This weekend: 'Battling Butler' in Campton, N.H., then 'The Flying Ace' in Somerville, Mass.

The front page of this week's 'Weekend' section of the Boston Globe.

Our planned screening of 'The Flying Ace' (1926) on Sunday, Feb. 2 at the Somerville Theatre has generated significant interest from Boston media.

On Friday, the Boston Globe made it the cover story of their Weekend Section, with a preview by critic Odie Henderson going in-depth about the film as well as the live music I'll be doing.

(The screening is at 2 p.m at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville.; a press release with more info is pasted in below.)

On the same day, WBUR (a big-time NPR station in Boston) ran a substantial story by reporter Amelia Mason about the cultural climate that produced "race" films such as 'The Flying Ace,' which was intended for segregated cinemas of the era.

Here's a link to the Boston Globe piece. And here's the WBUR story.

I'm grateful to both journalists for their interest in the film as well as my work, and to their respective media outlets for the willingness to devote resources to covering this corner of Boston's cultural scene. Thank you!

And thank you (in advance) to all for making the trek to the Somerville to see this picture the way it was intended: on the big screen, in a great-looking print, with live music, and (most importantly) with an audience.

The main difference this time is that the audience, unlike when the film was originally released, will likely include some non-Black film-goers. I think that's a good thing—and I believe the people who produced 'The Flying Ace' nearly 100 years ago would agree. 

Prior to this, I'm heading north this afternoon for one of my favorite gigs of the season: the Campton (N.H.) Historical Society's Annual Pot Luck Supper and Silent Movie Night.

This year's attraction: Buster Keaton's boxing comedy 'Battling Butler' (1926), preceded by a communal supper made up of dishes that everyone brings in. (That's the actual admission price: something for the pot luck.)

Buster Keaton trains in the boxing ring; from 'Battling Butler' (1926).

If you're in the vicinity and want to join in, everyone's welcome. Supper begins at 5 p.m.; the film program usually starts by 6:30 p.m. or so. It's at the Campton Town Historical Society, Route 149 in Campton, N.H. Bring a dish—and your appetite!

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Original trade advertisement for 'The Flying Ace' (1926).

MONDAY, JAN. 27, 2025 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Honoring Black History Month

Somerville Theatre to screen rare vintage crime thriller with all-Black cast

'The Flying Ace' (1926), added to U.S. National Film Registry, to be shown with live music on Sunday, Feb. 2

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — Can discrimination exist in an America where everyone is Black?

That's among the questions posted by 'The Flying Ace' (1926), a rare surviving example of movies produced early in the 20th century for Black audiences in segregated cinemas.

'The Flying Ace,' named to the U.S. National Film Registry in 2021, will be screened in honor of Black History Month on Sunday, Feb. 2 at 2 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass.

Admission $17 adults; $13 members; $12 seniors/children. Tickets are available at somervilletheatre.com or at the door. 

The screening will feature live music by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist.

'The Flying Ace' was produced by Norman Studios in Jacksonville, Fla., using professionals such as Laurence Criner, a veteran of Harlem’s prestigious all-black theater troupe the Lafayette Players, but also many non-professionals for minor roles.

In 'The Flying Ace,' Criner plays Capt. Billy Stokes, a World War I fighter pilot known as "The Flying Ace" because of his downing of seven enemy aircraft in France.

Returning home to resume his former job as a railroad detective, he's assigned to locate a stationmaster who's gone missing along with the $25,000 company payroll.

While investigating, Stokes begins romancing the stationmaster's daughter Ruth (Kathryn Boyd), causing a rivalry with another suitor which leads to a break in the case.

With Ruth's safety now at risk, Stokes' dogged pursuit of the suspects leads to climax highlighted by a dramatic airborne chase which calls upon his piloting prowess.

Films such as 'The Flying Ace' were shown specifically to African-American audiences in areas of the U.S. where theaters were segregated.

Norman Studios was among the nation's top film production companies making feature length and short films for this market from the 1920s to the 1940s.

Featuring all-Black casts in stories meant to inspire and uplift, such films were popular with African-American audiences at the time. In Norman Studios films, the stories often took place in a world without the racial barriers that existed at the time.

In 'The Flying Ace,' Capt. Stokes is a pilot returning home from serving honorably in World War I—but Blacks were not allowed to fly aircraft in the U.S. military until 1940.

In an essay for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, critic Megan Pugh wrote that Capt. Billy Stokes "...is a model for the ideals of racial uplift, fulfilling aspirations that Black Americans were not yet allowed to achieve."

"At a time when Hollywood employed white actors in blackface to play shuffling servants and mammies, the Norman Film Manufacturing Company...hired all-black casts to play dignified roles."

 

Kathryn Boyd and Laurence Criner star in 'The Flying Ace' (1926).
 
"Instead of tackling discrimination head-on in his films, Norman created a kind of segregated dream world where whites—and consequently, racism—didn’t even exist," Pugh wrote.

"While it’s impossible to measure the influence The Flying Ace had on its viewers, it is reasonable to assume that audiences found its lead character inspirational. Billy Stokes was a black male hero who would have never made it onscreen in a Hollywood movie of the time," Pugh wrote.

Filmed in the Arlington area of Jacksonville, Fla., 'The Flying Ace' is a unique aviation melodrama in that no airplanes actually leave the ground. The mid-air scenes were filmed in a studio in front of neutral backdrops.

Although 'The Flying Ace' may appear crudely made to modern audiences, in 2021 the movie was named to the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Of films produced for Black-only audiences in segregated theaters, very few survive. 'The Flying Ace' is unusual in that it survives complete, and in pristine condition. The film was included in 'Pioneers of African American Cinema," a DVD collection released in 2016 by Kino-Lorber.

A live musical score for 'The Flying Ace' will be created by accompanist Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based performer who specializes in music for silent film presentations.

Rapsis said the Red River screening is a rare chance to see the film as it was meant to be experienced—on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience.

'The Flying Ace' (1926), a silent crime melodrama with an all-Black cast, will be shown in honor of Black History Month on Sunday, Feb. 2 at 2 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass.

Admission $17 adults; $13 members; $12 seniors/children. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.somervilletheatre.com or call the box office at (617) 625-5700.