Ben Model’s blog

  • Manchester Center, VT – we had a nice crowd for Sunday’s showing of Steamboat Bill, Jr. at the Vilage Picture Shows theater. Mostly seniors, but a there were a few families with kids (I could hear the kids’ laughter over everyone else’s). The flyer put up all over town is…

  • Sunday Aug 10th at 7pm – another great show at the historic Hamilton Theater. This year was Keaton’s The General, plus The Scarecrow. 35mm prints came from Douris Corp. The print of The General looked great and is the usual print I’ve seen; main titles and credits replaced by a…

  • FYE here is a scan of the ad slick for the upcoming Charley Chase DVD set from AllDay Entertainment. Click on the image (R) to see it full-size. The set is called Becoming Charley Chase and will feature all the extant Jimmy Jump shorts as well as films Chase appeared…

  • Here are photos from the Berkshire Jewish Film Festival. At right is the upright piano and piano stool (first time I think I’ve ever used this kind of stool at a show). Kudos to Al Saldarini of the Duffin Theater at the Lenox Memorial Middle & High School for all…

  • Today’s post is a videoblog: See you at the silents! Ben

  • I’ve now completely recovered from Slapsticon and am back in the swing of things. Bookings continue to come in nearly every day. Today I got a show at a library in East Meadow (L.I.) that’ll happen in November, which I’ll be doing with (and thanks to) Dylan Skolnick of the…

  • Haven’t had a chance to post since returning from Slapsticon, and am squeezing this post out. There’s lots to report, but this posting of photos taken last week will have to suffice and I’ll post again soon. Here are (L to R) yours truly, Richard Roberts, Philip Carli and Andrew…

  • July 15 – yesterday I accompanied Safety Last (plus the Lloyd 1-reeler Luke’s Shattered Sleep) and a shorts program at MoMA on piano. I’ll repeat the shows tomorrow on theatre organ. Safety Last knocked the audience out, as usual, and I was pleased to see a number of kids and…

  • Just picked up a copy of “The West Sider”, a free weekly paper that I’d heard that Father Gil had placed an ad in for the St. Paul the Apostle silent film programs. I was looking for somethinga few inches square, but was surprised to find a half-page full height…

  • July 12 – Weds and Thurs I played to Keaton’s The General, Lloyd’s The Freshman, and Keaton’s Sherlock, Jr. in the Titus 1 theater at MoMA. The Miditzer theatre organ sounded great in there (T1 is the bigger of the three theaters at MoMA). Shows were well-attended, and I saw…