Harry Houdini adventure film this weekend; plus notes on promotion and the weather

Houdini stars in 'Haldane of the Service Service' (1923), showing Sunday, June 24 at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H.

Next up: a Harry Houdini film I've never accompanied before.

'Haldane of the Secret Service' (1923) will be screened on Sunday, June 24 at 4:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H.

More details in the press release below, but it's supposed to be Harry's best (and best-preserved) full-length adventure. Looking forward to it!

For now: pleasantly surprised by fairly strong turnouts for silent film events this past weekend.

On Saturday night, about 50 people enjoyed a double feature of Buster Keaton's 'Sherlock Jr.' (1924) and 'The Cameraman' (1928) in the basement of the First Congregational Church in Nashua, N.H.

And on Sunday afternoon, about an equal number were on hand (despite beautiful weather) for Buster's 'College' (1927) at the Center for the Arts in Natick, Mass.

Usually good weather means low turnout, especially this time of year. But not this time!

Both shows were highlighted by strong audience reaction. Lots of big laughs!

'College' worked especially well, garnering repeated applause, and not just for the climactic "rescue" sequence.

Even Buster's "complete-somersault-while-holding-a-full-cup-of-coffee-and-saucer-upright" move earned an ovation.

Why the good turnout? I think a key reason is that both venues extensively promoted the screenings to their respective bases, and actively encouraged people to attend.

At the First Church, committee members apparently got out the word in a big way. The screening even won a mention in the church bulletin, and promotion on the day of show included sandwich boards on the front lawn.

And in Natick, they took vintage original posters for 'College' and reworked them into wonderfully handsome promotional pieces for the screening, which is part of a series they're trying to build.

It seems to be working. Our first two screenings drew just a handful of folks. But word-of-mouth, coupled with the promotional efforts (and Buster Keaton, too) helped swell attendance.

From the point of view of an accompanist, I always try to give it everything I've got when the lights go down, regardless of audience size.

But I have to say, it really makes a difference when a room is packed, or even half full, compared to having a lot of empty seats.

Hope you can help fill up the Town Hall Theatre for Harry Houdini in 'Haldane of the Secret Service' (1923) on Sunday, June 24 at 4:30 p.m.

We're supposed to get showers—so the weather's in our favor, if the forecast holds.

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Houdini tied up again in 'Haldane of the Secret Service' (1923).

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2018 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Rare Houdini film 'Haldane of the the Secret Service' at Town Hall Theatre on Sunday, June 24

Legendary 'Handcuff King' escape artist returns to the big screen with live music in stunt-filled early silent adventure movie

WILTON, N.H.—He reigned for decades as the legendary "Handcuff King," famous for daring and impossible escapes staged around the world.

But Harry Houdini also had a brief movie career, starring in a series of silent adventure films that showed off his athletic prowess and his talent for illusion, stunts, and escape.

See Houdini back on the big screen in 'Haldane of the Secret Service' (1923), one of his few surviving feature films.

The film will be run on Sunday, June 24 at 4:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $5 per person to defray expenses.

The rarely screened film will be shown with live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based performer regarded as one of the nation's leading silent film musicians.

Houdini made only a handful of movies in the 1910s and 1920s, and much of his film work is lost.

But enough escaped oblivion to provide a glimpse of the world-renowned escape artist at the peak of his worldwide fame.

In 'Haldane of the Secret Service,' U.S. Government agent Heath Haldane is determined to bring to justice the mysterious Dr. Yu, all-powerful head of the Chinese underworld

Dr. Yu is suspected of international counterfeiting, narcotics smuggling and the murder of Haldane's father.

Haldane soon encounters the beautiful Adele Ormsby, whose family might be connected to Yu's criminal activities.

The pursuit of justice then takes the story from New York to Scotland, London, and Paris.

Time and again, the bad guys trap Haldane in ropes, chains and strongboxes. Each time, our hero wriggles out of his predicaments with the skill of—well, Harry Houdini.

Although Houdini's films were well-received, he eventually abandoned his movie career, preferring live performance.

Houdini, born Erik Weisz, was a Hungarian-born, American-Jewish illusionist and stunt performer noted for his sensational escape acts.

He first attracted notice in vaudeville in the U.S. and then as "Harry Handcuff Houdini" on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up.

Soon he extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, straitjackets under water, and having to escape from and hold his breath inside a sealed milk can with water in it.

In 1904, thousands watched as he tried to escape from special handcuffs commissioned by London's Daily Mirror, keeping them in suspense for an hour.

Another stunt saw him buried alive and only just able to claw himself to the surface, emerging in a state of near-breakdown.

In 1913, Houdini introduced the Chinese Water Torture Cell, in which he was suspended upside-down in a locked glass-and-steel cabinet full to overflowing with water, holding his breath for more than three minutes. He would go on performing this escape for the rest of his life.

Houdini died prematurely in 1926, at age 52, of peritonitis following a burst appendix that may have been caused by blows received to the abdomen by a visitor backstage at a performance in Montreal.

Following his death, Houdini's reputation as a legendary performer continued to make his name a household world in the decades that followed.

Although not well known as a film actor, Houdini's work in motion pictures was not forgotten. In a posthumous ceremony on Oct. 31, 1975, Houdini was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7001 Hollywood Blvd.

Houdini is one of several "big name" performers featured on this year's silent film schedule at the Town Hall Theatre.

"These films are audience favorites, and people continue to be surprised at how engrossing and exhilarating they can be when shown as they were intended: in a theater, and with live music," said Rapsis, who accompanies more than 100 screenings each year at venues around the nation.

Rapsis improvises live scores for silent films using a digital synthesizer to recreate the texture of the full orchestra.

"It's kind of a high wire act," Rapsis said. "But for me, the energy of live performance is an essential part of the silent film experience."

Harry Houdini in 'Haldane of the Secret Service' (1923) will be shown with live music on Sunday, June 24 at 4:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $5 person to defray expenses.

For more information, visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com.

Traveling with the silent film time machine, plus Buster Keaton tonight in my hometown

'The Cameraman' (1928) is on the program on Saturday, June 16 at 7 p.m. at the First Church in Nashua, N.H.

Tonight marks a singular occasion: my first-ever silent film gig in my hometown of Nashua, N.H., where I first took piano lessons and sang in church choirs and played sousaphone in the high school marching band.

(Full name: The Nashua High School Royal Purple Panthers Marching Band. Our mascot was the rare and elusive purple panther.)

This evening's program is a Buster Keaton double feature: 'Sherlock Jr.' (1924) and 'The Cameraman' (1928). Showtime is 7 p.m.—and in the "small world" department, it's at the First Congregational Church, one of the places where I sang as a teenager.

Yes: growing up, I was a choir gypsy, singing with my friends in a Protestant church while serving as a lector at the Catholic parish I grew up in, but which didn't have much of a music program.

So many a Sunday would see me at 9 a.m. Mass at St. Stanislaus Church on Franklin Street, then running up Library Hill to the First Church on Concord Street, often making it just in time for the prelude.

Anyway, here I come again, all these years later. More on tonight's screening in the press release below.

But now let me know skip back to yesterday, when I accompanied a silent film program for one of my favorite recurring gigs: the end-of-the-year assembly at Great Brook Middle School in Antrim, N.H.

This is the eighth year I've done this, which means this year's 8th graders were just starting in public school when this tradition began.

But here we were again: kids scrambling up the stairs and spilling into the auditorium, setting up chairs on the wooden floor while I played piano rag music to help set the mood.

It says something about the energy of middle-schoolers that ragtime serves to actually calm them down.

We've tried different programs over the years, but the kids have made it clear about their favorite: Mr. Buster Keaton.

And so this year's big attraction was 'Our Hospitality' (1923), Buster's film about an old-time family feud set in the 1830s.

This prompted some thought-provoking confusion. We were about to watch a film that was nearly 100 years old, and the film itself was set about 100 years before that.

Mrs. Maryanne Cullinan, a faculty member who organizes the screenings, mentioned this weirdness to the kids so they'd be prepared.

But then I chimed in, telling kids we were about to embark on the closest thing possible to actual time travel.

And that seemed to connect. So I stuck with it, explaining that old cinema itself is like time travel, but then sometimes you get an extra bonus trip when the film is set in an another time.

And the "another time" can be in the past, as with Buster's film. Or it can be in the future, such as in 'Metropolis' (1927)—which could mean we'd be seeing an alternate reality view of today.

The screening went over like gangbusters. In my experience with 'Our Hospitality,' once Buster steps aboard the recreated early train pulled by the Stephenson Rocket, there's no turning back.

Yesterday was no exception: the kids responded strongly, even as much of the comedy was derived from the rather dark predicament of people trying to shoot and kill our hero. (Alas, we live in an era where gun violence is an especially sensitive issue in public schools.)

Afterwards, I kept thinking about time travel. Might that not be another underlying reason for the fascination with (and value of) of early cinema?

WE can time travel. Just attend a silent film screening.

And just your luck, there's one tonight in Nashua, N.H. Details below. Hope to see you there!

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Buster Keaton and friend in 'The Cameraman' (1928).

TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 2018 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Buster Keaton double feature at Nashua's First Church on Saturday, June 16

Classic silent film comedy masterpieces to be screened with live musical accompaniment by Nashua native

NASHUA, 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.

See for yourself with a screening of 'Sherlock Jr.' (1924) and 'The Cameraman' (1928), two of Keaton's landmark feature films, at the First Church, 1 Concord St., Nashua, N.H. on Saturday, June 16 at 7 p.m.

The program is a fundraising event for First Church; admission $12 adults, $10 seniors. Students are free, and childcare is available for kids 6 and under. Tickets will be available at the door.

The program will be accompanied by live music performed by silent film composer Jeff Rapsis.

In 'Sherlock Jr.,' Buster plays a small-town movie projectionist who dreams of working as a detective. But then Buster's romantic rival frames him for stealing a watch from his girlfriend's father. Fortunately, the situation mirrors the plot of the movie currently playing at Buster's theater. Inspired by the movie, can Buster find the real thief and win back his girl?

'The Cameraman' tells the story of a young man (Keaton) who tries to impress the girl of his dreams (Marceline Day) by working as a freelance newsreel cameraman. His efforts result in spectacular failure, but then a lucky break gives him an unexpected chance to make his mark. Can Buster parlay the scoop of the year into a secure job and successful romance?

Both films focus on exploring the potentials of the motion picture, then a brand-new medium.

Buster romances Marceline Day in unconventional fashion in 'The Cameraman' (1928).

In 'The Cameraman,' Keaton uses the movie business itself to create comedy that plays with the nature of film and reality.

Both movies will be screened in the meeting room in the church's lower level.

Keaton, along with Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, stands as one of the three great clowns of the silent screen. Many 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."

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. He spent his entire childhood and adolescence on stage, attending school for exactly one day.

A remarkable pantomime artist, Keaton naturally used his whole body to communicate emotions ranging from sadness to surprise. In an era when movies had few special effects, Keaton's acrobatic talents meant he performed all his own stunts.

All those talents are on display in 'Sherlock Jr.' and 'The Cameraman,' which was selected in 2005 for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

"These films are audience favorites, and people continue to be surprised at how engrossing and exhilarating they can be when shown as they were intended: in a theater, and with live music," said Rapsis, a Nashua native who in high school played sousaphone and baritone under long-time Nashua High School band director Steven Norris. Today, Rapsis uses his keyboard to accompany more than 100 screenings each year at venues around the nation and abroad.

Rapsis, who lives in Bedford, N.H., improvises live scores for silent films using a digital synthesizer to recreate the texture of the full orchestra.

"It's kind of a high wire act," Rapsis said. "But for me, the energy of live performance is an essential part of the silent film experience."

'Sherlock Jr.' (1924) and 'The Cameraman' (1928) will be shown with live music on Saturday, June 16 at 7 p.m. at the First Church, 1 Concord St., Nashua, N.H. A church fundraising event, tickets at the door are $12 adults, $10 seniors. Students are free, and childcare is available for kids 6 and under.