Loew's Jersey Theatre
54 Journal Square,
Jersey City,
NJ
07306
54 Journal Square,
Jersey City,
NJ
07306
98 people
favorited this theater
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The acoustics and deep echo at the Loew’s did an amazing thing tonight. They turned “2001” into an even more otherworldly experience than it already was.
Keir Dullea appeared on stage before the movie and told some great Kubrick stories. He even did a funny impression of Otto Preminger.
That makes two fantastic movie nights in a row at the Loew’s Jersey.
I too was at the screening last night! It was my first visit to the Jersey. I came from Manhattan and convinced a few friends to join me. We all had a great time and we will be back! None of us had ever seen the film before and I agree with the above posters about the quality of the film and especially the sound! Even the popcorn was great!
Here’s the program from this weekend’s sci-fi show. It was a pleasure to hear Pat Neal say her world-saving line of dialogue live. The print of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” was flawless – Mitchell Dvoskin told me it came straight from the 20th Century Fox vault, and it looked it. Sounded great too – a cavernous space like the Loew’s really does justice to the supremely eerie, low-register electronic score Bernard Herrmann provided for this film. Looking forward to “2001” tonight, with Keir Dullea onstage. That movie should give the Loew’s echo another good workout.
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I worked at the Loew’s Jersey in 1975 and 1976 after it was converted to a triple. I loved the old place and it was being badly abused. People just tossed their garbage off the balcony into the abandoned front section of the orchestra. The dressing rooms, etc. in the basement were like opening up a time capsule and finding it weathered and covered with dust. I never got to hear the organ but you could just imagine how’d sound in such a place… the three story lobby… the huge balcony.. the projection booth way up the top with all those old antigues wasting away…. the black carbon pieces for the lamps that seemed to be a half inch thick or more. ( I was used to much smaller ones with a copper color coating on them. )
There was in the 1970’s an usher/handyman/janitor working there named
Willie. Nobody seemed to know just how long he’d worked there but the
guess started at 30 years and went up. Anybody know what happened to
him ?
There was a manager there named Mrs. Rausch ( sp? ) and an assistant
named Lenny Franco. Another assistant was a coptic christian Egyptian
fellow named Mr. Ibriham or Abraham.
I’m glad they’ve been able to save the place.
A theater’s programming is an integral part of its operation (and therefore its history), so I think that discussions about specific film presentations (and their quality) are legit, provided they are not overblown and are kept brief.
True, there are some people who come here mainly to experience the theater itself, but there are others (like myself) who view both as inseparable and equally important. If we don’t believe that the quality of the film (or performance) matches that of the venue, we should let them know and say so! After all, a theater’s survival greatly depends on the quality and popularity of its programming.
I know that Marcus Loew said “I sell tickets to theaters, not movies”, but I would feel silly if I took him literally at his word!
You should not leave davebazooka. There are a number of cranky people here but you should pay them no mind. If all of the nice people leave only the cranks will remain. That would make this website a very boring place indeed.
I am not going to give any credibility to Jim’s unnecessary and inappropriate post by commenting on it, however I do want to thank Patrick for his thoughts. In addition to the educational and
thought-provoking comments often posted, we do have a lot of fun here.
I look forward so very much to visits and contributions to this outstanding site.
Maybe you misread my post, Dave… but discussing movies is completely fine.
Again, if it gets out of hand (dozens of comments about a movie on a theater page), we might have a problem. But the occassional movie discussion is completely okay, even welcome.
We’re working hard to improve the community here on Cinema Treasures, so I hope you don’t give up on the site just yet.
Sorry for the off topic remarks. If someone is a “serious architectural historian,” they won’t rely on message boards at web sites, they will do research at a library that holds architectural drawings of theatres, or take loads of pictures of existing theatre buildings. I find the comments at Cinema Treasures to be an interesting mix of reminiscences and facts about theatres, and if it did not have the comments about movies as well as experiences at individual theatres, it would not be half as interesting as it is. Lately I have noticed cool, snippy comments from members giving little lectures or wrist slaps, which is probably why I find myself visiting the site less and less, and no longer recommending it to anyone at all. I think my relevant postings of many images, notably for the Beekman and the RKO Keith’s/Flushing, contribute much toward knowing these theatres architecturally, and I think I am entitled to exchange some commentary with other members about our moviegoing tastes.
Sorry for diluting the value of the site!
While Cinema Treasures main focus is moving theaters, it’s okay to discuss movies… after all, that’s why we go to theaters in the first place.
Use your discretion, of course. This probably isn’t the place to have an in-depth discussion about movies (as Jim points out), but a comment or two is okay.
Oh Peter, I am so sorry I missed that!
Perhaps next Hallowen you will play it again and let me make a changeover :)
I played in 16mm in my basement theatre many years ago. I just kept watching it over and over again before returning the print.
Yes, the 1950s version of The Thing was a fine achievement, and EdSolero’s advocacy of “2001” is eloquent and deserved, BUT, gentlemen, this CT site is about CINEMAS, not cinema. There is ample room at www.IMDB.com to praise film, but that is little help here since almost all movie houses eventually played everything, so there is no historical note to these buildings and no cachet that any title played here or there. Now, if there were a peculiar live performance in a show house that required it to use special equipment, THAT might be of historical note. If we take up space here to engage in the ‘ad infinitum’ of discussion of films, we dilute the value of this site and cause serious architectural historians to turn off message bulletins from CT, as they then come to regard the Comments on the site as too trivial and Off-Topic to bother with (it does take time to go to each bulletin, often to find them to be only ‘me too’ comments agreeing with a previous post). I don’t think that that is the vision of CT’s founders.
I know how it is; we all have favorite movies that we once saw or wish to see in a favorite venue, and, also, there is precious little to speak of after some years now of comments about the structural aspects having been made, but it is this and the UNIQUE aspects of any one cinema that drew us here and still others every day. Let us respect that unique purpose to record the uniqueness of individual cinemas/theatres lest this generously provided board degenerate into just another random gab fest as have so many other sites on the Net.
The Thing is exceptional 50s science fiction, as is Forbidden Planet and The Day the Earth Stood Still. When I played The Thing at the Lafayette a couple of years ago, the audeince (of all ages) ate it up.
I would agree ET was rather dumb and 2001 deserves all the praise written here. But if we could just go back a few years to simplier times, One of my favorite horror movies from the 50s was the 1951 Howard Hawks production of “The Thing” I watched again recently and thought it held up rather well.
I think it has excellent direction, Hawks did not take direction credit but it has his stamp all over it. Of course the kids today would find it tame by todays standards. Has it ever played at Loew’s Jersey?
Does anyone else think it was a good film for it’s time?
Davebazooka… Finally I find someone who agrees with me on “ET”! Obviously I am NOT the only one who finds this trite overrated piece of drek to be the lousy film that it is! Even my 9 year old nephew hates it! He prefers to watch Star Wars instead. Can1t wait to introduce him to 2001 in the near future. Prehaps Forbidden Planet was not a great film, but it had a big budget that showed on the screen, an interesting story and cast and an electronic score that was ahead of its time.
The Loews Jersey has a temorary stipped down web site with show info at http://www.loewsjersey.net
We ran Forbidden Planet & Alien already. We are trying not to repeat ourselves, at least not to often.
I don’t think any movie quite compares to “2001”… Particularly those from the sci-fi genre. The film transcends genres. I tend to appraise most sci-fi films predominantly for their sheer entertainment value. For me, few of them have even approached the artistry and bold themes that Kubrick’s masterpiece attempted to express. I think both the original Russian version of “Solaris” and the recent Steven Soderbergh remake attempt to explore the nature of humanity on a level that approaches “2001”, and certainly many sci-fi films of the ‘50’s have rich sub-texts (although mostly due to an almost unconscious tapping of the social zeitgiest by the filmmakers rather than deliberate artistry), but I find it so superior that I don’t think it’s fair to use as any sort of benchmark.
Having said that… “Alien” is a top notch horror flick set in space and “Aliens” may be the most whiz-bang sequel EVER! A top notch action pic.
Thanks Warren!
Ed I agree about “2001” being the finest in the medium. Anything new or space-y I see, I find myself automatically comparing to “2001,” especially in the special effects department. Sometimes it is hard to believe that it was released in the 1960s! Especially since 60s space shows in TV had such cheesy effects…I guess budget makes the big difference. I wish I could attend the showing at the Loew’s!! Would also love to see “Alien” and “Aliens” there.
I agree, davebazooka… I’ve always considered “Forbidden Planet” to be overrated. It had the luxury and imprimatur of a splendid MGM budget to separate it from the rest of the sci-fi flicks to that point… but its charms have always eluded me. Can’t say I wasn’t successfully manipulated by “ET”… I quite enjoyed it, even as I could see the emotional strings being pulled. As carried away by sentiment as Speilberg often gets, even with his most mature works (the closing gravestone sequence in “Schindler’s List”, the parenthetical contemporary sequences that set up the flashback in “Saving Private Ryan”), I find him to be a supremely gifted cinematic story teller.
Now, “2001” is my idea of the finest work of art ever achieved in the medium. I’m more than just a little upset that I won’t be around that weekend to see this masterwork at the Jersey.
“2001” is the best!!! I absolutely despised “ET.” Childish garbage. Intelligent kids will easily see through its fake cutesy-cutesiness and become bored. “Forbidden Planet” always irked me and today it is little more than a corny shlocky 50s scifi period piece. The fact that it was based upon Shakespeare’s “Tempest” made some suckers think it was a cut above the usual science fiction fare, which is was not. “Angry Red Planet” was more interesting than “Forbidden Planet,” and that’s not saying much for the latter.
Good thing “ET” is being showed for the afternoon matinee on 11-18. I absolutely hate this film and I do not even consider it to be si-fi.I know I probably get a lot of heat for this but I found this film to be cheesy, schmaltzy and highly manipulative . I guess that “Forbidden Planet” would have been a better choice, but since I do not run the programming at the Jersey,what can I say? Do intend to see “2001” the film that almost singlehandedly raised si fi from a Saturday matinee genre to serious filmmaking. I`m sure it will be a treat to see this intelligent and awesome film at the Jersey on the big screen.
The Loew’s web site is down, has been for a couple of days. I hope everything is ok with the theatre!
Attention sci-fi fans: the November 2006 movie schedule has just been confirmed â€" coming soon…
“Classic Sci-Fi Weekendâ€
Fri. the 17th
7:30 p.m. â€" “The Day the Earth Stood Stillâ€
Sat. the 18th
2:30 p.m. â€" “E.T.â€
7:00 p.m. â€" “2001: A Space Odysseyâ€
There will be special live appearances by film stars Patricia Neal (after “The Day The Earth Stood Stillâ€) & Keir Dullea (before “2001â€) â€" while at the theater, they will be “hosting†fundraising receptions (to benefit Friends of the Loew’s). A ticket to each reception costs $25 â€" this includes admission to the respective movie show.
It’s great to see that FOL is recognizing the inherent potential of film programming as a development opportunity and utilizing “star power†as part of their fundraising efforts â€" value-added events such as these comprise a “win-win†situation, where patrons can contribute and at the same time immediately realize and enjoy the results of their benevolence. Most programs and events have this potential – it should be exploited whenever possible.
“Dracula” and “Dracula’s Daughter” will be the double feature at the Loews on Oct.27, part of their Holloween festival. Can’t wait to see those two films on the “big” screen.
Hitchcock Weekend
A big cheer from the Bronx — as opposed to what would be a far less appreciative big Bronx cheer — to all those who again made possible another wonderful weekend at the Loews Jersey.
Though Thelma Ritter may have had enough in her bag to put half of Hackensack to sleep for the winter, this return visit to Journal Square reminded me just how energizing and pleasurable these evenings can be. It’s great to see these pictures in this kind of theater and with this kind of audience — and for that, as we say in the Bronx, I denk you. You make it worth the schlep.
Nosferatu to you too.
MovieBear