Ben Model’s blog

  • Am back from a few weeks of R&R out of town, and ready to launch into September. Am gearing up for my return to Norway for “Stumfilm Dagere”, 5 Sessue Hayakawa films at MoMA’s retrospective, the launch of the fall season of my Silent Clowns series, a show at Scandinavia…

  • Presented and accompanied a program of films from the Kino Reel Baseball DVD set at the Museum of the City of New York this afternoon. We showed The Busher, plus Hearts and Diamonds and Felix Saves the Day. We had a great crowd, biggest one so far in the five…

  • Have now slid through the first two days of Slapsticon, and am having a blast. Have seen a load of great comedy shorts, and am enjoying the Harry Langdon and Larry Semon entries. Tonight UCLA Film & TV’s new restoration of the Semon feature Spuds (1928) was screened (with yours…

  • Here we all are, kibitzing before going on-air for our segment, which lasted about 25 minutes. You can listen to our interview right here. http://www.silentclowns.com/podcast-audio/KojoNnamdi-slapsticon.mp3

  • Steve Massa and I arrived in DC bright and early, completely missing the big storm in NYC that delayed a number of peoples’ flight etc. Here I am outside the LOC building, right near the Capitol bldg, where Steve and I spent the day screening comedy shorts. At left you…

  • Well, I’m off (via Amtrak) this morning to Arlington, VA for the fifth annual Slapsticon where I’ll spend 4 fun-filled glorious days and nights watfching — and playing for — classic comedy shorts and features from the ’10s, ’20s and ’30s. I’ve been one of their accompanists every year since…

  • Played for Peg O’ My Heart at MoMA last night, and will play for its repeat on Thursday. Print is MoMA’s, acquired from Filmoteca Española, Madrid. Titles were all in English, possibly made by the archive as part of their preservation work, as they looked newer than the film. The…

  • The 6pm show of The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), plus the 1975 Sunday, Too Far Away was introduced by Paolo Cherchi Usai, of the National Film and Sound Archive in Australia, the archive that restored these films. Paolo told of the efforts to preserve and find the pieces…

  • Cabiria, in a new preservation by Cineteca di Bologna, MoMA et al was screened with live theatre organ accompaniment by me. While the running time listed in the catalog was 180 mins, the picture ran closer to 2 hrs 20 mins at our show; same for the press screening I…

  • Well, it’s happened. MoMA purchased all the necxessary hardware – keyboard, stand, organ pedals – for the Miditzer VTO (virtual theatre organ) this week. What this means is that when I am asked to play for a silent film at MoMA and want to use a theatre organ instead of…