Tag: Roscoe Arbuckle

  • Arbuckle-Spotting, or: What Emma Clifton and I Saw Last Night

    Arbuckle-Spotting, or: What Emma Clifton and I Saw Last Night

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    Ben Model
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    The things you see during a silent film show when you’re the one who’s closest to the screen! As a film accompanist, I’m constantly scanning the frame for information while I’m playing. Impending story developments can be introduced in different areas of a shot while other action is happening in the foreground, and I like…

  • Charlie Chaplin, Marcel Perez, and a Pair of Drowning Ladies

    Charlie Chaplin, Marcel Perez, and a Pair of Drowning Ladies

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    Ben Model
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    There was a lot of borrowing and sharing of material in the days of silent comedy shorts, a tradition that grew out of vaudeville and circus. In the milieu of live comedy performance, there were certain routines that were a particular comedian’s property, to be sure, but there were many routines that everyone knew and…

  • Cruel & Unusual: shows #1 – #4

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    Ben Model

    Our first four Cruel and Unusual Comedy shows at MoMA have gone extremely well. We’ve had great houses – I’d guestimate 200+ people, and lots of new (and younger!) faces – at every program. Eileen Bowser came to our first show, and will be guest speaker at our last show on June 1st. It’s the…

  • Boise day 3 – evening

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    Ben Model

    Well, the Musical Movies event was a big success. We had a great crowd, the orchestra sounded great, Dr. Saunders kept the group in synch with both films, and the Arbuckle film Love went over big time, as did the sound of the theatre organ. After the audience was greeted by local TV channel 7…

  • article in “Idaho Statesman” – Boise shows

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    Ben Model

    An article appeared in this weekend’s edition of the Idaho Statesman. Click here to read the whole piece. Below is the section about my end of things: IDAHO’S MAID OF SILENT FILM There are two people linking the Musical Movies Project and the Nell Shipman Film Festival: Shipman herself and silent film composer and accompanist…

  • Tromsø, Norway – day 1

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    Ben Model

    Here’s a first report from Tromsø and the first installment of what I hope will be a regularly posted (weekly?) video blog that will be on YouTube and will also turn up here: Opening night film was The Passion of Joan of Arc, with score by Matti Bye. Friday found me up bright and early…

  • me and Roscoe in Norway again

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    Ben Model

    Here’s a page from the “Stumfilm Dagere” festival catalog, which was just sent to me as a PDF. Click on the image to see it full size (and to see if you can understand the Norwegian text).

  • Reel Baseball at the MCNY

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    Ben Model

    Presented and accompanied a program of films from the Kino Reel Baseball DVD set at the Museum of the City of New York this afternoon. We showed The Busher, plus Hearts and Diamonds and Felix Saves the Day. We had a great crowd, biggest one so far in the five years I’ve been doing silents…

  • Arbuckle, L&H and Stooges…at MoMA

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    Ben Model

    Presented a program of comedy shorts at MoMA Sat Feb 3 that featured slapstick teams. We showed Fatty and Mabel Adrift, Big Business and Idle Roomers (Three Stooges, dir. Del Lord). This was #2 of the 3 “Watch This! Films for Tweens” programs I programmed and introduced, working with MoMA’s Liz Margulies of their Ford…