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 organ)
Ernie Kovacs segment:
- Ernie Kovacs’ theme song, “Oriental Blues”
- Ernie in Kovacsland book, curated by Josh Mills, Pat Thomas, and Ernie Kovacs/Edie Adams archivist Ben Model, to be published November 22 by Fantagraphics
- Ben discusses the theme and its composer on his blog here and here and here and here.
- The “Eugene” remake for ABC.
- “Rialto Ripples” by George Gershwin, performed by William Bolcom
- Tony DeSimone’s 1954 recording of “Oriental Blues”
- Leroy Holmes and His Tugboat Eight 1957 recording of “Oriental Blues”
- ABC TV version of “Oriental Blues”
- Jean Shepherd’s theme “Bahn Frei” by the Boston Pops
- Knuckles O’Toole plays “Ragtime Razzmatazz” (Caution – may cause damage to your brain)
Underwriting announcement: The Bride’s Play starring Marion Davies
Ben accompanies Buster Keaton’s The General at Epsilon Spires, Brattleboro, Vermont on an Estey pipe organ
Buster Keaton’s The General (1926)
- Camera Man by Dana Stevens
- Clearing the ties from The General (not Ben’s music)
- Buster’s two blinky takes from The General (not Ben’s music)
- Accompanying one long chase, with almost no other narrative content
Silent movies as pictures of people thinking: The race sequence from Lubitsch’s Lady Windermere’s Fan (not Ben’s music)
Upcoming performances:
- July 14: Art Yard in Frenchtown, NJ – Film Festival of Joy with The Scarecrow (Keaton), High and Dizzy (Lloyd), Horse Shy (Edward Everett Horton), and Pass the Gravy (Max Davidson)
- July 16: Silent Clowns Film Series – Bruno Walter Auditorium – Charley Chase shorts
- July 17: Silent Comedy Watch Party Episode 82
- July 23: Lyric Theatre, Blacksburg, VA, 2022 Summer Arts Festival
- 3:00 PM: The Scarecrow, One Week and The High Sign starring Buster Keaton
- 7:30 PM Wings (1927) dir. by William Wellman
- July 26: Cinema Arts Centre, live-accompanied live stream of The Winning of Barbara Worth with Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky, and Gary Cooper
- August 1: Strand Theater, Schroon Lake – Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill, Jr.
- August 7: Silent Comedy Watch Party Episode 83
- August 13: Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association – Our Hospitality
- August 17: Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington, NY, So This Is Paris directed by Ernst Lubitsch, with live in-person accompaniment by Ben
- August 20: Library of Congress National Audio-Video Conservation Center, Culpeper, VA – 2:00 shorts show, 7:30pm feature length comedy