don't want you to be a pop singer or, you know, in the. In the entertainment. You know, that's not a Christian way to live your life. It'll take you away. Well, when it happened to me, of course, with a wife and daughters and responsibility and of course my parents concern. Echoing. You know, I, It was always a matter for me to keep living my life the way I knew the Lord wanted me to live it. I enjoyed being an entertainer. I enjoyed making the records. I enjoyed making the movies. But I was also at prayer meeting on Wednesday nights, and we had Bible reading here at home. So my family soon relaxed. I mean, my brother and two sisters, my parents soon relaxed. They could see that I was doing what I told Sherley we were going to do when I moved here. We're not going to live like people in Hollywood. We're going to live according to Tennessee standards. She said, what do you mean? Well, we're going to live like we're going to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, we have Bible study with our kids. And we're going to live that life that I would have lived had we lived in, Tennessee. And I was a teacher, preacher. We're going to live that life here in Beverly Hills, California. And we did. We've had baptisms. I'm looking out here at the Baptist, the pool, which has been a baptism, baptismal. We had meetings of all types for the years. We've had over 300 baptisms in my swimming pool. And we've had Bible study Sessions here at home, sometimes with entertainers who didn't go to church, but they would come to our house, to hear a Bible teacher talk about things that they needed to know. But, they weren't going to go to churches. Some of them wound up going to churches, though, afterwards. But so I mixed. I had to. To mix my, Christian faith with the opportunities and the blessings of a. Of being a big entertainer. And my parents and brother. He also became a singer. Tried it for a while, but he didn't want to capitalize on my name because he could sing well too. But, Randy Wood, Adot Records, let him change my brother's name to Nick Todd, which was dot spelled backwards. Yeah. And, But the trouble was, whenever he had a couple of hit records and other. Overseas, in other countries, not so much in America, but he was always introduced as Pat Boone's brother, Nick Todd. So he kind of defeated the purpose.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay.
Pat Boone: Became a teacher.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: How. Let me ask you this, Pat. making the movies like you did April Love with Sherley Jones, you're with these pretty girls. how does your wife handle you having to have kissing scenes and things like that? Was that. Was that difficult for her?
Pat Boone: No. See, now this again is the. Is the result of God's programming, all of this. She was the daughter of Red Foley. He made a couple movies. He, he. He didn't do any love scenes that I'm aware of. But she was. Knew that the movie business would require me. That the first kiss that I was asked to do was in the movie April Love, which was not in the script of the movie. So we hadn't. Hadn't talked about that yet, about me doing kissing scenes until Henry Levin, the director of the film, at this end of a song in. In, April Love says, now lean in and kiss Sherley Jones on the Ferris wheel. as we come to the end of the song and you're feeling very romantic toward each other, I said, henry, that was not in the script. He said, no, but you got to kiss the leading lady. And now this sounds so terribly naive, which it was. But I said, look, this was not in the script. I haven't talked to my wife Sherley about this, about me kissing other, you know, about the actress and can we do it later in the film? And he said, no, it's. We should do it right here. This is the perfect place. Well, okay. So I came home. I told Sherley he wanted. The director wanted me to kiss Sherley Jones. She said, look, I'm ahead of you. I know if you make You've got a seven year movie deal now. There's going to be some kissing scenes. You got to promise me one thing. I said, what? You won't enjoy it. I said, okay, I promise. I went to, I went back to the studio eventually to tell the director I could, okay, I could kiss Sherley Jones. But the story had hit the trade papers. Billboard magazine and daily, Variety and all these movie magazines. Singer Refuses to Kiss Leading Lady. They thought for religious reasons. It wasn't. I just wanted to stay married. I promise Sherley, I wouldn't enjoy the kissing scenes. And it was hard to I must say when she saw me kissing Anne Margaret, which had to be a real movie kiss, and Barbara Eden and Debbie Reynolds and other actresses. but she believed me when I told her that, look, it's not all that it seems to be, not the way I do it anyway. I have to worry about the shadow, the shadow of my nose over my actress, face. And it has to be done certainly certain way. And, and it's work. It is something you have to do. I mean we didn't. I never did any surrender to just outright lasciviousness on camera. I mean my kisses, they didn't set the screen on fire I guess, but they, they did the job.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, did. Pat, when you did that first movie, were you nervous about your acting? You had never done that before?
Pat Boone: I was a little, little Ilities because I, you know, I, I'd been in some school plays but that didn't, that was not much preparation for movies. I did a screen test and just a made up scene. And I just was really trying to be really a young Bing Crosby, try to be myself as if I were young Bing Crosby, relaxed and natural. And they liked the way I did it. And so when I began to do the movies, I was playing somebody else, but I tried to just do it the way I would do it if it was Pat Boone doing it. And it came out very naturally. and so it fit the roles that I was given to the point where, when I was given other roles that were not me, I was confident enough about my, they were really acting lessons. My first movies were really acting lessons.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: When you would go with your with your wife Sherley and your four girls, you guys go out to eat or something like that. Are you being bombarded? You're a celebrity at this point. Can you go anywhere without being flocked for a while?
Pat Boone: No, it was, it really was a hazard. I'd call it that. It was an Inconvenience, of course, something I could take in stride because I knew that the people were glad to see me. And it's because of the career. And it was. I needed to always be polite and sign what they wanted, menus or whatever it might be, because we were only going to meet in person that one time and I didn't want it to be negative. So I created, to give to people that, that would already sign with a gospel, little gospel message about being friends and that Jesus wants to be our friend and why don't you let him make your friend? And I would sign it your friend, Pat Boone. And it was already prepared and I could just hand them out on planes.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, that's great. Well, we're talking to, music and, silver screen icon Pat Boone, who has had a great testimony for all these years. You're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. We'll be right back after the break. Don't go away.
Jeff Chamblee: If you'd like to contact Pastor Jeff, email pastor jeffromhisheart.org now back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here, talking to Pat Boone. We're talking about his life and how, God has used him over all these years to make such an impact and such a great testimony. And Pat, I appreciate the fact that you've been faithful for all these years and, you know, obviously, as, Jon MacArthur said, just about a year before he died, he realized he was, he was getting toward the end of the finish line.
Pat Boone: I love that man.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, great, great man of God. And so at 92 years old, you're still going strong. And, that's why I read that verse in Psalm 92. To be full of SAP and very green, even in old age, to declare that the Lord is upright, he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. So, I was curious with you because you had such a, such a rocket to, to stardom. I mean, just a rocket ship. It just took off. But that, that can't sustain itself. So.
Pat Boone: Right.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: So when that tapered off as. Because you're still a young guy, you're still, what, late 20s, early 30s when things. How did you handle that?
Pat Boone: Mid, mid-30s when the Beatles happened?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay.
Pat Boone: And, and the Beatles, they, they took, at one point, five records off the top ten chart were Beatles. And so they were eating into Thom Jones and Frank Sinatra's and Vic Damones and everybody's record, royalties because the Beatles were taking, taking over. And but fortunately I had 41 chart records in the 50s. Elvis had 40. but I had a six month head start on him. As I say, he was my opening act when we first met. And we matched each other as two Tennessee boys record for record for the, for the 50s into the 60s. And then I matched the Beatles in the 60s for a while with still some hit songs. But gradually of course, I became, I went, I was doing a lot of television. Colonel Thom Parker said he would never let Elvis do TV because you're giving it all away free. You know, you got to do whatever you do, make them pay for it. Well, I did a lot of television. I did movies and gradually, you know, my daughters, we became a family act which is not the most commercial thing in show business. but, but it was the way I kept my, my family together. We had, we had hit records or rather we did, had hit albums together. And the girls sang gospel music on their own. And I did well with gospel music as well. In fact some of the these Google type things that are written about me say that I switched over to gospel music. Well I did take, take up gospel music very seriously then because pop music was going away from me. I could not sing the songs that so many of them were singing. And even though I had some hit records even into afterwards, after the 50s, 60s, 70s, occasionally a hit record would pop in the charts. But you know, you don't maintain your early star heat forever unless you're Elvis. And he did. But he paid terrible prices for his fame too.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so he was a friend of yours. Do you think Elvis was a true, did he understand the gospel? Was he truly a follower of Christ?
Pat Boone: I believe he was. Now he was being drawn away by the success. I made a statement. I knew him very well. We were two Tennessee boys. And at one point when his career was white hot, I was with him at the hotel where he was appearing in Las Vegas. And we went back in a closet, the big walk in closet. He said to talk privately. I wish I could go to church like you do.
Pat Boone: But I can't. I said why not? I go to church. He said no, but if I go I'm going to get all these kids all excited. They're going to take away from the. I said look, don't you think it happens to me at that point still in my career if I go to a church that's not my home? Church. Yeah. I attract autograph seekers. But I say, wait, kids, wait, wait. Let's let me worship like you. You're here to worship. Let me worship. I'll sign your bulletin afterwards. And of course I told Elvis, they'll take them to school. School and show their. Elvis was at your church, Pat. Bu was at your church. Hey, can we come? Let it be an evangelical outreach. And he said, he laughed. He said, I can't do it. I know that I'll be a distraction. I just can't. But do you know Oral Roberts? And I said, I do. I'd like to talk to him sometime. I said, let me give you a clue. Your name is Elvis Pressley. You get on the phone to, to Tulsa, Oklahoma and call Oral Roberts University. And Whoever answers, say, Mrs. Elvis Pressley. I'd like to talk to President Roberts. In 15 seconds he'll be on the phone. And he said, no, I can't do it. He was socially uncomfortable, he always was to the end with people he didn't know well. He was not comfortable. And he sure was not going to be comfortable calling Oral Roberts. So I did. Oral Roberts flew out, met with him in the afternoon, spent a couple hours, told me later. He said, the boy is starved spiritually.
Pat Boone: He's missing what he experienced when he was a boy in church and he feels like he can't have that now. His teammate, his other singers on his musicians, were leading into NewSong Age things, other kinds of religious, but not Christian things things. And he was being drawn into that. In fact, Charlie Hodge, one of his guitarists for most of his career, told me at the end of Elvis's life he was considering becoming a, a minister, singer. He would continue to do his shows but offer invitations at the end of his shows. But he was at that moment, not thoroughly grounded enough in the Scripture. Yeah. To be an effective minister. So he would invite people to come to the beginning, to the stage, not to get his sweaty scarf, but to make a commitment to God, however he or she conceived of God and whatever, not just necessarily Christian. And that was going to be a big mistake. I really think personally, and I haven't said this hardly ever, I think God took him early because what he was about to do with his career was not Christian, it was Christian motivated.
Pat Boone: Because he wanted to serve the Lord. And what he was doing over and over again and having drugs, doing it was not satisfying him at all. And he was wanting to get back to what he knew as a boy. as I Had in church. And and it was not going to happen. He was too corrupted by what, what was going on now. And if he had, he would have created an Elvis religion.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Pat Boone: Which you could, you could worship God however you wanted to see him or her. and that was, that's not the gospel. Now I have a feeling that God took him because Jesus, I mean Elvis really wanted that relationship with Jesus that he had lost in the furor of his career and all the false things that he was being led into and the drugs and so I think the Lord took him.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Pat Boone: and I, and I believe I'm going to see him in heaven. He had recorded some gospel songs and it. And at at his home, What do they call it? Graceland.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.
Pat Boone: He had an album of mine, Pat Boone reads the, reads the Bible and it was among his other records. I had recorded a whole album reading the Old Testament on one side, the NewSong Testament on the other. And Elvis had my album of reading the Bible. And so that's why he asked me, I wish I could go to church like you do. But he didn't think he could. Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay. Pat, I would dare say you can correct me if I'm wrong, but you probably know more well known famous celebrity people, given your longevity of, of life maybe than anybody else or as m. As. As much as anybody else who really stands out to you, People that you've met. Met. That you'd say that person really impacted my life. That people would know.
Pat Boone: Well, you mean performers or just people?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, politicians, performers, ministers. Yes.
Pat Boone: Ronald Reagan. I knew him very well. I knew him. He and Nancy and our kids went to school together. And I was the first one among entertainers to support him when he announced he was going to run for governor of California. I knew him as a Christian, but certainly Franklin Graham, Billy Graham, Johnny Cash, these are people that have influenced my life.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Ah.
Pat Boone: And I got to know them well. I did an album, Well a song really a group singing thing of thank you Billy Graham. And I wish people could know. See these things after they first come out, then they're sort of forgotten. But I did a tremendous multi artist tribute to Billy Graham called thank you Billy Graham. And it was a tribute to this man and even Larry King was on it. And he respected people of faith and often said several times I wish I could have. Like he said to Billy Graham, wish I could have a faith like yours. But with this Jewish kid from Brooklyn, it Just doesn't compute. M. And I tried to. And I tried to share it with Larry King himself, but, I never got through. Through the haze that he was already subject to. But Larry King and even. Gosh, what does I say? Johnny Cash, all these others.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay?
Pat Boone: So respect.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: What people probably don't know about you, Pat, is you live next door to Ozzy Osbourne.
Pat Boone: Yeah. And, I shared with him, too.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Pat Boone: He, as far as I know, did not become a Christian, but he did believe in God. And. And he also believed. Well, he made a career out of devilish things.
: This.
: He.
Pat Boone: And when I. He moved in next door. And, But we got along fine. And I just, you know, in what ways I could. I would, just be a friend and wanting to share spiritual things. We didn't have that. We didn't have any deep discussion. Didn't have the opportunity for that. But I liked him, and I like Sharon. I like the kids. And we got along great.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes. Okay, so I talked to you. This was off air when we talked just a few days ago, but you. You kind of had an open letter conversation to President Trump.
Pat Boone: Oh, yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: You know. You know Donald Trump, correct?
Pat Boone: I do.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay. I loved what you did. It wasn't. It wasn't rude. It was just. It was designed to be helpful. And what you said was really true. He's his own worst enemy so much of the time because he. He just keeps going on and on.
Pat Boone: Yeah, Yeah.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: I think you told him just, it would be good to be quiet.
Pat Boone: I wanted to be quiet and quit bragging on himself, which he started when he was starting the running for office. When I first met him, I got to know him. I was at, Mar a Lago on a function raise fundraising thing. We got to know each other pretty well. When he started running for president, he knew I was supporting his candidacy, but he called me. I was on the tennis court at Bel Air, and, he said, I want to thank you. I heard you were talking about me on the television. I said, yeah. Did you hear the whole interview? No, they just told me about it. You said something nice. Want to thank you. I said, look, what I was saying was, I wish you would quit calling people names. It makes you sound like a schoolboy on the schoolyard. And if you want to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate, you need to start sounding like a president. Don't call people names. That's not presidential. Well, he laughed. I said, I'll bet your wife told you that. And he just shrugged it off. He kept on doing it. Well, we were together on, conversations after that. Not much because he was obviously leading his crazy life. But I had a time or two when I got to try to ask him to tone down his bragging about all this and that and be more human. Human. You don't have to be super superhuman, you know. And, so I, I finally did that message you heard me do. Yes. About that. I wanted him to quit calling people names and, and to be kind to the women that were interviewing him and to, And to just. In a while, just be quiet.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.
Pat Boone: And it got several million responses, favorable responses. I've just done another one which you may not have heard or seen.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: I haven't seen it yet.
Pat Boone: Because again, he was not only now he's still doing what he'd been doing, but in this latest round of rallies that he's doing, he's letting himself slip into F words and four letter word languages in front of families and their kids while he's, talking about what he's going to do when he's reelected or whatever.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.
Pat Boone: And I'm begging him, please, because I like him and I know that in his heart and in his mind he wants to be the champion of champions, the greatest president ever, and he wants to make America great again. But he's doing a lot of wrong things along the way, and he needs people around him that can calm him down. I don't know if it's going to happen.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right. Yeah, it may not. Well, Pat, we're out of time, but, man, this has been such a treat and such a privilege. Thank you so much for your time. And thank you for, just the witness you've been for all these years for the Lord. And, I hope God gives you, many more years of good health and a strong witness, a strong voice. But, it's been a privilege of mine. So God bless you and my brother and thank you for coming.
Pat Boone: Thank you, brother.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, go out today, shine for Christ, share what great things the Lord has done for you, and God will use you as his witness. God bless you.
Pastor Jeff Schreve welcomes legendary singer and actor Pat Boone to Real Truth for Today for a conversation about his remarkable career and the faith that has guided his life. Boone shares how his early success in music led to a career in Hollywood, the importance of keeping his priorities centered on God and family, and how he used his platform to share the gospel. He also reflects on his friendship with Elvis Presley, the spiritual struggles that came with fame, and the influential people who shaped his life. The conversation offers an inspiring look at remaining faithful to Christ through success, life’s challenges, and changing seasons.
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