Thursday, Jan. 27: 'Simba, King of the Beasts' (1928) w/live music at Wilton's Town Hall Theatre

A lobby card for 'Simba' (1928), a wildlife documentary produced by Martin and Osa Johnson, who pioneered airborne wildlife photography.

Sometimes two of my many separate lives crash into each other—like tonight!

This evening, as executive director of the Aviation Museum of N.H., I'll present a lecture on the lives of Martin and Osa Johnson, pioneer wildlife photographers and aviators.

And then, as silent film accompanist, I'll create music for 'Simba: King of the Beasts' (1928) a documentary made by the Johnsons that mesmerized audiences around the world.

All this takes place at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St. in Wilton, N.H. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. 

However, I understand that tomorrow's edition of our statewide daily newspaper, The Union Leader, will carry a big feature on our program. 

That's great, but the Town Hall Theatre is not exactly Radio City Music Hall in terms of capacity. 

So if you plan to attend, come early!

And if you're not aware of the Johnsons, it's not surprising. Although they enjoyed worldwide fame a hundred years ago, their name has faded from public awareness.

I wasn't aware of them at all until just a few years ago, when the Kansas Silent Film Festival programmed 'Simba.' (The Johnsons hailed from the Sunflower state.)

Wow! I was impressed and intrigued at the time. It's no wonder the Johnsons were celebrities—their life of adventure maintains a strong pull even in our "we've seen it all" age.

Heck, maybe the appeal is even stronger today!

Well, find out for yourself by attending tonight's program. Admission $10 per person, with all proceeds to benefit the Aviation Museum's youth aviation education programs.

Press release is below. See you tonight in Wilton!

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Martin and Osa Johnson with the Sikorsky S-39 float plane they flew around Africa in the 1930s to film exotic animals in their natural habitat.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 19, 2022 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jrapsis@nhahs.org

Take off to adventure! Celebrating the Johnsons, pioneering aviators who captured first movies of African wildlife

Aviation museum program on Thursday, 1/27 spotlights globe-spanning adventures of Martin and Osa Johnson, whose plane had N.H. connection; includes screening of early documentary 'Simba: King of the Beasts' (1928) with live music

WILTON, N.H. — Want to see a century-old safari movie made in Africa by pioneering aviators whose special plane would later boast a Granite State connection?

Then take off to Wilton's Town Hall Theatre on Thursday, Jan. 27, when the Aviation Museum of N.H. presents 'Martin and Osa Johnson: Adventure's First Couple,' a combination lecture and movie screening.

The program starts at 7:30 p.m. and is open to the public. Tickets available at the door: $10 per person, general admission. All proceeds support the non-profit Aviation Museum's education programming.

The Town Hall Theatre is located at 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. For directions, visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com.

The evening opens with a review of the extraordinary career of the Johnsons, a Kansas couple who gained worldwide fame in the early 20th century for far-flung exploits that combined adventure, aviation and wildlife photography.

Often wearing classic safari outfits and topped by pith helmets, the duo journeyed deep into Africa and Asia in the 1920s and 1930s, getting the first motion pictures of exotic wildlife in its native habitat.

Back home and in Europe, they achieved great popularity on the lecture circuit by recounting their exploits in foreign lands.

After Martin Johnson learned to fly, they used Sikorsky float planes painted with zebra and giraffe markings to reach remote regions of Africa and Asia, and also photograph wildlife from the air.

As filmmakers, the couple produced several wildlife documentary films chronicling their adventures. These also proved immensely popular, laying the groundwork for all wilderness filmmaking to follow.

The program will include with a screening of 'Simba: King of the Beasts" (1928), a documentary the Johnsons compiled from film they shot in Africa from 1923 to 1927. The silent film will be shown with live musical accompaniment.

The program will be presented by Jeff Rapsis, executive director of the Aviation Museum of N.H. Rapsis prepared the program with assistance from the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum of Chanute, Kansas—Osa Johnson's hometown.

Rapsis, who moonlights as a silent film accompanist, will also provide the live music for the screening "Simba: King of the Beasts."

The 'Simba' documentary is not recommended for children due to graphic scenes of violence that include the shooting and killing of animals.

"Martin and Osa Johnson: Adventure's First Couple" is the first in a series of humanities programs planned for 2022 by the Aviation Museum of N.H.. The series is supported in part by Grappone Auto and the Sidore Foundation.

"The story of the Johnsons is one that combines aviation with so much else that humans find fascinating," Rapsis said. "Their work is worth looking at today because it's about topics that remain compelling: animals, wildlife, adventure, and exotic places."

"But now, so many decades later, their work has an added layer because it displays attitudes that prevailed a century ago in topics such as gender roles, treatment of animals, and race," Rapsis said. "As such, it can teach us a lot."

At the height of their fame, Martin Johnson was killed in 1937 in an airplane crash in California. Osa Johnson later wrote a best-selling book, "I Married Adventure," which recounted the couple's exotic and at-times dangerous expeditions.

Following her death in 1953, the couple's fame faded and their achievements were largely forgotten as new wilderness stars emerged in the television era, including Marlin Perkins (producer of 'Wild Kingdom') and undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau.

But one of the aircraft they used in their adventures—the Sikorsky S-39, a single-engine float plane—captured the imagination of Dick Jackson, a pilot and mechanic from Rochester, N.H.

Only 21 such aircraft were built in 1930-31, and by the early 1960s all had been lost or junked.

Looking for a project, in 1963 Jackson chose to restore a Sikorsky S-39 to flyable condition. The painstaking effort took more than four decades, but in 2003 Jackson completed the work and the world's only remaining S-39 made its maiden flight.

In honor of the Johnsons, the plane was painted in exactly the same giraffe pattern used by the famous couple during their African adventures. Today the aircraft remains airworthy, and is part of the collection housed at the "Fantasy of Flight" museum in Polk City, Fla.

The program will include recent scenes of the restored Sikorsky in flight—and on the water—in its Florida environs.

The Aviation Museum of N.H. is a non-profit 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization dedicated to celebrating New Hampshire's role in aviation history and inspiring tomorrow's pioneers, innovators and aerospace professionals.

For more information, visit www.aviationmuseumofnh.org or call (603) 669-4820. Follow the Aviation Museum on social media at www.facebook.com/nhahs.

Wednesday, 1/26: New Flying Monkey film series starts with comedy 'For Heaven's Sake' (1926)

Harold Lloyd as "J. Harold Manners" in 'For Heaven's Sake' (1926).

Next up: a screening of Harold's Lloyd's great comedy 'For Heaven's Sake' (1926) in Plymouth, N.H.

Complete info on that in the press release below. But first, an update from the front lines. 

We enjoyed great turnout and good reaction yesterday afternoon at a screening of 'Nanook of the North' (1922) at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H. 

The show was part of an ongoing series celebrating the 100th anniversary of significant films, including the year's top five box office hits, all of which survive.

Nanook was not among them, but was popular and influential to be included. Plus, what better film to show in the dead of a New England winter?

A century after its release, people are still drawn to director Robert Flaherty's images of Inuit people living among the Arctic ice floes and snow drifts. 

For the music, I used piano with sustained strings to create a soundtrack that seemed to mirror the landscapes and environments seen in 'Nanook.' 

It was the same thinking used by legendary composer Bernard Herrmann when he used strings only for Hitchcock's 'Pyscho' because he wanted a "black and white score for a black and white movie."

Just about everyone stayed after for what turned out to be an extended Q & A session, with people using their phones to look up information on topics about which I proved clueless.

The film was preceded by the Chaplin two-reeler 'Pay Day' (1922), which we ran in contrast to 'Nanook.' 

Where Flaherty's 'Nanook' marked the beginning of documentary films, 'Pay Day' was the last of Chaplin's short comedies. 

Speaking of beginnings: this Wednesday's screening of Harold Lloyd's comedy 'For Heaven's Sake' marks the start of another series—this one celebrating titles from 1926 that as of this month (January 2022) are now in the public domain.

Hope you'll join us for this uproarious comedy, which was actually Lloyd's top-grossing film of the silent era, although it doesn't get shown nearly as often as 'Safety Last' (1923) or 'The Freshman' (1925).

One other thing: 'For Heaven's Sake' is one of the films in which Lloyd starts at the top, rather than having to climb his way up. (Another one is 1923's 'Why Worry?')

So if you think Lloyd always followed the same "young man has to prove himself to win the girl" formula, then 'For Heaven's Sake' might surprise you.

Press release is below. Showtime is 6:30 p.m. See you there!

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An original poster promoting Harold Lloyd in 'For Heaven's Sake' (1926).

MONDAY, JAN. 10, 2022 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis at (603) 236-9237 • e-mail jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Flying Monkey series to highlight films that entered public domain on Jan. 1, 2022

Venue to screen classic comedies, dramas, and adventure films released 1926, all newly in the public domain

First up: Harold Lloyd's classic comedy 'For Heaven's Sake' with live music on Wednesday, Jan. 26

PLYMOUTH, N.H. — On New Year's Day, hundreds of movies became a lot easier to show and to watch.

That's because copyright protection for all films released in 1926 expired on Jan. 1, 2022, putting them in the public domain.

To mark the occasion, starting this month the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center will revive the top motion pictures of 1926.

The Flying Monkey's first-ever "Public Domain Extravaganza" will showcase vintage comedies, dramas, and adventure films, all with live music.

First up: Harold Lloyd's classic romantic comedy 'For Heaven's Sake' (1926), to be shown on Wednesday, Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m.

General admission is $10. The screening will feature live accompaniment by silent film musician Jeff Rapsis.

In 'For Heaven's Sake,' Lloyd plays a wealthy young man smitten with the daughter of an impoverished clergyman who ministers to the urban poor.

On the day Lloyd and the girl plan to marry, Lloyd's wealthy country club friends kidnap him to prevent what they see as an embarrassing mistake.

Can the urban mission's petty criminals and chronic alcoholics rescue Harold and get him to the church on time?

Lloyd and friends atop an open-air double-decker bus in 'For Heaven's Sake.'

'For Heaven's Sake,' promoted with the tagline 'A Man With A Mansion, A Miss with a Mission,' became the year's 4th-highest grossing film, earning $2.6 million.

Critic Leonard Maltin described 'For Heaven's Sake' as "...a screamingly funny silent comedy."

Silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis will improvise a musical score to the film in real time as the movie is screened.

In creating music for 'For Heaven's Sake' and other vintage classics, Rapsis tries to bridge the gap between silent film and modern audiences.

"Live music adds an element of energy to a silent film screening that's really crucial to the experience," Rapsis said.

Upcoming screenings in the Flying Monkey's "Public Domain Extravaganza" include:

• Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, 6:30 p.m.: "The Temptress" (1926) starring Greta Garbo. MGM drama with Garbo destroying the lives of men everywhere. The perfect antidote for Valentine's Day.

• Wednesday, March 9, 2022, 6:30 p.m.: "The Winning of Barbara Worth" (1926) starring Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky, and Gary Cooper. Epic Western drama about the settling and irrigation of California's Imperial Valley, once a wasteland but now an agricultural paradise. Shot on location by director Henry King in Nevada's Black Rock desert, one of the first films to take audiences to the wide open spaces of the great American West. With a young Gary Cooper playing a key role.

• Wednesday, April 27, 2022, 6:30 p.m.: "Battling Butler" (1926) starring Buster Keaton. In an uproarious boxing comedy, Keaton plays Alfred Butler, a pampered rich idler with the same name as a feared boxing champion. When a girl he's pursuing thinks he's the fighter, Keaton has no choice but to start training.

• Wednesday, May 11, 2022, 6:30 p.m.: "Bardelys the Magnificent" (1926) starring John Gilbert. Gilbert tries his hand at swashbuckling in this big-budget MGM historical extravaganza about exploits of an unjustly disgraced French nobleman. A major film long thought lost until a single print was recently discovered in France.

• Wednesday, June 8, 2022, 6:30 p.m.: "The Black Pirate" (1926) starring Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. The original pirate film, with Fairbanks sword-fighting his way through a period adventure tale set during the age of sailing ships.

"By 1926, the movies had matured enough to offer a wide range of great entertainment that still holds up today," Rapsis said. "Come see for yourself as we screen some of the year's best flicks, all of which recently entered the public domain and now belong to us all."

Harold Lloyd's romantic comedy ‘For Heaven's Sake’ will be shown with live music on Wednesday, Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 Main St., Plymouth, N.H.

Admission to the screening is $10, general admission seating. For more info, call (603) 536-2551 or visit www.flyingmonkeynh.com.

Coming Sunday, 1/23: 'Nanook of the North' (1922), plus report from Detroit and Cleveland

'Spies' (1928), which received a memorable screening on Thursday, Jan. 13 at Cinema Detroit.

Just returned to home base in New Hampshire after a road-trip that took me 1,775 miles to performances in Detroit and Cleveland. 

Right now I feel more like a long-haul trucker than a silent film accompanist!

But the trip was well worth it, as each show was successful on several fronts.

Congrats to Cinema Detroit and the Cleveland Cinematheque for bringing their audiences the experience of silent cinema with live music.

And thanks to their audiences for coming out (during the recent pandemic spike, no less) in numbers healthy enough to make the whole effort worthwhile.

In Detroit, an audience of about 40 people turned out for Fritz Lang's espionage epic 'Spies' (1928), which just one person in the group had ever seen before. 

And that one person, a true Lang devotee, had never seen it in a theater with live music. 

So that's why he flew all the way from New York City just to experience it on the big screen, thus easily taking the "traveled the farthest" prize. (Not including the accompanist.)

Paula and Tim Guthat of Cinema Detroit pitched 'Spies' as an alternative to Lang's much-better-known 'Metropolis' (1927), which they feel has frequent screenings has rendered over-familiar, overshadowing his other work of the period.

I think they have a point. And Lang pulled through, with 'Spies' holding the screen for 2½ hours without a single person leaving. 

One reason for this is that 'Metropolis' and 'Spies' and another sprawling Lang late silent, 'Woman in the Moon' (1929), all share a common feature. 

Each is about very different things, but underneath they're all old-fashioned melodramas.

Yes! Despite their surface differences, each is driven by a pot-boiling page-turning barn-burner of a story. And like the D.W. Griffith epics, the narrative pulls the audience through. The story is structured so that you simply must keep watching. You can't help it. 

That's what happened last Thursday night (Jan. 13) at Cinema Detroit. You could tell—people were hooked. That, coupled with Lang's incredible visual story-telling, made for a memorable evening in a darkened theatre.

It went so well, the Guthats are thinking about screening another lesser-known Lang, such as the aforementioned 'Woman in the Moon.' I hope they do! 

Why? Not just because I would love to do music for it (although that's one reason), but also because the Lang pictures are great examples of films that really must be seen in a theatre with an audience for it to have its full effect. 

It was the same thing the next evening (Friday, Jan. 14) in Cleveland. 

Raymond Griffith shows off some dance steps in 'Hands Up!'

At the Cinematheque, a 35mm print of Raymond Griffith's 'Hands Up!' (1926) was greeted with continuous laughter right from the start. As with most silent comedy, being part of an audience that's enjoying the on-screen action gives you permission to laugh as well.

And if all goes well, you might just get that wonderful spontaneous combustion of laughter that's one of the great glories of the silent cinema, even today. 

And that's what we got at the Cinematheque. Once Griffith taught a tribe of Native Americans to forsake their wardance for the Charleston, there was no turning back. 

This was followed by a quieter but no less appreciative response for a screening of Ernst Lubitsch's 'The Marriage Circle' (1924), which I'd never accompanied before. 

In this case, I think audience members don't expect to find this kind of polished and sophisticated society comedy in silent pictures. For most people, silent comedy = Buster Keaton or the Keystone Cops.

But there it was! Long before Hollywood began cranking out so-called "screwball" comedies in the 1930s, it was producing polished society farces in quantity, starring the likes of Ronald Colman or (in 'The Marriage Circle') Adolphe Menjou. 

They just didn't have dialogue. But that didn't stop talented performers such as Colman or Menjou from saying all they needed via facial expressions, gestures, pantomine, and the artfully turned head or raised eyebrow. (And the occasional craftily-written intertitle.)

Both venues, by the way, were closed for 16 months (16 months!) starting in March 2020 at the pandemic's onset. Can you believe it?

That both endured the prolonged closure, and are now riding out the current surge with creative programming that includes silent pictures with live music, gives me a lot of confidence.

In an age where new options such as in-home streaming are gaining in popularity, I feel sure that as long as we have cinema, there will be an audience for motion pictures to be shown in a theater.

By the way, the reason I drove out there (rather than flew) is that for these performances I used my Korg digital synthesizer, which isn't exactly air-travel-friendly even with its sturdy (but monstrously heavy) carrying case.

And there's all the sound equipment and cabling I lug around. It's nothing I can't fit into my Subaru Forester with room to spare, but a LOT to send through the nation's air transport system. 

More to come, including a screening of 'Nanook of the North' later this month at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H. to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the film's release. 

The film is showing on Sunday, Jan. 23 at 2 p.m. More info in the press release below. 

And there will be cake! 

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A vintage poster for the documentary 'Nanook of the North' (1922).

MONDAY, JAN. 10, 2022 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Pioneering documentary 'Nanook of the North' to screen at Wilton Town Hall Theatre

Ground-breaking silent film to be shown with live music on Sunday, Jan. 23 to celebrate 100th anniversary of release

WILTON, N.H.—It's hailed as one of the first films to show the potential of the movie camera to take audiences to distant lands.

It's 'Nanook of the North' (1922), a ground-breaking movie about life among Eskimos above the Arctic Circle, to be screened on Sunday, Jan. 23 at 2 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $10 per person to help cover expenses.

The classic silent documentary will be shown with live music by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis.

Director Robert Flaherty’s film tells the story of Inuit hunter Nanook and his family as they struggle to survive in the harsh conditions of Canada’s Hudson Bay region.

Remarkably matter-of-fact in its depiction of the everyday struggle to stay alive in the Arctic hinterlands of Canada’s Hudson Bay, 'Nanook of the North' shows Flaherty’s interest in his Inuit subjects in each carefully framed shot.

'Nanook' was completed only after film from a previous expedition caught fire and was destroyed. Flaherty had to repeat his entire visit to the frozen north to reshoot the movie.

'Nanook' unfolds as a series of long takes interspersed by occasionally poetic intertitles, all of which serve to highlight seemingly mundane tasks required for survival in the frigid terrain.

Beyond its educational function, though, Flaherty’s profoundly empathetic intimacy with his subjects—the resilient, prodigious seal-and-walrus-hunter Nanook and his weathered clan—heightens what seems on the surface to be merely a dry informational pamphlet.

A scene from 'Nanook of the North' (1922).

To make the film, Flaherty built an ad-hoc film processing lab in the challenging Arctic conditions and trained his Inuit friends to be his technicians.

Immersed in the culture for over two years, Flaherty embraced the new art form as a way to show modern audiences that without all the complications and trappings of modern civilization, lives could be happily lived—even under nature’s harshest conditions.

Enormously popular when released in 1922, 'Nanook of the North' is a cinematic milestone that continues to enchant audiences.

In 1989, 'Nanook of the North' was one of the first 25 films to be selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

The screening is part of the Town Hall Theatre's ongoing series honoring the 100th anniversary of significant motion pictures that debuted in 1922.

Programs will include all of 1922's five highest-grossing titles, each shown on the big screen with live music, as well as century-old oddities, short films, cartoons, and more.

"Putting these films back on the big screen is a great way to celebrate the 100th anniversaries of some terrific motion pictures," said Rapsis, the silent film accompanist who will create live music for all screenings.

"These are films that set the standard for Hollywood, and still retain their power to entertain, especially when shown in a theater with live music and an audience," Rapsis said.

Upcoming programs in the Town Hall's 100th anniversary series include:

• Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Rudolph Valentino in 'Blood and Sand.' Film's 'Latin Lover' in his first starring role, as a sexy bullfighter in this 1922 romantic thriller.

• Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022 at 2 p.m.: 'When Knighthood was in Flower.' Marion Davies goes medieval in this epic big budget costume picture from 1922 that put her on the map as a top Hollywood star.

• Sunday, March 13, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Norma Talmadge in 'Smilin' Through.' In honor of St. Patrick's Day, a 1922 romantic drama set in the Emerald Isle.

• Sunday, March 27, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Douglas Fairbanks in 'Robin Hood.' Celebrate the 100th anniversary of this blockbuster adaptation. Massive sets, great action, and Doug Fairbanks in the lead made this the top grossing film of 1922!

• Sunday, April 3, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Chaney/Houdini Double Feature. In 'Flesh and Blood' (1922), escaped convict Lon Chaney hides out in Chinatown and plots revenge. In 'The Man From Beyond' (1922) illusionist Harry Houdini plays an Arctic adventurer frozen for 100 years!

• Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Emil Jannings in 'Othello' The Bard's immortal tragedy brought to the screen in this early German version. Silent Shakespeare in honor of the author's 458th birthday.

Following the screening of 'Nanook of the North,' cake will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

‘Nanook of the North' (1922) will be shown live music on Sunday, Jan. 23 at 2 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $10 per person to help defray expenses. For more info, call (603) 654-3456 or visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com.

A century in the making: Town Hall Theatre to screen 1922's top five box office attractions

The #1 box office blockbuste of 1922: Douglas Fairbanks in 'Robin Hood.'

Get set for a four-month series exploring the top box office hits of 100 years ago!

It's at the Town Hall Theater in Wilton, N.H., and starts on Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. with Harold Lloyd's comedy 'Grandma's Boy.'

More on that in the press release below. First, I'd like to recount my recent adventure with a pipe organ in the neighboring state of Vermont.

New Year's Day brought 2022's first screening: accompaniment for 'The Phantom Carriage' (1921) at Epsilon Spires, the Baptist Church-turned-performing arts venue in Brattleboro, Vt.

The interior of Epsilon Spires, which until recently was a Baptist Church.

Because it once was a church, it has an organ—in fact, an Estey organ built right there in Brattleboro and installed in 1906. 

 And that's what I used to do music for Victor Sjöström's influential drama. 

I don't get many chances to do live pipe organ accompaniment. So it was a real treat to start the new year working with the "king of instruments." 

The Estey, though technically a church organ rather than one built for movie accompaniment, is nevertheless up to the job of film accompaniment. 

It has a nice variety of stops, making possible a range of textures. And it can really rock the house when called for.

(And I've since learned that among the church's former congregants was Jacob Estey himself, who founded the organ-building company that bore his name.)

I augmented the organ's sound by using my digital synthesizer to add in percussion at key moments: timpani, bass drum, and cymbals. 

Although the organ was in tune with itself, I found it pitched about a half-tone lower than my synthesizer, which is defaulted to A = 440 Hz. So I had to pull the synth pitch down to about 415 Hz to compensate.

I've since read that this lowered pitch is standard practice for some instruments in playing music from the Baroque era. So much to learn!

One other odd thing is the Estey's pedal board—but in this case, it's me that's out of synch. 

The Allen organ I have at home is equipped with what's called a "Princess" pedalboard, meaning it's smaller than a full-sized pedalboard. 

Specifically, it's built to 3/4 size, I guess to make it easier to fit in a living room, which is where it would have been played back in the era of the home organ.

So my instincts regarding pedal location are off by a certain amount. It takes time to adjust to the different proportions of a full-sized pedalboard. Even so, I managed to hit most of the notes I aimed for. 

Accompanying the film on an unfamiliar instrument was a workout. 

But I have to say, from the standpoint of the accompanist, bringing a film to a conclusion with an organ is especially satisfying for some reason.

And it's not because I ended big—with 'The Phantom Carriage' (called 'Körkarlen' in Swedish'), I actually pulled a move from the ending of the Brahms Symphony No. 3, drawing up to a quiet close. 

Rather, in silent film accompaniment, there's something about the sound of an organ that helps the sum add up to more than the parts.

I want to thank Jamie Mohr and her colleagues at Epsilon Spires for the chance to work with the Estey and accompany 'The Phantom Carriage.' 

There's talk of follow-up screenings. I'd welcome that because it would mean to chance to really get to know the Estey.

Again, I just don't get a lot of chances to play pipe organ, so I'm excited about a venue with a working organ that's fairly close to home base.

As was once said in a non-silent movie, "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Okay, onto the future, which in this case means heading back into the past.

On Sunday, Jan. 9, the Town Hall Theatre will begin a series of 100th anniversary screenings of the top box office hits of 1922.

First up is Harold Lloyd's breakthrough feature comedy 'Grandma's Boy,' which clocks in at No. 5 in the box office records. 

Plenty of other great pictures are lined up, too—but rather than have me prattle on about them here, check out the press release below.

Hope you'll join me in catching up on all the big hits of 1922 that for some reason you missed on their original runs!

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Harold Lloyd in 'Grandma's Boy' (1922).

MONDAY, DEC. 20, 2021 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Start 2022 with Hollywood's top box office hits from a century ago

Town Hall Theatre to embark on 100th anniversary screenings of 1922's most popular big screen attractions

WILTON, N.H. — It's a film series 100 years in the making!

Starting in January, the Town Hall Theatre will reset the clock and celebrate the top box office hits of 1922, when the movies were just coming into their own.

The program includes now-classic blockbusters such as Rudolph Valentino's bullfighting drama 'Blood and Sand' (1922); Marion Davies in the medieval romance 'When Knighthood was in Flower' (1922); and the year's highest-grossing film, 'Robin Hood' (1922) starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr.

First up is Harold Lloyd's uproarious comedy 'Grandma's Boy' (1922), to be screened on Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

Live music will be provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $10 per person to help cover expenses.

Subsequent programs will include all of 1922's five highest-grossing titles, each shown on the big screen with live music, as well as century-old oddities, short films, cartoons, and more.

"Putting these films back on the big screen is a great way to celebrate the 100th anniversaries of some terrific motion pictures," said Rapsis, the silent film accompanist who will create live music for all screenings.

"These are films that set the standard for Hollywood, and still retain their power to entertain, especially when shown in a theater with live music and an audience," Rapsis said.

'Grandma's Boy,' the first feature in the series, 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.' The film grossed $1.1 million, making it the year's 4th-highest grossing picture and the year's most popular comedy. 

At the time, a successful feature film typically grossed $100,000. The picture helped establish Lloyd as a major star for the rest of the silent film era, and prompted rival comedians Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton to also make feature-length films.

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 window into small town American life as it was lived a century ago.

The Jan. 9 screening will include a special 100th anniversary cake to be enjoyed to movie-goers on a first-come, first-served basis.

Upcoming programs in the Town Hall's 100th anniversary series include:

• Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022 at 2 p.m.: 'Nanook of the North' Breakthrough 1922 documentary tells the story of Inuit hunter struggling to survive in far-north Canada.

• Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Rudolph Valentino in 'Blood and Sand' Film's 'Latin Lover' in his first starring role, as a sexy bullfighter in this 1922 romantic thriller.

• Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022 at 2 p.m.: 'When Knighthood was in Flower' Marion Davies goes medieval in this epic big budget costume picture from 1922 that put her on the map as a top Hollywood star.

• Sunday, March 13, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Norma Talmadge in 'Smilin' Through' In honor of St. Patrick's Day, a 1922 romantic drama set in the Emerald Isle.

• Sunday, March 27, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Douglas Fairbanks in 'Robin Hood' Celebrate the 100th anniversary of this blockbuster adaptation. Massive sets, great action, and Doug Fairbanks in the lead made this the top grossing film of 1922!

• Sunday, April 10, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Chaney/Houdini Double Feature. In 'Flesh and Blood' (1922), escaped convict Lon Chaney hides out in Chinatown and plots revenge. In 'The Man From Beyond' (1922) illusionist Harry Houdini plays an Arctic adventurer frozen for 100 years!

• Sunday, April 24, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Emil Jannings in 'Othello' The Bard's immortal tragedy brought to the screen in this early German version. Silent Shakespeare in honor of the author's 458th birthday.

The 1922 series is made possible in part by the unlikely survival of so many of the year's top titles.

"With 80 percent of all films from the silent era lost or missing, we're fortunate to have all top five films from 1922 available to screen a full century after their release," Rapsis said.

"We invite all silent film fans, and also those who haven't experienced this type of cinema in a theater with an audience and live music, to come see the motion pictures that caused people to first fall in love with the movies," Rapsis said.

'Grandma's Boy' will be screened with live music on Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. 

Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $10 per person to help defray expenses. For more info, call (603) 654-3456 or visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com.

 

P.S.: Check out this flyer promoting the series!