---
alias:
- Band Box Theater
- Bandbox Theatre
category: Media & Entertainment
created: 2026-09-23
location: Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
summary: Art-house cinema at 20-22 East Armat Street in Germantown, owned by Art Carduner
  from 1966 to 1975, which screened R.C. Horsch's condemned film Black Mass in 1975.
tags:
- Organization
- Cinema
- Philadelphia
- Germantown
- RCHorsch
updated: 2026-09-23
---

The Bandbox Theater, also written Band Box, was a cinema at 20-22 East Armat Street in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, recorded with a seating capacity of 499. [Art Carduner](/people/art-carduner/) bought it, then shuttered, in 1966 and ran it as a house for foreign and art films until 1975. It screened films of Ray Hoersch, later [R.C. Horsch](/people/rc-horsch/), in 1969 and 1975.[^1][^2]

### Hoersch

In late 1969, when the city's [Department of Licenses and Inspections](/organizations/philadelphia-department-of-licenses-and-inspections/) closed Hoersch's [Underground Cinema 16](/organizations/underground-cinema-16/) on Sansom Street, the Bandbox ran the Vietnam documentary *[In the Year of the Pig](/misc/in-the-year-of-the-pig/)*, which Cinema 16 had under contract.[^3] In February 1975 the [Arcadia](/organizations/arcadia-theatre-philadelphia/) on Chestnut Street cancelled a midnight booking of Hoersch's *[Black Mass](/misc/black-mass-1975-film/)* after what the *Inquirer* called reported pressure from the [Philadelphia Archdiocese](/organizations/roman-catholic-archdiocese-of-philadelphia/), and a joint statement of sixteen religious leaders led by Cardinal [John Krol](/people/john-krol/) condemned the film. Carduner gave it a midnight screening at the Bandbox on Saturday, March 1, 1975, as a benefit for the Friends of the Bandbox, with Hoersch attending.[^4][^5]

[^1]: Philadelphia Architects and Buildings, Athenaeum of Philadelphia, "Bandbox Theatre," 20-22 E. Armat St. ("Seating capacity: 499"). https://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/8266
[^2]: 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
[^3]: "Mayor Tate's War On [title cut off in the scan]," *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
[^4]: [Society and nightlife column], *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* February 28, 1975, p. 21. https://www.newspapers.com/image/173366667/
[^5]: "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/