Ben Model’s
Silent Film Performance Schedule
Below are the listings of my upcoming performances, live-streams and home-video releases, with links to each venue for more details. Shows are usually posted 2-3 months in advance. Sign up for my emails to stay informed and get insider info.
For booking info, send me an email.
I’ll see you at the silents!
April 2025
Weds afternoons, through May 7 – “Silent Storytelling” – teacher and accompanist, undergraduate film studies course – NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC – Wesleyan University – Middletown CT – Kawai acoustic piano
Fri Apr 4 – silent film presentation for 4th graders (not open to the public) – D.W. Griffith’s The Lonedale Operator (1911) and Keaton’s One Week (1920) – The Town School – New York NY – upright piano
Sat Apr 5 at 2:30pm – Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid (1921), plus Baby Peggy in The Kid Reporter (1923) – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Fri Apr 11 at 7:30pm – Rin Tin Tin in The Night Cry (1926) – Library of Congress rPackard Campus Theatre – Culpeper VA – Walker digital Wurlitzer organ
Fri Apr 18 at 8:00pm – Marion Davies in Beverly of Graustark (1926) – Epsilon Spires – Brattleboro VT – Estey pipe organ
Apr 26 at 6:45pm (PDT) – Harold Lloyd in The Freshman (1925) – The 16th annual TCM Classic Film Festival – Hollywood CA – digital virtual theatre organ
Shows I’ve Already Played in 2025:
March 2025
Weds afternoons, through May 7 – “Silent Storytelling” – teacher and accompanist, undergraduate film studies course – NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC – Wesleyan University – Middletown CT – Kawai acoustic piano
Fri+Sat Feb 28 & Mar 1 — The Kansas Silent Film Festival – Clara Bow in Mantrap (1926) and Wallace Reid in The Valley of Giants (1919) – White Concert Hall, Washburn University – Topeka KS – digital virtual theatre organ (using Reuter pipe organ console)
Sat Mar 8 – Harold Lloyd in Grandma’s Boy (1922) and Speedy (1928) – Gage County Film Institute – Beatrice NE – acoustic upright piano
Tues Mar 18 at 7:30pm — Buster Keaton’s The General (1926) — new restoration – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Thur Mar 20 at 7:30pm – “Silent Comedy All-Stars” shorts program, feat. Chaplin, Keaton, Chase and Laurel & Hardy – Center at West Park – New York NY – digital virtual theatre organ
January-February 2025
Sat Jan 8 at 8:00pm – Roland West’s The Bat (1926) — Arkadin Cinema and Bar — St. Louis MO — virtual live introduction to screening
Sat Jan 11 at 2:30pm – Edward Everett Horton in Taxi! Taxi! (1926) – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Tues Jan 14 at 6:30pm — Francis Ford’s The Craving (1918) plus The Post Telegrapher (1912) — MoMA — New York NY — Steinway S acoustic piano
Tues Jan 21 at 7:30pm — Laurel & Hardy in We Faw Down, From Soup To Nuts and You’re Darn Tootin’ (all 1928) — new restorations – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Fri Jan 24 at 7:00pm — Maurice Tourneur’s The White Heather (1919) plus Baby Peggy in Peg O’ The Mounted (1924) — new restorations — MoMA — New York NY — Steinway S acoustic piano
Weds afternoons Jan 29 through May 7 – “Silent Storytelling” – teacher and accompanist, undergraduate film studies course – NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC – Wesleyan University – Middletown CT – Kawai acoustic piano
Thurs Jan 30 – class screening for enrolled students only, not open to the public – Mary Pickford in Stella Maris (1918) – Wesleyan University – Middletown CT – digital virtual theatre organ
Sat Feb 8 at 2:30pm – “Forgotten Clowns”: rare shorts from the Library of Congress – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Tues Feb 18 at 7:30pm — Our Gang comedies featuring Ernie Morrison: Young Sherlocks (1922), The Champeen (1922) and Dogs of War (1923)— new digital restorations by ClassicFlix – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Thurs Feb 20 at 9:30am – guest speaker/performer at “A Film Historian, a Psychologist, and an Artist Walk Into a Class” – class screening for enrolled students only, not open to the public – Sarah Lawrence College – Bronxville NY – acoustic piano
Fri Feb 28 – Sat Mar 1 — The Kansas Silent Film Festival — Valley of the Giants (1919), The Second Hundred Years (1927), Max Linder shorts (1907-1912), Mantrap (1927), and A Night In The Show (1915) — White Concert Hall, Washburn University — Topeka KS — digital virtual theatre organ, acoustic grand piano
Shows I Played in 2024:
November-December 2024
Fri Nov 1 at 7:00pm — Roland West’s The Bat (1926) — AFI Silver Theatre – Silver Spring MD – digital virtual theatre organ
Sat Nov 2 at 12:00pm — Early Max Fleischer Animations: Koko the Clown — National Gallery of Art – acoustic grand piano
Sat Nov 2 at 7:15pm — Buster Keaton in Sherlock, Jr. (1924) plus One Week (1920) — AFI Silver Theatre – Silver Spring MD – digital virtual theatre organ
Sun Nov 3 at 2:00pm — Colleen Moore in Her Wild Oat (1927) – 35mm print — National Gallery of Art – acoustic grand piano
Sat Nov 3 at 6:00pm — King Vidor’s The Crowd (1928) – 35mm print — AFI Silver Theatre – Silver Spring MD – digital virtual theatre organ
Sat Nov 16 at 2:30pm – Harold Lloyd in Speedy (1928) – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Mon Nov 18 at 7:30pm – Douglas Fairbanks in The Black Pirate (1926) — new restoration by MoMA/BFI – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Tues Nov 19 at 2:30pm — Buster Keaton’s The General (1926) – not open to the general public – The Osborn (Senior Living) – Rye NY – acoustic piano
Sat Dec 7 at 7:30pm – The Phantom Carriage (1921) starring/directed by Victor Sjöstrom – 35mm print – Library of Congress Packard Campus Theatre – Culpeper VA –Walker digital Wurlitzer organ
Tues Dec 10 at 7:30pm – Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid (1921) — 35mm print – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
October 2024
Fri Oct 4 at 7:00pm — F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) — Crandell Theatre — Chatham NY — digital virtual theatre organ
Sun Oct 6 at 1:00pm — Harold Lloyd in Safety Last (1923) — Bedford Playhouse — Bedford NY — digital piano
Tues Oct 15 — Roland West’s The Bat (1926) — Blu-ray release of new digital restoration from Undercrank Productions
Fri Oct 18 at 7:00pm – Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera (1925) – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Sat Oct 19 at 2:30pm – The Gorilla (1927), newly discovered and restored – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Tues Oct 22 at 7:30pm – Frankenstein (1931) – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Thurs Oct 24 at 2:00pm – presentation for SDSU students(not open to public) – Founders Recital Hall, Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center at South Dakota State University – Brookings SD – Salmen-Reuter pipe organ
Thurs Oct 24 at 7:30pm – Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) – Founders Recital Hall, Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center at South Dakota State University – Brookings SD – Salmen-Reuter pipe organ
Fri Oct 25 at 7:30pm – Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) – Founders Recital Hall, Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center at South Dakota State University – Brookings SD – Salmen-Reuter pipe organ
Weds Oct 30 at 7:30pm — F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) — The Center at West Park — New York NY — digital virtual theatre organ
September 2024
Mon Sept 2 – class screening for enrolled students only, not open to the public – Lady Windermere’s Fan (1925), dir. by Ernst Lubitsch – Wesleyan University – Middletown CT – digital virtual theatre organ
Tues Sept 9 – class screening for enrolled students only, not open to the public – Street Angel (1928), dir. by Frank Borzage – Wesleyan University – Middletown CT – digital virtual theatre organ
Tues Sept 17 at 7:30pm – Vsevelod Pudovkin’s Mother (1926) – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Sat Sept 21 at 2:30pm – short comedies from the Vitagraph Studio – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Weds Sept 25 at 7:00pm – G.W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box (1929) starring Louise Brooks – The Ambler Theater – National Silent Movie Day event – Ambler PA – digital virtual theatre organ
Thurs Sept 26 at 7:30pm – Bare Knees (1925) starring Virginia Lee Corbin, plus A Thrilling Romance (1925) with Wanda Wiley – The County Theater – National Silent Movie Day event – Doylestown PA – digital virtual theatre organ
Sun Sept 29 atThurs Sept 26 at 7:30pm – Buster Keaton’s Sherlock, Jr. (1924) plus One Week (1920) – Varsity Theater – National Silent Movie Day event – Des Moines IA – digital piano
Summer 2024
ilonMon July 8 at 8:00pm – Laurel & Hardy shorts: new digital restorations by Lobster Films, courtesy of Flicker Alley – The Second Hundred Years, Do Detectives Think? and The Battle of the Century (all 1927) – Strand Theatre – Schroon Lake NY – acoustic upright piano
Tues July 16 at 7:00pm – Erich Von Stroheim’s Foolish Wives (1921), newly restored by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Wed July 24 at 7:30pm – Buster Keaton in Sherlock, Jr. (1924), in a new digital restoration by Cinema Ritrovato, courtesy of Cohen Film Collection; plus the Keaton short in The Goat (1921) – The Silent Clowns Film Series – Cobble Hill Cinemas – Brooklyn NY – digital keyboard/piano
Sat July 27 at 8:00pm – Douglas Fairbanks in The Mark of Zorro (1920) – Epsilon Spires – Brattleboro VT – Estey pipe organ
Tues July 30 – Blu-ray/DVD release: Francis Ford in “The Craving” (1918) – new digital restoration of feature plus 3 shorts – released by Undercrank Productions, with piano scores by Ben Model – pre-order here
Thur Aug 1 at 7:00pm – Howard Hawks’ A Girl In Every Port (1928) with Victor McLaglen and Louise Brooks – new restoration by George Eastman Museum, 35mm print – MoMA – New York NY – digital virtual theatre organ
Mon Aug 5 at 7:00pm –The Gorilla (1927) with Fred Kelsey and Charley Murray – new restoration by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival – MoMA – New York NY – digital virtual theatre organ
Wed Aug 7 at 7:30pm – “Laurel & Hardy: Year One”: new digital restorations by Lobster Films, courtesy of Flicker Alley – The Second Hundred Years, Do Detectives Think? and The Battle of the Century (all 1927) – The Silent Clowns Film Series – Cobble Hill Cinemas – Brooklyn NY – digital keyboard/piano
Sat Aug 10 at 2:10pm and 4:30 – rare shorts selected and presented by Rob Stone – Capitolfest – Rome NY – 1928 Möller theatre pipe organ
Sun Aug 11 at 11:20am – Reginald Denny in I’ll Show You The Town (1925), preceded by the shorts Universal City Studios and Stars (1927) and The Pill Pounder (1923) – Capitolfest – Rome NY – 1928 Möller theatre pipe organ
Tues Aug 20 at 7:30pm – W.C. Fields in So’s Your Old Man (1926), 35mm print from the Library of Congress – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
May-June 2024
Weds May 1 & May 8 afternoon – “Silent Storytelling” – teacher and accompanist, undergraduate film studies course – NOT OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC – Wesleyan University – acoustic Kawai baby grand piano
Fri May 3 2024 at 7:30pm – Dolores Costello in Ramona (1928) – Library of Congress Packard Campus Theatre – Culpeper VA –Walker digital Wurlitzer organ
Sat May 11 at 2:30pm – Clara Bow in Get Your Man (1927) plus the newly-discovered short The Pill Pounder (1923) – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Tues May 14 at 7:30pm – Anna May Wong in Picadilly (1929), dir. by E.A. Dupont; special guest speaker Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Thur May 16 at 7:00pm – Lon Chaney in The Unknown (1927), dir. by Todd Browning; plus William S. Hart in Pinto Ben (1915) – new restorations – program is part of the Restored and Rediscovered: A Film Preservation Festival – The Jacob Burns Film Center – Pleasantville NY – digital piano
Sat May 18 at 2:00pm – “Laughter Restored: Discovering Rare Gems of the Silent Era with Ben Model” – presentation on Undercrank Productions restoration and distribution work, plus live-scored screening of Alice Howell in How Stars Are Made (1915), Edward Everett Horton in Find the King (1927) and Douglas MacLean in Bell Boy 13 (1923). program is part of the Restored and Rediscovered: A Film Preservation Festival – The Jacob Burns Film Center – Pleasantville NY – digital piano
Weds May 29 at 7:30pm – Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) – Strand Center for the Arts – Plattsburgh NY – Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ
Thur May 30 at 7:00pm – Buster Keaton in Sherlock, Jr. (1924) plus The Scarecrow (1920) – presented by Piano By Nature at the Willsboro Central School Auditorium – Willsboro NY – acoustic grand piano
Wed June 5 at 7:30pm – Clara Bow in “It” (1927), in a new 4K restoration by Paramound Pictures; plus Wanda Wiley in A Thrilling Romance (1926) – The Silent Clowns Film Series – Cobble Hill Cinemas – Brooklyn NY – digital keyboard/piano
Tues June 11 at 7:30pm – Reginald Denny in What Happened To Jones? (1926), plus comedy short TBA – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
April 2024
Weds afternoons – “Silent Storytelling” – teacher and accompanist, undergraduate film studies course – NOT OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC – Wesleyan University – acoustic piano
Tues Apr 9 – Blu-ray/DVD release from Undercrank Productions of Accidentally Preserved: Volume 5 – disc contents and ordering links are here
Weds April 10 at 8:00pm – Raymond Griffith in You’d Be Surprised (1926), plus Charley Chase in Dog Shy (1925) – both films are presents in new digital restorations by Undercrank Productions – Wesleyan Film Series (free!) – Middletown CT – digital virtual theatre organ
Sat Apr 13 at 2:30pm – Reginald Denny in What Happened to Jones? (1926) – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Fri Apr 19 at 3:30pm – Raymond Griffith in Paths To Paradise (1925), plus Edward Everett Horton in Dad’s Choice (1928) – The 15th annual TCM Classic Film Festival; program introduced by Leonard Maltin – Hollywood CA – digital virtual theatre organ
Sat Apr 20 at 6:30pm – newly restored Fleischer cartoon Ko-ko’s Tattoo (1928) – The 15th annual TCM Classic Film Festival; part of “Back From the Ink: Restored Animated Shorts” program, introduced by Seth MacFarlane (Family, Guy, Ted)– Hollywood CA – acoustic upright piano
Sat Apr 20 at 2:00pm – Charlie Chaplin in The Adventurer (1917) – Union Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Deanna Tham – Dowd Theater – Monroe NC – orchestral score by Ben Model (not in attendance)
Thurs Apr 25 at 7:00pm – Yasujiro Ozu’s A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) – MoMA – New York NY – Steinway S piano
Fri Apr 26 at 7:30pm – Clara Bow in Get Your Man (1927), dir. by Dorothy Arzner; plus the newly-discovered short The Pill Pounder (1923) – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Sat Apr 27 at 1:00pm – Harold Lloyd in For Heaven’s Sake (1926) – part of the Lenfest Kids film series – Lenfest Center for the Arts – New York NY – digital piano
Mon Apr 29 – silent film presentation for 4th graders (not open to the public) – D.W. Griffith’s The Lonedale Operator (1911) and Keaton’s One Week (1920) – The Town School – New York NY – upright piano
January – February 2024
Sat Jan 13 at 1 :30pm – Monta Bell’s Man, Woman and Sin (1927), starring John Gilbert and Jeanne Eagels – new restoration – MoMA – New York NY – acoustic Steinway “S” grand piano
Sun Jan 14 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 98 – live–streamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are here – acoustic piano
Tues Jan 16 at 7:30pm – Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail (1929) – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Fri Jan 26 2024 at 7:30pm – Tom Mix in Sky High (1922) – new digital restoration by Undercrank Productions – Library of Congress Packard Campus Theatre – Culpeper VA –Walker digital Wurlitzer organ
Weds afternoons Jan 31 through May 8 – “Silent Storytelling” – teacher and accompanist, undergraduate film studies course – NOT OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC – Wesleyan University – acoustic piano
Sat Feb 10 at 2:30pm – “Marcel Perez: the International Mirthmaker” – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Tues Feb 13 at 7:30pm – Harold Lloyd in Girl Shy (1924) – 35mm print – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Sun Feb 18 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 99 – live–streamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are here – acoustic piano
Fri Feb 23 and Sat Feb 24 – The Kansas Silent Film Festival – events held at White Concert Hall at Washburn University – film and registration details are on the KSFF website – Topeka KS – acoustic grand piano and pipe organ