In 1939, the Arizona Republic newspaper of Phoenix published a little filler about a sort of ghost town – not one that once lived and died, leaving sun-bleached shacks in the desert for visitors to discover, but rather one that had never been born except in the mind of a hopeful, impractical man:

The recorder’s office today turned up a beautiful dream of the twirling 20s. The plat of a subdivision to be called Sunshine Park, located west of Twin Buttes mining camp, was filed May 23, 1924, by Wade Hampton Clack, as the first step in making Tucson the Hollywood of the desert.

The plat showed a two-block studio in the midst of the 60-block subdivision and a magnificent hotel, all on paper. Avenues were named for Douglas Fairbanks, Bill Hart, Wallace Reid, Tom Mix, Thomas Meighan and other male stars of the period; the streets for Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Pola Negri, Blanche Sweet and Pearl White.

The recorder pointed out that Sunshine Park, the studio and hotel and Bebe Daniels and Gloria Swanson streets are still just rangeland. (( “Beautiful Dream Never Fufilled,” Arizona Independent Republic, 30 June 1939, 30/2.))

Wade Hampton Clack was a movie maker – with limited experience, perhaps, and big dreams, but he did make a small number of now-forgotten silent pictures. And almost a year before he filed his dream map for his “Hollywood in the desert,” he wanted to make a movie about the Mormons. Early in 1923 he ran across a copy of Nephi Anderson’s A Young Folks’ History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (available for free in a Kindle version through that link). “The further into the pages I got, the more horrible the scenes became as to the condition of the church in the pioneer days,” he said. “The only reason I could force myself to believe this history was the fact that it was published to the world and no protest made, which I am certain there would e if this little book was not filled with facts.

“These horrible scenes have stayed in my mind and I can see them reenacted in real life, which affords a greater picture of horror and brutal treatment to a class of people than any I have ever seen on the screen, even in fiction.”

He decided he wanted to make a motion picture depicting this history of the Church, and he began to prepare himself to make it a thoughtful masterpiece. “I immediately began, at all opportunities, to mix and mingle with Mormon people and to learn the truth of their belief and their lives to the best of my ability. I, not being connected with any church or creed and not having faith in any I had ever come in contact with, became very interested in the story of their church and in the new gospel I found them in possession of. I have bought and read several books.”

And at this point his narrative begins to hint at the young man’s superabundance of confidence in his talents and abilities. “I have myself, likely, more thoroughly than any man outside of the Mormon Church in the country.” He would make a film based on the history of the Church. “My opinion is that this picture will be the biggest picture for publicity and the best teacher of the truth and do more good for the church in one year in the way of education than all the Apostles have done since 1830.”

Oh, only that much good, eh?

Then Mr. Clack sketched out his idea of what the motion picture would look like. Remember, this is a silent movie, with bits of picture-action interspersed with cards displaying short bits of text.

We show the scene and elaborate somewhat where Joseph receives the plates. Right here we should go to New York and film the original hill, Cumorah. We show the plates as they really existed, (using plates of copper). We show the translation as per book with these plates. This is somewhat of a tedious job but can be done with the information I have, as near perfect as the real scene must have been.

We show the hardships of Joseph both through condemnation of the people and poverty trying to carry out the orders given him from on high. We show the officer detaining him and searching for the plates and then fade into the plates hidden in the barrel.

We show in close continuity the history of Joseph until the book of Mormon is translated and he starts preaching. We first show much condemnation and boycotting of the unbelieving public, then it gradually grows worse until it reaches a murderous state when many of the wicked people would very much like to take Joseph’s life, and we show him shielded and protected at different intervals and different points by a higher power.

We bring the history of the church along in close continuity until we reach mobilization days or the beginning of the scenes by the mobbers. Then we elaborate on these scenes both with picture and subtitles through this period of dark ages. By the way, I would very much like to film the Carthage jail scene at the original Carthage jail and shoot the interior where Joseph was assassinated.

Mr. Clack’s picture wasn’t intended to be a mere journalistic narrative. It would be Art, with metaphor and everything: “I will show the beginning of the organization of the church where the six men congregated and organized, and will hold two spirits in the back ground, one an angel of God on the right side and the evil spirit on the left working against the angel of the Lord. I will make right here the most natural and self explained scene that has ever been flashed on the silver screen. I will carry these two spirits in the dim back ground through this picture until we reach Salt Lake Valley where the evil one is driven away, but will carry the angel of God throughout the picture.”

Mr. Clack realized that there were some sequences that would require even more skill than the rest, either to bring to the screen or to withhold, as his judgment dictated. But he would do it all with great taste, and change the opinions of the world while he did so.

Back in the days of mobbers in Illinois and Missouri I wish to have free rein to handle this picture with the understanding I must use the straight truth according to the history in this book. I intended dissolving into the Mountain Meadow Massacre and trying to answer that in the right light but after going into the story of the history of the church I believe this is unnecessary for when I get through this picture, the people who witness the scenes on the screen will forget that such a thing ever existed as the Mountain Meadow Massacre

It will take the poison out of the minds of the people that has so long been taught them by unposted people and change the idea of the great majority who condemn the Mormon Church. It will make the people see that it is not the Mormons who have committed the great crimes of murder and kidnaping, but instead it is the so called laws of our country through prejudice, that have played the part of the evil one. That the mobs of our country consisting of low bred people who were backed by unscrupulous men of state authority acting through their prejudices and ignorance have committed greater sin and crime against the people of the Mormon church and drove them from their homes and kindred, destroyed their property, caused death and misery among the people of the Mormon church including women and children, unwarranted. It is the unbeliever and unlearned who is the criminal instead of the Mormon church which the vast majority of people believe today.

And while he intended this to be an educational film, he recognized the need to please certain portions of his intended audience. “Now it will be necessary to run a very light strand of romance through part of this story. This can be gathered from facts as I will come to Salt Lake, get acquainted with some of the remaining pioneers and gather from the facts enough to run this through the picture to make it interesting to those who like romance, but at no time will romance cut any ice – it will be an educational and historical picture.”

What could stand in the way of his realization of this “educational and historical picture”? Only one thing … money. But the Church was wealthy, wasn’t it? The Church, recognizing the great benefit to accrue to Mormonism through this motion picture surely would be thrilled to foot the bill. And he wouldn’t need much: Just $3,950 for cameramen, $1,000 for props, $2,500 for his assistant director, $1,500 for 30,000 feet of film – this was to be a 10-reel movie, for which he would need $2,400 in lab expenses to produce one print. He doesn’t tell us what his own fee as producer would be, but he was willing to negotiate that. And costs could be saved, too, by using Mormon volunteers as extras! “Now if we can get our big mob scenes volunteered by Mormon people it will cut the cost of the picture immensely, but if we have to pay the regular motion picture prices for these mobs the picture will run up into considerable money for this is necessary to have these wagon train immigrants, oxen, etc., as per history.”

You have, no doubt, been searching your memory to recall the many times you have seen this film in the course of your life as a Latter-day Saint. Surely your seminary teacher screened it for you, no? Oh, okay, I’ll dial down the snark.

In all seriousness, some people recognized very early that this new medium of motion pictures could be used to tell the story of the Latter-day Saints. The earliest record I have found so far is a letter from a member in 1910 suggesting that movies could be used as a powerful missionary tool. Through the ’teens and ’twenties, a small flood of would-be producers, like Wade Hampton Clack, approached the Church for artistic cooperation and/or financing for their proposed motion picture masterpieces. The Church was not interested in any of these early proposals. In the case of Mr. Clack, as in the case of earlier schemes, the response was, “Should it ever come to pass that the Church authorities decide to have such a picture made, the enterprise will be under Church direction; but at present there is no plan of this sort in hand or in mind.”

So, like his “Hollywood in the desert,” Wade Hampton Clack’s dream of the great Mormon history epic died before it was fairly born.