The Little Miracle from Long Beach

By Gerrie Schipske

The date was Jan. 2, 1949. The place was the Normandy Wedding Chapel at 431 Ocean Blvd. The occasion was not unusual. Well, okay it was. A wedding was planned between 23-year-old Seaman First Class Raymond Miller and 21-year-old Alma Emily Brown and it was a 4-year-old Long Beach evangelist preacher by the name of Marjoe Gortner who pronounced the couple man and wife.

Marjoe, who got his name from his parents combining Mary and Joseph, was trained to be a preacher by his father, Vernon, who had been on the evangelist circuit for several years before landing in Long Beach and preaching at the Old TIme Faith Church. Seems that Marjoe was born in a revival tent and started to use his tiny hands at age seven months to keep time to the music. By age four it was reported that he could play the sax, bass, accordion, drums, piano and trumpet while twirling a baton.

The wedding ceremony received national news coverage and lots of criticism from mainstream preachers. The owner of the chapel, Mrs. Virginia West, was “peeved” when she learned of the wedding and said she would not have allowed the wedding to take place if she knew it was a publicity stunt.

Little red head, freckled face Marjoe was dressed in a black velvet top and shorts and white cowboy boots. Since Marjoe was the youngest preacher in the United States, reporters marveled at how the little guy mesmerized with his sermon and singing. His mother explained that little Marjoe memorized over 40 sermons and had vowed to take on Satan when he was three.

The minister who ordained Marjoe. Sister Essie Binkley West, known as the “Angel of Skid Row,” was very concerned that Marjoe had performed a marriage after his ordination. “If we ordain any more children,” she explained, “It will be with the understanding that they don’t go around marrying people.”

At age five, Marjoe gave a lecture to women telling them the world needed “more Christian mothers.” He admonished women that “they need to quit running around so much.”

Marjoe told reporters that he had “healed” several people by laying his hands on their heads. Six days after his officiating at the wedding, Marjoe delivered a fiery sermon before 3,000 at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Auditorium. By age six, Marjoe was wowing crowds across the U.S., claiming that his work had given Satan “two black eyes.”

The Gortners found Long Beach, too small, and set up headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky and by all accounts took in millions of dollars as a result of Marjoe’s preaching skills. A great deal of Marjoe’s free time was spent writing hymns, that Marjoe claimed were inspired by God.

By the time Marjoe was 16, the family had made millions from the “little miracle.” His father absconded with the money and abandoned the family. Marjoe moved to San Francisco. He tried to preach again but left the ministry to pursue a career in acting and singing.

The Normandy Wedding Chapel, also known as Normandy Wedding Manor, at Ocean Boulevard and Linden Avenue was demolished to make way for redevelopment. Marjoe Gortner is still involved in acting.

gerrie@beachcomber.news