Turns out Cecil B DeMille helped install over 150 of them to promote his The Ten Commandments movie. From http://bit.ly/dx9UU3…
DeMille believed in film — his films — as spectacle pervading the physical sphere of daily life. Spectacular films required spectacular advertisements and promotions. In 1923, for example, a towering, glittering advertisement for “The Ten Commandments” was installed in New York City’s Times Square. The New York Times heralded a “new wonder in the Square,” describing the incandescent display as “one of the largest ever seen on Broadway.”
In 1956, DeMille sought something grander — and more enduring. While filming, he had caught wind of an initiative by a Minnesota judge affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Eagles, E.J. Ruegemer, to place thousands of paper copies of the Ten Commandments in juvenile courtrooms to reduce delinquency rates. Realizing the potential for a massive publicity campaign, DeMille persuaded Paramount Pictures to fund the creation of large, granite copies of the Decalogue.
The Eagles were at first concerned viewers would perceive the monuments as sectarian (Protestants, Catholics and Jews use different versions of the Ten Commandments), but after Judge Ruegemer sought input from Protestant, Catholic and Jewish leaders, the Eagles designed a version that would offend none, or so they thought. Working with the Eagles, DeMille donated the granite monuments to communities across the country, usually placing them near government buildings or in public squares.
Charlton Heston himself officiated at a the Decalogue dedication ceremony in Dunseith, N.D., with more than 5,000 fans, and Yul Brynner, who played Pharaoh for DeMille, attended a similar event in Milwaukee in 1957 to coincide with the premiere of “The Ten Commandments” in that city.
Impressed by the success of the Ten Commandments campaign, the Eagles continued to donate the monoliths to towns around the country until 1985, and over the course of three decades nearly 150 monuments were erected.
How American is that? These much-fought-over monuments are from Hollywood and for profiteering. Yes, the FOE was trying to do it anyway, but it just goes to show how recent, and how separate from church efforts, these monuments’ creations really are.
