Author: Ben Model

  • Trial Balloons and Pickles

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    Ben Model
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    I’ve floated a couple trial balloons as projects to test the waters on another one I wanted to do. My first DVD release was not Accidentally Preserved, actually. You may not know about it because I didn’t send out a press release or screeners. I just wanted to get the bugs out of the system…

  • Finding a Chestnut in a Haystack

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    Ben Model
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    The Mack Sennett films released through Paramount in the late ‘teens give you the impression that an effort was underway to take the Keystone format up a level. That is, if you can see one of the Paramounts. Despite who produced them and who released them, they don’t survive well and are remarkably difficult to…

  • Silent Comedy Laughs

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    Ben Model
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    Every once in a while I question something I’ve been saying about the way people react to silent films. It’s usually when one of these responses hasn’t happened for a couple or few years. And then it happens again, and I am re-invigorated with this reaction. This very thing happened on Saturday. Ironically, it was…

  • 16mm Film Collecting on DVDs

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    Ben Model
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    Over the last couple years, I’ve had conversations with people who’ve told me how much they like the Accidentally Preserved DVDs I’ve released. Which is really gratifying. What started out as a one-off turned into a short series that wound up as the springboard for Undercrank Productions. Film collectors, in particular, seem to be the…

  • Cliff Bowes Made Lots of Cameos

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    Ben Model
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    Every once in a while, a Cliff Bowes comedy turns up. Their rarity and scarcity explains why you probably don’t know who Cliff Bowes is. His one-reel comedies are undeservedly forgotten, but luckily some were accidentally preserved. Cliff Bowes starred in a series of comedies for Educational Pictures,  part of their one-reel “Cameo” series supervised…

  • Charlie Chaplin, “The Eel”

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    Ben Model
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    In going through Chaplin’s The Adventurer for a project I’m working on, I wound up staring at a shot that usually goes by in a couple of seconds. It appears onscreen three times, and only one element is really supposed to register with our eyes and brains. What caught my eye this time was everything…

  • Live Music at Silent Film Courses

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    Ben Model
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    When I started accompanying films it was still common practice to show silent films, well…silent. They were only available in 16mm prints that had no music tracks. That’s changed thanks to DVDs and Blu-rays and video projection, but having live accompaniment in a film class is still important. I play at a silent film class…

  • Reeducating Myself About Thomas Ince

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    Ben Model
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    I knew of Thomas Ince as part of the triumvirate that was the short-lived Triangle Film Company. I’d played for an Ince series at MoMA about ten years ago. Until my current Douglas MacLean project brought his name and work to the fore in my consciousness, that had been pretty much it. The DVD of…

  • Silents for Seniors

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    Ben Model
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    I don’t remember how or when I came up with the idea of doing silent film shows at senior living facilities. On the surface, this may not sound all that exciting in terms of the sheen of Show Business or resume-building, but something a senior said to me at one of these is what keeps…

  • Ben Model’s Podcast

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    Ben Model
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    Every once in a while, after one of my shows, someone will come up to me and ask me if I’m writing a book about silent film accompaniment. My answer is that I’m not, although this blog is pretty close to doing just that. But it wasn’t always…and that’s why I started doing a podcast,…