Ben Model’s blog

  • 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…

  • Here’s a shot of the Yiddish Book Center, on the campus of Hampshire College. Nearly every summer for the last 5 years or so Bruce Lawton and I do a show there. This year was (yet) another program of Max Davidson comedy shorts. At right you see Bruce, me, and…

  • July 3 – watched Menilmontant and Brumes d’automne this morning; these films are on one of the discs of Avante Garde, a multi-disc DVD set of experimental and avante garde art films in the Rohauer collection that came out a couple years ago. Watched them films with sound off, to…

  • July 2 – De Luxe Annie at the Donnell Media Center went well today. We had around 175 people and the film went over really well. Piano sounded great; they have a nice Steinway D, which is moving to the Bruno Walter auditorium after the Donnell closes. My talk may…

  • July 1: Took a little time this afternoon to take a second glance at the screener of De Luxe Annie with Norma Talmadge, which I’m accompanying tomorrow at the Donnell Media Center auditorium. The show is part of the “Meet the Music Makers” series curated by Joe Yransky (the “Y”…

  • I’m going to try to post as often as I can in July with quick or short impressions of the shows, as well as the recording sessions I have (one for Kino, one for ReelclassicDVD, and a few for AllDay Entertainment). * * * * * * * * June…

  • Every year the town and village of Mamaroneck NY (where Griffith had studios for a few years) holds its annual “Historic Harbor Festival”. The entire main drag is taken over by a giant street fair with booths, performers, food from local restaurants, etc. Mam’k’s 1920’s movie theater, currently owned by…

  • On Saturday June 21 at midnight (!) I presented and accompanied a program of silent one-reelers from 1913 at MoMA. The program was part of an innovative education program done by Amir Parsa called “That Year, This Day” in which class participants spent time at the museum from 6pm to…