Classic movies making return to Ritz

The Arts Council of Mississippi County will be presenting its second movie in the Ritz Classic Movie Series Saturday, and after the last event's turnout many are looking forward to this month's show.

In January, the Arts Council presented its first in a series of classic movies at the Ritz Civic Center with the goal of providing an all-ages atmosphere for families to come to and enjoy movies as well as to pay homage to the Ritz's former status as a theater. With nearly 100 guests, volunteers and staff at the show, which was considered a trial run to work out any bugs, the event was considered a success, according to assistant director Ken Jackson, and planning for the next movie began.

"Everyone really seemed to love it," Jackson said. "When we got the surveys back we had comments like, 'Thanks for showing the old movies,' 'Great job. Keep it up,' 'Loved it,' 'Enjoyed being at the Ritz after almost 40 years." As you can see people really liked it, so we were pretty happy with the results."

Jackson said he's excited about the interest people have shown in seeing such old films, explaining the idea to show these old movies started to stir from a film storage canister that was found in the Ritz containing several volumes of the old "Flash Gordon" program. Since finding these volumes, the board had been toying with the idea for a few years trying to make it work.

"We didn't really have any kinks to workout," said Jackson. "We had one cartoon where the sound was a little low, but other than that, we haven't had to change a thing."

After a short break in February, because of a full schedule of events for that month, the newest feature for the Ritz Classic Movie Series will be "The Arizona Kid," starring Roy Rogers, which will be preceded by two shorts, a "Mighty Mouse" cartoon and the Three Stooges in "Three Little Beers." The show starts at 2 p.m. Admission is $2 for all ages.

For more information on Saturday's show or any other events at the Ritz, call David Lyttle or Ken Jackson at 870-762-1744.

cpinkard@blythevillecourier.com