‘Driving Jersey’ goes to the movies

by JAY LUSTIG
"Driving Jersey" co-creator, producer and director Steve Rogers.

“Driving Jersey” co-creator, producer and director Steve Rogers.

The edition of the public-television series “Driving Jersey” that premieres tonight at 8:30 on NJTV is a particularly rich one, as it focuses on the world of movies, and there’s a lot of movie-related sites in New Jersey to drive to.

Director Steve Rogers takes a tour of Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, where the film industry was born; interviews film fans outside a screening “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank; encourages a former employee of the now-defunct Colonial Theatre on Long Beach Island to reminisce; and travels to sites in Riverton and Pennsauken where the concept of the drive-in theater was invented, as well as the state’s only currently active drive-in, the Delsea in Vineland.

Many of the interviewees are asked to talk about their favorite movies, and the tone throughout the entire half-hour program is sweet and nostalgic.

“I just think there’s a nice charm to it that you don’t get from sitting in a movie theater,” says a young Delsea Theatre film-goer, about the drive-in experience. “There’s something else; it’s kind of a different experience by itself.”

“Driving Jersey,” currently in its fourth season, airs on NJTV and other PBS stations. For a guide to finding NJTV on your cable system, click here.

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