Author: Ben Model

  • Lupino Lane at the Silent Clowns series

    —

    by

    Ben Model

    Shown here (R) is my Miditzer set-up at the New-York Historical Society from Sunday, May 6 at the Silent Clowns Film Series. I used the organ for the concluding program of the SCFS, a show of Lupino Lane comedy shorts, and it was a big hit. I’ll be using it again this Friday at the…

  • avante garde films at NYU, my alma mater

    —

    by

    Ben Model
    in

    Played for a film history (a/k/a “cinema studies”) class at NYU, where it all started for me. Teacher was Antonia Lant, and I’ve played for her class once a year for the last few years. Hadn’t played at NYU since ’85 or ’86, and then Antonia turned up at one of my Silent Clowns shows…

  • DeMille’s “King of Kings”, Keaton, and “Pandora’s Box”

    —

    by

    Ben Model

    Photo at the right is the beautiful console of the organ at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, which I had the great fortune to play in accompaniment to DeMille’s 1927 epic King of Kings on Fri March 23. The organ is a 4/83 Moller, and was restored in 2000. A magnificent instrument in…

  • on the radio in Owego

    —

    by

    Ben Model

    Did a live radio interview on WEBO yesterday morning around 8:15am to promote the Ti-Ahwaga showing of The General on Fri 3/16 (tom’w). The station (1330AM) is a sponsor of the film series, and will be re-running parts of the interview throughout the day or two leading up to the show. Here it is, for…

  • scoring Porter (Edwin S., that is)

    —

    by

    Ben Model
    in

    Have just recorded three scores for an upcoming DVD release by Kino. The films, all shorts directed by Edwin S. Porter for the Thomas Edison Co., are to be extras for the main feature, a doc on Porter’s work. So, here are three more Edison shorts you can add to your collection which are not…

  • Warning Shadows at MoMA, plus Immigrant x3

    —

    by

    Ben Model
    in

    In the last week I’ve played three Immigrant shows for school groups at AMMI out in Astoria. Shows went well, and I got a refresher in how to play for this film at 21fps; hadn’t played for it there in a while, as I usually request it at 24fps. It depends on who’s in the…

  • The Beggar Maid, NYC

    —

    by

    Ben Model

    Played for The Beggar Maid (1921, dir. H. Blache) this afternoon at the Met. The film preceded a lecture on Tiffany and the Tiffany estate, and the house was packed with museum-goers (plus a bunch of people I recognized from my e-list). The film was shown in a 16mm from Milestone Film & Video; Eastman…

  • “The Phantom Carriage” – Burns Film Center

    —

    by

    Ben Model

    Pleasantville NY, Feb 19 (Mon) — Played for Victor Sjöstrom’s Korkarlen (Thy Soul Shal Bear Witness, or The Phantom Carriage) this afternoon in Pleasantville, NY. The Jacob Burns Film Center is running the 50 years of Janus Films series that is touring the country, and this is the only silent film in the package. I’ve…

  • Squaw Man shows; Chaplin orchestral performance

    —

    by

    Ben Model

    [FYI…I have now fixed the setting on this blog that allows you to post comments so that it works now.] Played for DeMille’s The Squaw Man (1914) twice last week, and brought my MD recorder to the second show to make a reference recording. We ran the film at 20fps both times. What was interesting…

  • Arbuckle, L&H and Stooges…at MoMA

    —

    by

    Ben Model

    Presented a program of comedy shorts at MoMA Sat Feb 3 that featured slapstick teams. We showed Fatty and Mabel Adrift, Big Business and Idle Roomers (Three Stooges, dir. Del Lord). This was #2 of the 3 “Watch This! Films for Tweens” programs I programmed and introduced, working with MoMA’s Liz Margulies of their Ford…