Loew's Jersey Theatre
54 Journal Square,
Jersey City,
NJ
07306
54 Journal Square,
Jersey City,
NJ
07306
98 people
favorited this theater
Showing 926 - 950 of 1,501 comments
Any news on how the prints are for this wknd? Especially Graffiti and Jaws.
A fairly common way to cool a theatre was to fill the plenum (the space under the auditorium) with ice. It could be brought in from the street, packed in blocks and small openings under the seats would let convection do the rest. When re-doing seats in an auditorium you will see these openings, about a foot across with decorative covers, scattered across the floor. If you explore in the old theatre you will notice the the floors in the plenum are often sloped toward drains. Thus the signs that read “Ice Cooled”.
I look forward to Saturdays double bill, anyone going?
MBD –
I’ve been lucky in running my Lafayette Theatre shows and have only had one or two films come in with dodgy leaders. As with you, I knew the film and was able to correct it when inspecting the print; that’s one of the reasons I always pre-screen the film prior to the public show. I even had to reassemble the main titles to My Darling Clementine because someone had “repaired” some broken sections in the titles and put it together out of order. That was fun…
When the Loews Jersey originally opened, it has water cooled air conditioning as did most theatres of that period. Huge pumps in the basement pumped cold well water up to the attic where it went though cooling coils. The system worked amazingly well. The Teaneck Theatre (Cedar Lane Cinemas) still used this system up until the mid 1980’s. In the Loew Jersey, the water cooled system was pulled out back in the 1950’s and replaced with a modern freon compressor system on the roof. All of those compressors no longer work and need to be replaced, along with their cooling coils.
While I am not involved with the funding aspect of the restoration, it is my understanding that while large sums of money were allocated to the project over the years by Jersey City, very little of the money was actually provided. Friends Of The Loews obtained a grant that will cover most of the cost of fixing the air conditioning late last year. I am not privy to their timetable for when the work will actually be done.
As to running a reel out of order, I was not there that night, so I can not comment on what happened. I can say that it is not always the projectionists fault. Earlier in the season, I was the projectionist for “Old Yeller”, and reels 2 & 3 came in with the threading leader swapped. For those who don’t know, threading leader is the begining of the reel that tells the projectionist what reel it is, and has those countdown numbers. Multiplex theaters cut them off and splice the whole film together to run on automated equipment. They are then supposed to splice the leaders back on to the correct reels. I caught the problem before it hit the screen, only because I knew the film and saw the opening frames of Reel 2 were not correct. Someone who did not know the film would not have had anyway to catch a problem like that before it hit the screen.
Jim Rankin… interesting post. Once they get the air to work at the Jersey,it probably will-or should be opened year round. The “fan and ice” system of cooling did require tons of ice and the melting ice probably created plenty of water. This system of air conditioning was used by some railroads to cool passenger cars in the warm months until “real” air conditioning came along with the advent of the streamline era of the mid 30s.Of course they also had fans, but I would not want to travel too far on a railroad coach so equiped on a hot humid day!
Theatrerat says: “What did moviegoers do in the 20s and early 30s in those pre air conditioning days?” Well, in the pre-movie palace days, most of the theatres closed down in the warm summer months. This is what gave rise to the ‘Theatre Season’ since unlike other businesses, the theatres operated only during the heating season precisely because of there being no way to continuously cool the buildings. There were a few exceptions such as the PABST THEATER in Milwaukee which used the downdraft of fan forced air blowing over tons of ice in the attic to cool only during performances in 1895, but such situations were too rare to continue the usual English-language theatre season.
With the advent of the first large scale cooling systems just about the time the movie palaces came upon the scene circa 1920, many of these buildings could be cooled (but NOT air conditioned) and were thus useable when the legit theatres were closed. This advent of the larger cooled movie houses spelled the demise of most of the smaller non-cooled houses that could not compete. People quickly took their business to the coolest places —hence the many summertime photos of marquees bedecked with mock icecicles lettered: “COOL INSIDE!”
Any large structure will quickly become unbearable to the majority of people when it is filled with bodies on a hot, humid day, hence the popularity of air conditioning. Even the pre-1950s air cooling, which did NOT dehumidify, was preferable to sweating in the seats for hours. If the JERSEY is only partially filled after a night of cool temperatures it may have enough volume of cool air to circulate to a smaller audience for two hours, but as the sun bakes it and more warm bodies fill it, the temperature and humidiy will rise and all but the die hards will go elsewhere. Let us hope that they can find the funds to restore the AC, —and then the money to be able to run it!
Though the air does not work at the Jersey, the “return' does work}see the posts of last summer} so at least there will be some cooling.This is a fan system that circulates air in the theater.Was there last June for "Tron” and “Star Trek II- the Wrath of Khan” and the theater was comparitively comfortable on that hot night in early June.What did moviegoers do in the 20s and early 30s in those pre air conditioning days? They went to a movie and enjoyed it! Anyway, I`m looking fowards to seeing “Jaws” on the big screen. Hard to believe this film opened 31 years ago! I remember seeing it at the Marboro theater in Brooklyn, NY like it was last week.
There is no air conditioning in the Loew’s Jersey.
From what I’ve been told by them, they’ve had the money (and a matching grant) to get it installed, but don’t feel it’s worthwhile yet. Frankly, after 10+ years of “renovations” and millions of dollars in donations and grants, the Loew’s Jersey project should be 100% finished by now. It’s staggering that, with all of the funding they’ve secured, the theatre is in worse shape now than it was when it first started running classic films in 2001.
Let’s hope they don’t run the reels out of order again…
Yippee! I Just saw the Jersey’s June offerings â€" now THOSE are the kinds of movies that I want to see on the big screen this summer. I can imagine the titles prominently displayed across the marquee of this great movie house. All rated PG, so they’re “family-friendly†entertainment (to me, anyway â€" I was almost 12 when I saw “Jawsâ€, and it didn’t scare or scar me for life). “American Graffiti†– a great nostalgia flick. “Grease†â€" OK, compared to the stage show, the film was so-so (I recall nodding off towards the end when I saw it first-run in 1978), but for sheer pop-culture status (especially the music) it ranks up there with the others – I guess I‘ll have to see it again to catch it all. Considering the venue, I should have no problem staying awake.
Good job Jersey â€" you should have no problem getting summertime audiences with this more “mass appeal†programming (especially for those my age, some of whom are on the verge of a “mid-life crisis†and want to relive their youth, and at the same time bring the wife and kids!). Especially good for today’s young adults (“tweens†and teens), who could learn a thing or two about what great movies we saw when WE were their age.
Now let’s all hope that June 2nd & 3rd are not scorchers and the air-conditioning works!
I too am a great fan of this theater, and have joyfully attended several times. However, the print of “The Grapes of Wrath” was atrocious (although they did say they can’t be guaranteed good prints), they played the reels of “The Whole Town’s Talking” out of order, and had to stop to fix it, but the print of “Liberty Valance” was sparkling. Yes, I agree they should show some of the neglected oldies, especially Paramount, UA, and Columbia films that you hardly ever see anymore, assuming they’re available. Since Marty Markowitz will probably continue to just stuff his fat, self-aggrandizing ass at street festivals, leaving the Loew’s Kings to wither and die, I’ll continue to trek over here from Brooklyn.
Davebazooka…. Thanks for the series of photos you took of the Jersey recently. I too have trouble taking photos in the auditorium and other places in this theater.You sure will NOT find this amazing detail and work at a multiplex. This- along with a usual top notch program schedule is what keeps me coming back. Probadly will do “Jaws” next Saturday. Too bad “American Graffitti” is not being shown on the same day.Glad you enjoyed the theater.
I meant to write that I photographed on Saturday.
I enjoyed seeing “Sleeper” with a crowd that often laughed, Friday evening. “On the Beach” looked great on the huge screen. I posted a few of my photos, taken Friday, here:
View link
I attended “On The Beach” and though I love the film, seeing the theatre’s interior was my main reason for going. What an amazing place this Loew’s is! My mom visited from upstate to come along, and on the stairs up to the balcony she said the staircase reminded her of the stairs in the old RKO movie palace that used to stand at 86th and Lexington in Manhattan.
My camera wsa not able to capture the grandeur, and due to the darkness most of the pictures are blurred. The flash did little to illuminate the great spaces and in fact created lots of glare. Here are the best pics of the batch:
View link
View link
View link
View link
View link
View link
View link
View link
View link
The deserted streets of Melbourne at the end of “On The Beach,” symbolic of humanity’s extinction, are among my favorite cinematic images. I wish I could have attended “Sleeper.”
Well, I guess you can
t please everybody all the time.Even though I am a fan of "On the Beach" the choice of "Brazil" for the Saturday show kept me scratching my head. For the most part the Jerseys programming is quite good, so Ill leave it at that.Well, I guess you can
t please everybody all the time.Even though I am a fan of "On the Beach" the choice of "Brazil" for the Saturday show kept me scratching my head. For the most part the Jerseys programming is quite good, so Ill leave it at that.Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s a good idea to incorporate a ‘family’ films into these schedules, but please keep it interesting. I would hate to see a bunch of children’s films showing up in the program. “Charlotte’s Web” and “Benji” I don’t need to see again. I can’t believe I remember this, but I hated “Benji” even when I saw it when I was a kid, and I was definitely the target demographic for that film. On the other hand, I remember my mother took me to see “That’s Entertainment” around that same time and I enjoyed it. Nothing nasty or adult about it and very kid friendly as I recall. “Mary Poppins” is a great one too, and for kids and adults of all ages.
I was about to suggest that “Sleeper” is family freindly, but then it occured to me that explaining the “orgasmatron” to the kiddies might be a bit problematic! Of course, when I was 8 years old and saw this one in the theaters the joke went completely over my head and my parents just told me it was “something that made you feel tingly”! That satisfied me and didn’t corrupt my innocence.
Also the fact that this current program is so aggressively unfamily friendly really makes me wonder what is going on in the minds of the people running the place.
You’d think at times they were programming midnight shows at the Angelika or the Cinema Village and not at one of the Loew’s Wonder Theaters.
I agree Vincent. The Loews Jersey programmer’s hearts are in the right places, but an examination of ‘Dystopian Films’? Isn’t that more on par with Film Forum or a college film class? Is there going to be an exam after these screenings?
I don’t know. How ‘bout showing 'The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T’ and ‘Forbidden Planet’ instead of ‘Sleeper’ and ‘Brazil’. Maybe not quite ‘Dystopian’ but…
I still love the Loews Jersey, but c'mon guys keep the films consistent with the experience of going to an old historic movie palace. There are plenty of older/classic films that would be good box office and haven’t already been played to death on TCM, Fox Movie Channel, or AMC, that could be shown (if the prints are available) at the Loews Jersey. I thought last year’s screening of ‘The Haunting’ was a brilliant choice in that direction.
saps;Loew’s 42nd Street Theatre is listed here:
/theaters/6850/
After the Ford tribute things were looking up but now we’ve got more inscrutable programming for the Jersey. The theater really needs somebody else to come up with programs. The only one that makes sense is the Kramer and that’s at 3 in the afternoon!
I mean Brazil as a movie palace feature on a Sat night?!!!
Nice ad, Warren. By the way, What was the Loew’s 42nd Street?
Anyboby out there see or have any comments on the John Ford films that played at the Jersey in late April? Could not make it, but I
m curious if the show was well attended and the quality of the presentation.Probably will go to see " On The Beach" when it screens.Definately one of Stanley Kramers and Gregory Pecks best, not to mention Ava Gardner.Her screen presence was hard to beat, especially in this film. Also, a fine pre Norman Bates performance from Anthony Perkins.