Comics writer-editor and pop culture historian Paul Castiglia will be a guest speaker at the West Orange Classic Film Festival on January 25, 2015. Celebrating their 10th anniversary, the eight-week event shows classic films, foreign favorites, local fare, and genre movies, Castiglia’s specialty.

The screening on January 25 will pay homage to the early days of matinee’s when theaters showed cartoons, comedy shorts, and serials along with the feature film. The program will include a Max and Dave Fleischer Popeye cartoon “Customer’s Wanted,” a chapter from the Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe movie serial, and the movie of the day is Laurel and Hardy’s Flying Dueces.

“We’re delighted to have Paul Castiglia back for a second year,” said Festival director Ken Mandel. “Last year’s Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein screening was a great family event and this year’s ‘classic matinee’ continues our efforts to show the classics on the big screen, the way they were meant to be seen.”

Castiglia selected the features for the January 25 screening. He has been writing and editing comics for 25 years with much of his work focused on Archie’s Weird Mysteries, Tex Avery’s Droopy, Looney Tunes, Cracked Magazine, and more. He’s also written about his favorite comedy movies, he wrote a chapter in a book of essays about Vincent Price, and is currently working on a book called Scared Silly: Classic Hollywood Horror-Comedies focused on films that depict humor and horror together. Movies featured in the book include Arsenic and Old Lace, The Ghost Breakers, and Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.

The screening will begin at 2 PM on Sunday, January 25, 2015 at the Essex Green AMC Dine-In Theater at 495 Prospect Avenue, West Orange, NJ. Tickets can be pre-purchased at the theater box office or at Fandango.