Put some 'Intolerance' into your life on Sunday, April 3 at Somerville Theatre

Okay, let me try to catch my breath here after a busy stretch of accompaniment gigs.

The past two weeks each brought stretches of back-to-back screenings over consecutive days.

I'm not complaining, as I love creating music that helps old film connect with new audiences.

But after awhile, the improv-heavy method I use begins to take a mental toll. I start to forget things in the microwave—that sort of thing.

But I'm getting a breather just in time, as the next weekend brings a certified biggie: D.W. Griffith's 'Intolerance' (1916), which we're showing in 35mm at the Somerville Theatre in Somerville, Mass. on Sunday, April 2.

Showtime is 2 p.m. Admission is $15 per ticket.

It's the 100th anniversary of this unique movie, which combines tales from four completely separate historic eras and weaves them together the way old J.S. Bach used to stitch together a fugue for organ.

The result was a narrative framework shaped like a four-burner stove, allowing Griffith to bring a quartet of separate stories to a boil simultaneously.

And the result of that was a film in which Griffith could juxtapose happenings from different eras to create a richness of potential meaning that defies easy analysis, I think.

I've done music for the film several times, and each screening gives me more stuff to think about.

For instance, the final outcome of each of the stories, when shown in rapid succession, seems to be hinting at a larger message.

I don't want to give away anything, but three of the stories end one way, but a fourth doesn't.

In structuring his film this way, Griffith amplified the impact as each successive denouement unfolds.

One tale leads you to anticipate what will happen in the next—and when it doesn't, it makes an impact that's hard to create any other way.

I suppose with all the media at our fingertips nowadays, you could try a do-it-yourself version of 'Intolerance' at home. Just take four films and keep swapping through them faster and faster until they all finish at about the same time.

So you could take, for instance, 'Platoon,' 'Full Metal Jacket,' 'Apocalypse Now' and 'Good Morning Vietnam' and run them Intolerance-style, working yourself into a frenzy with the remote.

Or you could just come experience 'Intolerance.' Seen in a theater, with a live audience and live music and if everything else comes together, the effect is mesmerizing.

See for yourself, in the form of a 35mm print from the Museum of Modern Art that we'll be using on Sunday, April 3 at the Somerville Theatre.

More details in the press release below. Hope to see you there!

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Griffith's gi-normous Babylon set.

MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2016 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

D.W. Griffith's masterpiece 'Intolerance' to screen on Sunday, April 3 at Somerville Theatre

Landmark 1916 silent film epic to be presented in 35mm with live music to celebrate 100th anniversary of original release

SOMERVILLE, Mass.—It was a cinematic breakthrough that changed the movies forever: a three-hour epic knitting together four sweeping stories spanning 2,500 years, all designed to dramatize mankind's struggles and the redeeming power of love throughout human history.

The film was D.W. Griffith's 'Intolerance' (1916), which stunned the movie-going public 100 years ago with its vast scope, enormous sets, large cast, and revolutionary editing. Often named to lists of the 100 best films of all times, critics continue to point to 'Intolerance' as one of the most influential and important milestones of early cinema.

See for yourself with a rare screening of a 35mm print of 'Intolerance' on Sunday, April 3 at 2 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass. General admission is $15 per person.

The program, the latest in the Somerville Theatre's 'Silents, Please!' series, will be accompanied by live music performed by silent film composer Jeff Rapsis.

In reviving 'Intolerance' and other great films of Hollywood's early years, the Somerville Theatre aims to show silent movies as they were meant to be seen—in 35mm prints, on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience.

"All those elements are important parts of the silent film experience," said Rapsis, who will improvise a live score for 'Intolerance.' "Recreate those conditions, and the classics of early Hollywood leap back to life. They featured great stories with compelling characters and universal appeal, so it's no surprise that they hold up and we still respond to them."

Rapsis performs on a digital synthesizer that reproduces the texture of the full orchestra and creates a traditional "movie score" sound.

Wow—67,000 actors! But who's counting?

'Intolerance,' considered one of the great masterpieces of the silent era, intercuts four parallel story lines, each separated by several centuries: A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; a Judean story of Christ’s mission and death; a French story about the events surrounding the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572; and a story depicting the fall of the Babylonian Empire to Persia in 539 BC.

The scenes are linked by shots of a figure representing Eternal Motherhood, rocking a cradle.

Each of the parallel stories are intercut with increasing frequency as the film builds to a climax. The film sets up moral and psychological connections among the different stories.

'Intolerance' was made partly in response to criticism of Griffith's previous film, 'The Birth of a Nation' (1915), which was criticized by the NAACP and other groups as perpetuating racial stereotypes and glorifying the Ku Klux Klan.

One of the unusual elements of 'Intolerance' is that many of the characters don't have names. Griffith wished them to be emblematic of human types. Thus, the central female character in the modern story is called The Dear One. Her young husband is called The Boy, and the leader of the local Mafia is called The Musketeer of the Slums.

Because of its four intertwined stories, 'Intolerance' does not feature any one performer in a leading role. However, the enormous cast includes many great names from the silent era, including Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Constance Talmadge, Walter Long, and a young Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in an uncredited cameo as a drunken soldier with a monkey.

"This movie was made for the big screen, and this screening at the Somerville is a rare chance to see 'Intolerance' the way it was meant to be seen," said Ian Judge, the Somerville Theatre's manager.

Upcoming screenings in the Somerville Theatre's 'Silents Please!' series include:

• Sunday, May 15: 'Paths to Paradise' (1925). Rediscover the beguiling talents of Boston-born silent comic Raymond Griffith, who stars in this jewel-heist caper, one of his best surviving films.

• Sunday, June 5: 'Flesh and the Devil' (1926). The MGM drama that put budding megastars Greta Garbo and John Gilbert on the map as the screen's hottest couple.

• Sunday, July 10: 'So's Your Old Man' (1926) and 'It's the Old Army Game' (1926). A pair of vintage W.C. Fields silent feature comedies; program hosted by the great man's granddaughter, Dr. Harriet Fields.

'Intolerance' will be screened in 35mm on Sunday, April 3 at 2 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass. Admission to the screening is $15 or $12 seniors/students. For more info, call (617) 625-5700 or visit www.somervilletheatreonline.com. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

On scoring 'Ben Hur' (1925) on Easter Sunday and also why silent film is like coin collecting

A poster for the international release of 'Ben Hur' (1925).

The great silent adaptation of 'Ben Hur' (1925) is in the rotation this year, and I'm playing for it again today (Easter Sunday) at 4:30 p.m.

The screening is at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theater and is free and open to the public. More details in the press release below.

Tackling 'Ben Hur' this time around was another chance to learn about the story and its author, Lew Wallace, who I find to be an interesting guy.

Wallace, a prominent 19th century American military officer and diplomat, serving in the U.S.-Mexican War and then as a general in Union Army during the Civil War.

Here are some things about Wallace that make him so interesting:

• As a Union commander under General U.S. Grant, Wallace was at the center of controversial troop movements leading up the Battle of Shiloh that led to higher-than-expected casualties.

• Wallace took to writing fiction to provide relief from his official duties. He wrote 'Ben Hur' as a way to more thoroughly educate himself on scripture, and to confirm his own personal commitment to Christianity.

• Having never visited the Holy Land, Wallace embarked on extensive research at the Library of Congress and other centers of learning to be able to write about life during the time of Jesus.

• Wallace served as the Territorial Governor of New Mexico from 1878 to 1881, and finished writing 'Ben Hur' in Santa Fe. While in office, he negotiated a plea bargain with Billy the Kid to testify against other outlaws, but then the Kid later escaped from jail and resumed his own murderous ways. Supporters of Kid continue to lobby New Mexico unsuccessfully for an official pardon stemming from Wallace's plea bargain, most recently in 2012.

• While later serving as U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Wallace did get to visit the Holy Land, and found he didn't have to change anything in 'Ben Hur.'

• When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, Wallace volunteered his services as an officer. Refused due to his age, he tried unsuccessfully to volunteer as an enlisted man.

Lots more, but you get the idea. This was one colorful dude who lived an interesting and consequential life, and not only because he wrote the best-selling American novel until 'Gone With the Wind' appeared in the 1930s.

And if it weren't for silent film, I probably wouldn't know much about him at all.

So in that sense, silent film is like coin collecting. Studying the money systems in place in other places and at other times is a window into geography, history, economics, culture, and so many other subjects.

Silent film opens the same doors, I think. As removed from reality as it sometimes can seem, it's a window into so much of human experience that went into making up the world we know today.

See for yourself by attending 'Ben Hur' this afternoon at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre. More info below!

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The chariot race scene: a masterpiece of editing.

MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2016 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film epic ‘Ben Hur’ (1925) at Town Hall Theatre on Easter Sunday, March 27

Hollywood's original Biblical-era blockbuster to be screened with live music

WILTON,N.H.—What better day than Easter Sunday to lose yourself in a big screen Biblical blockbuster from the glory days of early Hollywood?

Movie-worshipers can do just that at the Town Hall Theatre, which will screen the original epic silent film version of 'Ben Hur, A Tale of The Christ' (1925) on Sunday, March 27 at 4:30 p.m.

The program, the latest in the theater's silent film series, will be accompanied by live music performed by silent film composer Jeff Rapsis. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $5 per person.

'Ben Hur,' starring Ramon Novarro and Francis X. Bushman, was among the first motion pictures to tell a Biblical-era story on an enormous scale.

The film, which helped establish MGM as a leading Hollywood studio, employed a cast of thousands and boasted action sequences including a large-scale sea battle. The film is highlighted by a spell-binding chariot race regarded as a masterpiece of editing and which still leaves audiences breathless.

Set in the Holy Land at the time of Christ's birth, 'Ben Hur' tells the story of a Jewish family in Jerusalem whose fortune is confiscated by the Romans and its members jailed.

The enslaved family heir, Judah Ben Hur (played by Novarro, a leading silent-era heartthrob) is inspired by encounters with Christ to pursue justice, which leads him to a series of epic adventures in his quest to find his mother and sister and restore his family fortune.

A poster for 'Ben Hur.'

The screening is the latest in the Town Hall Theatre's series of silent film screenings. The series aims to showcase the best of early Hollywood the way it was intended to be experienced: on the big screen, with live music, and in a theater with an audience.

"Put together those elements, and it's amazing how much power these films still have. You realize why these films caused people to first fall in love with the movies, said accompanist Jeff Rapsis, who will improvise a full score for the 2½-hour epic.

'Ben Hur,' directed by Fred Niblo, was among the most expensive films of the silent era, taking two years to make and costing between $4 million and $6 million. When released in 1925, it became a huge hit for the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio.

The chariot race scene in 'Ben Hur,' with Novarro and other cast members driving teams of horses at high speed on a mammoth dirt racetrack in a gigantic replica of a Roman stadium, was among the most complicated and dangerous sequences filmed in the silent era. It remains noted for its tight editing, dramatic sweep, and sheer cinematic excitement.

The chariot race was re-created virtually shot for shot in MGM's 1959 remake, and more recently imitated in the pod race scene in 'Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.'

Besides Novarro in the title role, the film stars Francis X. Bushman as Messala, the Roman soldier who imprisons the Hur family; Betty Bronson as Mary, mother of Jesus; May McAvoy as Ben Hur's sister Esther; and Claire McDowell as Ben Hur's mother. 'Ben Hur' was based on the best-selling 1880 novel by General Lew Wallace, which interwove the story of Christ's life with the Ben Hur clan, a fictional Jewish merchant family.

Celebrity "extras" in the chariot race scene included stars such as Douglas Fairbanks, Harold Lloyd, Lionel Barrymore, John Gilbert, Joan Crawford, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, and a very young Clark Gable.

The film was remade by MGM in the 1950s in a color and wide-screen version starring Charleston Heston that garnered 11 Academy Awards. However, some critics believe the original 1925 version offers superior drama and story-telling.

MGM executives at the time, aware of the quality of the original version, attempted to destroy all prints of the 1925 'Ben Hur,' sending the FBI out to confiscate collector copies in the 1950s. However, the studio did preserve the negative of the 1925 version, so the film remains available today.

In creating music for silent films, Rapsis performs on a digital synthesizer that reproduces the texture of the full orchestra and creates a traditional "movie score" sound.

For each film, Rapsis improvises a music score using original themes created beforehand. None of the the music is written down; instead, the score evolves in real time based on audience reaction and the overall mood as the movie is screened.

'Ben Hur' (1925) will be screened with live music on Easter Sunday, March 27 at 4:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. The program is free and open to the public, with a suggested donation of $5 per person to help defray expenses. For more information, call the theater (603) 654-3456 or visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

Tonight (Friday, 3/25) at Exeter Town Hall: Harold Lloyd stars in 'Grandma's Boy' (1922)

'Grandma's Boy' was Lloyd's first venture into feature-length films.

The Presidential candidates may have come and gone from Exeter (N.H.) Town Hall, but the laughter will keep going as we screen a pair of Harold Lloyd comedies this evening.

It's the latest in a series of films at this historic venue, which often hosts political gatherings and was never intended to be a movie theater.

But we've found it works just fine. By "we," I mean the students of the Penn Program and their instructor, Andrew Fersch.

The Penn is a homeschool co-op based in Exeter and designed to challenge and engage creative students of high school age.

The students help run the program, which is in support of their very active activity calendar. What kind of activities?

Well, all kinds of stuff! They even go on multi-day hikes, and a class trip to New York City and Washington, D.C. this spring is in the works.

Without a big public school system to support them, the students and the families of the Penn Program have to be creative to keep all this going.

And so I've been delighted to work with them on this year's silent film series, which in two previous screenings has attracted good-sized audiences.

Andrew and the gang have done some outreach to local schools this time, so we'll see if it brings in some new faces.

Working against us, I suppose, is that show day also happens to be Good Friday, the most solemn day of the Christian calendar.

Let's hope that doesn't preclude families coming out tonight for what should be a very good time.

There's nothing like Harold Lloyd films shown as they were intended: in a theater, with live music, and (most importantly) with an audience!

So do your part and come join us this evening at 7 p.m. for 'Grandma's Boy' (1922) and a warm-up short, 'Never Weaken' (1921).

More details in the press release pasted in below.

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An original poster for 'Grandmas's Boy.'

MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more info, contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent comedy 'Grandma's Boy' at Exeter Town Hall on Friday, March 25

Classic Harold Lloyd feature film to be screened with live music accompaniment

EXETER, N.H.—The silent film era returns to the big screen at Exeter Town Hall with the showing of 'Grandma's Boy' (1922), a classic silent comedy accompanied by live music.

Admission is free and the screening is open to the public. A donation of $5 per person is suggested, with all proceeds to support the Penn Program, a local homeschool co-op for students of high school age.

Music for 'Grandma's Boy' will be performed live by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer and silent film accompanist who performs at venues around the nation.

'Grandma's Boy' tells the story a cowardly young man (Harold Lloyd) who seeks the courage to battle a menacing tramp who terrorizes his small hometown.

Audiences loved 'Grandma's Boy' when it was first released, and the picture helped establish Harold Lloyd as a major star for the rest of the silent film era.

In revival, 'Grandma's Boy' continues to delight movie-goers and serves as a great introduction to the magic of silent film. It also provides a marvelous window into small town American life as it was lived a century ago.

Harold Lloyd confronts tramp Dick Sutherland in 'Grandma's Boy.' I've been asked if Sutherland is any relation to Donald Sutherland. Anyone know?

Despite his mega-star status in the 1920s, Lloyd is largely unknown to today's audiences, mostly because he retained control of his films in later life and refused to let them be shown on television.

"People today remember Charlie Chaplin, but the silent era had many popular stars," Rapsis said. "Harold Lloyd's 'average American' character was immensely popular in the 1920s, not just in the U.S. but around the globe."

With the release of Lloyd's films on DVD, audiences are rediscovering his timeless genius. The reissue sparked a demand for screenings in theaters, where the Lloyd films continue to cast their spell on audiences.

Shown in a theater with live music, Lloyd's features maintain their power to delight movie-goers.

"Times have changed, but people haven't," Rapsis said. "The Lloyd films were designed to be shown in a theater with an audience, and to appeal to a worldwide audience, and their universal themes haven't lost any relevance," said Rapsis, who has performed scores for silent films in venues ranging from the Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge, Mass. to the Kansas Silent Film Festival at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas.

Using original themes created beforehand, Rapsis improvises the music live as the films are shown.

"When the score gets made up on the spot, it creates a special energy that's an important part of the silent film experience," said Rapsis, who uses a digital synthesizer to recreate the texture of a full orchestra for the accompaniment.

In reviving 'Grandma's Boy' and other great films of cinema's early years, organizers of the Exeter Town Hall film series aim to show silent movies as they were meant to be seen—in high quality prints, on a large screen, with live music, and with an audience.

'Grandma's Boy' is the latest in a series of silent film screenings to benefit the Penn Program, a homeschool co-op based in Exeter designed to challenge and engage creative students of high school age.

The program, launched by educator and writer Andrew Lapham Fersch in 2012, seeks to explore new methods of education. The Penn Program emphasizes active involvement in a wide range of artistic and creative activities ranging from video production to stand-up comedy.

Under Fersch's direction, the program operates in downtown Exeter, enrolling students from several area towns.

The Penn Program seeks to create a new model for integrating the arts into education, with the goal of fostering creativity, originality, hard work, dedication, kindness, and a spirit of giving.

"We felt presenting a silent film series was a great way to reach out and introduce ourselves to the community while bringing people together," Fersch said. "We're all eager to celebrate the creativity of early Hollywood in Exeter Town Hall, which is a great space, and we're doubly excited to be able to bring the community together to enjoy such a talented musician and wonderful movie."

'Grandma's Boy' will be shown on Friday, March 25 at 7 p.m. at Exeter Town Hall, 9 Front St., Exeter. Admission is free and the screening is open to the public. A donation of $5 per person is suggested, with all proceeds to support the Penn Program.

For more information on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

If it's Easter, it must be 'Ben Hur' (1925): two screenings, Wednesday & Easter Sunday

It's not Peter Cottontail, but it does have Francis X. Bushman. This Easter, join us for screenings of the silent version 'Ben Hur' (1925) in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Peter Cottontail's annual trip down the Bunny Trail brings with it the chance to uncork some of the silent era's Biblical epics, and Easter 2016 is no exception.

This year, I'm doing music for two separate screenings of the original silent 'Ben Hur' (1925): on Wednesday, March 23 at 7 p.m. at Merrimack College at North Andover, Mass.; and then again on Sunday, March 27 (that's Easter Sunday, folks!) at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre.

Admission to either screening is free, although we actively encourage a donation of $5 per person for the Wilton screenings to help defray expenses. More details about Wednesday night's showing at Merrimack College is below; I'll post Wilton details later in the week.

Before we give ourselves wholly to Holy Week, here's a quick run-down of recent screenings. Some incredible accompaniment experiences filled the past few days, to wit:

Delay of train: 'Conductor 1492' (1924) will now be shown on Thursday, March 24.

• Thursday, March 17: I had to postpone a planned St. Patrick's Day silent film program due to a sudden onset of flu that gave me a temperature that looked like today's high in Phoenix on any given day in July.

But the folks at the Flying Monkey in Plymouth, N.H. were kind enough to reschedule the show to one week later, meaning Thursday, March 24 at 6:30 p.m. That's when we'll celebrate the wearing o' the green, instead of my face just being that color.

Highlighting the program is 'Conductor 1492' (1924), an Irish-themed comedy starring Johnny Hines. This is one of those films that surprises everyone, including me, every time it's run.

Why? Because no one today has ever heard of Johnny Hines. And yet this film somehow bonds with audiences, and people end up loving him. He becomes our own little discovery, every time.

I'm sure it'll happen again on Thursday night, so I hope you can join us for the screening. Also on the bill: Buster Keaton's short 'My Wife's Relations.' Admission to the program is $10 per person.

A figure of riducule or sympathy? Emil Jannings in 'The Last Laugh' (1924).

• Friday, March 18: In doing music for a screening of 'The Last Laugh' (1924) at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H., I found our show competing with a 'Phantom of the Opera' sing-along in one of the other rooms.

Can you imagine the confusion that would have ensued if we'd somehow programmed the silent version of 'Phantom' at the same time as the sing-a-long? Now that would have been fun!

A modest turnout of about two dozen people took in the Murnau classic, which I love doing because it's another film no one's ever seen but which always provokes a strong reaction.

That was the case on Friday night, but not quite what I expected. In pre-screening remarks, I often encourage audience members to not be shy about reacting to what happens on screen.

"You'll notice we don't run a notice prior to the film saying No Talking," I say. "I encourage you to react any way you like, as that's all part of the experience."

Well, we had a few people on Friday who took that to mean they could talk among themselves throughout the screening, as if it was taking place in their own living room.

Also, they found Emil Jannings to be absolutely hilarious, which he can be in the lead role of a doorman who unexpectedly loses his job. But not all the time.

So here we were, going through some quite serious footage of Jannings first coming to grips that his life has changed, and these folks are just yukking it up big time, not taking the film seriously and seemingly spoiling it for others.

I kept wanting to say: That's not what I meant! But I kept going with the music, thinking I could quiet them down by playing (or not playing) at the keyboard.

Well, I couldn't. It was one long episode of Mystery Science 3000, more or less, and I really had only myself to blame for encouraging people to react.

Eventually the film asserted itself, starting with the fantasy sequence for the Jannings character. And it really isn't always quite so serious, so on the upside, I've never heard 'The Last Laugh' get as many laughs as it did last Friday night.

And by the time the film's "twist of fate" ending came along, Murnau had everyone eating out of his hand.

Despite the distractions, I pushed through with the music, keeping serious-stuff going where appropriate even if I was being drowned out by guffaws nearby. What else could I do?

Even so, I need to change my pitch: yes, react, but no running commentary, please.

Audience members at the Blazing Star Grange Hall wanted to know if Dick Sutherland (pictured here with Harold Lloyd) was related to Donald Sutherland. Anyone know?

• Saturday, March 19 took me to Danbury, N.H., home of the Blazing Star Grange Hall, for a Saturday-night-at-the-movies program that turned out to be one of the highlights of the season so far.

Why? Because somehow word got out, and before we knew what was happening, the relatively small hall was packed to overflowing with kids, parents, grandparents, and everyone's aunt and uncle besides.

They were there for a good time, so there was a tremendous amount of energy to work with. Plus, a packed house always lends an air of excitement to the screening of even the shabbiest film.

But nothing shabby about Saturday night's program: Harold Lloyd in 'Never Weaken' (1921) and 'Grandma's Boy' (1922).

And it was just one of those perfect nights where explosive laughter greeted the first scene, and then never let up.

I kept the intro to a minimum, just introducing Lloyd and explaining how he came by hi place in the 1920s comedy pantheon—by hard work, mostly, which people could relate to.

And off we went. People loved discovering Harold and his world, and I had a blast creating music to help it all come to life and stick to the screen.

It being a Grange Hall, it was a perfect setting for 'Grandma's Boy' in particular, with its rural small-town atmosphere and its depiction of old-time ways.

So it was one of those magic nights where everything comes together, and the sum becomes something greater than the individual parts.

And me? The closest I think I'll ever come to being a rock star is the resounding ovation I got at the Blazing Star Grange Hall. It really took the chill out of the Saturday evening, let me tell you.

Stage actor William Gillette as the title character in 'Sherlock Holmes' (1916).

• Sunday, March 20: a four-hour drive to the far side of Maine isn't a bad way to spend a Sunday. That's especially true if the weather's clear (which it was) and your destination is the Alamo Theatre in Bucksport, Maine—which for me, it was.

On the program: a 6 p.m. screening of the recently rediscovered original screen adaptation of 'Sherlock Holmes' (1916), which the Alamo was running to kick off its centennial celebration.

I was thrilled to do music for this restoration, which I first saw last year during the 'Mostly Lost' festival at the Library of Congress Packard Center in Culpeper, Va.

Because it was my first time scoring it, and also because it was heavy with possible sound effect cues, I actually sat down and prepared material in advance.

So after making my way through some of the most starkly beautiful countryside in New England (or anywhere, really), I arrived at the Alamo.

The exterior of the Alamo Theatre in Bucksport, Maine.

The Alamo, turning 100 years old this year, is the exhibition arm of Northeast Historic Film, an archive specializing in motion picture materials and which focuses on film of all types shot in northern New England.

After I set up my keyboard, Amber Bertin of Northeast was kind enough to take me on a tour of the facility, which consists of the vintage building housing the Alamo and a fairly new "archive" wing housing modern vaults, complete with climate control, fire suppression—the works!

The rear of Northeast Historic Film, where the modern storage facility was added a few years ago.

It's a fascinating place that does great work. And I hope to return there again soon, because the Alamo itself is a first-class facility for film of all types, including silent film.

And there seems to be an interest. We had probably 40 or 50 people attend the 'Sherlock' screening. It was the kick-off of a series of screenings designed to celebrate cinema throughout the century that Alamo has been in the picture business.

Musically, I thought things started strong, but then went into overdrive as the film progressed. It was one of those occasions where I had just the right themes and materials to work with as the film progressed, and they flexed and bent just enough in the heat of the moment for everything to fit perfectly, one scene after another.

So another rush, making it three nights in a row. As Sherlock hung up his pipe and the film ended, I was greeted by an ovation even louder and more raucous than that from the Grange the night before.

What a privilege to be able to create music to help this rediscovered piece of cinematic history come to life! In a real theater, with real people!

It's weekends like this that remind me why all the work has been worth it so far—that I have developed instincts that are enough to see me through three very different films with three very difference audiences in three different venues, and have them all come out well.

Four, if I hadn't missed St. Patrick's Day due to my fever.

We'll catch up on that one later this week. For now, the next screening is 'Ben Hur' (1925) tomorrow night at the Rogers Center for the Arts at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.

Here's a press release with all the details:

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A still from the famous "chariot race" scene in 'Ben Hur' (1925).

MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2016 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film epic ‘Ben Hur’ (1925) at Merrimack College on Wednesday, March 23

Hollywood's original Biblical-era blockbuster to be screened with live music at Rogers Center for the Arts

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.—One of early Hollywood's greatest epics returns to the big screen with a showing of 'Ben Hur, A Tale of The Christ' (1925) at the Rogers Center for the Performing Arts at Merrimack College on Wednesday, March 23 at 7 p.m.

The program, the latest in the Rogers Center's silent film series, will be accompanied by live music performed by silent film composer Jeff Rapsis. Admission is free.

'Ben Hur,' starring Ramon Novarro and Francis X. Bushman, was among the first motion pictures to tell a Biblical-era story on an enormous scale.

The film, which helped establish MGM as a leading Hollywood studio, employed a cast of thousands and boasted action sequences including a large-scale sea battle. The film is highlighted by a spell-binding chariot race that still leaves audiences breathless.

Set in the Holy Land at the time of Christ's birth, 'Ben Hur' tells the story of a Jewish family in Jerusalem whose fortune is confiscated by the Romans and its members jailed.

The enslaved family heir, Judah Ben Hur (played by Novarro, a leading silent-era heartthrob) is inspired by encounters with Christ to pursue justice, which leads him to a series of epic adventures in his quest to find his mother and sister and restore his family fortune.

The film is particularly appropriate for the week leading up to Easter.

The screening is the latest in Rogers Center's series of silent film screenings. The series aims to showcase the best of early Hollywood the way it was intended to be experienced: on the big screen, with live music, and in a theater with an audience.

"Put together those elements, and it's amazing how much power these films still have. You realize why these films caused people to first fall in love with the movies, said accompanist Jeff Rapsis, who will improvise a full score for the 2½-hour epic.

'Ben Hur,' directed by Fred Niblo, was among the most expensive films of the silent era, taking two years to make and costing between $4 million and $6 million. When released in 1925, it became a huge hit for the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio.

The chariot race scene in 'Ben Hur,' with Novarro and other cast members driving teams of horses at high speed on a mammoth dirt racetrack in a gigantic replica of a Roman stadium, was among the most complicated and dangerous sequences filmed in the silent era. It remains noted for its tight editing, dramatic sweep, and sheer cinematic excitement.

The chariot race was re-created virtually shot for shot in MGM's 1959 remake, and more recently imitated in the pod race scene in 'Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.'

Besides Novarro in the title role, the film stars Francis X. Bushman as Messala, the Roman soldier who imprisons the Hur family; Betty Bronson as Mary, mother of Jesus; May McAvoy as Ben Hur's sister Esther; and Claire McDowell as Ben Hur's mother. 'Ben Hur' was based on the best-selling 1880 novel by General Lew Wallace, which interwove the story of Christ's life with the Ben Hur clan, a fictional Jewish merchant family.

Celebrity "extras" in the chariot race scene included stars such as Douglas Fairbanks, Harold Lloyd, Lionel Barrymore, John Gilbert, Joan Crawford, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, and a very young Clark Gable.

The film was remade by MGM in the 1950s in a color and wide-screen version starring Charleston Heston that garnered 11 Academy Awards. Some critics believe the original 1925 version offers superior drama and story-telling.

MGM executives at the time, aware of the quality of the original version, attempted to destroy all prints of the 1925 'Ben Hur,' sending the FBI out to confiscate collector copies in the 1950s. However, the studio did preserve the negative of the 1925 version, so the film remains available today.

In creating music for silent films, Rapsis performs on a digital synthesizer that reproduces the texture of the full orchestra and creates a traditional "movie score" sound.

For each film, Rapsis improvises a music score using original themes created beforehand. None of the the music is written down; instead, the score evolves in real time based on audience reaction and the overall mood as the movie is screened.

Upcoming shows in this year's series include:

'Ben Hur' (1925) will be screened with live music on Wednesday, March 23 at 7 p.m. at the Rogers Center for the Arts, Merrimack College, 315 North Turnpike St., North Andover, Mass. The program is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Rogers box office at (978) 837-5355. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

For info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

A return to Blazing Star Grange—this time for Harold Lloyd in 'Grandma's Boy' (1922)

The Blazing Star Grange Hall in Danbury, N.H.—in a photo from last year, when we had a bit more snow.

Who needs a time machine to visit the past?

Just come on up to Danbury, N.H., where the entertainment this Saturday night is a Harold Lloyd silent film program shown in a real-life New Hampshire Grange Hall.

Like silent film, the Grange had its heyday in another era. At a time when most people earned their living directly from the land, the Grange was an important institution that encouraged responsible land stewardship, good animal husbandry, sound agricultural practices, and strong communities.

The Grange is still active in communities here and there, including the "Blazing Star" chapter in Danbury, N.H., which continues to operate now well into the 21st century.

But how thing have changed! Instead of encouraging good animal husbandry, they're now doing dissolute activities such as showing Harold Lloyd films on a Saturday night. For shame!

Actually, the Blazing Star Grangers are all wonderful people who are careful stewards of a wonderful vintage hall where meetings still take place.

Last year, a Buster Keaton program we did was a big success. That, coupled with all the effort that went into creating a movie screen to fill the hall's proscenium stage, led to this weekend's follow-up program of Harold Lloyd films.

We're starting with 'Never Weaken,' one of Lloyd's shorter "thrill" comedies. Then the main attraction is 'Grandma's Boy' (1922), the picture that launched Lloyd into feature-length films.

'Grandma's Boy' is a good one for the Grange because it's set in just the kind of community where the group would have flourished at the time.

And think about it: Almost all films from the silent era now carry at least some historical interest, in that they're accidental records of how people dressed, acted, and lived in past times.

Even a low-budget contemporary romance shows life as it was lived about 100 years ago, and is interesting just for that alone, I think.

But 'Grandma's Boy' is especially rich in this respect, in that it's full of scenes that show how everyday life was changing in so many ways in the 1920s. America was moving from the country to the city, and 'Grandma's Boy' captures this transition quite naturally.

It's filled with things that were once a part of daily life, but which we no longer do on a regular basis.

A good example (SPOILER ALERT!) is the film's opening gag: we see Harold working up a sweat turning a crank, and we assume he's starting a stubborn car. But a pullback shot reveals he's actually involved in the much-less manly activity of turning a hand-cranked ice cream machine.

How many audience members today have any real life experience with either activity? And yet people still always laugh at the gag.

Another example is gasoline. If I get a chance to introduce 'Grandma's Boy,' I always remind people that at the time, gasoline was regarded as a cleaning agent or a disinfectant as much as it was a fuel for the new-fangled automobiles.

Absent this knowledge, a sequence involving gasoline would puzzle modern viewers, or at least be enough of a head-scratcher to take viewers out of the moment.

(It's the same with the "goat glands" gag in Buster Keaton's short comedy 'Cops.' But that a whole other story.)

So come take a trip to the past this Saturday night at the Blazing Star Grange. More info in the press release below:

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Harold Lloyd prepares to confront a tramp. Hey, how'd that kid get in there?

MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2016 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent comedy 'Grandma's Boy' at Danbury Blazing Star Grange on Saturday, March 19

Classic Harold Lloyd feature film to be screened with live music accompaniment

DANBURY, N.H.—The silent film era returns to the big screen at Danbury's Blazing Star Grange Hall with the showing of 'Grandma's Boy' (1922), a classic silent comedy accompanied by live music.

Showtime is Saturday, March 19 at 7 p.m. at the historic Grange Hall, 15 North Road in Danbury. The show is open to the public with suggested $5 donation.

The screening will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating scores for silent films.

'Grandma's Boy,' stars Harold Lloyd, a popular 1920s film star.

'Grandma's Boy' tells the story a cowardly young man (Harold Lloyd) who seeks the courage to battle a menacing tramp who terrorizes his small hometown.

Audiences loved 'Grandma's Boy' when it was first released, and the picture helped establish Lloyd as a major star for the rest of the silent film era.

In revival, 'Grandma's Boy' continues to delight movie-goers and serves as a great introduction to the magic of silent film. It also provides a marvelous window into small town American life as it was lived a century ago.

The Danbury Blazing Star Grange silent film program will open with 'Never Weaken' (1921), a Harold Lloyd short comedy released before he made the jump to feature-length movies.

Despite his mega-star status in the 1920s, Lloyd is largely unknown to today's audiences, mostly because he retained control of his films in later life and refused to let them be shown on television.

"People today remember Charlie Chaplin, but the silent era had many popular stars," Rapsis said. "Harold Lloyd's 'average American' character was immensely popular in the 1920s, not just in the U.S. but around the globe."

With the release of Lloyd's films on DVD, audiences are rediscovering his timeless genius. The reissue sparked a demand for screenings in theaters, where the Lloyd films continue to cast their spell on audiences.

Shown in a theater with live music, Lloyd's features maintain their power to delight movie-goers.

"Times have changed, but people haven't," Rapsis said. "The Lloyd films were designed to be shown in a theater with an audience, and to appeal to a worldwide audience, and their universal themes haven't lost any relevance," said Rapsis, who has performed music for silent films in venues ranging the Donnell Library in New York City to the Kansas Silent Film Festival.

Using original themes, Rapsis improvises the music live as the films are shown.

"When the score gets made up on the spot, it creates a special energy that's an important part of the silent film experience," said Rapsis, who uses a digital synthesizer to recreate the texture of a full orchestra for the accompanimemt.

‘Grandma's Boy’ (1922), a classic silent comedy starring Harold Lloyd, will be shown on Saturday, March 19 at 7 p.m. at the Blazing Star Grange Hall, 15 North Road, Danbury, N.H. The program is open to the public. Suggested donation $5. For more info, visit www.blazingstargrange.org; for more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.effrapsis.com.

Next up: Murnau's 'The Last Laugh' (1924) on Friday, 3/18 at Red River in Concord, N.H.

Emil Jannings in 'The Last Laugh' (1924).

Tonight brings the chance to do music for one of my personal silent film favorites: 'The Last Laugh' (1924).

The screening is tonight (Friday, March 18) at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H. Admission is $10 per person; for more details, see the press release below.

Many reasons for liking it: the overall concept, the way the story is told visually (with almost no intertitles!), the amazing performance of Emil Jannings in the lead role; the quality of the photography; the way director F.W. Murnau used the then-new medium of cinema so creatively.

But to me, the most important thing about this film is the reaction it inspires. I've accompanied it several times, and each screening provokes a very strong response from an audience. There's something about how Murnau presents the plight of his main character that works on a group of people.

So it's another case of silent film needing its natural environment — live music, and a live audience — to really be experienced as it was intended, I think.

I invite you to come join us tonight in Concord, N.H. and see for yourself!

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Emil Jannings in 'The Last Laugh' (1924).

MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2016 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'The Last Laugh' (1924) to screen with live music at Red River on Friday, March 18

Oscar-winning actor Emil Jannings stars in ground-breaking silent drama from German director F.W. Murnau

CONCORD, N.H.—'The Last Laugh' (1924), a German silent film drama about a hotel doorman demoted to washroom attendant, will be screened with live music on Friday, March 18 at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. Tickets are $10 per person.

In 'The Last Laugh,' regarded as one of German director F.W. Murnau's best pictures, the story is told entirely in visual terms, without the use of title cards.

The film, a character study that chronicles the mental breakdown of an aging man who loses his position of authority, is also noted for its revolutionary use of camera movement.

Playing the lead role is Swiss/German actor Emil Jannings, widely recognized as one of the most versatile actors of early cinema.

Jannings would later move to Hollywood, where he earned the first-ever Best Actor Oscar at the inaugural Academy Awards for his towering performances in 'The Last Command' (1928) and 'The Patriot' (1928).

Critics and film writers regard 'The Last Laugh' as a landmark of early cinema.

" 'The Last Laugh' is a masterpiece of psychological study, perhaps the best ever portrayal of what goes through one man's mind under varying situations ... It is absolutely mind-boggling to see Emil Jannings age at least 10 or 15 years right in front of our eyes in the course of a couple of minutes," wrote author Robert K. Klepner in 'Silent Films' (2005).

Critic David Kehr of the Chicago Reader described 'The Last Laugh' as "the 1924 film in which F.W. Murnau freed his camera from its stationary tripod and took it on a flight of imagination and expression that changed the way movies were made."

The film's director of photography, Karl Freund, set new standards of cinematography in 'The Last Laugh,' setting up the camera to move through corridors and "see" action through a character's eye-view.

Freund's long career later included work in television in the 1950s in Hollywood, when he developed the "three camera" system for the "I Love Lucy" show, which became the standard format for shooting situation comedies.

'The Last Laugh' will be accompanied by live music by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who performs at venues across the region and beyond.

Using a digital synthesizer to reproduce the texture of the full orchestra, Rapsis will improvise the score on the spot during the screening.

"Films such as 'The Last Laugh' were created to be shown on the big screen and in a theater as a communal experience," Rapsis said. "With an audience and live music, they still come to life in the way their makers intended them to.

"So Red River's silent film screenings are a great chance for people to experience films that caused people to first fall in love with the movies," he said.

'The Last Laugh' is the latest in an monthly series of great silent films with live music at Red River. Upcoming programs include:

• Friday, April 15: 'Underworld' (1928); Josef von Sternberg's high-stepping crime drama started the gangster movie craze and paved the way for Film Noir.

• Friday, May 13: 'The Golem' (1920), a pioneering German fantasy in which a rabbi brings a statue to life protect the Jews of 16th century Prague from persecution.

• Friday, June 10: 'The General' (1927), Buster Keaton's classic comic adventure epic of an Southern engineer and his locomotive during the U.S. Civil War.

• Friday, July 15: 'Bardelys the Magnificent' (1926) starring John Gilbert in a big MGM historical swashbuckling adventure thought lost for decades until a print was found recently in France.

Red River Theatres, an independent cinema, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to screening a diverse program of first-run independent films, cult favorites, classics, local and regional film projects, and foreign films.

The member-supported theater’s mission is to present film and the discussion of film as a way to entertain, broaden horizons and deepen appreciation of life for New Hampshire audiences of all ages.

'The Last Laugh' (1924) will be shown at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. on Friday, March 18 at 7 p.m. in the Jaclyn Simchik Screening Room at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. Admission is $10 per person; for more info, call (603) 224-4600 or visit www.redrivertheatres.org. For more information about the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

Flying Monkey St. Paddy's silent film program postponed to Thursday, 3/24

Hi everyone. Very sorry for the last-minute change but I'm afraid today's St. Patrick's Day silent film program at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse will have to be postponed until a week later, to Thursday, March 24.

The reason? Your accompanist is running a temperature of 101+ and I'm doubtful anyone would be satisfied with an attempt to run the program tonight. So the good folks at the Flying Monkey have agreed to let us run the program a week later, on Thursday, March 24 at 6:30 p.m. See you then.

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with silent comedy on 3/17 at the Flying Monkey in Plymouth, N.H.

An original promotional card for 'Conductor 1492' starring Johnny Hines.

Since last posting anything, I've gone through a busy period that included a half-dozen screenings at the Harvard Film Archive, the Kansas Silent Film Festival, and many other events crowding the schedule.

I'm still in recovery mode, and will round up accounts of those adventures very soon.

But as I'm one-quarter Irish, I can't let St. Patrick's Day go by without blowing off me big dord (an ancient bronze horn native to Ireland) about a program that's sure'n to be coming up tomorrow night.

It's a silent film St. Patrick's Day celebration at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse House and Performance Center, doon't ye know? (All right, enough of the Lucky Charms accent.)

As part of our monthly series at the Monkey, we're running 'Conductor 1492' (1924), a breezy Irish-themed comedy starring Johnny Hines. Showtime is Thursday, March 17 at 6:30 p.m. Details in the press release pasted in below.

Hines may be totally forgotten, but the film really holds up well as an ethnic comedy of its time, poking gentle fun at the Irish experience in America.

As a warm-up, we're also screening one of Buster Keaton's short comedies. So it'll be a fun-filled evening of silent film with live music, and I hope you'll be joining us, arrh to be sure. (All right, enough!)

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MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2016 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with uproarious silent comedy about Irish immigrant

Johnny Hines in 'Conductor 1492' to be screened with live music at Flying Monkey on Thursday, March 17

PLYMOUTH, N.H.—Celebrate St. Patrick's day with a vintage silent film comedy about an Irish immigrant's misadventures in America.

'Conductor 1492,' a 1924 movie starring Johnny Hines, will by shown with live music at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center on Thursday, March 17 at 6:30 p.m.

Live music will be provided by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film musician who frequently accompanies programs at the Flying Monkey.

The program will also include Buster Keaton's short comedy 'My Wife's Relations' (1922), in which Keaton accidentally marries into an Irish family.

Admission to the program, which is part of the Flying Monkey's monthly silent film series, is $10 per person.

'Conductor 1492' follows the exploits of Terry O'Toole (Johnny Hines), a young man who leaves Ireland to make his fortune in 1920s America.

After arriving, he gets a job as a conductor on a streetcar and fights off an attempt by crooks to take over the company, all the while pursuing the boss' beautiful daughter.

The film, released in 1924 by Warner Brothers, takes a light-hearted look at the immigrant experience in America at the time, as seen through Irish eyes.

Born in 1895, Johnny Hines was a popular movie comedian during the silent era, starring in such pictures as 'Burn 'em Up Barnes' (1921) and 'The Live Wire' (1925).

In his films, Hines often portrayed energetic young men eager to get ahead in business and find success—a popular theme in the booming years of the 1920s.

Although his movies were well-received, Hines never rivaled comic mega-stars of the era such as Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton.

Described by one historian as the "Jack Lemmon of the silents," Hines had a likeably extroverted screen personality, starring in about 50 motion pictures, most of which are lost and unavailable today.

'Conductor 1492' is considered one of Hines' better surviving titles. Directed by his brother Charles Hines, the picture contains several highly comic sequences and is frequently run at revival events.

The film is classified as an "ethnic comedy" that satirizes the Irish experience in America.

Irish immigrants had been a significant presence in the United States beginning in the 1840s. By the 1920s, the Irish had become well-established enough to be the focus of good-hearted satire, of which 'Conductor 1492' abounds.

Another surviving Hines feature, 'The Crackerjack' (1925), will be screened to round out the Flying Monkey program.

With the advent of sound in the motion picture industry, Hines' career went into decline. During the 1930s, he would appear in only six films, all in smaller, supporting roles.

In 1938 he would have his last significant role, that of Parsons in 'Too Hot to Handle,' which starred Clark Gable and Myrna Loy.

Hines died in 1970 at age 75.

Upcoming programs in the Flying Monkey's silent film series include:

• Thursday, April 14, 2016, 6:30 p.m.: "The Thief of Bagdad" (1924). Eye-popping spectacle starring swashbuckling star Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in top form as Arabian adventurer who must complete a series of epic tasks to save his beloved.

• Thursday, May 12, 2016, 6:30 p.m.: "Paths to Paradise" (1925) and "Hands Up!" (1926). A double feature of films starring Raymond Griffith, a talented comic who at one time rivaled Chaplin and Keaton in the silent comedy pantheon.

All movies in Flying Monkey's silent film series are rarely screened in a way that allows them to be seen at their best. To revive them, organizers aim to show the films as they were intended—in top quality restored prints, on a large screen, with live music, and with an audience.

‘Conductor 1492’ (1924) will be shown with live music on Thursday, March 17, at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 South Main St., Plymouth, N.H. Admission is $10 per person.

For more info, call the box office at 603-536-2551 or visit www.flyingmonkeynh.com. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.