October 29, 2018

Halloween with Lorre in Maryland

With its Halloween setting, Arsenic and Old Lace is probably the most appropriate Lorre film for this season of ghosts and witches. And Lorre fans in the area of Pasadena, Maryland, can enjoy a showing of Arsenic and Old Lace at the Mountain Road Community Library on Tuesday, October 30, 2018.

The movie begins at 10 am, as part of the library’s “Coffee and Classics” film series.

Admission is free for everyone.

The Mountain Road Community Library at 4730 Mountain Road (Route 177), in the Long Point Mall, in Pasadena, Maryland.

Parking is available in the mall parking lot.

For more information, please call the library at 410-222-6699.

October 26, 2018

Halloween with Lorre in Newtown

Lorre fans in the area of Newtown, Connecticut, are in for a Halloween treat on Sunday, October 28, 2018 – the Newtown Cultural Arts Commission’s film series “Someday Cinema” continues with The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) on a double-bill with Boris Karloff in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

Each double-feature will be shown at 3 pm and in the evening at 7 pm with The Bride of Frankenstein, followed by The Beast with Five Fingers. The 3 pm matinee will be shown with captions for the benefit of the hearing impaired.

Come in costume!

Admission for the double-feature is $6 for all seats.

The Edmond Town Hall Theatre is located in the Newtown Town Hall, 45 Main Street, in Newtown, Connecticut. For more information, please call 203-270-4285.

Parking is available in front of the Newtown Town Hall, as well as the lot behind the building.

Movies in the “Someday Cinema” series are sponsored by local businesses and organizations. The C.H. Booth Library is the sponsor of The Bride of Frankenstein and The Beast with Five Fingers.

October 25, 2018

Halloween with Lorre in Allentown

Halloween is the season to enjoy horror films, and although Peter Lorre was not considered a “horror film actor”, he did appear in several movies with a ghoulish or terrifying theme – including a couple films adapted from works of Edgar Allan Poe and produced by American International Pictures in the early 1960s.

The first of these was Tales of Terror (1962), and Lorre fans in the area of Allentown, Pennsylvania, will have a rare treat on Thursday, October 25, 2018 – Tales of Terror shown at the Civic Theatre’s Civic Theatre514.

The program begins at 7 pm with rare videos of Vincent Price, followed by Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Basil Rathbone starring in Tales of Terror.

Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, students, and military, and $6 for members of the Civic Theatre. Tickets may be purchased at the box office. Tickets may also be purchased on-line through the Civic Theatre website. A nominal fee of $1.50 will be charged for each ticket purchased on-line.

Civic Theatre514 is located at 514 N. 19th Street, in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Parking is available at the Wells Fargo Bank, located at 522 N. 19th Street, across the street from the theater. Wells Fargo Bank allows the use of their parking lot when the bank is not in operation. Parking is also available along Liberty Street, near the Allentown Fairgrounds. More information about parking, as well as directions to the theater, are available on the venue's website.

For more information, please call the theater’s movie-line at 610-432-0888 or administration at 610-433-8903.

October 21, 2018

Lorre In Your Ear on WGN Radio Theatre

WGN Radio Theatre, airing over Chicago, Illinois, radio station WGN 720 AM, will present an episode of Peter Lorre’s summer radio series Mystery in the Air (1947) on Sunday night, October 21, 2018.

The program begins at 11 pm, Central time – 9 pm Pacific and 12 midnight Eastern – with The Black Museum, “The Champagne Glass” (1952), followed by Mystery in the Air, "Crime and Punishment" (Sept. 25, 1947).

Dave Plier and Mike Gastala step in for Carl Amari and Lisa Wolf, who usually host WGN Radio Theatre.

WGN Radio Theatre may be heard on-line through the WGN website, as well as over radio station WGN 720 AM.

Past broadcasts of WGN Radio Theatre are also available through the WGN website, including these episodes featuring Lorre radio shows ~
  • Episode #244 – Including Suspense, "Back for Christmas" (Dec. 23, 1943)
  • Episode #225 – Including Mystery Playhouse, "Lady in the Morgue" (May 15, 1945)
  • Episode #224 – Including Mystery in the Air, "Beyond Good and Evil" (Aug. 28, 1947)
  • Episode #117 – Including Mystery in the Air, "The Horla" (Aug. 21, 1947)
  • Episode #70 – Including Mystery in the Air, "The Lodger" (Aug. 14, 1947)
  • Episode #51Mystery in the Air, "The Marvelous Barastro" (Aug. 7, 1947)

In the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre (2005), Stephen Youngkin discusses the Peter’s radio career, which began in Germany in the early 1930s.

As a replacement series for The Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Show in the summer of 1947, Mystery in the Air broadcast over NBC for 13 weeks, beginning on July 3 with "The Tell-Tale Heart" and ending with "Crime and Punishment", adapted from Peter’s 1935 Columbia Studios film, on September 25. The series presented tales of suspense "culled from the four corners of world literature", adapted from such famous tales as Alexander Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades" and Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat", as well as original radio dramas.

A complete-to-date list of Peter Lorre’s radio work is available in the Appendix of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, in addition to Peter’s credits on stage, film, and television.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre is available in both soft-bound and hard-bound editions, as well as the Kindle and Nook.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre may be purchased from Amazon U.S., Amazon Canada, and Amazon U.K, as well as other booksellers.

October 20, 2018

Mystery Double-Bill at the Castro Includes Lorre

A Saturday afternoon and evening of mystery is in store for Peter Lorre fans in the San Francisco Bay Area of northern California when the Castro Theatre presents The Maltese Falcon (1941) and The Thin Man (1934) on Saturday, October 20, 2018.

The Maltese Falcon will be shown at 3:15 pm and 7 pm.

The Thin Man will be shown at 5:10 pm and 8:55 pm.

Admission is $13 for adults, and $10 for seniors (age 62 and older) and children (age 12 and under). Tickets may be purchased at the box office.

The Castro Theatre is located at 429 Castro Street, in San Francisco, California.

Parking is available in two small lots and on the street near the cinema. The Castro is also well-served by both bus and street car. Public transportation options, as well as directions to the Castro, can be found on the cinema’s website.

For more information, please call the Castro at (415) 621-6120.

October 17, 2018

Lorre Film at Historic California USO

On Wednesday, October 17, 2018, the Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert, located in Ridgecrest, California, ends its current classic film series “Hollywood Battles the Nazis” with a showing of Casablanca (1943).

The doors open at 6:30 pm. The movie begins at 7 pm.

Admission is free for everyone, and donations are greatly appreciated. Movie treats are available for purchase at the Snack Bar.

Casablanca will be shown in the historic USO building, headquarters for the Historical Society. The Historical Society is located at 230 West Ridgecrest Boulevard, in Ridgecrest, California.

Parking is available in the lot beside the Historical Society.

Classic movies are shown every other Wednesday in the USO building. Please call 760-375-8456 for more information or stop by the Society for the current film schedule.

October 6, 2018

Free Lorre Movie at the Auburn Library

On Saturday, October 6, 2018, the Auburn Public Library continues their “Silver Screen Classic Movie Series” with The Maltese Falcon (1941).

Three showings are scheduled in the Beecher Room – 12 noon, 3:30 pm, and 7:30 pm. If subtitles are available, the library will provide them at the 3:30 pm show.

Admission is free and the public is welcome.

The Auburn Public Library is located at 350 Nevada Street in Auburn, California.

Parking is available in the library parking lot.

On Monday, October 8, Susan Rushton will lead a discussion of The Maltese Falcon. The “discussion sheet” is available at the library before the film. The 90-minute discussion will begin at 6 pm.

Now in its 22nd year, Silver Screen presents a classic movie on the first Saturday of every month. Silver Screen began as a project of the Auburn Arts Commission in 1996 and became independent in 1999. In 2008, the Auburn Public Library adopted the program.