silent film poster exhibit opens at MoMA

I played at a press screening yesterday for the new poster exhibit at MoMA organized by Ron Magliozzi and Jenny He. The posters are all one-of-a-kind hand-painted posters from the Eastman Theater in Rochester. George Eastman didn’t care for the posters the studios were sending out…so he hired Rochester artist Batiste Madalena to create posters for each release that played at the theater, from 1924-28. The exhibit runs from Oct ’08 to March ’09, and each month a few of the silents depicted in the posters will be shown, with accompaniment by me or Philip Carli. This month, I’m playing (next week) for Hotel Imperial and Sally of the Sawdust.

Here’s a sample of a few of these magnificent posters, and a link to an online article about the exhibit.