Author: Ben Model

  • Radio City Music Hall Wurlitzer

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    Ben Model
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    Here are some photos taken on Tuesday at Radio City Music Hall. I was there as part of an invited walk-through of RCMH held by SVA’s creative and tech teams for their annual graduation exercises. Last year I played piano for their graduation, improvising 15-or-so pieces of music while graduates came up one-by-one to get…

  • Donnell Media Center – now at Lincoln Center Library

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    Ben Model

    Spent a piece of yesterday screening The Whirl of Life (1915) and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910) at the NYPL for the Performing Arts. The legendary Donnell Media Center and its film and video collection as well as its staff (as of now sans Joe Yransky, who retired in January) were absorbed by the…

  • Buster Keaton in “The General”

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    Ben Model

    Hey, isn’t that Al St. John next to the bone-head commander who thinks the Rock River bridge is strong enough to hold his train? Bruce and Steve were talking about this after the show, pretty certain it’s Al, and so I grabbed this frame from the DVD. Al’s not in the shot of the commander…

  • Will new FilmLinc staff cuts affect “Golden Silents”?

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    Ben Model

    I saw an article online this morning announcing the layoffs of eight staff members at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Sayre Maxfield, who programs the “Golden Silents” series at FilmLinc, is one of the staffers being let go, as is Will McCord who runs the “Young Friends of Film” program there. Click here to…

  • Chaplin undercranking study – boxing

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    Ben Model

    Here’s a clip I just (finally) uploaded to YouTube. It’s one of the studies I did for my talk at the Clown Theater Festival last fall, Undercranking: The Magic Behind the Slapstick. There are a few others I need to record narration for, render and upload. Chaplin seems to be the master of this technique…

  • Stuart Oderman photos

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    Ben Model

    Just got these photos in from my friend, photographer Steve Friedman, who is also a major silent film fan and Buster Keaton maven. These were taken in the lobby near Titus 1, and the posters you see in the background are from the Batiste Madalena poster exhibit. photos by Steve Friedmanwww.stevefriedmanphoto.com

  • other accompanists: David Arner, Bernie Anderson

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    Ben Model

    Silent film accompanist and accomplished jazz pianist David Arner was at last Friday’s (Feb 6) showing of The Kid Brother. He came over and said ‘hi’ after the show and we chatted for a while. I couldn’t place where I’d known his name till he mentioned that he played for silents at Upstate Films in…

  • Silent Clowns on Facebook and MySpace

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    Ben Model

    The Silent Clowns Film Series now has a presence on FaceBook and on MySpace! If you spend online time at either of these sites, join the FB group or become a MySpace friend. Click on the images below to go to the Silent Clowns pages on those sites.

  • Silent Clowns winter/spring season announced

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    Ben Model

    For those of you who aren’t on our snail-mail list, here’s a peek at what you miss by just receiving our eBlasts. Our new brochure, designed masterfully by Marlene Weisman-Abadi, arrived from the printers a couple days ago. Seen at right is our front cover panel, and if you scroll down you’ll see the inside…

  • Variety, Loves of Carmen, Kid Brother & The Wanderer

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    Ben Model

    Well, I’d only seen the American-release version of Variety, up till Weds (Feb 4). I’d played for it a number of times, and was glad I finally got to see the film with its original first 2 reels and storyline intact. When Paramount released it they cut out the film’s prologue where Emil Jannings and…