WBMA-TV Offers Double Features of Classic Movies in June

Starting on Saturday, WBMA-TV viewers are invited to spend their saturdays with cinema classics.

Every Saturday night at 8 p.m. in June, Bloomfield’s local access TV station (Ch. 35 Comcast; Ch. 30 Verizon) will offer a double feature of its show Saturday Night at the Movies, a combination of classic cartoons, action-packed serials and vintage movies featuring some of the biggest names in Hollywood. The special month of Saturday Night at the Movies series will be hosted by Bloomfield’s own Jack Pignatello, whose interest in film dates back to 1952’s Bwana Devil.

As a boy, Jack spend countless Saturday afternoons in local theaters, watching many of movies and cartoon series that will be featured on Saturday Night at The Movie, including the Flash Gordon serials, classic Universal horror movies, Dick Tracy, Charlie Chan, the Bowery Boys, Hammer Films starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and many more.

Jack has spent most of his career creating television shows as a writer and producer for both corporate and broadcast audiences, and for the past five years, he has owned the northern New Jersey franchise territory of Amramp, a manufacturer and distributor of modular steel wheelchair ramps. His hobbies include community theater, where most recently he appeared as Franz Liebkind in the Brundage Park Playhouse production of The Producers. And since 1965, he’s been lead singer and jug player for The Dirdy Birdies Jug Band, a favorite on the New Jersey/New York folk scene.

“Our goal for Saturday Night at the Movies is to re-create what it was like to go to the movies back in the golden age of movies,” WBMA Executive Director Bob Duthaler said in a press release. "I think Jack will help bring back memories and create new ones for those who tune into to this very special program."  

The schedule for June Double Feature Month is as follows:  

• Saturday, June 1:   His Girl Friday & Doomed To Die
• Saturday, June 8:   Rich And Strange & DOA
• Saturday, June 15:  Last Man On Earth & Meet John Doe
• Saturday, June 22:  Prelude To War & They Made Me a Criminal
• Saturday, June 29:  Panic In The Streets & Suddenly

WBMA-TV also streams its station live in High Definition on its website, www.wbmatv.com along with featuring VOD (Video on Demand) for its original programming on ROKU as well.