Episode 72 Show Notes: 2025 Year-End Roundup
Opening Banter: Kerr talks about the difference of seeing The Bishop’s Wife with sizeable theater audience – the comedy and other values played at a higher level than on television.
Ben shares a similar experience with Laurel & Hardy talkies, and with an Our Gang comedy
The difference in theatrical presentation is the presence of other people, not the size of the screen.
First excerpt: Steamboat Bill, Jr. starring Buster Keaton
- Discussion of the Barrymore Film Center in Fort Lee, NJ, and the efforts to make certain there was an organ on-site for accompanying silent film.
- Documentary: Before Hollywood, There Was Fort Lee, NJ
Second excerpt: Sparrows starring Mary Pickford
- Ben discusses the versatility and power and influence of Mary Pickford
- Ben and Christel Schmidt talk about Pickford on WNYC Radio in 2013. Schmidt was the editor of Mary Pickford: Queen of the Movies, which was published that year.
- Ben discusses the effect of proximity to the sound source for the accompanist
- Kerr talks about Pickford as a reflection of the spirit of her times, and Ben talks about restoration efforts for her body of work, and shared thoughts on her film Stella Maris
Sales of Ben’s book The Silent Film Universe continue apace, and Ben has a book event ready for presentation; the book is also available as a Kindle
Looking back at 2025:
- The only video release this year from Ben’s Undercrank Productions label was the Tom Tyler package.
- Work on Rediscovering Roscoe continues, which has been sourced from many archives and collectors
- Ben needs to score The Cardboard Lover, which will be screened at MoMA in January 2026.
Ben’s tips on what you need to bring in order to accompany a silent film:
- 1st item – a light and an extension cord and gaffer’s tape. Extra batteries if you’re using a battery-driven light.
- Make sure that the light does not dilute or diffuse the projected image, especially when you use an LED lamp. Ben recommends incandescent, because the color of LED lights may effect the image and may tire your eyes.
- Make sure your lamp has a gooseneck.
- Do not rely on the theater to provide an adequate light.
- More items to follow in future episodes!
Third excerpt: Pass The Gravy starring Max Davidson at The Silent Film Clown series
- This is a silent comedy fan’s silent comedy, but it needs no introduction or explanation
- It’s the story of Max Davidson’s family having a chicken dinner and a missing prize rooster
- Ben discusses the former lack of availability of the film, but there is a new scan from the Library of Congress (although there is no version commercially available in North America).
- It is on the National Film Registry. Recently, small missing scenes have been restored.
- Pass The Gravy has so many laughs, it has to come last on the program
- The comedy is all about reaction, rather than the gags themselves
- Kerr and Ben talk about how routines where characters are trying to pantomime to each other can last longer in a silent film, where sound is heard selectively
Kerr and Ben discuss incentives for film restoration.
- Kerr notes that film fans are willing to pay for good restorations, even if a film is in the public domain.
- Ben observes that because the restoration itself is not protected by copyright, restorers are subject to piracy, and that restorations do not necessarily make money in and of themselves. But at least the entire silent era is now in the public domain and available to be restored by anyone who wants to take the trouble.
- Ben says the next challenge is not just home video release, but creating programs for public shows, creating DCPs for public exhibition
Goodbyes, and Happy New Year!