In May 1926 a famous woman vanished while swimming off Santa Monica, only to stumble out of the Mexican desert weeks later with a wild kidnapping story. She was not a movie star but Aimee Semple McPherson, a preacher whose celebrity in the 1920s rivaled Charles Lindbergh and Charlie Chaplin. This episode traces how she blended old-time religion with Hollywood spectacle and helped invent modern media culture.

From a religious Ontario childhood through a Pentecostal mission and personal tragedy, she rose to build Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, pioneer radio preaching, and stage elaborate theatrical sermons. Her kidnapping scandal, media makeover, and later shifts on race and war reveal a life of striking paradox and enduring cultural influence.

• She raised 250,000 dollars in grassroots donations to build a 5,000-plus seat debt-free  ...