Marjoe the Minister
Hugh “Marjoe” Gortner was born in Long Beach, California on January 14, 1944 to Vernon and Marge Gortner. Vernon Gortner was a third generation Penecostal minister, and he noticed early on that Marjoe was very adept at mimicking things he had seen on the TV, heard on the radio, or witnessed other people doing. Seeing the potential in this, Marjoe was taught to deliver sermons at a very young age By age four, his parents touted him as “the world’s youngest ordained minister in history” - althought the person who ordained him was not known, and many believe this never actually took place. Soon Marjoe and his parents were traveling the United States holding revivals, and raking in cash through the use of several money making tactics they had taught their son – which included the sale of articles the family had deemed to be “holy”. Marjoe would later estimate that between the ages of 4 and 12, his family had “fleeced his flock of an estimated $3 million” – which would equate to over $20 million in today’s dollars.
Shortly after Marjoe’s sixteenth birthday, Vernon Gortner deserted his wife and son, and took all the money they had accumulated since their traveling revivals began. Marjoe then decided to leave his mother, and he headed to San Francisco to experience the “peace and free love” movement that was sweeping the west coast. After discovering that love was pretty much the only thing in California that was free, the preacher-turned-hippie decided to take his healing act back on the road to remedy his financial woes. By the late 1960′s Marjoe suffered what he called a “crisis of conscience” and decided to make one final tour, complete with a camera crew to document the experience. The documentary was made under the pretense that it would simply chronicle the life and times of a viable minister and his ministry, but Marjoe used it as a sort of behind the scenes look at the dirty secrets that take place under the guise of evangelism. The resulting film was appropriately titled Marjoe, and it would go on to win the 1972 Academy Award for Best Documentary. Here is the movie in its entirety:
