---
category: "Entertainment & Arts"
tags:
  - Person
  - Cinema
  - Philadelphia
  - Germantown
  - RCHorsch
summary: "Germantown bookseller and art-house exhibitor who ran the Bandbox Theater from 1966 to 1975 and gave R.C. Horsch's condemned film Black Mass a midnight screening in 1975."
died: 2009-12-04
location: "Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
relations:
  - type: owned
    with: "[[Bandbox Theater]]"
    start: 1966
    end: 1975
    fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---

Art Carduner (about 1919 to December 4, 2009) was a [[Philadelphia]] bookseller, book reviewer and exhibitor of foreign and art films who owned the [[Bandbox Theater]] in [[Germantown, Philadelphia|Germantown]] from 1966 to 1975. In February 1975, after the [[Arcadia Theatre (Philadelphia)|Arcadia]] cancelled a midnight showing of *[[Black Mass (1975 film)|Black Mass]]* by Ray Hoersch, later [[R.C. Horsch]], following what the *Inquirer* called reported pressure from the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia|Philadelphia Archdiocese]], Carduner gave the film a midnight screening at the Bandbox.[^1][^2]

### Theaters and Books

Carduner grew up in [[New York City]] and came to Philadelphia in 1941. Before the Second World War he worked as a civilian cryptographer at the [[United States Army Signal Corps|Signal Corps]] depot on Wissahickon Avenue, and then served in the Signal Corps; he claimed to have deciphered, three days before the attack on [[Pearl Harbor]], a message from Clark Field in the [[Philippines]] ending "Attack imminent, please rush," and said that his superiors ignored it. After the war he bought a bookstore in New York for 2,000 dollars, moved to [[New Hope, Pennsylvania|New Hope]], started a mail-order book business in [[Lambertville, New Jersey|Lambertville]], and bought and restored the New Strand Theater there. He also ran the Hill in [[Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia|Chestnut Hill]], a book-search business, and a shop on Germantown Avenue, Germantown Bikes & Books, and reviewed books for *[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]*, *The Distant Drummer* and the *Chestnut Hill Local*. His programs favored esoteric foreign films and often played to nearly empty houses; he kept no popcorn machine and would run after patrons who walked out to refund their money. His political hero was [[Al Smith]]. A friend, Dave Miller, said: "He was phenomenally bighearted. He looked like Orson Welles, and had a nasal way of speaking." He died at 90 and was survived by two daughters, a son, a brother and three grandchildren.[^1]

### Hoersch

The Bandbox's connection with Hoersch predates *Black Mass*. When the city's [[Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections|Department of Licenses and Inspections]] closed Hoersch's [[Underground Cinema 16]] in late 1969, the Bandbox ran the Vietnam documentary *[[In the Year of the Pig]]*, which Cinema 16 had under contract.[^3] On February 28, 1975, the *Inquirer* reported that *Black Mass* "will be shown at the Germantown Bandbox Theater this Saturday at midnight," according to "the Bandbox's Art Carduner, who gave the film a new home," as a benefit for the Friends of the Bandbox, with Hoersch attending.[^2]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Morrison, John F. "Art Carduner, a pioneer in exhibiting foreign films in Phila.," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* December 9, 2009. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/obituaries/20091209_Art_Carduner__a_pioneer_in_exhibiting_foreign_films_in_Phila_.html
[^2]: [Society and nightlife column], *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* February 28, 1975, p. 21. https://www.newspapers.com/image/173366667/
[^3]: *The Distant Drummer,* no. 65, December 25, 1969, p. 8, Temple University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center. https://digital.library.temple.edu/digital/collection/p16002coll34/id/473