Last Updated: 5/15/12
SEE OUR PAGE with photos and more; hope you "like" it!
Tuesday, May 22
8:00 pm
Admission: $7.00
The Trestle Inn
11th & Callowhill, Philadelphia, PA
267-239-0290
On Tuesday, May 22, the Secret Cinema will return to The Trestle Inn, the happening new "Whiskey and Go Go" nightspot in Philadelphia's emerging "loft district." On that night we'll present Go! Go! Go! World, a prime, Technicolor example of the "mondo movie" phenomenon that brought exotic cultures and practices to sensation-seeking filmgoers around the world through the mid-sixties.
The program will also include selected short subjects (including, in keeping with the theme of the club, some vintage girlie films).
There will be one complete show, starting at 8:00 pm. Admission is $7.00,
The Trestle Inn presents a mash up of retro entertainment, music, food and drink. Expect to find Barbarella-clad Go Go dancers swinging to French pop, blue-eyed soul, psychobilly, funk, garage and disco on most other nights of the week.
Our initial film offering there (burlesque-noir rarity Girl on the Run, shown in March) was a huge success and was completely sold out. This time, there will be additional seating, and an expanded viewing area (i.e., the whole Trestle Inn).
A complete description of the feature follows...
Go! Go! Go! World (1964, Dir: Renato Marvi, Anthony Dawson. AKA Mondo Inferno, Il Pelo nel Mondo)
The surprise global success of Gualtiero Jacopetti's 1962 film Mondo Cane (literally, "Dogworld") launched a tidal wave of imitating "shockumentaries" that lasted throughout the mid-1960s. "Mondo" movies were, according to writers Charles Kilgore and Michael Weldon "the bastard child of the documentary and peep show." They typically provided a fast-edited, voyeur's travelogue of titillating, weird, and/or disgusting practices around the world, finding the exotic in cultures both primitive and "developed." Strange religious rites, customs, fashions and foods were captured by the roving camera crews, the sensational sights described by an often sarcastic off-screen commentator whose narration seemed to conclude that the world had gone to the dogs. Exploitation film in its purest form, mondo movies favored subjects that were unexplainable, violent, and especially nude. Just a few of the dozens, if not hundreds of mondo features released in a few short years were Mondo Freudo, Mondo Teeno, Mondo Bizarro, Mundo Depravados, Macabro, Women of the World, Taboos of the World, and Russ Meyer's parody Mondo Topless. While the last title's content was entirely staged for the camera, the same was often true in many of the other "reality" features.
Go! Go! Go! World is as typical an example of the genre as can be found, with Technicolor scenes zipping from bums in the Bowery to tribal life in Africa to the strip clubs of Europe. A vintage film rental catalog noted "The contrasts are striking, sometimes amusing...if not sometimes unnerving! From the beauty of the women at Cannes to the ritual of Borneo tribesman collecting skulls as barter for child brides, the tourists of Hawaii or an exorcism in Southern Italy, to the way many Chinese women survive in their country." Not to mention mud-wrestling, bloodletting, dog-eating, modern chastity belt users, and lots of strippers. Besides the requisite sardonic narration, the soundtrack features a peppy mix of exotica/lounge/library music composed by Nino Oliviero -- his theme song for Mondo Cane, "More" (co-written with Riz Ortolani) was an even bigger international smash than its film, covered by Kai Winding, Vic Dana, Frank Sinatra and the Supremes (among many others). "Anthony Dawson" was the sometime pseudonym of Antonio Margheriti, a prolific Italian director of horror and other genre/cult features (Castle of Blood, The Long Hair of Death, Lightning Bolt, Cannibal Apocalypse).
Dear friends,
In early December we received a perplexing Christmas present from Moore College of Art & Design -- a three-sentence email from their recently appointed Dean of Students Ruth Robbins, a person we had had no prior communication from (and indeed, had never even heard of).
It said: "I am writing to notify you that your contract for Secret Cinema at Moore College of Art & Design is up for renewal as of December 13, 2011. We have decided not to renew the contract going forward. I wish you the best of luck with Secret Cinema."
Just like that. After 15 years there, and well over 150 screenings, bringing thousands of nice people through their doors for the first time.
While our screenings elsewhere continue, having the rug pulled out from the Secret Cinema's main outpost throws our entire operation into jeopardy. For this reason, I am asking you to help ask Moore to change their mind.
The administration at Moore evidently has its own reasons for wanting to get rid of Secret Cinema (unstated though they are), but I am optimistic that if enough people tell them that they think the series and the venue are important to them, they may reverse their decision.
A person with some insight on the situation at Moore suggested that the most effective messages the public could write to Moore's administration would be positive ones, expressing that they like coming to Moore and feel passionately about the venue. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to add some kind words about what Secret Cinema's programming means to you.
If you see value in what we do, please write to the following persons stating so. A simple message explaining who you are, what you thought of your experiences at the Secret Cinema at Moore, etc.
It could be especially valuable for any Moore students or alumni to write, but everyone counts here.
And please copy ME on any communications!
It will also help to "like" our new Facebook page (www.facebook.com/thesecretcinema) , and to pass this email on to any potential supporters you know.
We know Secret Cinema is loved by its audience, and in December alone I was randomly approached by two strangers -- one a recent graduate of Moore -- thanking me for doing it, and recounting favorite screenings. We constantly hear from people who have moved to other cities about how much they miss Secret Cinema. As you probably know, although we love our other screening sites, we saved much of our best programming for Moore. We suspect it is your favorite Secret Cinema venue also.
Thanks for reading this. I thank you deeply for any help in this matter.
Best wishes for 2012,
Jay Schwartz
The Secret Cinema
Please write to ALL of the following people:
Gladys "Happy" Fernandez, President of College < hfernandez@moore.edu >
Barbara Ornstein, Executive Asst. to the President < barbornstein@moore.edu >
Joan Stevens, Special Assistant to the President < jstevens@moore.edu >
Ruth Robbins, Dean of Students < rrobbins@moore.edu >
Emily Johnson, Director of Student Activities and Facilities Rentals < emjohnson@moore.edu >
Amanda Mott, Communications Director < amott@moore.edu >
Jay Schwartz, The Secret Cinema < secretcinema@verizon.net >
To make that easy, you can cut and paste the following block of email addresses in the "TO:" field in your email program:
hfernandez@moore.edu, barbornstein@moore.edu, jstevens@moore.edu, rrobbins@moore.edu, emjohnson@moore.edu, amott@moore.edu, secretcinema@verizon.net
Moore College of Art & Design
20th Street and The Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103-1179
215-568-8017 Fax
The Friends of the Boyd have a Facebook page. We encourage you all to visit and "like" them, and pass on this message...
The very survival of Philadelphia's last premiere motion picture palace is at stake! Almost every other US city has restored and reopened at least one downtown movie palace for public enjoyment such as live entertainment and movie events. As an Art Deco showplace, the historic Boyd Theatre was open for 72 years, and must reopen!
SPREAD THE WORD by clicking "like"
Official site of the Friends of the Boyd - www.SaveTheSameric.org
NEW! Channel 29 news piece on Secret Cinema from 1999!
Secret Cinema 1999 Annual Report
Secret Cinema 1998 Annual Report
Secret Cinema 1997 Annual Report
Information about the 1998 Secret Cinema "Class Trip" to the Syracuse Cinefest