This weekend: 'Zorro' still on, but 'Straight is the Way' (1921) postponed to Saturday, April 5 due to weather

I'm sorry to report that due to incoming inclement weather, members of the Blazing Star Grange of Danbury, N.H. have decided to postponed a screening of 'Straight is the Way' (1921) from Saturday, March 29 to Saturday, April 5.

I'm pasting in the revised text of the press release with the new date. Hope you'll be able to make it to the screening, which includes a "soup and bread" supper. So whether you're hungry for silent cinema or just plain hungry, this event as something for everyone.

However, this weekend's planned screening of the two Douglas Fairbanks 'Zorro' films is still a go at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H.. On Saturday, March 29 at 2 p.m., we'll run 'The Mark of Zorro' (1920); and then on Sunday, March 30 at 2 p.m., it's the sequel 'Don Q, Son of Zorro' (1925).

It's a great chance to see the two films back-to-back. Not only can you appreciate the many connections between the two, but you can also see how much the technique of movie-making had advanced in just five years.

Okay, below is info on 'Straight is the Way.' Hope to see you at the movies!

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A scene from 'Straight is the Way' (1921), a film with a story set in 'Hampton Falls, N.H.'

 

FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2025 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Vintage feature film with story set in Granite State to be screened in Danbury, N.H. on Saturday, April 5

Rare surviving silent comedy/drama 'Straight is the Way' (1921) to be shown with live music at Blazing Star Grange

DANBURY, N.H. — It's a film not seen in theaters since its original release more than a century ago. And it's set in fictional 'Hampton Center, N.H.,' a small town where a pair of big-city crooks hide out from the law.

It's 'Straight is the Way,' a Paramount release that proved a modest box office success in the spring of 1921.

The film then completely disappeared—until now.

On Saturday, April 5, the Blazing Star Grange of Danbury, N.H. will host a screening of 'Straight is the Way,' which boasts a screenplay by two-time Academy Award-winning writer Frances Marion.

The event takes place at the Blazing Star Grange Hall, 15 North Road in Danbury, N.H.

The evening begins with a "soup and bread dinner" served at 6 p.m., cost $5 per person.

The film starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free, with donations gladly accepted; suggested amount is $5 per person.

Live music for the silent film program will be provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis.

The story of 'Straight is the Way' follows two burglars who flee to rural "Hampton Center, N.H." to hide out in the unused wing of a mansion, where an impoverished family faces eviction.

Exposed to small town values, the pair resolve to change their ways.

'Straight is the Way' was promoted with the tagline: "They came to lift the silver, but they stayed to lift the mortgage."

"It should be a fun screening because the filmmakers depict 'Hampton Center' as a small rural Granite State community—rather like Danbury today," Rapsis said.

The film, a comedy/drama, features scenes in which a Ouija board is used to contact the spirits of long-dead relatives.

Ouija boards had become popular in the years following World War I, when 'Straight is the Way' was released.

How does a film disappear for 100 years, and then resurface?

Produced by Cosmopolitan Pictures, 'Straight is the Way' was one of dozens of titles on Paramount's 1921 release schedule. After its initial run, the film was never reissued or re-released.

This was the fate of nearly all motion pictures of the era, most of which were lost to neglect, decay, or accident. Today, about 75 percent of all silent films no longer exist in any form.

But 'Straight is the Way' is among the survivors. A single 35mm print of the film is in the collection of the U.S. Library of Congress. The print was part of a hoard of film material donated long ago by 1920s star Marion Davies, whose pictures were produced by Cosmopolitan.

However, the print is on fragile and flammable nitrate cellulose film stock, meaning it can't be safely projected or loaned out. To keep the film from deteriorating, the print is kept in long-term storage at the Library of Congress media center in Culpeper, Va.

 

The "Ouija Board" scene in 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

In 2021, Maine-based film archivist Ed Lorusso organized an online Kickstarter program to raise funds to transfer the surviving print of 'Straight is the Way' to digital media. The fundraiser was successful, and the transfer was completed earlier this year.

Lorusso made the film available on DVD to fellow vintage film enthusiasts, including accompanist Rapsis, who felt the film's Granite State setting merited a revival, complete with live music.

The film's "world re-premiere" took place in December 2021 at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H., which hosted the first theatrical showing of the film since its original run.

"Very few films are set in New Hampshire, then or now," Rapsis said. "What's interesting about 'Straight is the Way' is that it shows how the state was viewed at the time—a place of small towns and old-fashioned ways, including a constable patrolling the town in a horse and buggy."

Although 'Straight is the Way' contains authentic details such as New Hampshire license plates on the few autos that appear, Lorusso has found no evidence that any part of the film was shot in the state.

Instead, 'Straight is the Way' was produced in New York City, where Cosmopolitan Pictures was based, and which continued to host film production even after most movie-making moved to California in the 1910s.

'Straight is the Way' features several location shots of Manhattan scenes such as Washington Square in Greenwich Village as it appeared in 1921.

Lorusso believes the New Hampshire scenes were most likely filmed in the rural countryside of Long Island or New Jersey, just outside the city, as was common practice at the time.

Lorusso has identified one location: the mansion shown in the film is the summer home of author Ethel Watts Mumford in Sands Point, Long Island. Mumford wrote 'The Manifestations of Henry Ort,' on which 'Straight is the Way' was based.

The screenplay was by Frances Marion, the one recognizable name associated with the production.

Marion, a prolific writer, authored more than 300 screenplays in a career that spanned three decades. Her credits include silent classics such as 'The Wind' (1928); she would later win Academy Awards for writing the prison drama 'The Big House' (1930) and the iconic boxing story 'The Champ' (1931).

 

A trade publication ad promoting 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

'Straight is the Way' features a cast of solid performers, all unknown today: Matt Moore, Mabel Bert, Gladys Leslie, George Parsons, Henry Sedley, Van Dyke Brooke, and Emily Fitzroy.

The film was directed by Robert Vignola; the following year, he would direct Marion Davies in 'When Knighthood Was in Flower' (1922) a big budget costume drama.

Rapsis said the Blazing Star Grange screening of 'Straight is the Way' 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.

'Straight is the Way' (1921), a silent comedy/drama set in New Hampshire, will be screened with live music on Saturday, April 5 at 7 p.m. at the Blazing Star Grange Hall, 15 North Road in Danbury, N.H.

The evening begins with a "soup and bread dinner" served at 6 p.m., cost $5 per person. The film starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free, with donations gladly accepted; suggested amount is $5 per person.

Like father, like son: double feature of 'Zorro' and 'Son of Zorro' this weekend at Town Hall Theatre

Original poster art for 'The Mark of Zorro' (1920).

I have a theory that will get tested this weekend.

The theory goes like this: that 'The Mark of Zorro' (1920) starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. was so popular and so familiar to audiences at the time, that its 1925 sequel, 'Don Q: Son of Zorro' was crafted to take advantage of this.

Yes, the sequel stands on its own as a great movie. I saw 'Son of Zorro' just last month at the Kansas Silent Film Festival and people loved it. So yes, you don't have to see the original 'Zorro' to enjoy the sequel.

But to get the full effect of the sequel, it's worth seeing the original first, so it's fresh in your head, just as it must have been to movie-goers of the time. 

That way, it's possible to pick up on quite a few references to the earlier film that must have made the sequel and extra special experience when it hit theaters in June 1925, just under 100 years ago. 

Like what? Well, check out how the sequel, once it gets going, circles back to refer to scenes from the original 'Zorro,' in a kind of 'greatest hits' kind of way. On a smaller scale, several personality traits are carried through both films, including a penchant for cheap 'sleight of hand' tricks. 

Is there anything to this theory? The only way to find out is to do what we're doing this weekend: show both films, one after another, and see if the whole really does add up to something greater than the parts. 

They're both terrific audience-pleasers, so either one on its own will make for a good afternoon in the cinema. But I hope you'll join me in recreating the full 'Zorro' experience via back-to-back screenings, with 'Mark of Zorro' on Saturday, March 29 and 'Don Q: Son of Zorro' on Sunday, March 30.

Both screenings are 2 p.m. matinees at the Town Hall Theatre in beautiful downtown Wilton, N.H. More info in the press release pasted in below. See you at the movies!

Oh, and while I'm at it: in the midst of this weekend's mini 'Zorro-thon,' I'm accompanying another film, 'Straight is the Way' (1921), on Saturday night at the Blazing Star Grange in Danbury, N.H. 

The film is preceded by a 'Soup and Bread Supper,' which sounds good to me. Details about this event are in a press release pasted further below. 

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Original poster art for 'Don Q, Son of Zorro' (1925).

SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 2025 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more info, contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Town Hall to screen 'Zorro' and sequel 'Son of Zorro' over a single weekend March 29 & 30

Swashbuckling silent adventure films starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. to be shown with live music for 100th anniversary of Zorro sequel's release

WILTON, N.H.—It's a rare chance to see the classic silent adventure 'The Mark of Zorro' and its popular sequel, 'Son of Zorro' all in one weekend.

On Saturday, March 29, the Town Hall Theatre will present 'The Mark of Zorro' (1920) starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr.

Then, on Sunday, March 30, the theatre will run 'Don Q, Son of Zorro' (1925) on the 100th anniversary of the film's release—a continuation of the Zorro story and Hollywood's first-ever big budget sequel.

In 'Don Q, Son of Zorro,' Fairbanks plays dual roles: his original sword-brandishing 'Zorro' character and also his whip-wielding son.

Both screenings start at 2 p.m. and will be accompanied by live music performed by Jeff Rapsis.

Admission is free; a donation of $10 per person is suggested to defray expenses and support the Town Hall Theatre's silent film series.

"These two films were among the most popular of the 1920s, and there are many links between them," Rapsis said. "It's a rare chance to see them both together, although each is entertaining and enjoyable on its own." 

Promotional art depicting a scene from 'The Mark of Zorro' (1920).

Douglas Fairbanks Sr., an immensely popular star whose career peaked in the 1920s, served as the model for the George Valentin character in 'The Artist,' the silent film that won multiple Academy Awards in 2012, including the Oscar for Best Picture.

'The Mark of Zorro,' to be screened on Saturday, March 29, tells the story of young Don Diego Vega, the son of a wealthy ranch owner in Spanish California of the early 19th century.

Witnessing the mistreatment of the poor by rich landowners and the oppressive colonial government, Don Diego assumes the identity of "Señor Zorro," a masked figure of great cunning and skill, and vows to bring justice to the region.

The film stars Fairbanks, who until 'Zorro' had focused on playing traditional all-American leading roles in romantic comedies.

The success of 'Zorro' launched Fairbanks on a series of historical adventure films that went on to rank among the most popular spectacles of the silent era, including 'The Three Musketeers' (1921) and 'Robin Hood' (1922).

The enduring popularity of 'Zorro' led Fairbanks to film the sequel, which continues the story to another generation. 

Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in a scene from 'Don Q, Son of Zorro' (1925).

In 'Don Q, Son of Zorro,' Fairbanks plays Don Cesar de Vega, Zorro's grown son, a prodigy with the whip who is visiting the family's Spanish homeland to finish his education.

The trip is no dull semester abroad: Cesar duels with Don Sebastian of the Queen's Guard (soon to be his rival for the hand of lovely Dolores de Muro), makes love to a general's daughter, and befriends the visiting Archduke of Austria.

But a quarrel ending in violence gives Don Sebastian the chance to dispose of his rival by framing him for murder. Feigning suicide, Zorro's whip-wielding son escapes to the family's abandoned castle, where he makes plans to clear the family name.

Both screenings will be accompanied live by silent film musician Jeff Rapsis.

Rapsis achieves a "movie score" sound for silent film screenings by using a digital synthesizer to reproduce the texture of the full orchestra.

"Each of the 'Zorro' films are terrific movies on their own, but the chance to see the original and then the sequel is a great way to present these two films as they were intended to be seen: on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience," said Rapsis, who provides live music accompaniment for silent film screenings across New England and beyond.

'The Mark of Zorro' (1920) will be screened with live music on Saturday, March 29 at 2 p.m. Its sequel, 'Don Q, Son of Zorro' (1925) will be screened with live music on Sunday, March 30 at 2 p.m. Each screening is free and open to the public; a donation of $10 per person is suggested to defray expenses.

Both screenings take place at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. For more info, visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com or call (603) 654-3456. 

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A production still from 'Straight is the Way' (1921) featuring a car with N.H. license plates.

MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2025 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Vintage feature film with story set in Granite State to be screened in Danbury, N.H. on Saturday, March 29

Rare surviving silent comedy/drama 'Straight is the Way' (1921) to be shown with live music at Blazing Star Grange

DANBURY, N.H. — It's a film not seen in theaters since its original release more than a century ago. And it's set in fictional 'Hampton Center, N.H.,' a small town where a pair of big-city crooks hide out from the law.

It's 'Straight is the Way,' a Paramount release that proved a modest box office success in the spring of 1921.

The film then completely disappeared—until now.

This month, the Blazing Star Grange of Danbury, N.H. will host a screening of 'Straight is the Way,' which boasts a screenplay by two-time Academy Award-winning writer Frances Marion.

The event takes place at the Blazing Star Grange Hall, 15 North Road in Danbury, N.H.

The evening begins with a "soup and bread dinner" served at 6 p.m., cost $5 per person.

The film starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free, with donations gladly accepted; suggested amount is $5 per person.

Live music for the silent film program will be provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis.

The story of 'Straight is the Way' follows two burglars who flee to rural "Hampton Center, N.H." to hide out in the unused wing of a mansion, where an impoverished family faces eviction.

Exposed to small town values, the pair resolve to change their ways.

'Straight is the Way' was promoted with the tagline: "They came to lift the silver, but they stayed to lift the mortgage."

"It should be a fun screening because the filmmakers depict 'Hampton Center' as a small rural Granite State community—rather like Danbury today," Rapsis said.

The film, a comedy/drama, features scenes in which a Ouija board is used to contact the spirits of long-dead relatives.

Ouija boards had become popular in the years following World War I, when 'Straight is the Way' was released.

How does a film disappear for 100 years, and then resurface?

Produced by Cosmopolitan Pictures, 'Straight is the Way' was one of dozens of titles on Paramount's 1921 release schedule. After its initial run, the film was never reissued or re-released.

This was the fate of nearly all motion pictures of the era, most of which were lost to neglect, decay, or accident. Today, about 75 percent of all silent films no longer exist in any form.

But 'Straight is the Way' is among the survivors. A single 35mm print of the film is in the collection of the U.S. Library of Congress. The print was part of a hoard of film material donated long ago by 1920s star Marion Davies, whose pictures were produced by Cosmopolitan.

However, the print is on fragile and flammable nitrate cellulose film stock, meaning it can't be safely projected or loaned out. To keep the film from deteriorating, the print is kept in long-term storage at the Library of Congress media center in Culpeper, Va.

 

The "Ouija Board" scene in 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

In 2021, Maine-based film archivist Ed Lorusso organized an online Kickstarter program to raise funds to transfer the surviving print of 'Straight is the Way' to digital media. The fundraiser was successful, and the transfer was completed earlier this year.

Lorusso made the film available on DVD to fellow vintage film enthusiasts, including accompanist Rapsis, who felt the film's Granite State setting merited a revival, complete with live music.

The film's "world re-premiere" took place in December 2021 at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H., which hosted the first theatrical showing of the film since its original run.

"Very few films are set in New Hampshire, then or now," Rapsis said. "What's interesting about 'Straight is the Way' is that it shows how the state was viewed at the time—a place of small towns and old-fashioned ways, including a constable patrolling the town in a horse and buggy."

Although 'Straight is the Way' contains authentic details such as New Hampshire license plates on the few autos that appear, Lorusso has found no evidence that any part of the film was shot in the state.

Instead, 'Straight is the Way' was produced in New York City, where Cosmopolitan Pictures was based, and which continued to host film production even after most movie-making moved to California in the 1910s.

'Straight is the Way' features several location shots of Manhattan scenes such as Washington Square in Greenwich Village as it appeared in 1921.

Lorusso believes the New Hampshire scenes were most likely filmed in the rural countryside of Long Island or New Jersey, just outside the city, as was common practice at the time.

Lorusso has identified one location: the mansion shown in the film is the summer home of author Ethel Watts Mumford in Sands Point, Long Island. Mumford wrote 'The Manifestations of Henry Ort,' on which 'Straight is the Way' was based.

The screenplay was by Frances Marion, the one recognizable name associated with the production.

Marion, a prolific writer, authored more than 300 screenplays in a career that spanned three decades. Her credits include silent classics such as 'The Wind' (1928); she would later win Academy Awards for writing the prison drama 'The Big House' (1930) and the iconic boxing story 'The Champ' (1931).

 

A trade publication ad promoting 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

'Straight is the Way' features a cast of solid performers, all unknown today: Matt Moore, Mabel Bert, Gladys Leslie, George Parsons, Henry Sedley, Van Dyke Brooke, and Emily Fitzroy.

The film was directed by Robert Vignola; the following year, he would direct Marion Davies in 'When Knighthood Was in Flower' (1922) a big budget costume drama.

Rapsis said the Blazing Star Grange screening of 'Straight is the Way' 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.

'Straight is the Way' (1921), a silent comedy/drama set in New Hampshire, will be screened with live music on Saturday, March 29 at 7 p.m. at the Blazing Star Grange Hall, 15 North Road in Danbury, N.H.

The evening begins with a "soup and bread dinner" served at 6 p.m., cost $5 per person. The film starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free, with donations gladly accepted; suggested amount is $5 per person.

On Friday, 3/15: at the Cleveland Cinematheque to do music for 'The Last Command' (1928)

Original promotional art for Emil Jannings in 'The Last Command' (1928).

Just a few notes prior to heading out to Cleveland to do music this Friday for 'The Last Command' (1928), one of the greatest silents (in my opinion) and which, surprisingly, they've never run at the Cinematheque.

I say surprisingly because the guy who's managed the Cinematheque for nearly 40 years, John Ewing, has an encyclopedic knowledgeable about cinema and often includes silent film programs in the venue's schedule.

Somehow, director Josef von Sternberg's most powerful silent, featuring a towering performance by Emil Jannings that helped him win the very first Academy Award for Best Actor, never made it to the Cinematheque's screen.

Well, that omission will be rectified on Friday, March 15—and just in time, too, as John is retiring this spring after almost four decades of service to Cleveland-area cinephiles. 

It's been my pleasure to accompany Cinematheque programs over the years. And I appreciate the opportunity to head out for one last show during John's storied tenure.

Storied? Indeed—his impending retirement made headline news all over Ohio: here, and here, and here.

Happy trails, John! But not until I head out to Cleveland for one last round-up, which starts at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 15, and which includes not only 'The Last Command' but also a French film I've never heard of before: 'Menilmontant' (1926) from director Dimitri Kirsanoff.

Although it's my last screening under John's watch, it won't be my last visit to Cleveland as an accompanist. I'm already booked to do music on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025 for 'The Lost World' (1925) at the 50th annual 36-hour sci-fi marathon at Case Western Reserve University, which is just a few blocks down Euclid Ave. from the Cinematheque. 

Okay, see you in Cleveland. But before I leave, a quick glance back at recent screenings, which included a seasonally and locationally appropriate showing of 'Way Down East' (1920) on Wednesday, March 6 at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse in Plymouth, N.H.

I saw "seasonally" because the film's climax takes place in New England at this time of year. And "locationally" because the Flying Monkey is not that far from the part of the Connecticut River Valley where the many of the film's exteriors were shot, including the sequence with Lillian Gish adrift on the ice floes.

We showed the 1931 re-release version of the film, which is about 40 minutes shorter than director D.W. Griffith's original cut. People seemed to enjoy it, and cheered when Gish was rescued by Richard Barthelmess just as she was about to go over the falls. 

But somehow, to me it lacked the full-length version's monumental quality. The climax seemed to come too fast. Once again, I'm reminded that Griffith really knew what he was doing.

In other news, a screening of the silent version of 'Peter Pan' (1924) in my hometown on Sunday, March 10 brought familiar faces to the Bedford (N.H.) Public Library. One woman asked me about a weekly column that I used to write for the local paper—which I stopped writing nearly 20 years ago now!

Pre-show remarks at the Blazing Star Grange Hall in Danbury, N.H.

But the real highlight of the past week was my now-annual appearance at the Blazing Star Grange Hall in Danbury, N.H., where a capacity crowd enjoyed Buster Keaton and Ernest Torrence in 'Steamboat Bill, Jr.' (1928).

New Hampshire towns are full of former Grange Hall buildings that no longer house Grange chapters. But not Danbury, where the local Grange still maintains its own hall, which I think looks very much like it might have 100 years ago.

Although the programming includes a silent film program each year at about mud season, that doesn't mean new ideas aren't welcome. In that vein, last Saturday night saw the debut of a new "soup and bread supper" option to go along with movie night.

I was busy setting up, and I'd already eaten, so I didn't get downstairs until most of the soup was gone. Here's the impressive line-up:

This one seemed especially ambitious. Or maybe it was just the high tech crockpot used to serve it.

 And if the soup didn't fill you up, a makeshift concessions counter upstairs was ready for movie-goers.

The paper bags contain popcorn, freshly popped. Alas, Grange members sold only a handful of bags—maybe because everyone was full of soup!

And it was a conversation after the screening that gave me confidence that this was one Grange chapter that hadn't lost touch with its agricultural base.

What would happen to the uneaten and unsold popcorn? "The pigs would love it!"

Up next: Harold Lloyd's 'Why Worry' (1923) at Grange Hall in Danbury, N.H. on Saturday, 3/18

In 'Why Worry?', Harold Lloyd demonstrates the basic comedy principle of 'Big shoes are funny.'

Okay, on to the next venue in the high-profile jet-setting life of this silent film accompanist: the Blazing Star Grange Hall in Danbury, N.H. 

 There—where the portrait of President Woodrow Wilson still hangs proudly—I'll do live music for a screening of Harold Lloyd's 'Why Worry?' on Saturday, March 18.

More details on the show are in the press release pasted in below. 

The Grange screening was a homecoming of sorts. I did annual "mud season" silent film programs in Danbury for quite a few years until 2020, when the screening was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Now, three years later, the tradition is being revived by the Blazing Star Grange, one of very few chapters still active in New Hampshire. 

Why 'Why Worry?' Because it's one of Harold's funniest comedies, I think, and also because this year marks the 100th anniversary of its release.

It shares that distinction with Lloyd's 'Safety Last' (1923), which is far better known due to its famous building-climbing climax. 

So for its 100th anniversary, I've accompanied 'Safety Last' three time already this year, with more to come, and so I suggested 'Why Worry' in the interest of equal time. 

If you're in the area, hope you can join us, as a packed house is good for comedy. And good for you!

And despite the small-town nature of most of my work, I'm pleased to report that recently we've staged satisfying screenings of some pretty big-time pictures.

Last night in Plymouth, N.H., a completely improvised score for John Ford's 'Hangman's House' (1928) was one of those times where I had all the right material at just the right moments. 

The only thing I knew in advance that I would use was a lively tune for the big horse-racing scene. Other than that, I played and watched, and watched and played.

What came out were melodic lines with a slightly modal flavor and rhythmic catches that to me made them sound vaguely "old country," which I think fit the story, the setting, and the film's visual style.

I wouldn't say it was specifically Irish, because my knowledge of Irish music is limited to the tune in the old "Irish Spring" soap commercials. ("Manly, yes, but I like it, too.")

Out of that developed two licks that ended up carrying a lot of the dramatic freight: one originally played for the despised Judge who dies early in the film, but whose demise casts a shadow over  the piece, and another for the villain. 

I was able to use these two lines to build up dramatic tension, adding more insistent rhythmic patterns underneath as things intensified. It all fell together marvelously, I thought, and helped build to a terrificly cinematic climax.

Prior to that, last Sunday I had a great time doing music for Marion Davies in 'Little Old New York' (1923) at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H. 

And the week before that, for Lillian Gish in 'Annie Laurie' (1925), a big drama of big emotions and the kind of picture that my method of accompaniment seems best-suited for. Plus a screening of 'Wings' (1927) in Greenfield, Mass. that went well, and a kick-ass 'Caligari's Cabinet' (1920) for students at UNH.

Why the hot streak? Who knows? Probably just that like many other things (cooking, bowling, stilt-walking), doing it a lot tends to improve one's batting average. (Baseball, too!) 

Also, right now there's way too much going on in my non-silent-film life. So when it's time to lose myself in creating music for a screening, it comes as a relief and there's a lot of pent-up energy ready to go.

And after focusing on live film accompaniment  for 15 years (more than 100 shows per year, so over 1,500 performances), I think I've gradually developed a fluency in a certain kind of musical language and a comfort level in using it. It's just what I do.

Plus, I steal from the best! Sometimes without knowing it. Just this morning on the radio, I heard the Polonaise from Tchaikovsky's opera 'Eugene Onegin,' and it starts with dotted-note up-and-down scales in the strings that are pretty much exactly what I used in a movement of my Kilimanjaro Suite.Ooops!

(Which, by the way, I really enjoyed hearing played live in concert a few years ago by the N.H. Philharmonic. And one of the highlights was the end of this movement. The piece is a musical depiction of a Westerner trying to respond to the other-worldly beauty of Africa and Kilimanjaro, and in this case the movement finishes by breaking into an all-out Sousa-like march (complete with trombone lines from the 'Washington Post March') that's very much in the spirit of Charles Ives, and which makes a heckuva racket when played in a concert hall rather than modest computer speakers. Anyway...)

Well, for whatever reason, it's been a good month so far. I'm looking forward to continuing the streak with 'Why Worry?' this coming Saturday night. See you at the Blazing Star Grange! And then on Monday, March 20 in the big city, when I'll accompany Buster Keaton's 'The Navigator' (1924) at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Mass., just over the line from Boston.

*   *   *

Promotional art for Harold Lloyd in 'Why Worry?'

MONDAY, FEB. 20, 2023 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Harold Lloyd stars in 'Why Worry?' on Saturday, March 18 in Danbury, N.H.

Public welcome: Blazing Star Grange to screen classic feature-length silent comedy with live music

DANBURY, N.H.—He was the bespectacled young man next door whose road to success was often paved with perilous detours.

He was Harold Lloyd, whose fast-paced comedies made him the most popular movie star of Hollywood's silent film era.

See for yourself why Lloyd was the top box office attraction of the 1920s in a revival of 'Why Worry?' (1923), one of his best comedies.

The Blazing Star Grange will host a 100th anniversary screening of 'Why Worry?' on Saturday, March 18 at 7 p.m. at the historic Blazing Star Grange Hall, 15 North Road in Danbury.

The show is open to the public, with a suggested donation of $5 per person.

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

Lloyd's go-getter character proved immensely popular throughout the 1920s, with fans following him from one adventure to the next.

Harold Lloyd plays a rich hypochondriac in 'Why Worry?'

In the political satire 'Why Worry?', Harold plays a wealthy hypochondriac traveling abroad who gets caught up in a local uprising.

Thrown into prison, Harold is forced to use his wits to escape and rescue his nurse from the clutches of an evil Revolutionary.

Regarded as one of Lloyd's most surreal movies, 'Why Worry?' features a cast that includes an actual real-life giant—8-foot-tall John Aasen, discovered in Minnesota during a national talent search.

Rapsis will improvise a musical score for 'Why Worry?' as the film screens. In creating accompaniment for the Lloyd movies and other vintage classics, Rapsis tries to bridge the gap between silent film and modern audiences.

"Creating the music on the spot is a bit of a high-wire act, but it contributes a level of energy that's really crucial to the silent film experience," Rapsis said.

The short Harold Lloyd comedy 'Number, Please' (1920) will also be included in the program.

‘Why Worry?’ will be shown on Saturday, March 18 at 7 p.m. at the historic Blazing Star Grange Hall, 15 North Road in Danbury.

The show is open to the public with suggested $5 donation.
 

Harold Lloyd in 'Why Worry?', not to be confused with another Lloyd feature, 'Hot Water' (1924).
 

Weekend update: Buster Keaton in a church, then Lon Chaney's 'Phantom' in a Grange Hall

Tonight: Come see 'The Cameraman' in Concord Center, Mass.

After a month that took me to such far-flung venues as the Kennington Bioscope in London, the Orpheum Theatre in Sioux City, Iowa, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, it's back to silent film accompaniment reality.

Consider: the locations for this weekend's screenings are a church in suburban Boston, and then a Grange Hall in rural New Hampshire.

But that's where most of my screenings happen—at places no more than a few hours from home base.

And that pattern resumes this weekend with a Buster Keaton program tonight (Friday, March 17) at the Trinitarian Congregational Church in Concord, Mass., and then Lon Chaney in 'The Phantom of the Opera' (1925) on Saturday night at the Blazing Star Grange Hall in Danbury, N.H.

Complete info on each show is on the Upcoming Screenings page (link at right), or in the summaries below:

• Friday, March 17, 2017, 7 p.m.: "Sherlock Jr." (1924) and "The Cameraman" (1928) starring Buster Keaton; Trinitarian Congregational Church, 54 Walden St., Concord Center, Mass.
978-369-4837. Tonight's program features Buster Keaton in a pair of his great starring films, both centering on the subject of movies themselves. In 'Sherlock Jr.,' Buster breeches the fourth wall big-time as a movie projectionist who dreams himself into a crime thriller In 'The Cameraman,' to impress the girl of his dreams, mild-mannered portrait photographer Buster takes up the glamorous profession of newsreel cameraman. One of the best comedies of the silent era. The film program is open to the public; $5 per person admission.

Halloween in March: 'The Phantom of the Opera' (1925) screens on Saturday night in Danbury, N.H.

• Saturday, March 18, 2017, 7 p.m.: Silent Film Program: Halloween in March! at the Blazing Star Grange Hall, North Road in Danbury, N.H. You've heard of "Christmas in July?" Well, welcome to "Halloween in March," a program of spooky silent film with live music presented by the local Grange chapter. Rumor has it the main attraction will be Lon Chaney in 'Phantom of the Opera' (1925), but check back for details. Free and open to the public; suggested donation of $5 at the door.

I've been doing local programs such as these for almost 10 years now. Why?

For one thing, I've found the only way I could really learn how to do silent film accompaniment was to really do it.

And that means for real, in real time, and in front of an audience.

No bathroom breaks, no trips to the fridge, no letting dogs in or out, no breaking concentration, all of which seem to happen when you're doing it on your own at home.

Also, I've found that challenging myself to create so much music under these conditions has enabled me, bit by bit, to work out a kind of musical language that I can call my own.

That's huge, because it's given me a vocabulary to begin putting music together that I feel reflects my—well, whatever it is I have to offer.

The results of this process are beginning to show up in written-out pieces such as the 'Kilimanjaro Suite' that the New Hampshire Philharmonic recently played.

More projects are in the works. So it's a very exciting time for me—as long as I can find time to get done all I hope to do.

But none of it would be happening, I'm sure, if I hadn't sat down and accompanied literally hundreds of silent films in the past 10 years or so.

And the process, such as it is, continues this weekend. Hope to see you, either at the church or at the Grange Hall. Or both!

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:

* * *

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.

Needed: Audience members at 4/9 screening to help out documentary on Buster Keaton

Buster's autograph as obtained by Linda Olmsted in 1956.

First priority: to plug a screening of Keaton's 'Three Ages' (1923) on Thursday, April 9, as a documentary film crew will be on hand to interview attendees about Buster.

So come along. What are you waiting for? The more, the merrier!

But first, a few highlights from a holiday weekend as packed with silent film adventures as a child's egg-filled Easter basket.

• Friday, April 3: 'The Lost World' (1925) at Red River Theatres, Concord, N.H. Small turnout but strong reaction to this very entertaining film.

Just before the screening, a Red River staffer brought in an item from the collection of Barry Steelman, a well-known local movie buff and part of the Red River family.

I'll be darned: an original booking contract for 'The Lost World,' framed and perfectly intact, complete with full-color letterhead with artwork derived from the film's promotional materials.

But it was only the start of a weekend filled with unexpected artifacts...

• Saturday, April 4: 'The General' (1927) at the hall of Blazing Star #71 Grange in Danbury, N.H. Small theater but packed with locals for what promised to be an unusual night out.

It certainly was for me. First, the Blazing Star's hall appears unchanged since perhaps the McKinley era, with the exception of modern wiring. Stern faces of Grange leaders from the pre-World War I Grange heydays stare down from the hall's wooden walls.

The small proscenium stage, still in working order, is home to an impressive collection of antique theater curtains and scenic backdrops, some of it original to the hall and some of it acquired from other small theaters.

One of many antique scenic backdrops housed at the Blazing Star Grange Hall in Danbury, N.H.

A group of volunteers are working on conserving these rare artifacts. The ones on display are a sight to behold.

For the silent film program, the same people created a very substantial white screen, complete with wooden frame held together by clamps. Amazing!

As for the films: Buster rocked the house. It's always a treat to do a screening for such an appreciative audience.

But a highlight for me was when a woman approached me prior to the show with an old-time autograph book open to a particular page.

On it was written, in classic Palmer method script: Buster Keaton.

(I seem to have heard somewhere that Buster, who attended exactly one day of public school in his entire life, was functionally illiterate. I don't know if the very stilted penmanship of his signature bears this out, but it would be interesting to get it evaluated. Any volunteers?)

The woman, Linda Olmsted, said she was a Girl Scout in Manchester, Conn. on a field trip to New York City in the mid-1950s when she spotted Keaton on the street near what she thought was a TV studio.

So she asked, and Keaton obliged. And she still had the book, and Keaton's signature, after all these years. Again, today's word: Amazing!

Unfortunately, Danbury resident Carl Hultberg could not attend Saturday night's screening due to illness.

Hultberg had contacted me earlier, wanted to let me know his grandfather was Rudi Blesh, Keaton's authorized biographer who was working with him just prior to Keaton's death in early 1966.

He has since sent along a note apologizing for not attending, but saying he's still like to show me something I might find interesting: one of Keaton's hats.

Geez, what is it with Keaton and Danbury, N.H.? After all this, it wouldn't surprise me if the Grange stove was the same one used in Keaton's two-reel comedy 'Hard Luck.'

Thou Shalt Not Miss It: an original poster for Cecil B. DeMille's 'The Ten Commandments.'

• Sunday, April 5: 'The Ten Commandments' (1923) in 35mm at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, Somerville, Mass. About 100 people made a Biblical epic part of their Easter Sunday, despite my comments that the Archdiocese of Boston would not allow attendance to count as Mass.

Got to use my one sure-fire laugh line on this. To depict the parting of the Red Sea, technicians used large blocks of gelatin sprayed with water. My wife said it had to be strawberry Jell-O because, after all, it's the RED SEA. Har!

The film itself is a great one for music, I think: all broad gestures and a good amount of motion at varying tempos. I had five melodic cells picked out for this and wound up making heavy use of just two of them. Still, it held together and I felt it was one of my better efforts.

Okay, on to Buster Keaton's 'Three Ages' (1923) on Thursday, April 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center in Plymouth, N.H.

Come one, come all! Because it would be great to have a sizable turnout so the documentary producers will have something to work with.

The filmmakers are Jessica Roseboom and Gavin Rosenberg of Merge Creative Media. Based in New York City, they're assembling material for a documentary on Keaton's silent comedy and how it continues to delight and mesmerize audiences nearly a century after it was produced.

For a good write-up of what they're doing, check out this story that ran on Sunday, April 5 in the Concord (N.H.) Monitor.

Or better yet, come to the screening and be part of the experience. For more info about 'Three Ages' and the program on Thursday, April 9, check out the press release below.

See you there!

* * *

Pre-historic Buster takes a pre-historic bath in 'Three Ages' (1923).

SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 2015 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Documentary film crew to visit Flying Monkey on Thursday, April 9

Local audience for Buster Keaton silent film program to be interviewed for possible inclusion in documentary

PLYMOUTH, N.H.—Audience members who attend next week's silent film screening at the Flying Monkey will have some unusual company.

A documentary film crew will visit Plymouth and the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center on Thursday, April 9 for a screening of Buster Keaton's classic silent comedy 'Three Ages' (1923).

Filmmakers Jessica Roseboom, Gavin Rosenberg and Chad "CJ" Gardella, of New York City-based Merge Creative Media, are currently making a feature-length documentary about Keaton's enduring popularity.

Titled "Buster Keaton: To Be Funny," the project has been actively underway for several months. Filming locations so far have included Tucson, Ariz. and New York City.

As part of their work, Roseboom contacted New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis, who provides live music for the Flying Monkey's monthly silent film series.

The Flying Monkey's screening of Keaton's 'Three Ages' prompted the filmmakers to come to Plymouth for the event.

During their visit, they plan to interview audience members and also film audience reactions during the screening.

"It's a real honor to have the Flying Monkey selected for inclusion in this project," Rapsis said. "Buster Keaton's films are always popular, but now there's an another reason for people to attend."

The program, accompanied by live music, will also include several Keaton comedy short films released prior to his jump into full-length feature films.

The Keaton show is on Thursday, April 9 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $10 per person.

'Three Ages,' a loose send-up of the then-famous drama 'Intolerance' (1916), weaves together similar love stories told in three different epochs: the Stone Age, the Roman Age, and "Modern" (1920s) times.

The three-stories-in-one approach was Keaton's first attempt at a feature-length comedy. If 'Three Ages' showed signs of box office trouble, Keaton planned to split it up into three shorter films to be released separately.

But the picture was a success, due primarily to inspired comic touches that still shine through to audiences today. 'Three Ages' launched Keaton's spectacular run of classic comic features that lasted until the industry's transition to sound pictures in 1929.

Keaton, one of the silent film era's great comics, was known for his ingenuity with gags, acrobatic stunts, and his trademark dead-pan manner.

'Three Ages' is the latest in a series of monthly silent film screenings at the newly renovated Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performing Arts Center. The series aims to recreate the lost magic of early cinema by assembling 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 a live audience.

The Flying Monkey's silent film series will continue in 2015 with these upcoming titles:

• Thursday, May 21, 2015, 6:30 p.m.: 'The Count of Monte Cristo' (1922) starring John Gilbert. The original screen adaptation of the Andre Dumas swashbuckler about a man unjustly imprisoned who later seeks revenge. A film thought lost for decades until a print surfaced in the Czech Republic!

• Thursday, June 11, 2015, 6:30 p.m.: 'Wings' (1927) starring Clara Bow, Buddy Rogers, Richard Arlen. Just in time for Flag Day! Epic saga of American flyboys in World War I took the first-ever Academy Award for Best Picture. One of the all-time great silents, just as moving, thrilling, and exciting as when first released.

• Thursday, July 9, 2015, 6:30 p.m.: 'A Dog Double Feature' spotlighting silent-era canine stars Peter the Great and Rin Tin Tin. In 'The Sign of the Claw,' a police dog helps solve a crime wave. The only surviving film of Peter the Great, a popular German shepherd performer. 'The Night Cry' (1926) finds iconic dog superstar Rin Tin Tin accused of killing sheep. Can he find the real bandit and clear his name?

Buster Keaton's comedy ‘Three Ages’ will be shown on Thursday, April 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performing Arts Center, 39 Main St., Plymouth, N.H. Admission $10 per person. For more info, call (603) 536-2551 or visit www.flyingmonkeynh.com.

For more information on the documentary "Buster Keaton: To Be Funny," visit www.tobefunnythemovie.com

Saturday, April 4: Bringing Buster Keaton to the Blazing Star Grange Hall in Danbury, N.H.

Buster examines his world in 'Sherlock Jr.' (1924), on the program tonight with 'The General' (1927) at the Blazing Star Grange #71 Hall in Danbury, N.H.

Check out this e-mail I received today:

Hey Jeff:

Don't know if you know this, but my name is Carl Hultberg and my grandfather, Rudi Blesh was Buster's authorized biographer.

I live in Danbury and work at the transfer station. I have a biography of my grandfather out now about my grandfather, Rudi (and me).

http://www.amazon.com/Rudi-Blesh-Story-told-grandson/dp/0615901948

I'm going to try to make the show tonight. So I hope to see you there.

-Carl Hultberg
Danbury NH 03230

Wow! You never know who's out there!

The Blesh biography, written with Buster's cooperation, was one of the earliest books about silent film I encountered.

In the early 1970s, the Nashua (N.H.) Public Library had a copy, and I must have renewed it more than a dozen times, keeping it home as part of an impromptu reference library I accumulated at the time.

And now, all these years later, to hear from the biographer's grandson, who lives in rural New Hampshire about an hour's drive north of here. Fantastic!

The "show" tonight he refers to, by the way, is a program of Buster Keaton films I'm presenting at an usual venue—the Blazing Star Grange #71 Hall in, yes, Danbury, N.H.

If Danbury sounds like a small New Hampshire town, then you heard right.

And like many small towns in rural parts of our start, the local Grange chapter is still active.

A seasonal view of tonight's venue. Yeah, we still have a lot of snow up here.

The Grange? It's kind of an agri-centric community education and fellowship society that emerged as a national movement in the 19th century.

Many local Grange groups fell by the wayside long ago—ironically, in part because of competing pastimes such as movie-going.

But a few continue to soldier on, including the "Blazing Star" chapter in Danbury, which has evolved into an advocate for locally grown food.

Members also hold a series of winter markets, support sustainable development, and also curate a unique collection of vintage stage curtains that have been in use at the local Grange Hall for nearly a century.

On example from the collection of antique painted stage scenery and curtains cared for by the Blazing Star Grange #71 of Danbury, N.H.

Find out more about the Blazing Star Grange #71 at http://www.danburygrange.org/. And you can also see online photos of the vintage stage curtain collection.

Tonight's program is a double bill of two Keaton features, plus possibly a chat with the grandson of Keaton's biographer. Really looking forward to it, as well as possibly meeting the grandson of Keaton's official biographer. (Hey—when you're this far removed from Hollywood, you take what you can get.)

For more info about tonight's screening, check out the press release below. See you there!

* * *

MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film classic 'The General' with live music at Blazing Star Grange on Saturday, April 4

Buster Keaton's comic masterpiece set during U.S. Civil War to be screened at historic Grange Hall in Danbury, N.H.

DANBURY, N.H.—He never smiled on camera, earning him the nickname of "the Great Stone Face." But Buster Keaton's comedies rocked Hollywood's silent era with laughter throughout the 1920s.

Acclaimed for their originality and clever visual gags, and also admired for their realistic stories and authentic location shots, Keaton's films remain popular crowd-pleasers today.

See for yourself with a screening of 'The General' (1926), one of Keaton's landmark feature films, at the Blazing Star Grange Hall in Danbury, N.H. on Saturday, April 4 at 7:30 p.m. The show is open to the public with suggested $5 donation.

The program, which also includes Keaton's feature 'Sherlock, Jr.' (1924), will be accompanied by live music performed by silent film composer Jeff Rapsis.

'The General,' set during the U.S. Civil War, tells the story of a southern locomotive engineer (Keaton) whose engine (named 'The General') is hijacked by Northern spies with his girlfriend onboard. Keaton, stealing another train, races north in pursuit behind enemy lines. Can he rescue his girl? And can he steal his locomotive and make it back to warn of a coming Northern attack?

Critics have called 'The General' Keaton's masterpiece, praising its authentic period detail, ambitious action and battle sequences, and its overall integration of story, drama, and comedy. It's also regarded as one of Hollywood's great train films, with much of the action occurring on or around moving steam locomotives.

Civil War-era railroad engineer Buster on the film's namesake locomotive, 'The General'

Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film musician who has accompanied shows at venues across New England, said Keaton's films were not made to be shown on television or viewed at home. In reviving them, the Blazing Star Grange will give the public a chance to experience silent film as it was meant to be seen—in high quality prints, on a large screen, with live music, and with an audience.

"All those elements are important parts of the silent film experience," said Rapsis, who improvises the score on the spot as the films screens. "Recreate those conditions, and the classics of early Hollywood leap back to life in ways that can still move audiences today."

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

Keaton, along with Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, stands today as one of the silent screen's three great clowns. Some critics regard Keaton as the best of all; Roger Ebert wrote in 2002 that "in an extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, (Keaton) worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies."

While making films, Keaton never thought of himself as an artist, but merely as an entertainer trying to use the then-new art of motion pictures to tell stories and create laughter.

As a performer, Keaton was uniquely suited to the demands of silent comedy. Born in 1895, he made his stage debut as a toddler, joining his family's knockabout vaudeville act and learning to take falls and do acrobatic stunts at an early age.

A remarkable pantomime artist, Keaton naturally used his whole body to communicate emotions from sadness to surprise. And in an era with no post-production special effects, Keaton's acrobatic talents enabled him to perform all his own stunts.

Critics review 'The General':

"The most insistently moving picture ever made, its climax is the most stunning visual event ever arranged for a film comedy."
—Walter Kerr

"An almost perfect entertainment!"
—Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

"What makes the film so special is the way the timing, audacity and elegant choreography of its sight gags, acrobatics, pratfalls and dramatic incidents is matched by Buster's directorial artistry, his acute observational skills working alongside the physical élan and sweet subtlety of his own performance."
—Time Out (London)

Buster Keaton's 'The General' (1926) will be shown on Saturday, April 4 at 7:30 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 danburygrange.org; for more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

— 30 —For more info, contact:
Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com
Images attached.
More high-resolution digital images available upon request.