Ben Model’s blog

  • Sat, Oct 10 — the first silent film program in this bi-monthly series sponsored by the Brooklyn chapter of the AGO was sparsely attended, unfortunately. The people who came, however, got to hear that magnificent instrument in action. The acoustics in the church are great, and I had fun using…

  • October 8, 7:30pm — after playing for the Melies/Zecca matinee program (second time, on Thurs), I headed out to QTIP, or Queens Theatre in the Park for this screening of Metropolis that was part of a weekly series that AMMI was doing in a partnership with the theater. The theater…

  • George Melies and his RivalsLe Voyage dans la lune (A Voyage to the Moon) 1902. France. Directed by Georges Méliès. 13 min.Barbe-Bleue 1901. France. Directed by Georges Méliès. 10 min.Les Sept Chateaux du diable (Seven Castles of the Devil) 1902. France. Directed by Ferdinand Zecca. 12 min.Le Voyage à travers…

  • Oct 4 at 9:30 am (!) found me at MoMA bright and early for a private screening for a handful of young girls, their American Girl dolls, and the girls’ moms, a Grandma and a Dad. This was another one of the promotional events linked to American Girl’s new Rebecca…

  • My third time performing at the Bay Street Theater found me with the Miditzer in tow. This was a request from Bay Street, and they covered a rental car for me to bring the instrument out (I don’t own a car, and the Hampton Jitney wouldn’t exactly work). The other…

  • La Vie et la passion de Jésus Christ. 1902. France. Directed by Ferdinand Zecca, Lucien Nonguet. 30 min. La Vie du Christ. 1906. France. Directed by Alice Guy Blaché. 28 min.The Automobile Thieves (incomplete). 1906. USA. Directed by J. Stuart Blackton. 10 min. Francesca di Rimini. 1908. USA. Directed by…

  • October finds me working full-time as a silent film accompanist. 22 performances in and around NY, plus a DVD box set release. When not performing, the rest of my working hours involve preparing for shows, agent work for shows coming up and for shows percolating for 2010, being my own…

  • Elise D’Haene did a real nice write-up in this week’s East Hampton Star on the shows I have coming up this Saturday, at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor. Click here to read the article.

  • Am playing for Orphans of the Storm in Huntington tonight. Reviewing my story sheet reminded me that toward the end the townspeople dance the Carmagnole. My notes — cribbed from some other website years ago — on the dance read: “The Carmagnole, an anonymous song and street dance popular during…

  • Back to “film school” today! Accompanied the “Actualities and Glimmerings of More” program at MoMA. Had a pretty big crowd, maybe 80-100 people. I didn’t keep count while I was playing, but am guessing it was at least 40 films. Since they were early actualities with little or no plot,…