Category: Silent Film Shows
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The Time a Pre-Portlandia Fred Armisen Connected With Silent Comedy Film
This Saturday’s Ernie Kovacs Award ceremony will be the second time my work has allowed me to cross paths with Fred Armisen. In January 2009 Armisen and collaborator Carrie Brownstein made a short video for a silent movie event at MoMA called “Silent But Deadly” that was part of the museum’s PopRally series. The “S.B.D.”…
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Alice and Billie Go To Pordenone
I’m pretty sure next month’s screening of Father Was a Loafer (1915) will be the first time Alice Howell’s Cupie-doll face will hit the big screen at the Pordenone Silent film festival. The Pordenone Silent Film Festival (or the Giornate del Cinema Muto) is the premier international silent film festival, and has been around since…
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Why So Pale? Facial Make-up in Silent Movies
Putting on a Good Face…For Silent Film The use of pancake white makeup on the faces of actors in films was common in the silent era. Sometimes it’s less noticeable than others, and in some cases it makes actor’s faces look like they were made of porcelain. There’s a reason for this use, due to…
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Scoring Walter Ruttmann at MoMA
In recently viewing the scoring screener of Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927) that was provided to me by MoMA, I had a unique opportunity. I was able to watch MoMA’s brand-new restoration, which was mute, while also hearing the film’s original score recorded by an orchestra. For the film’s premiere in 1927, Edmund…
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Silent Film at the David Rubinstein Atrium at Lincoln Center
On Friday, July, 25 at 7pm, I will be accompanying the rarely screened 1926 silent film Love ’em and Leave ’em starring Evelyn Brent, Louise Brooks and Lawrence Gray. The show will be presented at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center. Okay, so where exactly is this place? The David Rubinstein Atrium is located…
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The Strand Theater in Schroon Lake NY
I’ve had the privilege of presenting and accompanying a silent film show at the historic Strand Theater in Schroon Lake NY every summer since 2017. The Strand Theater in Schroon Lake NY is a vintage, single-screen movie house in the Adirondacks. It originally opened 1921, and is still open today. The theater and its interior…
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A 16mm Home Projector from the Silent Era – Kodascope Model B
I don’t usually take on new pieces of equipment, but the Kodascope Model B projector didn’t take up that much space – something that was probably a part of the intent of the item’s design back in 1927. I’ve had a thing for the dawn of 16mm and its uses in 1920s for quite some…
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“Sight-Reading” a Reginald Denny Comedy
One of the questions people ask me is “Do you ever accompany a film that you haven’t seen before?” The answer is “yes”. Although it happens less often than it did a decade or so ago, because now most films either have been restored digitally and an archive can provide a private screener link, or…
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Interview with Ben Model about his “Laughter Restored” presentation
On Saturday May 18th I will be giving a presentation entitled “Laughter Restored: Discovering Rare Gems of Silent Film” at the Jacob Burns Film Center’s Restored and Rediscovered Festival. This will be a first for me, as I’ve not given this presentation before. I’ll be talking about how I became a boutique home-video label, without…
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An Ozu Scoring Clue from Joan Jonas
Last week, I had another one of those film accompanist experiences where a spoken introduction helped shape the way I played for the film. There is currently a major gallery exhibition at the MoMA honoring the work of artist Joan Jonas. In conjunction with this exhibition, the film department has organized one of their “Carte…