Get ready to yuk it up. The Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theater is hosting Comcast’s Big Screen Classic Comedy Film Festival this weekend.
The festival will kick off on Friday, April 5 at 7:30 p.m. with a screening of Raising Arizona, the hilarious Coen Brothers cult classic starring Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter. (See the review in this issue). Also included in the evening’s program will be a classic Road Runner cartoon.
The following day, Saturday, April 6 at 2 p.m., the theater will salute the comedy duo Laurel & Hardy. The centerpiece of the salute will be a screening of Way Out West, a 65-minute feature from 1937 which is universally considered one of the duo’s best films. The theater has also procured a newly restored Technicolor coming-attractions trailer for The Rogue Song, one of the most famous lost Laurel and Hardy feature films. Finally, they will show a newly re-discovered three-minute Hearst Metrotone newsreel featuring Laurel and Hardy.
Later that night, at 7:30 p.m., the theater will show It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Stanley Kramer’s epic 1963 comedy starring Spencer Tracy, Milton Bearle, Sid Caesar, Mickey Rooney. An opening overture and exit music will complement the presentation along with displays of original Mad World memorabilia in the lobby.
Finally, Landmark Loew’s will culminate the festival with a screening of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello’s Jack and the Beanstalk on Sunday, April 7 at 2 p.m. Jack and the Beanstalk, which was made in 1952, is considered to be Abbott and Costello’s best feature film.
Between the gilded ceilings and enormous screen, the landmark Loew’s Jersey Theater is the perfect spot to experience these comedy classics. Along with the Friends of Loews (the non-profit organization responsible for the theater’s restoration) the festival is being co-sponsored by Comcast, which donated a 50-foot wide screen to the theater. Landmark Loew’s is also inaugurating their new digital stereo sound system and restored carbon arc illumination.
The Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theater is located at 54 Journal Square, Jersey City. For more information about the festival call (201) 798-6055 or visit the theater’s web site at www.loew’sjersey.org. q