Ben Model’s blog
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A couple weeks ago TCM aired The Love Light with Mary Pickford, and there was some Twitter chatter I picked up on about it referencing the score on it. This made me think about my now-defunct “altscore” site. It was a service loads of people thought was a great idea…
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ep. 30: How To Play the Piano or Organ for a Halloween Silent Movie
On this mini-episode, Ben Model gives you some tips and some do’s & don’t’s on how to accompany a silent movie if you’re doing one this Halloween…or any time of the year. Plus, there’s news about Ben’s upcoming silent film shows and DVD projects. Be sure you’re on Ben’s email…
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How to Play the Piano or Organ for a Halloween Silent Movie
As a fan and proponent of silent films, I’ve enjoyed seeing that every year at Halloween time, more and more shows of silent films are happening. It’s occurred to me that this means there are a lot of musicians accompanying a silent film for the first time and may be…
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On the air with Jenna Flanagan on “Midday NYC”
I was a guest on WNYC’s radio program “Midday NYC” on September 5th, talking about (what else?) silent film accompaniment and my Undercrank Productions DVDs. I’ve gotten to be on this show several times over the past 10-12 years, when Lopate was its host, and the repeat visits have helped…
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ep. 29: playing for scene breaks & film breaks, Lee Erwin’s Tootsie Oodles, how’d you get that gig? and more
On this episode, Ben Model recaps his summer silent film shows, discusses musically wrapping up a scene to match the film, talks about what to do musically when the film breaks, traces a 14-year trajectory in a “how’d you get that gig?” story, shares some info on Lee Erwin’s synthesizer-based…
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Marion Davies Makes an Appearance in Italy
Marion Davies’ 1922 Film Beauty’s Worth Gets a Deluxe Outdoor Screening In the Birthplace of Its Director Robert G. Vignola At the end of this week, on a piazza in the ankle of the boot that is Italy, a crew will assemble a large movie screen, high-end video projector, performance stage,…
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ep. 28: scoring Laurel & Hardy, Mostly Lost 7, Lois Weber on organ and more
In this episode I discuss scoring a Laurel & Hardy silent comedy utilizing a tune many fans of theirs know, recording a new score for Lois Weber’s Hypocrites for the new Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers box set for KinoLorber currently screening in select cities, accompanying The Golem at the Morgan Library and Museum,…
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The Blackhawk Films catalogs are available again!
USC Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive and Lobster Films Collaborate to Make Blackhawk Films Catalogs Available to Fans and Scholars Again The monthly arrival of the Blackhawk Films catalog was one of the most highly anticipated mail deliveries for me, growing up, as it was for many classic film…
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The film Mary Pickford didn’t want you to see – now restored by MoMA
Lubitsch-Directed “Rosita” (1923) Is On Screens Again After 95 Years and Worth Seeing I was on the fence about attending MoMA’s re-premiere of Rosita last week, initially. (This was on May 25, 2018) I’d heard it was being presented with its original cue-sheet score, and Pickford herself had perpetuated the…
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ep. 27: organ sounds from Norway and Idaho, a trip to Hollywood, and using main themes
On this episode, Ben Model takes you above the Arctic Circle to hear a pipe organ accompanying a Swedish silent, to Boise ID to its historic 1927 Egyptian Theatre, and to Hollywood for the TCM Classic Film Festival. Ben discusses choosing a main theme for his score “Show People”, the…