Last Updated: 6/8/08
Friday, June 20
6:00 pm - Party with food and drink (film starts 7:30 pm)
Admission: Minimun $20 donation
Digitas Health
229 S.18th Street, Philadelphia
Telephone info: AIDS Law Project (215) 587-9377
On Friday, June 20, the Secret Cinema will team up once again with the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania to present their 9th Annual Summer Movie Party, featuring food, film and fun. The centerpiece will be a screening of the largely unknown 1976 drive-in epic Soul Hustler. Former Philadelphia teen idol Fabian stars in this entertainingly-dated drive-in obscurity, about the lurid ways of a corrupt Christian Rock star.
This special event will again take place in the lovely and eccentric café of our co-sponsors, the Digitas Health ad agency, overlooking beautiful Rittenhouse Square. Best of all, all funds raised will go to the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, a non-profit, public interest law firm that provides free legal services to people with HIV/AIDS and others affected by the epidemic.
The timetable of events is as follows:
6 to 7:15 pm: Light food and drink (Secret Cinema tip: This is always advertised as "light" to play it safe, but the last several years' supplies of high quality food and drink -- including premium microbrews -- were amazingly ample! In short, your donation is actually a real bargain if you come hungry!)
7:30 pm: screening of Soul Hustler, projected in 16mm film on a giant screen.
Admission is a minimum donation of $20, all of which is tax-deductible. Pre-paid reservations are recommended; call the AIDS Law Project at 215-587-9377. Gift baskets from local retailers will be raffled for $3 per ticket or $25 per book of 10. Attendance is not required to win.
A complete description of the film follows:
Soul Hustler (aka: The Day the Lord Got Busted) (Dir: Burt Topper, 1973)
Fabian Forte, star of Hound Dog Man and Maryjane, gives a decent performance in this slightly sordid tale, made at the height of the "Jesus freak" movement (but before the ascent of the "Contemporary Christian" rock industry). He plays Matthew Crowe, a whoring, pot-smoking, wandering singer driving around the South. He hooks up with a tent show preacher who recognizes his charisma, and they collect big donations together delivering sermons with rocking gospel songs. Soon he lands a record deal, and the older man becomes the full-time manager of "Matthew, Son of Jesus," vainly attempting to keep his artist's earthly needs in line ("All this talk about bread is great," Matthew complains, "meanwhile, give me a hundred so I can get laid!"). They hire a backup group of mustachioed rock musicians who play in brown monks' robes, in contrast to Matthew's white robe and sandals.
The debut album by Matthew & The People, The Lovin' Man, becomes a huge hit, and with the help of a sleazy promoter in Paisley jacket and long sideburns (Casey Kasem!), the book bigger and bigger dates. Meanwhile, Mathew becomes a junkie. Freaking out from withdrawal and bad vibes from his manager, Matthew runs away, finding solace with a Hispanic woman who takes him in (Nai Bonet, known to some collectors of 1960s records for singing the novelty 45 "Jelly Belly"). He returns for his greatest concert yet (actually filmed at the L.A. Forum, surprisingly), and plans to go straight, but his drug-addled paranoia brings him to a tragic demise.
Soul Hustler was made by Burt Topper, narrator of Mondo Teeno: The Teenage Rebellion. The songs were written by Harley Hatcher, who helped make rock soundtracks for many '60s drive-in classics, including Satan's Sadists and Dr. Goldfoot And The Girl Bombs.
We last reported being "cautiously optimistic" about Live Nation's announced plans to restore and reuse the Sameric/Boyd Theater. Our caution proved well-founded as Live Nation have now revealed that they are halting all work on the theater's restoration. Anything could happen now, in a city where demolition permits are rather easy to obtain.
The important job of bringing back Philadelphia's last (nearly) intact movie palace still needs to not only be done, but be done right, and joining with this ever-vigilant watchdog organization is the best chance we have to ensure that the right thing gets done.
Official site of the Friends of the Boyd - www.SaveTheSameric.org
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