By Louis Gurgitano
After hearing that Ted Haggard was going to be the guest of honor this Sunday at that-Charlotte-megachurch (name omitted so as to not give them any more publicity than they already get), I decided to finally check out Marjoe, a movie that had been on my must-watch list for a long time. This 1972 Oscar-winning documentary follows ex-child preacher Marjoe Gortner as he travels the country from church to church, getting people riled up before taking their money.
If you haven’t seen it yet, you owe it to yourself to rent it. The style of the film is a bit outdated, but its historical, educational, and entertainment value is huge. The movie gets off to a great start with a very funny opening scene, after which Marjoe (a self-admitting fake) takes the viewer on a mini-tour of the Southern tent revival circuit while explaining how he fools everybody. Oddly enough, the character turns out to be very likeable. Maybe it’s because his days as a preacher are numbered — not because any law enforcement office is on his tail (as you would hope they’d be) but simply because, unlike good ol’ Mr. Taggard, he can no longer reconcile what he does with his conscience.
After the film came out, Marjoe finally abandoned the preaching business and became a full-time Hollywood actor. Not much of a career change, sure, but at least he didn’t succumb to the most popular ex-preacher “calling”: insurance salesman.
This article appears in Apr 21-28, 2009.
trivia: not all the revivals were in the South. The service shown with the predominantly African-American congregation is in Detroit. The first indoor service is in California. Only the tent revival is in Texas, who consider themselves the West.
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