SCREENING ROOM

The American Cinematheque certainly isn’t a Scrooge, with its Egyptian Theatre serving up a feast of holiday movie classics this weekend. Kicking off the festivities Friday at the Egyptian are the 1954 musical “White Christmas” -- starring Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen (both pictured), Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney (yes, George’s aunt) -- and the beloved 1947 fantasy “Miracle on 34th Street,” starring Edmund Gwenn in his Oscar-winning role as Kris Kringle. (“White Christmas” also visits the Aero on Wednesday.) On tap for Saturday afternoon is “A Christmas Carol,” the 1951 British adaptation of Charles Dickens’ tale that some consider to be the best screen version. That evening has a Jimmy Stewart double bill: Frank Capra’s heartwarming 1946 “It’s a Wonderful Life” and Ernst Lubitsch’s enchanting romantic comedy “The Shop Around the Corner.” Sunday heralds 1934’s sophisticated mystery comedy “The Thin Man,” starring William Powell and Myrna Loy and set during the yuletide, and the 1945 romantic comedy “Christmas in Connecticut,” starring Barbara Stanwyck as a magazine food columnist who doesn’t know her way around the kitchen (americancinematheque.com). . . . On Wednesday the Silent Movie Theatre actually shows a silent movie: an early effort by the great Howard Hawks. The 1926 comedy “Fig Leaves” stars Olive Borden, George O’Brien and Phyllis Haver (silentmovietheatre.com).

-- Susan.King@latimes.com