Loew's Jersey Theatre
54 Journal Square,
Jersey City,
NJ
07306
54 Journal Square,
Jersey City,
NJ
07306
98 people
favorited this theater
Showing 301 - 325 of 1,508 comments
Sounds great….it’s great to know that so much care is put into this gem of a theater.
Hi GabeTDF. I’m glad you enjoyed the recent presentation of “The Mark of Zorro.”
The medallions over the swags have been removed from the pelmet and are being kept safe for replacement. The other missing pieces of the pelmet, the center swag and the straight back curtain, were deteriorated to the point where they were tearing under their own weight and had to be taken down. We are having them recreated, reusing the original fringe. Our drapery company expects to have the replacement pieces done in a couple of weeks, and we will have them hung shortly thereafter.
The jeweled curtains in front of the organ chambers have met the same fate, deteriorated to the point where they tore down under their own weight. These are more difficult to access, requiring scaffolding in the auditorium. In the future we will have them recreated, and in the meantime we may hang a less ornate but still appropriate scrim. Unfortunately, this will not happen before next summer at the earliest.
Another unexpected surprise from our textiles came when we scaffolded up to our top screen masking to repair where it was sagging into the upper-left corner of the screen. We found that it, too, had deteriorated, and the eyelets that allow the masking to pleat out of frame had been ripping out under the curtain’s weight. In light of this, we have ordered an entirely new upper masking, and our drapery company expects to have this ready next week. In the mean time we have been manually tieing up the masking so it does not interfere with the picture. Since we cannot reach the top of the masking with scaffolding, we will need to rent a special lift to allow us to install the new masking where it attaches on our screen frame, 30 feet up.
We decided that, while we have that lift, we can use it to hang a new traveler curtain to replace our existing damaged one. We are in the process of ordering this curtain, and once it and the masking arrive, we will be installing both.
While we had the scaffolding up, we were able to move the electrical cord that was hanging into our 1.85 and scope frames so that it no longer interferes (finally!).
As far as the radiator grilles go, they were missing, and the fire department (completely correctly) insisted that the openings be covered so that they didn’t collect (combustable) trash. I suggested the perforated steel grilles that we have there now; they are primed and set to be painted an appropriate bronze color to de-emphasize them in the outer lobby space. They, like many other fixtures in the Loew’s, are simply placeholders for a true restoration, and we make no pretense otherwise.
Just a curious question: what’s going on with the pelmet and curtains over the organ chambers. Where are the medallions over the swags, and where are the missing pieces of the back straight curtain, behind the swags? Finally, what’s up with the “jeweled” curtains in front of the organ chambers. The left one disappeared 3 years ago, and now the right side one is gone? Where are they? I would think that (until recently) these were the only intact movie palace organ chambers curtains remaining. Where did they go?
Also, when you are simply renovating the radiator grills in the Vestibule, please say so on your website. That is not a restoration. It is however, a welcome renovation.
Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed the recent presentation of “The Mark of Zorro.” The evening spoke to just how far this theatre can go.
SPECIAL SCREENING this Saturday – FOL and GSTOS present…
October 2nd Academy Theater:30 PM: The Mark of Zorro (1920) (silent film with LIVE “Wonder Morton” organ). Doors and box office open Academy Theater PM.
CLASSIC FILM SERIES – upcoming weekends…
October: annual “classic horror weekend” (a week before Halloween) –Brides of Dracula (1960) , Son of Frankenstein (1939) and Nosferatu (1922) (silent film with LIVE “Wonder Morton” organ).
November sneak peek: a tribute to a famous former Hoboken resident (and past Loew’s customer)… a “Sinatra weekend” is being finalized! – On the Town (1949) , From Here to Eternity (1953) , Ocean’s Eleven (1960) and Von Ryan’s Express (1965) are the prime candidates, of which THREE will be chosen and screened (titles subject to change, TBA at Friends of the Loew’s – schedule forthcoming).
Would it be possible to have another James Bond Festival….. the last one played out just great at the Loews.
How about a tribute to Universal and Hammer horrors?
How about showing 70mm movies, or better yet, a 70mm festival in the near future..like before the end of the year? :)
Just wonderful! I will be there. Are the loges open yet?
[size=4][color=red]The Landmark Loews Jersey â€" The Wonder Theatre Of New Jersey[/color][/size]
The weekend of September 24th and 25th, The Landmark Loews Jersey Theatre located on Journal Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, continues its 9th consecutive year of classic films and kicks off its fall season with some of the best films Alfred Hitchcock never made. These are films that have a Hitchcock feel to them, but he had nothing to do with.
The theatre is located directly across from the PATH subway station connecting Manhattan with Jersey City, it is also easy to reach from most area highways. Secure discounted parking is located directly behind the theatre. Have your parking ticket validated at the theatre’s boxoffice.
All Show Are Presented In 35mm With Genuine Carbon Arc Projection On Our Giant 50 Foot Wide Screen.
Friday September 24th at 8:00pm â€" Peeping Tom (1960)
Starring Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer. Directed by Michael Powell. (106 Minutes)
This British-made film premiered within a few months of “Psycho,” and the two are often compared. Indeed, “Peeping Tom,” about a psychologically damaged young man driven to kill women, is every bit the dark story of madness and murder that “Psycho” is. It also shares themes of voyeurism and repressed desire with “Rear Window” and “Vertigo.” But if those three films ultimately cemented Hitchcock’s reputation as “The Master” of psychological thriller and horror films, “Peeping Tom” all but destroyed the career of Michael Powell, who had been one of Britain’s top directors. It was denounced and banned as prurient exploitation, and all but forgotten until Martin Scorsese lauded it as groundbreaking and personally arranged for its re-release. It is both more frank and yet more subtle in its exploration of its themes than any of Hitchcock’s works. And it is also a provoking meditation on the appeal of cinema, which is inherently voyeuristic. A half century later, it retains its considerable psychological impact. Don’t miss this 35mm rare screening.
Saturday September 25th at 6:00pm â€" The Stranger (1946)
Starring Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young. Directed by Orson Welles. (95 Minutes)
This film is a cat-and-mouse hunt to unmask a Nazi war criminal hiding in a sleepy Connecticut town still brims with Welles’s flair, such as his extraordinary use of lighting and shadow, long focus and dramatic camera angles. It’s also a first-rate thriller thanks to a great performance by Welles, and also by Robinson. The theme is a familiar one to Hitchcock fans, evil amid the ordinary.
Saturday June 25th at 8:20pm â€" Charade (1963)
Starring Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn. Directed by Stanley Donen. (113 Minutes)
Audrey Hepburn is an innocent woman caught in a web of intrigue and deceit when her husband is murdered and she discovers she knew very little about him that was true. As she is pursued by three men who were apparently her husband’s accomplices in the theft of a large sum of money, she looks to Cary Grant for help — but it turns out he has layers of secrets too, including multiple aliases. Soon, neither the increasingly desperate Hepburn nor the audience knows what to believe or whom to trust. Stanley Donen, better known for making musicals, borrowed some of Hitchcock’s favorite plot devices to craft this stylish thriller that also mixes in romance and comedy. Includes beautiful location cinematography of early ‘60s Paris, and a great score by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini.
Visit The Landmark Loews Jersey web site for details.
[size=1]The Landmark Loews Jersey Theatre[/size]
3rd Season? We have been running classic films every fall/winter/spring since December of 2001.
Got an e-mail today from Friends of the Loews about their 3rd.Season? Schedule,looks like they are back in action.
The partial Fall schedule is available now:
http://loewsjersey.org/
In my humble opinion, this film also deserves to be shown at the Loew’s Jersey Theatre:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgpfMxYFSmE
Truly an amazing film.
The Loew’s has so much going for it. The venue is very nearly unique in its ability to show vintage movies, and it is so close to New York. What a combination!!
Bolorkay is right. The Friend’s of the Loew’s deserve the highest amount of praise in bringing this great movie palace back to life. I can’t wait to see the new improvements as they come along.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned that the Loew’s Jersey was my home town movie theatre in the 1960s-1980s. I’m spoiled for life. Multi-plex, shmulti-plex. Bah!
Pity is wasn’t shown. Any good Technicolor movie looks just amazing on the Loew’s Jersey screen. When a film takes real advantage of the medium, I would think that the effect of showing it on the Loew’s Jersey screen with the carbon arc projectors would be truly spectacular. With the proper publicity, this film would fill the house—no question. Such a presentation is an all too rare and almost unique experience today.
Thanks for the information, Rob. Too bad that they were cut back then , but thank goodness more harm wasn’t done to the auditorium at that time.
Have you ever considered showing this movie? I would love to see this on the big screen with those carbon arc projectors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTIgbXtRW4I
It certainly would be flattering to what you’ve got in the Loew’s.
Just a thought.
The long swags were cut, probably in the 50s for CinemaScope, and we didn’t find them in the building. When the fabrics are replaced as part of the restoration (well into the future), we will likely recreate them and rig them to fly out to widen the proscenium when needed.
We’re still deciding on the fall films; we’ll post to the web site as soon as we know our titles. The dates of our film weekends should be posted soon.
Thanks Gabe I just remember they are closed due to no air.Reopen in September.
Here are some interesting photos!: http://loewsjersey.org/alt/
The house pelmet has been lowered and is being cleaned.
Does anyone know if the side house swag curtains still exist and if there are any plans to re-hang them? (The stage would look a lot better if they were re-installed.) Please tell me they still exist…
I think “gallion”’s phrase about the Loew’s in Newark really says it all when it come to the great Landmark Loew’s Jersey..
“The site is now a parking lot.” !!!!!
All of us who love these old movie palaces owe a resounding “thank you” to Mr. Egan and “The Friends of the Loew’s” (I’m sure they’d love to hear this as well from all of the audience members at each monthly film program.)
In a totally different direction……
– (I know it’s a bit early, but…) Any idea when the Fall Film Programs will be announced ?
I was asst mgr here in 1951-52. Jim Kolbeck was the manager.
Oher assistants were Sully Sullivan and Joe Weiner. We were open
around 10am with last show out around 1am. On weekend evenings
we often had full house with two box offices operating at peak.
Mr Egan deserves all kinds of credit in keeping this treasure alive.
I feel very lucky to have been part of the history of this, one of the truly
magnificent movie palaces. By the way I read that Jerry Lewis was an usher
here when in his teens. According to Mr Lewis he worked at Loews State
in Newark in the early 40s. I also was asst mgr there, after leaving Loews
Jersey. Loews in Newark, while not as grand as the Jersey, was also quite
beautiful. The site is now a parking lot.
by Gallion 6/7/10
That’s not entirely accurate. While we do reduce the height of the image for scope, we also increase the width. The screen areas used for 1.85 and 2.39 are close, with 2.39 ever so slightly bigger, with the 1.85 image at 41'x22' and the 2.39 image at 20'x47'. The lenses we have for 70mm will make it (appropriately) our largest format, at 22.5'x49.5'.
We remain constrained by the width of the proscenium, at exactly 50' plaster to plaster. A larger screen would require a screen frame in front of the proscenium, which, while possible, is impractical for the current and future uses of the theatre.
This is where I get to say that the 1.85:1 image is bigger than the 2.39:1.
We mask all formats appropriately. Our screen and proscenium have a 2:1 aspect ratio, and we project all formats at the maximum possible size (side masking for silent, 1.37:1, and 1.85:1, and top masking for 2.39:1).
A question for my curiosity. Do they have masking for the screen for films not filmed in scope?
[size=4][color=red]The Landmark Loews Jersey â€" The Wonder Theatre Of New Jersey[/color][/size]
This coming weekend of June 4th and 5th, The Landmark Loews Jersey Theatre located on Journal Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, concludes its 80th Birthday Jubilee and 10th consecutive year of classic films. All this season, we have been saluting the decades that the Landmark Loews Jersey has been entertaining us. For June, we will be presenting some great classic films from the 1980’s.
Located directly across from the PATH subway station connecting Manhattan with Jersey City, it is also easy to reach from most area highways. Secure discounted parking is located directly behind the theatre. Have your parking ticket validated at the theatre’s boxoffice.
All Show Are Presented In 35mm With Genuine Carbon Arc Projection On Our Giant 50 Foot Wide Screen.
Friday June 4th at 8:00pm â€" Raging Bull (1980)
Starring Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent, Nicholas Colasanto. Directed by Martin Scorsese. (128mins., Rated: R)
Martin Scorsese’s brutal character study incisively portrays the rise, fall and redemption of real-life middleweight boxer Jake La Motta, a violent man in and out of the ring who seemed to thrive on his ability and willingness to take a beating. Opening with the spectacle of the over-the-hill La Motta (Robert De Niro) practicing his 1960s night-club act, the film flashes back to 1940s New York when Jake’s career is on the rise. But Scorsese and De Niro eschew uplifting, “Rocky”-like, boxing movie conventions to make an unflinching portrait of an unlikable man and his ruthless profession. Their Jake is relentlessly cruel and self-destructive, a person whose inner demons cannot be exorcised even by acclaim and success. The physical brutality that makes Jake a champion in the boxing ring cripples his relationships with his wives, his business associates, and his brother.
Saturday June 5th at 6:00pm â€" Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
Starring Paul Reubens, Elizabeth Daily, Mark Holton, Diane Salinger. Directed by Tim Burton.
(90mins, Rated: PG)
Tim Burton made his feature-length directorial debut with this film, and immediately established what would become his trademark quirky style. The film has a look reminiscent of German expressionist movies of the 1920s, filtered through a pop-art sensibility of cartoons, horror serials and Gothic fairy tales. The result is a surreal, mystical world, yet one very close to our own â€" that perfectly fits the absurdist humor. And the score by Danny Elfman is terrific. In all, Pee wee’s Big Adventure is a delightful film, enjoyable for children as well as adults.
Saturday June 5th at 8:15pm â€" The Blues Brothers (1980)
Starring John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, James Brown, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Carrie Fisher, John Candy, Henry Gibson. Directed by John Landis.
(133mins., Rated: R.)
This movie is also an unapologetic homage to rhythm-and-blues in all its popular derivatives, from Cab Calloway to James Brown to Aretha Franklin, all of whom appear in lovingly realized musical scenes. And there is great fun in spotting the other members of the film’s legion of guest stars, including John Candy, Carrie Fisher, Steve Lawrence, Twiggy, Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman), Frank Oz and Steven Spielberg. And topping it all off, the streets, highways and police department of Chicago are laid to waste in what is, if not the most spectacular, then without doubt the funniest and coolest car chase scenes ever filmed. The Blues Brothers is filled with great fun and great music from beginning to end, and is the essence of entertainment.
Visit The Landmark Loews Jersey web site for details.
[size=1]The Landmark Loews Jersey Theatre[/size]
How is it that you imbed photos in these posts? I’d like to try it myself.