Film Commission to Celebrate Universal Centennial ‘Under Stars’

The Fort Lee Film Commission has announced the lineup of films and performers for its annual “Movies & Music Under the Stars” series, which kicks off July 7 at the , with screenings and performances taking place on Saturday evenings throughout the summer.

This year is special because it marks the , which traces its roots to Fort Lee, and the Film Commission is working with the cinema giant to celebrate not only its 100th anniversary, but also that local connection.

The films for this year’s Saturday evening series are therefore all Universal films, and the studio is waving all licensing fees, which will save the Film Commission “several thousand dollars,” according to executive director Tom Meyers.

“Each of these films has to be licensed through these studios, and normally even an older title would cost anywhere from $175 to $225, and newer titles could run upwards of $350 to $400 per license fee,” Meyers said. “So when we reached out to Universal, they were very accommodating; they understood Fort Lee’s role in their history, and if you put 10 films together, that’s a substantial amount of money for us.”

Meyers added, “We suggested that a great way to promote and celebrate Universal’s history is by screening these films—like we do every year, but this time, for the first time, we’re dedicating it to one studio.”

Members of the Film Commission however were faced with the daunting task of choosing which 10 films to screen, however, which Meyers said was a “fun” process, but one that was made all the more difficult because there were so many titles to choose from.

“We all had our own ideas about what we wanted, and there was a lot of compromise going on behind the scenes,” Meyers said. “But we finally came up with what we think is a pretty good example of the best of Universal’s catalog.”

He added, “Obviously we couldn’t hit every decade, but we tried to give everyone a taste of what Universal has meant in terms of American film.”

“I think we’ve covered it pretty well, from the blockbusters, to individual stars from the Universal Studios system, without who there wouldn’t be Universal Studio,” he said. “If you look at it, I think it’ll give people an education in film history when they sit on their blanket or beach chair.”

Meyers highlighted a few of the films being screened this summer, including the following:

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) on July 21

“We had to screen [Abbott and Costello] as part of the Universal series simply because when you get to the late 30s, Universal Studios was in a bad way,” Meyers said. “Pretty much the banks took over Universal, and the original owners that founded it lost the studio. And then came along these two burlesque comedians, who were getting exposure on the radio and becoming very well known. MGM wanted them, and Universal ended up signing them. And from 1940, when they made their first film, they started making Universal millions of dollars.”

Pillow Talk (1959) on Aug. 25

“We included Abbott and Costello because they were big money-makers the same way we included Doris Day and Rock Hudson from the late 50s and early 60s by including Pillow Talk because they, at that period of time, were pretty much the face of Universal,” Meyers said.

The Blues Brothers (1980) on Aug. 11

“[The Blues Brothers] is one of the super blockbuster, big-screen comedies from 1980,” Meyers said. “And then the next week, you’re going to see something that may seem totally different, but that really isn’t. It’s W.C. Fields and The Bank Dick (1940).”

He added that Abbott and Costello, W.C. Fields and Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi of The Blues Brothers fame provide the basis for a lineup of “great American comedies.”

“And they’re all from the same studio,” Meyers reiterated.

Jaws (1975) on July 14

Meyers called Jaws, “The first blockbuster summer hit ever.”

Back to the Future (1985) on July 7

“It’s a great film, very rarely seen outdoors, and it almost defines the whole series, Back to the Future,’” Meyers noted.

He also said that before the screening of The Bank Dick on Aug. 18—a relatively short film at just over an hour—The Red Hook Ramblers, a New Orleans-style jazz band from Brooklyn, will play live during the screening of a short, silent film shot in Fort Lee, Reckless Romeo (1917), starring Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle.

“So instead of doing a full silent film, we’ll do a short film with the live music,” Meyers said. “And it flows right into Fields and The Bank Dick so that’s something that we added as we went along.”

On the night before the film series starts—July 6—and running in conjunction with the film series, the will open a new exhibit dedicated to Universal Studios called “Universal Studios: From Fort Lee to Universal City, A Centennial of Motion Picture magic.”

Meyers said the exhibit, which runs until the end of the year at the museum, will include archival photos dating back to 1912 from the two studios—one Universal bought in Fort Lee in 1912 and another they built in 1914—in addition to artifacts from the studios and items either donated or on loan from Universal and from Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, a lot of which was shot in Fort Lee over the past several years.

“So we’ll have the old and the new,” Meyers said. “Universal is not only helping us as the chief sponsor of our outdoor films this year, but they also are helping us put together a great exhibit.”

Note: Patch will have more on the museum exhibit as opening day approaches.

Fort a complete rundown and schedule of films and musicians for the “Movies & Music Under the Stars” 2012 program refer to the flyer attached to this article.

Music starts at 7 p.m. each Saturday evening during the summer at the Fort Lee Community Center, and film screenings start at sunset. In the event of rain, the shows are moved to community center’s second floor.

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