Classic Holiday Films and Concert December 9, 2011

Holiday Traditions
At The Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre
54 Journal Square, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel. (201) 798-6055 Fax: (201) 798-4020 Web: www.loewsjersey.org

A Not-For-Profit Arts Center in a Landmark Movie Palace

All Titles Screened in 35mm on our BIG 50ft Wide Screen

Friday, December 9 at 8PM
“The March of the Wooden Soldiers” Starring Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy. Produced by Hal Roach. 1934, 70 mins., B&W.

“The March of the Wooden Soldiers” is the reissue title for 1934’s “Babes in Toyland” starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. It was produced by Hal Roach, and based on an operetta by Victor Herbert. L&H are bumbling apprentices to the master toymaker who supplies Santa Claus. They live in Toyland, a fairytale land populated by all the Mother Goose characters we remember from childhood – and one mean villain who threatens to foreclose on the widow who owns the house where L&H live, unless the widow’s lovely daughter agrees to marry him, and not her true love. L&H try to help, but only make matters worse. Soon afterwards, the villain is leading the Bogeymen – terrible creatures who live in the frightening world beyond Toyland’s boarders – in a charge to overrun and ravish the fairytale community. But at the last minute, it’s one of L&H’s mistakes that saves the day. Wonderfully charming and corny at the same time, the movie is a classic that is enormously entertaining to young and old alike. It doesn’t hurt that for anyone who grew up in the New York area in the last 60 years, watching “The March of the Wooden Soldiers” on TV was a holiday tradition. But the movie’s real staying power is the unique appeal of Laurel & Hardy. Unlike the other great comedy teams, L&H’s comedy wasn’t really rooted in slapstick, but rather in the big and small foibles of being human. You laugh at them even as you identify with them, and that’s why they’re still both very funny and very touching all these decades later. And in turn, that’s why “The March of the Wooden Soldiers”, arguably the pair’s most imaginative movie, is a timeless joy.

Admission: $7 for adults; $5 for kids & seniors.

Then on Saturday, December 10 join us for our Old Fashioned Movie Palace Holiday Show --- an Annual Loew’s Jersey Tradition!

Deep in your memory – or maybe it’s only a memory you wish you had – there was one Christmastime when you went to a big old theatre, the kind that looked like a palace, for a special holiday show. They played Christmas carols on the biggest organ you’d ever seen, and the sound was so beautifully intense it practically lifted you out of your seat. Plus you got to sing along to some of the songs. And then you enjoyed a holiday movie on the theatre’s enormous screen. No matter if this is one of your best memories, or a memory you only wished you had – now you can re-live it!

Saturday, December 10 at 6:30PM
Live Concert & Sing-Along Featuring the majesty and power of the Loew's magnificent Wonder Morton pipe organ.

Enjoy Christmas carols & holiday songs performed by vocalists and played on one of the most extraordinary instruments in the Metropolitan Area. And experience a great old movie theatre tradition brought back to life: the sing-along, with words projected on screen, for several of the songs.

Followed By. . .

Saturday, December 10 7:45PM
“The Wizard of Oz” Starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Frank Morgan, Margaret Hamilton. Directed by Victor Fleming. 1939, 101 mins., Color.
There may be no other movie that is so intertwined with our cultural consciousness as “The Wizard of Oz”. Loved by young and old alike, its scenes, songs and dialogue are part of our lexicon – for many good reasons. Start with Judy Garland: only 16 at the time, her sparkling talent as a singer and actress made the screen iridescent, and made her a star. But in truth, the rest of the cast matched Garland in giving pitch-perfect performances. Then there is the visual effect of the film: incredibly detailed sets, wonderful costumes, ground-breaking make-up, eye-popping Technicolor, innovative special effects and expert cinematography all combine to create one of the most extraordinary looking films ever made -- even by today’s jaded CGI standards. And of course, there is the beguiling story of a little girl who longs to go “over the rainbow” – and finds adventure when she does, but then grows homesick. For all these reasons, “The Wizard of Oz” is the essence of movie making, and an unequaled cinematic experience. Surprisingly, the film was not really a critical or box office success when it was released. (It had been one of the most expensive movies made to date, and it did not recoup its costs.) But beginning in the 1950s, annual broadcasts on prime-time network TV transformed “The Wizard of Oz” into a national tradition and cultural icon. But ironically, so much of the film’s splendor is literally diminished, if not lost, on the small screen. So no matter how many times you may have seen “The Wizard of Oz” on TV, you’ll see it for the first time when you see it on the Big Screen.

Admission for BOTH the Concert & “Wizard of Oz” is $10 for adults; $7 kids & seniors.

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Admission for ONLY “Wizard of Oz” is $7 for adults; $5 kids & seniors.

**Film descriptions are compiled from various sources.

The Loew's Is Easy To Get To: The Loew's Jersey Theatre, at 54 Journal Square, Jersey City, NJ, is directly across JFK Boulevard from the JSQ PATH Center with trains to and from Lower and Midtown Manhattan and Newark's Penn Station, and is minutes from the NJ Turnpike, Rts 3 and 1&9 and the Holland & Lincoln Tunnels. We're easy to reach by car or mass transit from throughout the Metro Region.

Discount off-street parking is available in Square Ramp Garage adjoining the Loew's at the foot of Magnolia Avenue off of Tonnelle Avenue, behind the Loew's. Patrons must validate their parking ticket before leaving the Theatre.

What’s Special About Seeing A Movie At The Loew’s? The Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre is one of America’s grandest surviving Movie Palaces. We show movies the way they were meant to be seen: in a grandly ornate setting – on our BIG 50 ft wide screen! The Loew’s runs reel-to-reel -- not platter -- projection, which often allows us to screen an archival or studio vault print that is the best available copy of a movie title.

PLUS – Live organ entrance music (from the Loew’s magnificently restored pipe organ) before most screenings.

The Loew’s Jersey is managed by Friends of the Loew’s, Inc. as a non-profit, multi-discipline performing arts center.

Classic Film Weekends are presented by Friends of the Loew’s, Inc.

The Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre receives support from the City of Jersey City, Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy and the Municipal Council, and the Hudson County Open Space Trust Fund, administered by the Hudson County Division of Planning, Thomas A. DeGise, County Executive, and the Board of Chosen Freeholders.

Official Website: http://www.loewsjersey.org