The Church in the Movie, The Graduate

In the movie, The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman climbs side stairs of a white church and bangs on the glass inside because Catharine Ross is getting married. The church was the La Verne United Methodist Church. My family were members of the church, and there were no side stairs. The studio rented the church for $1000 a day. We had recently built the church, and I suppose the six days brought in some much-needed cash. The fact that there is a bare breast clip and that Dustin Hoffman’s character is having an affair with one of his parent’s friends was perhaps not fully outlined in the sketch shown to the trustees.

The studios brought in full-sized trees, like 1950s Christmas trees nailed on wood crisscross two-by-fours to make La Verne look like Santa Barbara. They set up huge lights that left rings on the carpet. The studio cleaned up beautifully. A group of little old ladies jumped in a Rambler and went to see the movie when it premiered in Hollywood. The silence on the subject was deafening.

The church has some unique tapestries on the walls. An oily substance from, perhaps, the lights impregnated the tapestries, and within a few years they darkened and gathered a fuzz of dust. They are clean now, but I have always wondered how much that cost.