Six Golden Age musicals hit the big screen at Palo Alto's Stanford Theatre starting Friday, Sept. 11, with three weekends of double features running through Sept. 27.
The series, titled "Classic Musicals from 20th Century-Fox" on the theater's website, pairs two films each weekend at the 221 University Ave. landmark. All six were produced between 1938 and 1942.
The lineup:
- Sept. 11–13: "Alexander's Ragtime Band" (1938) at 7:30 p.m., with a 3:45 p.m. Saturday and Sunday matinee; "Tin Pan Alley" (1940) at 5:45 and 9:30 p.m.
- Sept. 18–20: "Moon Over Miami" (1941) at 7:30 p.m., with a 4:05 p.m. matinee Saturday and Sunday; "Down Argentine Way" (1940) at 5:50 and 9:15 p.m.
- Sept. 25–27: "Sun Valley Serenade" (1941) at 7:30 p.m., with a 4 p.m. matinee Saturday and Sunday; "Orchestra Wives" (1942) at 5:40 and 9:10 p.m.
Each weekend's headliner screens at 7:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday, with afternoon matinees added Saturday and Sunday. The second feature bookends the evening with early and late showings.
Tickets are sold at the box office on the day of the show. Adults pay $7. Adults 65 and older and youth 18 and under pay $5. A $24 gift certificate covers four admissions. The theater accepts cash and credit cards.
The Stanford Theatre, managed by Cyndi Mortensen and operated by the Stanford Theatre Foundation under David Woodley Packard, specializes in films produced between 1910 and 1970. The 1920s movie palace features neoclassical Persian and Moorish architecture, a lobby gallery of original movie posters and a Mighty Wurlitzer organ played live during intermissions. The organ's console came from Grauman's Chinese Theatre in 1926, and its pipes from Loew's Theatre in 1928.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation purchased the building in 1987 for $7.7 million and spent $6 million on a restoration. The theater reopened in 1989 with a screening of "The Wizard of Oz."
The theater sits two blocks from public parking garages on Bryant Street and High Street, and within walking distance of the main Palo Alto Caltrain station. The box office number is (650) 324-3700.
No programming beyond the Sept. 27 close of the series has been announced.
