---
alias:
- Arcadia Theatre
- Arcadia Theater
category: Media & Entertainment
created: 2026-09-23
location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
summary: First-run cinema at 1529-1531 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, which cancelled
  a February 1975 midnight showing of R.C. Horsch's Black Mass after reported pressure
  from the Archdiocese.
tags:
- Organization
- Cinema
- Philadelphia
- Censorship
- RCHorsch
updated: 2026-09-23
---

The Arcadia Theatre was a cinema at 1529-1531 Chestnut Street in Center City, Philadelphia, recorded by the Athenaeum of Philadelphia with a seating capacity of 500 and with the Sablosky Corporation and Frank DeLong among its clients. In February 1975 it cancelled a midnight booking of *[Black Mass](/misc/black-mass-1975-film/)*, a film about a satanic rite by Ray Hoersch, later [R.C. Horsch](/people/rc-horsch/), after what *The Philadelphia Inquirer* called reported pressure from the [Philadelphia Archdiocese](/organizations/roman-catholic-archdiocese-of-philadelphia/).[^1][^2]

### Black Mass

"Chestnut Hill filmmaker Ray Hoersch" was to show *Black Mass* at midnight at the Arcadia. The *Inquirer* reported on February 28, 1975, that the showing "was cancelled after reported pressure by the Philadelphia Archdiocese, according to the Bandbox's [Art Carduner](/people/art-carduner/), who gave the film a new home" at the [Bandbox Theater](/organizations/bandbox-theater/) in Germantown.[^2] A joint statement of sixteen Catholic, Protestant and Jewish leaders of Philadelphia, led by Cardinal [John Krol](/people/john-krol/), called the film "a blasphemous attack on the religious rites held in sacred reverence by millions of Christian believers" and urged "believers of every religious conviction to use every moral force to discourage the showing of this film."[^3]

[^1]: Philadelphia Architects and Buildings, Athenaeum of Philadelphia, "Arcadia Theatre," 1529-1531 Chestnut St. (clients "Sablosky Corporation; DeLong, Frank"; "Seating capacity: 500"). https://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/8403
[^2]: [Society and nightlife column], *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* February 28, 1975, p. 21. https://www.newspapers.com/image/173366667/
[^3]: "Offensive Material: Leaders Condemn Black Mass Film," Religious News Service, *Lake Shore Visitor* (Erie), March 7, 1975, p. 3. https://www.newspapers.com/image/951794835/