Thursday, January 31, 2019

Cheap eats and cheap seats in Keene, N.H., plus Keaton, Valentino screenings coming soon

The marquee last Tuesday night at the Colonial Theatre in downtown Keene, N.H.

I can't wait to tell you all about this week's screening of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) at the Colonial Theatre in Keene, N.H.

But it says a lot about my priorities when I have to say first that I was flat-out amazed by the meal I had just before the show down the street at Lindy's Diner.

Really! Two chicken croquettes, mashed potatoes with gravy, a generous helping of carrots—mind you, all served piping—plus two rolls and butter, and coffee with refills, all for...$8.18!

Can you believe it? I actually took a picture:


On a cold night with snow starting to fall, this was just what the doctor ordered. Really—if prescribed, I believe it would mitigate the symptoms of most afflictions, physical or mental.

In any case, it was great show prep for the on-screen visual feast to come at the Colonial.

And, given my inexpensive meal, would it not seem equally amazing that the admission price for our screening of 'Hunchback' was the sum of...35 cents!

Really? 'Hunchback' on a cold Tuesday night in Keene, N.H., and an absurdly low admission price? What's going on here?

What was going on is that the Colonial's grand opening night was exactly 95 years ago: Jan. 29, 1924. And the opening night attraction, yes, was 'Hunchback,' the Universal blockbuster starring Lon Chaney.

And yes, admission that night was 35 cents per person.

So last Tuesday night in Keene, the audience and I all joined in to recreate not just the early movie-going experience, but also opening night at the Colonial, a terrific medium-sized theater which continues to serve Keene and the surrounding Monadnock Region as a first-class (and now non-profit) performing arts center.

And the comedian in me has to observe that a 35-cent ticket price isn't about to endanger their non-profit status. Har! (Rim shot here, please.)

With a snowstorm looming, no one was sure who might show up, despite the bargain entrance fee. But we got a healthy crowd, and it didn't take long for 'Hunchback' to get everyone absorbed. Reaction was gratifyingly strong throughout.

I think it's a great film for music: lots of scenes that lend themselves to the big lines that I like to spin.

I've done the film quite a few times, but not recently. One element with which I've never been satisfied is the music I create for Esmeralda, the gypsy girl, which always ends up sounding too slow and too much like the Habanara from 'Carmen.'

This time, I deliberately used different material: specifically, a 3/4 riff that I created for action scenes in 'Zorro' (1920) starring Douglas Fairbanks. It worked really well as a theme for Esmeralda! Specifically, it has a modal flavor, and so I could use it to shape some of the big scenes so "her" music was referenced, at least harmonically.

Anyway: another reason to support recycling!

The film got a big ovation, and I had some great conversations afterwards with people who couldn't believe the score was improvised live.

I try to illustrate how it's not all that unusual by pointing out that we're doing it right now: we're having a conversation in real time, and we're not following a script.

The folks at the Colonial were excellent to work with, and there's been enough of an audience interest to merit exploring a regular series of screenings to round out the Colonial's offerings.

I would love to work with them on this, as I love how a venue such as the Colonial are perfect places to exhibit films from a century ago in the way they were intended to be shown.

Plus, these films were designed from the ground up to be experienced by a group of people coming together. And a hundred years later, we need that kind of experience more than ever!

And in the theater world, which faces more and more competition from so many other sources of entertainment (most of it consumed at home), it's important to offer experiences that only a theater can do: such as silent film with live music!

So we'll see what the schedule brings for Keene, N.H. Me—I'd be delighted at the chance to eat regularly at Lindy's. :)

Before that happens, two upcoming screenings might warm you up during this cold spell that's now hit New England. (It's 10 below outside as I write.)

On Saturday, Feb. 2, the good folks at the Campton Historical Society (in Campton N.H.) will hold their now-annual pot luck summer/silent movie night. It's free and the public is welcome, especially if you bring a dish to share at the supper, which starts at 5 p.m. (Here we go with food again, but every year some excellent dishes turn up at this event.)

The movie program, highlighted by Buster Keaton's 'Our Hospitality' (1923), begins at whatever time everyone finished eating. Usually that's about 6:15 p.m. or so.

The post-food attraction in Campton, N.H. on Saturday, Feb. 2.

It'll be interesting this year because I've volunteered to play bass tuba (my other instrument) for a youth concert in Manchester, N.H. that afternoon. It's about an hour and some change up to get to Campton, so if you see a green Subaru Forester bombing up Interstate 93 that afternoon, that'll be me trying to make it to Campton before all the vittles is gone.

More details about this show are on the "Upcoming Screenings" page. Hope to see you there, but make sure you leave some dinner for me, willya?

And then the week after that, it's Rudolph Valentino in 'The Eagle' (1925), a pre-Valentine's Day show on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre.

At Wilton, we usually run silents the last Sunday of the month, but that weekend I'm making my annual pilgrimage to the Kansas Silent Film Festival, so we moved the Wilton date up to take advantage of Valentino/Valentine's Day synergy.

Hope to see you at that one as well. For more info, check out the press release below.

* * *

Vilma Banky and Rudy Valentino generate heat in 'The Eagle' (1925).

THURSDAY, JAN. 31, 2019 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Warm up for Valentine's Day with Valentino at the Town Hall Theatre


'The Eagle' (1925), starring silent film icon Rudolph Valentino, to screen in Wilton, N.H. on Sunday, Feb. 10 with live music

WILTON, N.H.—He was the cinema’s first sex symbol, causing hordes of female moviegoers to flock to his pictures throughout the 1920s. He starred in films designed to show off his Latin looks, his smoldering eyes, and his dancer’s body. And his untimely death in 1926 prompted mob scenes at his funeral.

He was Rudolph Valentino, who remains an icon for on-screen passion long after he caused a sensation in the 1920s.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, one of Valentino’s most acclaimed films will be screened with live music on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 4:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

‘The Eagle’ (1925), a racy story set in Czarist Russia, proved one of his most popular features and marked a peak in his brief career.

Based on the novel Dubrovsky by Alexander Pushkin, ‘The Eagle’ casts Valentino as a lieutenant and expert horseman in the Russian army who catches the eye of Czarina Catherine II. After he rejects her advances and flees, she puts out a warrant for his arrest, dead or alive. When he learns that his father has been persecuted and killed in his hometown, he dons a black mask and becomes an outlaw, finding unexpected romance along the way.

The screening of ‘The Eagle’ will be accompanied by live music by local composer Jeff Rapsis. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $5 per person to defray expenses.

An Italian immigrant who arrived penniless at Ellis Island in 1913, Valentino rose to superstar status in a series of silent pictures that enflamed the passions of female movie-goers from coast to coast and around the world.

But he was more than a pretty face—during his career, critics praised Valentino as a versatile actor capable of playing a variety of roles; his achievements included popularizing the Argentinian tango in the 1921 drama ‘Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.’

‘The Eagle’ was Valentino’s next-to-last film, released the year before his unexpected death at age 31 from complications from peritonitis. Valentino's death in August 1926 occurred at the height of his career, inspiring mourning across the globe and a day-long mob scene at the actor’s New York City funeral.

But Valentino's brief stardom was defined by roles that brought a new level of exotic sexuality to the movies, causing a sensation at the time. In theaters, women openly swooned over Valentino’s on-screen image, especially in pictures such as ‘The Eagle,’ which featured foreign locales and elaborate costumes.

At its peak, Valentino's popularity was so immense that it inspired a backlash among many male movie-goers, who decried Valentino’s elegant image and mannerisms as effeminate.

Valentino’s sudden death fueled his status as a legendary romantic icon of the cinema. For years, a mysterious woman dressed in black would visit his grave at the Hollywood Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, leaving only a single red rose.

Valentino was aware of his effect on audiences, saying that “Women are not in love with me, but with the picture of me on the screen. I am merely the canvas upon which the women paint their dreams.”

‘The Eagle’ is the latest in the Town Hall Theatre's series of monthly silent film screenings with live music. The series aims to recreate the lost magic of early cinema by bringing together the elements needed for silent film to be seen at its best: superior films in best available prints; projection on the big screen; live musical accompaniment; and an audience.

“These films are still exciting experiences if you can show them as they were designed to be screened,” said Jeff Rapsis, the accompanist for the screenings. “There’s a reason people first fell in love with the movies, and we hope to recreate that spirit. At their best, silent films were communal experiences in which the presence of a large audience intensifies everyone’s reactions.”

Live music is a key element of each silent film screening, Rapsis said. Silent movies were never shown in silence, but were accompanied by live music made right in each theater. Most films were not released with official scores, so it was up to local musicians to provide the soundtrack, which could vary greatly from theater to theater.

"Because there's no set soundtrack for most silent films, musicians are free to create new music as they see fit, even today," Rapsis said. "In bringing a film to life, I try to create original 'movie score' music that sounds like what you might expect in a theater today, which helps bridge the gap between today's audiences and silent films that are in some cases nearly 100 years old."

For each film, Rapsis improvises a music score using original themes he creates 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.

‘The Eagle’ will be shown on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 4:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

Upcoming features in the Town Hall Theater's silent film series include:

• Sunday, March 24, 2019, 4:30 p.m.: "Seven Chances" (1925) starring Buster Keaton. In this 1925 farce, Buster is about to be saved from bankruptcy by an unexpected inheritance of $7 million—but only if he gets married by 7 p.m. that very day. One of Keaton's best comedies, climaxed by one of the great chase scenes in all film, silent or otherwise.

The next installment in the Town Hall Theatre's silent film series will be ‘The Eagle’ (1925), to be screened with live music by Jeff Rapsis on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 4:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. Admission is free; a donation of $5 per person is suggested to help defray expenses. For more info, visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com or call (603) 654-3456.

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Tonight's screening is still on! Plus,
collaborating with guitarist Paul Bielatowicz

Paul and me, and some of Paul's groupies, after the Regent show.

Snow is coming through New England later tonight. But our screening of 'The Yankee Clipper' (1927) at the Custom House Maritime Museum in Newburyport, Mass. is still on.

Doors open at 5 p.m., and the movie starts at 6 p.m. We should be done well before the snow flies.

Jessica Pappathan, the museum's executive direcor, tells me that they've sold over 50 tickets. So let's hope that people are still able to make it in and enjoy this terrific film!

Last night was a special event, in part because of how it was pretty much totally unplanned.

At the Regent Theatre in Arlington, Mass., I joined guitarist Paul Bielatowicz for an evening of George Méliès films.

Paul, a masterful players who tours all over the world with Carl Palmer and other musical legends, has developed some very interesting musical settings for some of the Méliès films.

So earlier this month, when I got a call from the Belmont World Film Festival about helping them with a Méliès program, I immediately thought of Paul.

I had first seen/heard Paul at the Regent a year ago, when he played an arrangement of the music from Beethoven's 'Moonlight' Sonata to the iconic 1902 Méliès film 'A Trip to the Moon.'

It was quite different from my approach, but very effective. So Paul and I have kept in touch.

He happened to be home in Massachusetts (just prior to another two-month European tour) and, on about 10 days notice, immediately said yes to joining me.

Paul picked out the films and cued them up on his system, which was a big help. All I had to do was show up with my keyboard and play to the titles assigned to me!

A healthy crowd turned out, and we had a great time swapping off various Méliès titles. Paul reprised his 'Trip to the Moon' score, while the big number for me was a full-on orchestral treatment of 'Conquest of the Pole' (1912), which I regard as a late Méliès masterpiece and suitably grand title to close our the program.

But what really great about the program was how Paul and I just naturally spoke about Méliès and his career in between each film. Without any preparation whatsoever, we told the story of his career, his films, his accomplishments, and a little about the times in which he worked.

It fell together quite naturally. Sometimes the best plan is no plan at all!

Thanks to Paul for making last night's Méliès program at the Regent a truly memorable experience...a highlight of the already young year!

And thanks also to Leland Stein of the Regent for recommending me when the festival's original programming plans fell through, and also for introducing me to Paul last year.

And also, thanks to Ellen Gitelman of the Belmont World Film Festival for taking a chance on a last-minute programming switch. It all worked out well!

Okay, fr those of you unintimidated by the snowy forecast, here's the info on tonight's screening of 'The Yankee Clipper' in Newburyport, Mass. Hope to see you there!

* * *

William Boyd (right), eventually better known as Hopalong Cassidy, stars in 'The Yankee Clipper' (1927).

FRIDAY, DEC. 21, 2018 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'Yankee Clipper' silent drama with live music Saturday, Jan. 19 at Custom House Maritime Museum


Set sail with action-packed high seas adventure during era of 19th century clipper ships

NEWBURYPORT, Mass.—The era when wind-powered ships ruled the seas comes to life on the silver screen in 'The Yankee Clipper' (1927), a nautical adventure film to be shown on Saturday, Jan. 19 at at the Custom House Maritime Museum, 25 Water St., Newburyport, Mass.

The silent drama, starring a young William Boyd and filmed at sea aboard authentic 19th century vessels, will be screened with live music performed by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist.

Showtime is 6 p.m. Admission is $20 per person for museum members, $25 for non-members, with all proceeds to benefit the Custom House Maritime Museum.

Produced by Cecil B. DeMille and directed by Rupert Julian ('Phantom of the Opera'), 'The Yankee Clipper' set new standards for historical adventure when it was released in 1927.

The film takes place in the 1840s, during a period of intense rivalry between British and American sailing captains to win lucrative trade routes between China and the U.S.

As 'The Yankee Clipper' opens, Captain Winslow (William Boyd) takes a revolutionary new clipper ship, built by his father, on its first voyage from America to the Orient.

While in China, Winslow attends a dinner hosted by a wealthy Chinese merchant and rescues English maiden Lady Jocelyn Huntington (Elinor Fair) from rioting beggars.

Winslow agrees to a race from China to Boston against an English clipper ship, with the fastest vessel to be awarded an important tea contract.

To win, the ships must brave dangerous seas, mutiny, and potential sabotage on board. Romance enters the picture when Lady Jocelyn inadvertently winds up on board the American ship.

The cast features a very young William Boyd in the leading role. Boyd, a popular actor in silent films, would go on to gain fame in later years by playing the character sidekick role of "Hopalong Cassidy" in many Hollywood Westerns. Also, at the time the film was made, female lead Elinor Fair was married to producer Cecil B. DeMille.

The film also features actor Walter Long as Portuguese Joe, a ship's crew member.

Long, a native of Milford, N.H., was a popular character actor with an extensive career in early cinema that ranged from an appearance in D.W. Griffith's epic 'The Birth of a Nation' (1915) all the way to playing the heavy in Laurel & Hardy comedies much later.

Critics today hail 'The Yankee Clipper' as a masterful drama from the height of the silent film era, one imbued with a great sense of authenticity and historical accuracy. The production filmed on location at sea for six weeks aboard the 1856 wooden square-rigger 'Indiana.'

Leonard Maltin called 'The Yankee Clipper' a "splendid 19th-century seagoing adventure, as clipper ships race full-sail from China to Boston to earn a coveted tea trade contract. En route: typhoon! No fresh water! Mutiny! And a woman on board! Realistic yet heightened drama has it all."

Music for 'The Yankee Clipper' will be created live by Jeff Rapsis, who specializes in improvising scores to classic silent films in live performance. For each film, Rapsis will improvise a score from original musical material that he creates beforehand, using a digital synthesizer to recreate the sound and texture of a full orchestra.

"What I try to do," Rapsis said, "is create music that bridges the gap between a film that might be 80 or 90 years old, and the musical expectations of today's audiences."

The Custom House Maritime Museum is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization operated by the Newburyport Maritime Society, whose mission is to protect, preserve and interpret the maritime heritage of the lower Merrimack Valley region and how it relates to American history.

'The Yankee Clipper' will be shown on Saturday, Jan. 19 at 6 p.m. at the Custom House Maritime Museum, 25 Water St., Newburyport, Mass. Admission is $20 for members, $25 for non-members, with all proceeds to benefit the Custom House Maritime Museum. For more information and to buy tickets online, visit www.customhousemaritimemuseum.org, or call (978) 462-8681.

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

To France, or China, or Manchester, N.H.: Silent film, live music restarts this weekend

Scoring 'The Yankee Clipper' (1927) on Saturday, Jan. 19 at the Custom House Maritime Museum in Newburyport, Mass.

I'm back.

After a quiet period over the holidays, the silent film performance calendar cranks up again this weekend with three shows in three days:

• On Friday, Jan. 18, it's a George Méliès program at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, Mass. with my fellow silent film accompanist (and world-reknowned guitar-tist) Paul Bielatowicz.

The screening, which we put together just in the past two weeks, starts at 7:30 p.m. It's part of the Belmont International Film Festival.

I'm really looking forward to working with Paul B. again. I first encountered him exactly a year ago at the same theater, and we've been keeping track of each other ever since.

Paul doing his thing.

Paul specializes in Méliès films, and his guitar-based approach to accompaniment is very different from mine. But it's great stuff that he does and well worth hearing live.

Also, Paul is usually touring the world. For example: all February, he'll be criss-crossing Europe with Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy band.

So a chance to hear him close to home is not to be missed!

• On Saturday, Jan. 19, the sailing ship drama 'The Yankee Clipper' (1927) embarks from the Custom House Maritime Museum in Newburyport, Mass., with music by me.

This should be fun because it's a grand picture in a real cool museum in a building—one designed by the same guy who built the U.S. Treasury Building in Washington, D.C., which is on the back of all U.S. $10 bills.


It's a great audience flick and always gets a strong reaction. More details and info in the press release below.

• An on Sunday, Jan. 20, the local chapter of the Sons of the Desert (the Laurel & Hardy appreciation society) in Manchester, N.H. celebrates Mr. Hardy's birthday (which is Jan. 18) with a varied film program, including silent titles with live music by you-know-who.

The program is free and all are welcome to attend. The program begins at 4:30 p.m. at the Southside Tavern, 1279 South Willow St., Manchester, N.H.

So, back to the keyboard. Here's another nice weekend (really!) I've gotten myself into: one filled with music and sailing ships and Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy.

Last weekend had some Laurel and Hardy in it as well, as I was able to catch 'Stan & Ollie,' the new biopic about the duo's later years.

I saw it in London, where it opened last Friday amid a ton of local promotion: on billboard, on London buses, in the Underground, you name it!

Yes, even in the Underground.

Well, it worked with me. I was going to wait until getting back to the States. But after absorbing all the news coverage the film was getting, I had take the plunge. (At 16 pounds a ticket, it was more like a swan dive.)

But I'm glad I did, as this is a film that film lovers can really love.

I accepted 'Stan & Ollie' fully and completely from the opening moment, when we first hear a funny scraping sound and it turns out to be Stan sawing off the heel of his shoe, as he did in real life.

Dominating the Odeon in Leicester Square.

After that, I was totally, completely absorbed for the duration of the picture. And I was quite moved to see the lives of two performers I've loved since childhood be the basis for such a warm, wonderful story.

It was a movie I didn't know I'd waited 45 years to see.

I encourage you to see it too, and in a movie theater, if you can find one running it. The U.S. release has been tiny compared to what I saw in the U.K., where I understand it was No. 2 at the box office last weekend.

As for this weekend: well, if you'd like to come to one of my screenings, you can choose between France (Méliès), China ('The Yankee Clipper') and Laurel and Hardy in Manchester, N.H.

If sailing ships are your thing, you won't find a better film than 'Yankee Clipper,' which I'm accompanying on Saturday night at the Custom House Maritime Museum in Newburyport, Mass. Details in the press release below. Hope to see you there!

* * *

On board the 'Yankee Clipper' (1927), starring (and captained by) William Boyd, at right.

FRIDAY, DEC. 21, 2018 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'Yankee Clipper' silent drama with live music Saturday, Jan. 19 at Custom House Maritime Museum


Set sail with action-packed high seas adventure during era of 19th century clipper ships

NEWBURYPORT, Mass.—The era when wind-powered ships ruled the seas comes to life on the silver screen in 'The Yankee Clipper' (1927), a nautical adventure film to be shown on Saturday, Jan. 19 at at the Custom House Maritime Museum, 25 Water St., Newburyport, Mass.

The silent drama, starring a young William Boyd and filmed at sea aboard authentic 19th century vessels, will be screened with live music performed by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist.

Showtime is 6 p.m. Admission is $20 per person for museum members, $25 for non-members, with all proceeds to benefit the Custom House Maritime Museum.

Produced by Cecil B. DeMille and directed by Rupert Julian ('Phantom of the Opera'), 'The Yankee Clipper' set new standards for historical adventure when it was released in 1927.

The film takes place in the 1840s, during a period of intense rivalry between British and American sailing captains to win lucrative trade routes between China and the U.S.

As 'The Yankee Clipper' opens, Captain Winslow (William Boyd) takes a revolutionary new clipper ship, built by his father, on its first voyage from America to the Orient.

While in China, Winslow attends a dinner hosted by a wealthy Chinese merchant and rescues English maiden Lady Jocelyn Huntington (Elinor Fair) from rioting beggars.

Winslow agrees to a race from China to Boston against an English clipper ship, with the fastest vessel to be awarded an important tea contract.

To win, the ships must brave dangerous seas, mutiny, and potential sabotage on board. Romance enters the picture when Lady Jocelyn inadvertently winds up on board the American ship.

The cast features a very young William Boyd in the leading role. Boyd, a popular actor in silent films, would go on to gain fame in later years by playing the character sidekick role of "Hopalong Cassidy" in many Hollywood Westerns. Also, at the time the film was made, female lead Elinor Fair was married to producer Cecil B. DeMille.

The film also features actor Walter Long as Portuguese Joe, a ship's crew member.

Long, a native of Milford, N.H., was a popular character actor with an extensive career in early cinema that ranged from an appearance in D.W. Griffith's epic 'The Birth of a Nation' (1915) all the way to playing the heavy in Laurel & Hardy comedies much later.

Critics today hail 'The Yankee Clipper' as a masterful drama from the height of the silent film era, one imbued with a great sense of authenticity and historical accuracy. The production filmed on location at sea for six weeks aboard the 1856 wooden square-rigger 'Indiana.'

Leonard Maltin called 'The Yankee Clipper' a "splendid 19th-century seagoing adventure, as clipper ships race full-sail from China to Boston to earn a coveted tea trade contract. En route: typhoon! No fresh water! Mutiny! And a woman on board! Realistic yet heightened drama has it all."

Music for 'The Yankee Clipper' will be created live by Jeff Rapsis, who specializes in improvising scores to classic silent films in live performance. For each film, Rapsis will improvise a score from original musical material that he creates beforehand, using a digital synthesizer to recreate the sound and texture of a full orchestra.

"What I try to do," Rapsis said, "is create music that bridges the gap between a film that might be 80 or 90 years old, and the musical expectations of today's audiences."

The Custom House Maritime Museum is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization operated by the Newburyport Maritime Society, whose mission is to protect, preserve and interpret the maritime heritage of the lower Merrimack Valley region and how it relates to American history.

'The Yankee Clipper' will be shown on Saturday, Jan. 19 at 6 p.m. at the Custom House Maritime Museum, 25 Water St., Newburyport, Mass. Admission is $20 for members, $25 for non-members, with all proceeds to benefit the Custom House Maritime Museum. For more information and to buy tickets online, visit www.customhousemaritimemuseum.org, or call (978) 462-8681.