Ben Model’s blog
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It’s interesting. I really thought my idea of live-streaming a live-scored and live-hosted silent film program would catch on. Perhaps slowly at first, and then at some point it would start to snowball. After all, so many of us silent film enthusiasts say that the live music is a key…
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ep. 51: William Perry interview (part 1) – “The Silent Years”, MoMA, and more.
In this episode: Ben interviews composer, silent film pianist and television producer William Perry. Perry is probably best-remembered for his scores for the now-legendary television series “The Silent Years”, produced by Paul Killiam, that ran for two seasons on public television, in 1971 and 1975. For twelve years Perry was…
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Episode 51 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast
Episode 51 Show Notes: William Perry interview (part 1) Interview with William Perry, composer, pianist, orchestrator, and silent film accompanist. William Perry’s compositions William Perry’s piano music from “The Silent Years” available on CD “The Beloved Rogue And other Scores from The Silent Years” from Trobriand Music William Perry’s YouTube…
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FB and “How’d I Miss This?”
In the days leading up to a live-scored-live-stream I presented this past Wednesday, I got the word out. I posted the info and link onto Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and I sent out an email to my list. The day after the stream, I got some verification that an email…
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ep. 50: Serial Queens, Kovacs Music Videos, and the Charming Raymond Griffith
In this episode: Ben accompanies a bunch of shows of silent serials during June, and talks about the musical challenges of accompanying serials and in scoring an entire program of them; Kerr and Ben continue their conversation about Ernie Kovacs’s use of music, and discuss Kovacs’ “Street Scene” video of…
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Episode 50 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast
Episode 50 Show Notes: Serial Queens, Kovacs Music Videos, and the Charming Raymond Griffith Live shows continue Women And The Silent Screen Conference XI at MOMA and at Columbia University June 2022 Few complete pre-1917 serials survive with all chapters Analogous to today’s serialized stories in streaming television Accompaniment focuses…
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ep. 49: Rudolph Valentino, Ernie Kovacs, Buster Keaton, and the Craft of Supporting Subtleties
In this episode: Ben plays with holding back musically to help an audience of art deco fans connect with Valentino and Nazimova during a show of “Camille” (1921); he and Kerr Lockhart dig in to details about “Oriental Blues”, the theme song Ernie Kovacs used for all of his shows…
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Episode 49 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast
Episode 49 Show Notes: Rudolph Valentino, Ernie Kovacs, Buster Keaton, and the Craft of Supporting Subtleties Summer exhibitions of silent films with Ben accompanying are picking up Camille starring Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino at AFI Silver co-sponsored by the Art Deco Society of Washington DC (Music excerpt on an Allen…
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Tom Mix: From Ubiquitous to (Somewhat) Unknown
From Tom Mix’s entry into motion pictures in 1910 for the Selig Company and his quick rise to starring roles, then into feature-length in 1918 for the rest of the silent era, he was never off the silver screen. Movie audiences and fans could always count on the fact that…
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Getting the High Sign
One of the great things about living in NYC is that by taking walks, rather than getting everywhere by car, you run into people you haven’t seen in a long time. A teacher from film school told me once that he got more work walking home from work in mid-town…