This week: Down to Deerfield, Mass. for 7/25 show, then out to Ogunquit, Maine on 7/26 for 'Zaza'

 A lobby card showing dashing diplomat H.B. Warner and stubborn showgirl Gloria Swanson, stars of 'Zaza' (1923).

Coming this week: on Tuesday, I drive down to Deerfield, Mass. to accompany the screening of a rare short film produced in the area; then on Wednesday it's out to Ogunquit, Maine, where I'll do music for 'Zaza' starring Gloria Swanson.

More on these screenings below, including a press release for 'Zaza' with complete information.

 The Strand Theatre in Rockland, Maine.

For now, let me report that I had a great time this past Saturday trekking up to the Strand Theater in Rockland, Maine, where they continued an ongoing celebration of their 100th anniversary with screenings of Buster Keaton's 'Our Hospitality' (1923) and 'Little Old New York' (1923) starring Marion Davies.

The Strand is a real rarity in today's entertainment landscape: a wonderfully vibrant single-screen motion picture that's been in business since Warren G. Harding occupied the White House.

It's not only weathered the ups and downs of the exhibition business, but seems to be thriving. The Strand, operating as a non-profit since 2014, offers first-run films, live concerts, and special programming such as hi-definition Metropolitan Opera broadcasts.

It all happens in a beautifully maintained building that looks like a color photograph of a 1920s movie theater brought to life. The day I was there, many of the staff actually dressed like it was 100 years ago for 'Silent Movie Day,' and admission prices were rolled back to 25 cents.

For me, the Davies film was highlighted afterwards when couple came up to chat, and the husband turned out to be a great grandson of W.R. Hearst, longtime paramour (but never husband) of Marion.

Jason "Jay" Hearst is grandson of Hearst's third son, John Hearst, and today runs his own audio engineering firm in Camden, Maine. (Check out his studio at www.hearstudios.com.)

We had a nice chat about the preservation and availability of Marion's films. Who knows? Hearst's sons were pretty rotten to her, but maybe the great-grandchildren could make something happen to help Marion's work win recognition from today's audiences.

It was a special treat to accompany Harold Lloyd's 'The Kid Brother' (1927) on Sunday afternoon at the Center for the Arts in Natick, Mass. Why special? Because it was one of those screenings where everything falls into place from the opening titles.

Afterwards, I had an interesting conversation with a volunteer who works in the Psychology Department of a local college. She asked a few questions about how I go about creating a large amount of music by improvising in real time.

She then made the observation that what I do must be "very healing." And I think she's right.

I'm not sure what I'm healing from. Whatever it is, it must be something big, as I keep wanted to make music in a darkened theatre.  

In all seriousness, I suppose it could a long-delayed (and long drawn out) response to losing my father when I was 4 years old. For years, I've kind of brushed that off, saying it happened years and years ago (1968, actually) and had no bearing on my life today. Live in the present, I would say.

But it may had some deep underlying effect after all. 

An image from 'Onoko's Vow' (1910), a silent film shot in central Massachusetts.

Well, your next chance to see (or actually hear) me heal some more is Tuesday, July 25 at 7 p.m. in Deerfield, Mass., where I'll provide music for a rarely screened short silent movie filmed in that area in 1910.

It's an Edison short drama called 'Onoko's Vow,' filmed on location in Deerfield and Whately, Mass. It's part of a presentation organized by the historical societies of both two communities. I doubt I'd be able to summarize it any better than they do, so here's an excerpt from their online listing:

Herbert S. Streeter of Greenfield wrote the script, which he loosely based on actual events in the early colonial history of Deerfield. The 15-minute film tells the fanciful story of a fictional Native American character Ononko, and his relationship with a settler family, set against the backdrop of two violent encounters involving colonial settlers and Indigenous people. Join us to view a newly digitized version of this almost forgotten film followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Carolyn Anderson, silent film historian and Professor Emerita of UMass Amherst, and Dr. Margaret Bruchac, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Coordinator of Native American and Indigenous Studies, and Associate Faculty in the Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Wow! Some heavy hitters there. For more information, check out the Whately Historical Society's online listing.

And then Wednesday night, I revisit 'Zaza' (1923) a Gloria Swanson film for which I recorded a piano score for Kino-Lorber in 2017.

I won't be recreating that exactly, but will improvise using a lot of the same material. It depends on what I can remember when I sit down to play at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit, Maine.

However, one thing about 'Zaza' is the "Elvis" problem. For more on that, check out the press release below, which contains all kinds of other info about the screening.

See you at the creativity healing therapy session—oops, I mean the movies!

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Gloria Swanson sulks in 'Zaza' (1923).

MONDAY, JULY 17, 2023 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film accompanist to perform live score to Gloria Swanson classic 'Zaza' on Wednesday, July 26

New Hampshire's Jeff Rapsis created music for Kino-Lorber's 'Zaza' DVD; film to be screened with live music at Leavitt Theatre, Ogunquit

OGUNQUIT, Maine—Taking his place to play the score for a classic silent film, accompanist Jeff Rapsis has no sheet music on his keyboard. It's because he's making up the music on the spot.

But on Wednesday, July 26, he'll have a head start for 'Zaza' (1923), a romantic melodrama starring Gloria Swanson that's playing at the Leavitt Theatre, 259 Main St., Route 1 in downtown Ogunquit.

Last year, Rapsis created the recorded soundtrack for the much-anticipated release of 'Zaza' on DVD/Blu-ray by Kino-Lorber, a New York-based company that specializes in re-releasing classic films.

The screening is at 6 p.m. Admission is $12 per person. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the Leavitt's full dinner menu and bar service is available.

"It was a real thrill to put together a musical score for this great feature film, which has never been available for home viewing before," Rapsis said. "I feel like I've collaborated with Gloria Swanson and the team that made this film."

The Kino-Lorber edition of 'Zaza,' with music by Rapsis, was released in 2017 to enthusiastic reviews.

"With a piano score from composer Jeff Rapsis that follows the original 1923 cue sheet, this is a pretty fantastic score for the film," wrote Matthew Hartman of Hi-Def Digest. "The piano work gives the film a nice old-time feel with the right blend of jaunty entertainment and hitting the lower dramatic tones. It never feels overly dramatic or too wild and fits the tone of the film perfectly."

In 'Zaza,' Swanson stars as a tempermental music hall performer in a provincial French theater who falls in love with a high-ranking diplomat played by H.B. Warner.

The film chronicles their romance as it takes unexpected turns both comic and dramatic. The Paramount feature was regarded as one of the studio's major releases of 1923, helping establish Swanson as a major star of the era.

For the Leavitt Theatre screening, Rapsis will recreate the score he put together earlier this year for the DVD release.

The music was based on a surviving "cue sheet" from the studio that offered suggested music to play when the film was in theatres in 1923.

"Some of the suggestions seemed right on, while others didn't," Rapsis said. "Just like musicians of the silent era, I followed some, and in other places created my own material."

'Zaza' contains multiple on-screen references to 'Plaisir d'Amour,' a 19th century love song with enduring popularity in France.

Using it today, however, creates problems, Rapsis said, because the tune is identical to the song 'I Can't Help Falling in Love With You' popularized by Elvis Presley.

"If you're not careful, it can sound like you're using a 1950s Elvis hit to accompany Gloria Swanson in post-World War I France," Rapsis said.

He addressed the problem by playing the tune with a classical accompaniment, and also making minor changes to "de-Elvis" the melody.

Rapsis has been creating live scores for silent films for the past decade, and currently performs for more than 120 screenings each year.

His standard approach to scoring silent films is to improvise the score on the spot, as a movie is screening.

"It's kind of a high wire act to do the music this way. But it provides an energy and excitement that contributes to the experience," Rapsis said.

Silent film programs can last anywhere from one to three hours in length. Rapsis finds that after the first 10 or 20 minutes, he sinks into a state of mind where he is completely absorbed by the process of scoring the movie, and the music sometimes seems to weave itself as he responds to the film in real time.

Rapsis, a museum director by day, is a lifelong silent film fan who studied classical piano separately.

"Silent film accompaniment is kind of a lost art, but once I tried doing it, I found I could naturally come up with music that helped these films come to life," Rapsis said.

"And I really enjoyed the process because it combined two things I really loved: silent film and music. For me, it was like putting chocolate and peanut butter together."

This season's Leavitt Theatre silent film schedule features movies all celebrating their 100th anniversaries. Upcoming shows include:

• Wednesday, Aug. 16 at 6 p.m.: 'The Pilgrim' (1923) starring Charlie Chaplin. As a convict on the lam, Chaplin impersonates a man of the cloth, with unexpected results.

• Wednesday, Aug. 23 at 6 p.m.: 'A Woman of Paris' (1923). Chaplin's drama about a kept woman (Edna Purviance) who runs into her former fiancé and finds herself torn between love and comfort.

• Wednesday, Sept. 6 at 6 p.m.: 'Haldene of the Secret Service' (1923). In Harry Houdini's final starring vehicle, he plays the son of a detective slain by a gang of counterfeiters.

• Wednesday, Sept. 20 at 6 p.m.: 'The Ten Commandments' (1923). Long before Charlton Heston played Moses in Technicolor, director Cecil B. DeMille filmed this silent blockbuster on a grand scale.

'Zaza,' starring Gloria Swanson, will be shown with live music on Wednesday, July 26 at 6 p.m. at the historic Leavitt Theatre, 259 Main St., Route 1, Ogunquit, Maine.

Admission is $12 per person. For more info, call (207) 646-3123 or visit www.leavittheatre.com

Notes on Gloria Swanson's 'Manhandled' plus fried pickles at the Kansas Silent Film Festival

Promo art for 'Manhandled' starring Gloria Swanson.

We enjoyed a surprisingly strong turnout for Gloria Swanson in 'Manhandled' (1924) yesterday at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H.

Something like 100 people came to see this rarely screened feature. It was the first time I've accompanied it.

I try to occasionally program lesser-known features just to give them a chance on the big screen, and to see how audiences react.

And 'Manhandled' was of particular interest because it figures quite prominently in an interview Gloria gave to a young Roger Ebert in 1967.

The result? Well, 'Manhandled' generated some laughs and held people's attention throughout. But alas, it's no 'Way Down East.'

Personally, I found it to be pretty weak tea—shop girl Gloria, propelled by misunderstandings with her beau Tom Moore, has misadventures in high society.

Yes, there's some tension between the once-happy couple, but no real drama until the film's final minutes.

And then it amounts to a simple misunderstanding which is promptly cleared up by a simple walk down the hall.

I think the story would have worked better if Gloria and Tom truly broke up at the beginning. Then the misadventures that followed, which enabled both to understand how much they truly meant to each other, would have resulted in a more satisfying experience. But that's just me.

Still, there's a lot to look at: the film was shot at Paramount's studios in Astoria, N.Y. (across the river from Manhattan), and Gloria's opening adventures on the 1920s NYC subway are a highlight.

Gloria's struggles with the subway are a highlight of 'Manhandled.'

Sequences in a big department store where Gloria works have a "look at how they did that!" quality similar to the scenes in Harold Lloyd's 'Safety Last,' made a year earlier. In fact, Gloria does some of the exact same business Lloyd did, such as cutting a garment in two to quell a pair of contentious customers.

But fair is fair: Lloyd's own N.Y.C. subway scenes in 'Speedy' (1928) have much the same feel as Gloria's in 'Manhandled.'

Next up for me: the Kansas Silent Film Festival this weekend in Topeka, Kansas. It's the 21st consecutive year I've attended this gathering, which remains a personal favorite and an annual performance calendar highlight.

Why? Mostly because of the people, I think.

By that, I mean the festival is geared toward the general public rather than the specialized cinema community, although people do travel from faraway places to attend. (Look at me!)

Because it's free, they attracts hundreds of people of all ages, most of whom are local folks ready to enjoy something different. So it's a rare chance to see films designed for the general public shown for exactly that same general audience all these years later. Think of how unusual that is.

But it's also about the people who stage the festival. From that first snowy morning in March 2000 when I wandered into Washburn University's White Concert Hall, I felt welcomed by everyone connected with this festival. Everyone was eager say hello and welcome a stranger, who at the time was thinking about writing a book set during the silent era. (It's something I'm still thinking about.

By the end of the day, I was carrying a pile of 16mm prints in my rental car to the afterglow at the old 'Holidome' on Fairlawn Boulevard.

And then there's this: I came to the Kansas festival at a time when my life was changing. It was a period of transition—a time when I was laying the groundwork to start what would become a successful business. And that became the foundation for a lot of other adventures.

So even now, two decades later, I continue to draw inspiration from visiting Topeka at this time of the year. Films from a century ago somehow kindle and rekindle a sense of future possibilities. And spring is not that far away.

That first year, on my own, I found the Hanover Pancake House in downtown Topeka. On a whim, I had the breaded fried pickle spears, a curious item I'd never had before. It made quite an impression. So the next year, I returned, and had the pickle spears again. And each year thereafter: breaded fried pickle spears.

The iconic Hanover Pancake House in downtown Topeka.

I came to think of it as my personal "Ritual of Creative Renewal." Somehow, breaded fried pickle spears at the Hanover Pancake House in downtown Topeka came to symbolize the promise and limitless possibilities of the future.

Alas, last year (on my 20th consecutive visit), I was crestfallen to find that after all this time and continuity, pickle spears been removed from the menu. Nooooo!

After recovering from the shock, I comforted myself with thoughts about the impermanence of life, and felt glad I still had the hot pickles at Porubsky's (another local delicacy) to carry on my ritual.

And on a larger scale, the Hanover Pancake House itself was the result of the great 1966 tornado that destroyed a large part of downtown Topeka. It, and its parking lot, sprouted from the rubble. How's that for a lesson in impermanence?

Well, this year, whaddaya know? Turns out the Hanover Pancake House has reinstated fried breaded pickle spears. After a one-year hiatus, I can renew my ritual of creative renewal. Hooray!

You know, it's true: sometimes you don't know what you've got until it's gone. But then that makes it all the sweeter if it returns.

Or, in the case of pickles, all the more sour!

Topeka! Utica! Columbus! Cleveland! Ocala! But first: 'Manhandled' on 2/23 in Wilton, N.H.

Promotional art for Gloria Swanson in 'Manhandled.'

It's a new one for me: 'Manhandled,' a 1924 Gloria Swanson comedy screening on Sunday, Feb. 23 at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton N.H.

Read more about this rarely shown Allan Dwan-direct title in the press release tacked onto this post.

After that, I hit the road. In the next six weeks, I'll accompany screenings in places ranging from Topeka, Kansas (hometown of actress Annette Bening!) to Utica, N.Y. (hometown of another Annette: Annette Funicello.)

But first, I'd be remiss not to tip my tinfoil hat to everyone at the Boston Sci-Fi Marathon, which took place this past Sunday-Monday at the Somerville Theatre in Somerville, Mass. (They really do encourage tinfoil hats, even to the point of providing a supply of Reynolds Wrap in the lobby.

This year's program included a silent entry: the John Barrymore 'Dr. Jekyll & Hyde' (1920) in honor of the film's 100th anniversary, and I was privileged to provide live accompaniment.

Over the years, I've done music for maybe a half-dozen silents for the sci-fi marathon (now in its 45th year), and it's always one of my favorite gigs. Why? Because you can't beat the audience, which hoots and hollers and talks back to the screen and just generally has a ball.

Example: As Dr. Jekyll, John Barrymore's dramatic pause before consuming his potion goes on for just a tad too long. This prompts audience cries of "Drink it! Drink it!!"

And at the end, the ovation that erupts is like no other. The closest I will ever come to feeling like a rock star is the moment after a silent film's 'The End' title at the Boston Sci-Fi Marathon.

Thanks to everyone for making it a memorable experience. I'm actually starting to get bookings for other sci-fi marathons: I did 'Aelita, Queen of Mars' (1924) last month at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and I'm heading out to the Buckeye State again in March to accompany 'The Lost World' (1925) at the Ohio Sci-Fi Marathon in Columbus.

Ah, but first Gloria Swanson gets 'Manhandled' this weekend in Wilton, N.H. Hope to see you there!

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Next up at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H.: Gloria Swanson in the 1924 hit 'Manhandled.'

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 12, 2020 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Gloria Swanson to get 'Manhandled' at Town Hall Theatre on Sunday, Feb. 23

Iconic silent star in uproarious society comedy; silent film with live music

WILTON, N.H.—She's one of the few stars from the silent days whose name is still instantly recognized by the movie-going public.

She's Gloria Swanson, who defined an era with memorable performances that ranged from intense drama to flat-out comedy.

Swanson's comedic gifts are on display in 'Manhandled' (1924), a riotous society comedy, to be screened with live music on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 4:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

The screening will be accompanied with live music by Jeff Rapsis. Admission is free and open to all; a donation of $10 per person is suggested to help defray expenses.

'Manhandled,' directed by Allan Dwan, tells the story of Tessie McGuire (Swanson), a down-on-her-luck salesgirl who climbs the social ladder by pretending to be a Russian countess.

Tessie is a working class gal who attends a sculptor's party, where her skill with mimicry makes her a hit. She is hired by a fashionable dressmaking establishment to use her acting skills on their customers.

Tessie finds that by impersonating a Russian noblewoman, she has men at her beck and call. But then authentic Russians arrive, with unexpected complications.

"Seeing a Gloria Swanson picture in a theater with live music and an audience is a classic movie experiences," said Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film musician and the Town Hall Theatre's resident accompanist.

Rapsis emphasized the value of seeing early cinema as it was originally presented.

"These films were designed for the big screen, live music, and large audiences. If you can put those conditions together again, you get a sense of why people first fell in love with the movies," Rapsis said.

'Manhandled' starring Gloria Swanson, will be screened with live music on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 4:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. Admission is free; a donation of $10 per person is suggested to defray expenses.

For more info, visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com or call (603) 654-3456.

Meeting a Gloria Swanson superfan, and other tales from silent film music world

Who says fame is fleeting?

After yesterday's screening of 'Zaza' (1923), a costume melodrama starring Gloria Swanson, I was approached by a young woman with an unusual tattoo.

Covering a good portion of her left forearm was the image of, yes, Gloria Swanson. The bearer described her as an "inspirational figure, partly due to her proto-feminist roles in films such as 'Sadie Thomson' (1928) and also because of her enlightened ideas about diet and nutrition.

Frankly, I didn't absorb much of what she said, as I was too busy staring at her enormous tattoo. Let's see it again:

What a coup for Gloria! Nearly a century after the peak of her stardom, and now almost a half-century since her cameo in 'Airport 1975,' she lives on among the young, in tattoo form and otherwise.

And the Somerville did its part to pay homage to Gloria's enduring stardom. Check out this "top billing" on showtimes and listings posted in the theater's front window:

So all in all, it wasn't a bad weekend for 1920s celebrities, at least in my world.

Last Thursday at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit, Maine, our opening night screening of 'Speedway' (1929) saw people cheering William Haines and Ernest Torrance, big stars of the era but who have all but disappeared from the public consciousness, or conscience, or something like that.

Mrs. Cullinan of Great Brook Middle School, Antrim, N.H. addresses her charges.

And last Friday, an old town hall auditorium packed with 150 middle school students cheered Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his breakthrough role, the title character in 'The Mark of Zorro' (1920). (I think it helped that they'd performed a stage version of the tale, so they already knew how the story went.

Well, looking forward: the summer calendar is filling up with last-minute screenings. So if you're looking for a dose of silent film with live music, even at the last minute, there's a show near you!

Up next: Harold is hanging from that clock again, this time at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit, Maine, where we're showing 'Safety Last' (1923) on Thursday, June 13 at 7 p.m.

Press release below with all the info. Hope to see you there!

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Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Harold Lloyd!

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2019 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film classic 'Safety Last' on Thursday, June 13 at Leavitt Theatre

Thrill comedy climaxed by Harold Lloyd's iconic building climb; with live music

OGUNQUIT, Maine—It's an image so powerful, people who've never seen the movie still instantly recognize it.

The vision of Harold Lloyd hanging from the hands of a huge clock, from the climax of his silent comedy 'Safety Last,' (1923), has emerged as a symbol of the "anything goes" spirit of early Hollywood and the magic of the movies.

See how Harold gets into his high-altitude predicament in a screening of 'Safety Last,' one of Lloyd's most popular comedies, on Thursday, June 13 at 7 p.m. at the historic Leavitt Theatre, 259 Main St., Route 1, Ogunquit, Maine.

Admission is $10 per person.

The screening will feature live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film musician.

The story of 'Safety Last' follows young go-getter Lloyd to the big city, where he hopes to make his mark in business and send for his small town sweetheart. His career at a downtown department store stalls, however, until he gets a chance to pitch a surefire publicity idea—hire a human fly to climb the building's exterior.

However, when the human fly has a last-minute run-in with the law, Harold is forced to make the climb himself, floor by floor, with his sweetheart looking on. The result is an extended sequence blending comedy and terror that holds viewers spellbound.

Lloyd, along with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, is regarded as one of the silent screen's three great clowns. Lloyd's character, a young go-getter ready to struggle to win the day, proved hugely popular in the 1920s. While Chaplin and Keaton were always favored by the critics, Lloyd's films reigned as the top-grossing comedies throughout the period.

The Leavitt opened in 1923 as a seasonal movie house that catered to tourists and visitors to the Maine coast. It has remained open continuously since then; under the longtime stewardship of the Clayton family, today it offers an eclectic mix of first-run movies and classic films, live entertainment, a lounge area with full bar, and a dinner menu.

The Leavitt Theatre's silent film/live music series gives today's audiences the chance to experience early cinema as it was intended: on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience.

"Put the whole experience back together, and you can see why people first fell in love with the movies," said Rapsis, who practices the nearly lost art of silent film accompaniment.

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

"Seeing 'Safety Last' with an audience is one of the great thrill rides of the cinema of any era, silent or sound," Rapsis said. "Harold's iconic building climb, filmed without trick photography, continues to provoke audience responses nearly 100 years after film was first released."

Tributes to the clock-hanging scene have appeared in several contemporary films, most recently in Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' (2011), which includes clips from 'Safety Last.'

After "Safety Last' (1923) on Thursday, June 13 at 7 p.m., other programs in this year's Leavitt silent film series include:

• Thursday, June 27, 7 p.m.: 'The Last Command' (1928) starring Emil Jannings. Intense drama about a former high-ranking officer in Czarist Russia now reduced to playing extra in 1920s Hollywood. His performance helped Jannings win 'Best Actor' at the first-ever Academy Awards.

• Wednesday, July 17, 7 p.m.: 'Woman in the Moon' (1929). In honor of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, Fritz Lang's epic sci-fi adventure film about mankind's first-ever journey to the moon. See the German space program that never was! (Note Wednesday night screening date.)

• Thursday, Aug. 15, 7 p.m.: 'Paths to Paradise' (1925). Two competing would-be jewel thieves reluctantly team up to pull off a major heist. Starring Raymond Griffith, a leading comedian for Paramount Pictures whose popularity rivaled Chaplin and Keaton in the 1920s,

• Thursday, Aug. 29, 7 p.m.: 'The Beloved Rogue' (1926) starring John Barrymore. Epic costume adventure based on the life of the 15th century French poet, François Villon. Wrongly banished from the Royal Court and sentenced to death, can the patriotic poet save France from an evil plot?

• Saturday, Oct. 26, 7 p.m.: 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) starring Lon Chaney. Just in time for Halloween, our annual "Chiller Theatre" presentation! Lon Chaney stars in the original screen adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic novel about a deformed bellringer in medieval Paris.

See Harold Lloyd's iconic thrill comedy 'Safety Last' (1923) on Thursday, June 13 at 7 p.m. at the Leavitt Fine Arts Theatre, 259 Main St. Route 1, Ogunquit, Maine; (207) 646-3123; admission is $10 per person, general seating.

For more information, visit www.leavittheatre.com.

Silent film thrills: 'Safety Last' followed by 'Speedway' then 'Zorro' then 'Zaza'

A step ladder and 'Safety Last'...what could go wrong?

With the irony alarm going full blast, I couldn't help but snap a picture as Dennis Markaverich, longtime owner/operator of the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H., hauled out the step ladder to change the marquee from 'The White Crow' to 'Safety Last.'

But all went well, and a crackerjack screening of Harold Lloyd's 'clock-hanging' comedy soon followed.

Turnout was nearly 100 people, even in the middle of Memorial Day weekend, and in the middle of a spate of terrific weather, too. They laughed, the screamed, and they had a great time!

This was quite a change compared to last month's turnout of about a dozen souls for a two-part screening of Abel Gance's 5½-hour drama 'La Roue.' Can you imagine?

But with Memorial Day weekend upon us, the pace for silent film screenings will quicken as the summer season heats up.

This coming week finds me accompanying 'Speedway' (1929), a vintage auto race drama, on Thursday, May 30 at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit, Maine; presenting the original Fairbanks 'Zorro' to middle schoolers who staged a theatrical version of the story earlier this year; and then accompanying Gloria Swanson in 'Zaza' (1923) on Sunday, June 2 at the Somerville (Mass.) Theatre.

Wonder what a middle school stage production of 'Zorro' looks like? Here it is!

So that's three films in three states in four days, if you're keeping track. I'm certainly not, as it's more fun that way. (Just kidding.)

Later in the month brings more 'Safety Last' and 'Metropolis,' and another quick trip to California for 'Chaplin Days' at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum.

But first up is 'Speedway,' an MGM drama about auto racing filmed on location at the actual Indy 500 track as it existed in 1929. Accidental history! And yours to enjoy on Thursday night at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit, Maine.

Read on..

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An original poster for 'Speedway' (1929).

TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2019 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Vintage auto racing thriller to be screened with live music on Thursday, May 30 at Leavitt Theatre

MGM's late silent drama 'Speedway' (1929) filmed at actual Indy 500 track; stars Hollywood's first openly gay leading man

OGUNQUIT, Maine—Fasten your seat belts! We mark the traditional running of the Indianapolis 500 with a vintage race car drama filmed right on the famed track—at speeds topping 115 mph!

In honor of this year’s Indy 500, MGM's vintage auto racing drama 'Speedway' will be screened with live music on Thursday, May 30 at 7 p.m. at the Leavitt Fine Arts Theatre, 259 Main St. Route 1, Ogunquit, Maine.

Live music will be performed by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist. Tickets are $10 per person.

In 'Speedway,' MGM leading man William Haines stars as Bill Whipple, a cocky mechanic/race car driver in town for the "The Indianapolis Speedway" race.

He meets other participants, including Mac (Ernest Torrence), an old-timer with heart trouble who thinks of Bill like a son and has been trying to win the race for 17 years; and Renny, a rival driver not opposed to using dirty tricks to win.

'Speedway' also stars actress Anita Page in a leading role. (At left, that's her with William Haines.)

To lend an air of realism to the movie, many scenes were shot on location at the actual Indianapolis 500 track. Today, the footage provides auto racing fans a vivid glimpse of the sport as it was practiced in earlier generations.

Actor William Haines was one of MGM's biggest stars in the late 1920s, often playing the male lead romantic comedies. But off-screen, Haines was gay—and, unusually for the era, did not hide his homosexuality.

This led to friction with his bosses. MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer, convinced that movie audiences would not accept a gay leading man, urged Haines to keep his long-term relationship with actor Jimmie Shields a secret.

Haines maintained his star status at MGM during the move to talking pictures. But a publicity crisis arose in 1933, when Haines was arrested in a YMCA with a sailor he had met in Los Angeles' Pershing Square.

Mayer then delivered an ultimatum: Haines had to choose between a sham marriage to an MGM actress or giving up his career. Haines refused to submit, choosing to be himself rather than to pretend to be someone he wasn't. Mayer subsequently fired Haines, terminated his contract, and banished him from the industry.

A scene on location at the Indy 500 track from 'Speedway' (1929).

His movie career over, Haines recovered by launching an interior design firm, using his connections to become the most sought-after decorator in the Hollywood movie colony. The business prospered over the decades, with a client list of A-list celebrities as well as political figures such as Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

Haines remained with his partner Shields for the rest of his life. Joan Crawford, who co-starred with Haines in several pictures, described the pair as "the happiest married couple in Hollywood." In recent years, Haines has been recognized as a courageous pioneer in gay rights in the early Hollywood community.

'Speedway' was one of the final silent movies released by MGM prior to the studio's conversion to making talking pictures.

'Speedway' is the first in this summer's series of silent films presented with live music at the Leavitt. The series provides local audiences the opportunity to experience silent film as it was intended to be shown: on the big screen, in good-looking prints, with live music, and with an audience.

After 'Speedway' (1929) on Thursday, May 30 at 7 p.m., other programs in this year's Leavitt silent film series include:

• Thursday, June 13, 7 p.m.: 'Safety Last' (1923) starring Harold Lloyd. The iconic image of comedian Harold Lloyd dangling from the hands of a downtown clock is only one small piece of a remarkable thrill comedy that has lost none of its power over audiences.

• Thursday, June 27, 7 p.m.: 'The Last Command' (1928) starring Emil Jannings. Intense drama about a former high-ranking officer in Czarist Russia now reduced to playing extra in 1920s Hollywood. Performance helped Jannings win 'Best Actor' at the first-ever Academy Awards.

• Wednesday, July 17, 7 p.m.: 'Woman in the Moon' (1929). In honor of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, Fritz Lang's epic sci-fi adventure film about mankind's first-ever journey to the moon. See the German space program that never was! (Note Wednesday night screening date.)

• Thursday, Aug. 15, 7 p.m.: 'Paths to Paradise' (1925). Two competing would-be jewel thieves reluctantly team up to pull off a major heist. Starring Raymond Griffith, a leading comedian for Paramount Pictures whose popularity rivaled Chaplin and Keaton in the 1920s,

• Thursday, Aug. 29, 7 p.m.: 'The Beloved Rogue' (1926) starring John Barrymore. Epic costume adventure based on the life of the 15th century French poet, François Villon. Wrongly banished from the Royal Court and sentenced to death, can the patriotic poet save France from an evil plot?

• Saturday, Oct. 26, 7 p.m.: 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) starring Lon Chaney. Just in time for Halloween, our annual "Chiller Theatre" presentation! Lon Chaney stars in the original screen adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic novel about a deformed bellringer in medieval Paris.

'Speedway' (1929) will lead off this season's silent film series on Thursday, May 30 at 7 p.m. at the Leavitt Fine Arts Theatre, 259 Main St. Route 1, Ogunquit, Maine; (207) 646-3123; admission is $10 per person, general seating.

For more information, visit www.leavittheatre.com.

Swanson and Keaton and Jerry Herman, and 'Metropolis' Thurs., 2/15 at Merrimack College

An iconic scene from 'Metropolis' (1927), which I'm accompanying on Thursday, Feb. 15.

In 'Mack & Mabel,' Jerry Herman's 1974 musical comedy about film pioneer Mack Sennett, there's a lyric that goes like this:

And Swanson and Keaton and Dressler and William S. Hart
No one pretended that what we were doing was art

One of these days, I'll put a "Mack & Mabel" silent film program together that includes all four of those names.

For now, I'll have to be satisfied with this past weekend, when a pair of pre-Valentine's Day screenings brought together the first two stars on Herman's list; Swanson on Saturday, Feb. 10, and Keaton on Sunday, Feb. 11.

Gloria Swanson was the featured star in a program at the Campton (N.H.) Historical Society, which for a few years now has doing its part to fight off cabin fever by running a pot-luck-and-silent-movie-night in the dead of winter.

This year I accompanied 'Zaza' (1923), Gloria's recently re-released drama that I scored last year for Kino-Lorber, preceded by Gloria's early Mack Sennett short 'Teddy at the Throttle' (1916).

With the Sennett comedies, I never know what to expect. They're sometimes so random, and if the mood isn't right, all the frantic goings-on generate nothing more than dead silence.

In this case, however, the reaction was explosive—right from the start, everything on screen was greeted by raucous laughter.

Never mind Jerry Herman—this would have given old Mack something to really sing about. Wonder if it was something they served at the pot luck supper?

More likely it's because some uninhibited soul began laughing early, and it caught on, soon spreading throughout the room. Nice!

Gloria Swanson in 'Zaza.'

Reaction to 'Zaza' was more muted but no less intense. You could tell people bought into Gloria's character and were along for the ride. Really generous ovation at the end!

For the recorded score, I used an acoustic grand piano. But for this screening, I used a piano sound with strings that could be sustained depending on how you struck and held the notes. It added a warmth that I think helped the film seem less over-the-top and allowed people to more naturally buy into Gloria's state of mind.

Sunday actually brought two showings: Keaton's 'The Cameraman' (1928) at the Aeronaut Brewing Co. down in Somerville, Mass., but also a matinee screening of Greta Garbo in 'Wild Orchids' (1929) at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre.

The Garbo film is a stunner. It's one of those late MGMs in which the technique of telling a story visually is so smooth and fluid and second-nature to all involved.

But it's also a tightly coiled drama about a love triangle that spans the globe, but stays focused on the three main characters, and it topped by a climax that's genuinely surprising and thrilling.

Perhaps not the ideal choice for a pre-Valentine's Day program, but what the heck?

Original promotional art for 'Wild Orchids' (1929).

The music came together very well, I felt. Using only a small cell-like signature of three notes, I was able to stitch together a score that I thought kept up with the film's ever-rising temperature.

Highlights included faux Javanese dance music (thanks to the synthesizer's library of "World Music" patches) and, for some reason, part of the melody of Bach's "Little Fugue" in G minor for organ, which for some reason seemed to perfectly capture the squareness of Garbo's much-older businessman-husband.

Later that same day, it was immensely satisfying to do music for Keaton's 'Cameraman' before a modest turnout (school night, anyone?) at the Aeronaut, where the commitment to the performing arts extends to silent film with live accompaniment.

(And where my race from rural New Hampshire to downtown Boston was something out of the Keystone Cops playbook.)

It being the big city, the Aeronaut can draw quite an eclectic turnout. Last night's attendees included familiar faces, curious newbies, and a tourist from Spain.

We all joined Buster for his onscreen adventures behind the newsreel camera, and in front of Marceline Day.

Poster for 'The Cameraman' (1928).

Having done three screenings in the past three days (including the Garbo one that afternoon), the music came fluently and effortlessly. After a big crashing start during the opening titles and then brief montage depicting adventures of newsreel cameramen, I quickly dialed it down to nursery rhyme texture for Keaton and his antics.

It all seemed to fall together, as things sometimes do. Keaton's film was greeted by generous laughter throughout, and sober silence in the moments when things don't go quite his way.

So Swanson and Keaton, but not Dressler nor William S. Hart.

But as usual, I did my very best to live up the follow-up lyric: "No one pretended that what we were doing was art."

Looking ahead: it's an interesting week.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb. 13), I take a break from setting up a wholesale food distribution business (that's currently my day job as our newspaper publishing company expands in new direction) to visit with students at Kingswood Regional High School in Wolfeboro, N.H.

They're rehearsing a home-grown theater production about the silent film era. It goes up in March, and as part of the process of learning about the era, I've been invited to present a program of silent film with live music. My choice: Keaton's 'Seven Chances' (1925), which in my experience seems to go over particularly well with teens and the high school crowd.

Thursday, Feb. 15 brings the big gulp of 'Metropolis' (1927) at the Rogers Center for the Performing Arts in North Andover, Mass. More info is in the press release tacked on at the end of this post; start time is 7 p.m. and admission is free.

On Saturday, Feb. 17, I have the honor of doing music for Buster Keaton's 'The General' (1927), which is being shown as part of a surprise anniversary party for a silent-film-loving couple. As it's a surprise, I can't get into too many details, but will report how it went afterwards.

And then, on Sunday, Feb. 18, I get to make the long strange trip to the annual Boston Sci-Fi Marathon, a 24-hour binge-watching nerd/geek fest held every President's Day weekend at the Somerville (Mass.) Theatre.

Every other year or so, organizer Garen Daly throws a vintage silent sci-fi flick into the line-up, and since 2011 it's been my privilege to be bought in to do live music.

It's always a hoot because the audience of 500 to 700 people do not attend to just sit there passively. They really get into it. And they react.

Prior years have seen the original 1916 '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'; the Danish trip-to-Mars allegory "Himmelskibit' (1918); and even 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' (1919).

Emil Jannings plots to take over a cardboard world in 'Algol' (1920).

This year it's 'Algol: Tragedy of Power' (1920), a recently rediscovered German sci-fi melodrama starring Emil Jannings, of all people.

'Algol' is slated to screen around dinner time on Sunday night, about six hours into the 24-hour event. Cross your fingers!

For a dose of celebrated silent sci-fi, check out 'Metropolis' (1927) on Thursday, Feb. 15 at the Rogers Center in North Andover, Mass.

Here's the press release:

* * *

Original poster for Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis.'

THURSDAY, FEB. 1, 2018 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more info, contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Restored classic film 'Metropolis' to screen at Rogers Center on Thursday, Feb. 15

Landmark early sci-fi fantasy epic, with half-hour of rediscovered footage, to be shown with live music

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.—A silent film hailed as the grandfather of all science fiction fantasy movies will be screened with live music this month at the Rogers Center for the Performing Arts.

'Metropolis' (1927), an epic adventure set in a futuristic world, will be shown on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. as part of the Rogers Center's Tambakos Film Series.

The screening is open to the public and admission is free.

Original music for 'Metropolis' will be performed live by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer and silent film accompanist who performs at venues around the nation.

The Rogers Center is located on Walsh Way on the campus of Merrimack College, 315 Turnpike St., North Andover, Mass.

'Metropolis' (1927), regarded as German director Fritz Lang's masterpiece, is set in a society where a privileged elite pursue lives of leisure while the masses toil on vast machines and live in poverty.

The film, with its visions of futuristic factories and underground cities, set new standards for visual design and inspired generations of dystopian fantasies from Ridley Scott's 'Blade Runner' to Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil.'

In reviving 'Metropolis' and other great films of cinema's early years, the Rogers Center aims to show silent movies as they were 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 will improvise an original live score for 'Metropolis' on the spot. "Recreate those conditions, and the classics of early cinema leap back to life."

In 'Metropolis,' the story centers on an upper class young man who falls in love with a woman who works with the poor. The tale encompasses mad scientists, human-like robots, underground spiritual movements, and industrial espionage, all set in a society divided between haves and have-nots.

Inventor Rotwang shows off his machine man to industrialist Frederson in 'Metropolis.'

The version of 'Metropolis' to be screened at the Rogers Center is a newly restored edition that includes nearly a half-hour of missing footage cut following the film's premiere in 1927. The lost footage, discovered in 2008 in an archive in Argentina, has since been added to the existing 'Metropolis,' allowing plot threads and characters to be developed more fully.

When first screened in Berlin, Germany on Jan. 10, 1927, the sci-fi epic ran an estimated 153 minutes. After its premiere, the film's distributors (including Paramount in the U.S.) drastically shortened 'Metropolis' to maximize the film's commercial potential. By the time it debuted in the U.S. later that year, the film was only about 90 minutes long.

Even in its shortened form, 'Metropolis' became a cornerstone of science fiction cinema. Due to its enduring popularity, the film has undergone numerous restorations in the intervening decades in attempts to recover Lang's original vision.

In 1984, the film was reissued with additional footage, color tints, and a pop rock score (but with many of its intertitles removed) by music producer Giorgio Moroder. A more archival restoration was completed in 1987, under the direction of Enno Patalas of the Munich Film Archive, in which missing scenes were represented with title cards and still photographs. More recently, a 2001 restoration combined footage from four archives and ran 124 minutes.

It was widely believed that this would be the most complete version of Lang's film that contemporary audiences could ever hope to see. But, in the summer of 2008, the curator of the Buenos Aires Museo del Cine discovered a 16mm dupe negative of 'Metropolis' that was considerably longer than any existing print.

It included not merely a few additional snippets, but 25 minutes of "lost" footage, about a fifth of the film, that had not been seen since its Berlin debut.

The discovery of such a significant amount of material called for yet another restoration, a 2½-hour version that debuted in 2010 to widespread acclaim. It's this fully restored edition that will be screened at the Rogers Center.

" 'Metropolis' stands as an stunning example of the power of silent film to tell a compelling story without words, and reach across the generations to touch movie-goers from the real future, which means us," said accompanist Jeff Rapsis, who provides live music for silent film screenings throughout New England.

To accompany a silent film, Rapsis uses a digital synthesizer to recreate the texture of the full orchestra. The score is created live in real time as the movie is screened. Rather than focus exclusively on authentic music of the period, Rapsis creates new music for silent films that draws from movie scoring techniques that today's audiences expect from the cinema.

The restored 'Metropolis' will be shown on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. at the Rogers Center for the Performing Arts. The Rogers Center is located on Walsh Way on the campus of Merrimack College, 315 Turnpike St., North Andover, Mass. Admission to the program is free. For more information, call the Rogers box office at (978) 837-5355.

For more information on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

CRITIC'S COMMENTS on ‘METROPOLIS’

“'Metropolis' does what many great films do, creating a time, place and characters so striking that they become part of our arsenal of images for imagining the world.”
—Roger Ebert, 2010, The Chicago Sun-Times

“If it comes anywhere near your town, go see it and thank the movie Gods that it even exists. There’s no star rating high enough.”
—Brian Tallerico, Movieretriever.com

Harold, Gloria, Greta and Buster all wish you a very happy Valentine's Day

Harold Lloyd displays one reaction to romance in 'Never Weaken' (1921).

Every year I have such high hopes for Valentine's Day.

As a silent film accompanist, I imagine doing music for great old films while surprised couples find them so beguiling that the deal is sealed right there.

They love each other! Or they love silent film! I'll take either outcome.

So, will my latent Yente find satisfaction this time around?

We'll know soon, as here comes yet another Valentine's Day, and silent film romance is in the air—or at least on selected screens in my corner of the world.

Romantic or not, you're welcome to join us for a stretch of some great classic cinema in some really great venues.

We start off Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. with a Harold Lloyd program at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H.

On the bill are two of what I would call Lloyd's sure-fire romantic comedies—the short 'Never Weaken' (1921) and feature-length 'Girl Shy' (1924).

To call these films "romantic comedies" is to reverse-engineer the label, which wasn't used to describe this genre of movies until much, much later.

Even so, Lloyd, by weaving somewhat plausible romance into his character and stories, pioneered the notion of the sweet boy-meets-girl picture that became a staple of the motion picture industry.

Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston, along with dog and train conductor, in the midst of their "meet-cute" in 'Girl Shy.'

Also, among its other virtues, 'Girl Shy' boasts some of the most exciting and suspenseful sequences of any of the Lloyd features.

And there's nothing like seeing Lloyd films in a theater with an audience, which is how they were meant to be experienced.

So check it out—complete info for the Red River's Harold Lloyd Pre-Valentine's Day Show is found in the press release pasted in below, or visit www.redrivertheatres.org.

Then Saturday, Feb. 10, I haul myself up to the foothills of the White Mountains for what's become an annual tradition: pot luck supper and silent movie night at the Campton (N.H.) Historical Society.

This year our star is Gloria Swanson, who will hold the screen with 'Zaza,' her big 1923 feature for Paramount Pictures.

I created music for a DVD/Blu-Ray reissue of 'Zaza' by Kino-Lorber last year; Saturday night's screening will be a live recreation of the score.

Also on the program: Gloria's early appearance in 'Teddy At the Throttle' (1916), a Mack Sennett Keystone comedy.

Admission is free, but attendees are expected to bring a dish for the pot luck. Also, donations accepted to help support the historical society's programming.

Dinner is at 5 p.m., the movies start at "6-ish." For more info, visit the Campton Historical Society online.

And on Sunday, Feb. 11, it's a double helping of romance.

At 4:30 p.m., we're running Greta Garbo's 'Wild Orchids' (1928) at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H.

When that wraps, I zip down to the Aeronaut Brewing Co. in Somerville, Mass., where at 8 p.m. we're running Buster Keaton's classic comedy 'The Cameraman' (1928).

More info about these screenings is on my online calendar. Hope you can make it!

Okay, here's the press release for our Harold Lloyd program on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.:

Not sure how Harold's approach to women will go over in the midst of the "Me, too" movement—but we'll find out.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 24, 2018 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

No words: Red River salutes Valentine's Day with silent comedy romance

Live music to accompany Harold Lloyd's uproarious feature film 'Girl Shy' on Thursday, Feb. 8

CONCORD, N.H.—When words can't express how you feel, then let a classic silent film do the talking.

That's the sentiment behind an upcoming screening of 'Girl Shy,' a vintage Harold Lloyd silent comedy, to be shown at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H.

'Girl Shy' (1924), along with a Lloyd comedy short 'Never Weaken' from 1921, will be screened on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. in Red River's Stonyfield Farm Theater. The films will be accompanied live by silent film musician Jeff Rapsis.

Admission to this special program is $12 per person.

'Girl Shy' (1924) stars Harold Lloyd as a shy young man from a small town who pens a book about imaginary female conquests. Trouble begins when bashful Harold falls in love for real, and then must rescue his beloved from marrying the wrong man in the big city.

Harold's dilemma prompts a climactic race to the altar that stands as one of the great chase sequences in all of cinema. The sequence was so successful that MGM used it as a model for the famous chariot race in the original 'Ben Hur' (1925).

Co-starring in 'Girl Shy' is actress Jobyna Ralston, who often played Lloyd's leading lady, including in later Lloyd masterpieces 'The Freshman' (1925) and 'The Kid Brother' (1927).

'Girl Shy,' directed by Lloyd's colleagues Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, was among the top 10 grossing films of 1924.

The screening of 'Girl Shy' will be preceded by 'Never Weaken,' an earlier short film that features Lloyd's brand of "thrill" comedy. In it, a jilted Lloyd attempts to commit suicide, only to wind up stranded on the girders of an uncompleted skyscraper high over the street of Los Angeles.

Harold Lloyd, along with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, stands today as one of the three masters of silent comedy. Throughout the 1920s, Lloyd's films enjoyed immense popularity, ranking regularly among the highest-grossing of the era.

Though Lloyd's reputation later faded due to unavailability of his movies, the recent re-release of most of his major films on DVD and other media has spurred a reawakening of interest in his work and has led to more screenings of his work in theaters, where it was designed to be shown.

"Seeing a Harold Lloyd film in a theater with live music and an audience is one of the great experiences of the cinema of any era," said Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film musician who will accompany both films.

Rapsis emphasized the value of seeing early cinema as it was originally intended to be shown.

"These films were designed for the big screen, live music, and large audiences. If you can put those conditions together again, you get a sense of why people first fell in love with the movies," Rapsis said.

'Girl Shy' and 'Never Weaken,' two comedies starring Harold Lloyd, will be screened with live music on Thursday, Feb. 8 at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. Admission is $12 per person.

For more info, visit www.redrivertheatres.org. or call (603) 224-4600. For more about the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

Thoughts on 10 years of silent film music

Me in action in 2010 at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre, which I consider home base.

This past Halloween marked my 10th anniversary as a silent film accompanist. Since October 2007, I've been creating live music in the dark to support early motion pictures.

It's been a great ride and I look forward to doing more, and different things as well. That will mean slightly fewer live performances in 2018.

Consider: this year, I'm on track to do live accompaniment for 135 screenings. While I love doing it, that represents a serious time commitment—time that I find I need to work on some long-range projects.

I'll still be on the circuit, probably as much as ever. The improvisational nature of silent film accompaniment has been an ideal place for me to forge elements of my own personal musical language.

So I see it as a crucial element of my working method—a kind of laboratory where I can test things out. So I'll keep at it, just maybe a little less often.

For now, here's a belated "dear diary" round-up of screenings so far this month, with notes and commentary.

• Last night I accompanied a program of Buster Keaton's 'Sherlock Jr.' (1924) and 'The General (1926) for the Wilmot Community Association.

Most of those who attended really got into Buster, greeting both films with constant astonished laughter, to borrow Walter Kerr's phrase.

That most were new to Keaton and to silent film was a special bonus. Always happy when this kind of screening clicks!

• Last Thursday night (Nov. 16) saw a marathon screening of D.W. Griffith's 'Way Down East' (1920) at a new venue for me: the Manchester (N.H.) Historic Association.

I say marathon not due to the film's 2½-hour length, but because a bronchial infection I'm battling made it hard to breath in the last hour!

What was satisfying, though, was that the movie kept a crowd of non-silent-film-goers glued to their seats the entire time.

The music came together nicely, but the narrative pull of 'Way Down East' is so strong that you could play klezmer music and it would still work.

• Wednesday night saw a return to 'Zaza' (1923), the Paramount costume vehicle for Gloria Swanson that I scored for Kino-Lorber earlier this year.

It was fun to revisit the film while accompanying it live at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse in Plymouth, N.H.

It was somewhat less fun to announce to the audience that in 2018, I'll be scaling back my performance schedule at "the Monkey."

Just need to make time for projects that are proving difficult to work on when you're accompanying 130 film programs a year!

But one nice side effect of this news was heavy sales of 'Zaza' discs in DVD and Blu-ray that I got for Kino-Lorber.

• Tuesday night at the Manchester (N.H.) City Library was a bummer of a screening in several ways.

First, while loading in, my digital keyboard slipped from where I had positioned it against my car, with one corner of it landing directly on my foot.

Youch! This happened in a rainy street in downtown Manchester, just before a screening of 'What Price Glory?' (1926), which I was to accompany.

It hurt like hell, but I figured I'd get through the film first (the show must go on!) and deal with it later.

Alas, the copy of 'What Price Glory' (1926) was a disc that I hadn't previewed, and turned out to have significant problems.

About half-way through the movie, the image began to pixellate and freeze up. Finally, it got so bad, I stopped the music and told everyone I'd see what I could do.

One-man-band that I am (at the library, anyway), I went back to the utility room where the library's media equipment lives and looked at the disc.

It didn't seem flawed, at least visually. So I did the only thing I could think of: I wiped it carefully with my shirt sleeve just to see what would happen.

Surprise! It actually worked. So after recuing the film, off we went until about a half-hour later, it started deteriorating again.

I stopped it again and applied the same fix, which got us going through the key battle scenes.

But with 20 minutes to go, it started again. One more attempt at fixing didn't help, so I asked the audience and we all decided to call it day.

So I can still say that in all the screenings I've done, nary a show has been missed. But this is the first time I can recall where I couldn't finish a screening.

• A week ago Sunday saw me at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre with our make-up screening of 'Häxan' (1922), the bizarre pseudo-documentary about witchcraft.

We had a healthy crowd on hand for this, even though it wasn't the usual "last Sunday of the month" on which we run silents with live music at Wilton.

The reason for the make-up screening was that we'd originally scheduled 'Häxan' for the Sunday before Halloween, but at the last minute I discovered I didn't have the film!

So we substituted with Paul Leni's comedy thriller 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927), which I hadn't done in Wilton for a long time. People loved it!

And the first weekend this month, I trekked out to the San Francisco Bay area for a gig at the Niles Essenay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, Calif.

I always seem to pass through when they program obscure Westerns, and this time was no exception: 'The Border Sheriff' (1926) starring Jack Hoxie. Huh?

Well, add another title to the list of silent film features I've accompanied, which is closing in on 300.

It actually turned out pretty well, considering I'd never seen the film, plus what seemed to be some incoherence on the part of the plot.

Still, it came together quite effectively. The audience, a majority of whom were first-time silent film attendees, ate it up, cheering on cue and all that.

While out West I managed to attend a performance of the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, who is retiring after next season. Get it while you can!

On the program: Bernstein's 'Age of Anxiety' Symphony No. 2 (some good parts) and 'Ein Heldenleben' by Richard Strauss—a big, heavily orchestrated work that really needs to be heard in a concert hall.

It served to remind me of the excitement of live performance, and also reaffirmed my desire to spend more time putting notes on paper.

Crossing my fingers that 2018 is the year I make progress in that direction.

New friends, old films: Report from this year's Western NY Film Expo/Movie Memorabilia Show

A glass slide promoting 'Raffles the Amateur Cracksman' (1917).

A few notes from the just-concluded Western New York Film Expo and Movie Memorabilia Show, which took place over Labor Day weekend in Buffalo, N.Y.

The four-day schedule of film screenings included a good numbers of silents, which I was on hand to accompany.

Most were shown via 16mm collector prints, all of which looked really sharp. (Just one title was unavailable on film: Gloria Swanson's 'Zaza' (1923), recently reissued in DVD/Bluray by Kino-Lorber.)

Best of all, however, was the chance to catch up with so many people in the vintage film community. Attendees this time around included Cynthia Cozart, wife of film restoration expert James Cozart, who recently passed away.

And Gerry Orlando, longtime organizer of Cinefest down the road in Syracuse, N.Y., stopped in for a visit!

Silent titles included 'Raffles the Amateur Cracksman' (1917), an early John Barrymore feature in which Staten Island substitutes for the British countryside.

But as sometimes happens, 'Raffles' turned out to be really entertaining, with Barrymore in fine form playing cat and mouse with a hard-nosed detective. A lot of fun!

Also of interest was an original Kodascope print of 'The Lost World' (1925), the legendary "dinosaur" film adapted from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story.

The print looked fantastic: sharp and clear with great tonal values and really easy on the eyes.

But most interesting to me was how the film was abridged. Like many Kodascope prints made for the home market, it was cut down.

In its original release, 'The Lost World' ran 106 minutes. But the Kodascope version clocks in at just 55 minutes.

I'm familiar with 'Lost World' restorations that have tried to be as complete as possible, but had never encountered the Kodascope edition. So prior to the screening, I told audience members to expect what amounts to a "dinosaur highlight reel."

And so it was! The basic plot was followed, but most of the character development was excised so the film could get straight to the dinosaur scenes.

It still got a great reaction, which was nice. But I found it hard to accompany because I would be setting up for one scene that I expected, but then the film would suddenly jump way ahead!

It was like trying to dance to a record that keeps skipping.

(Does anyone play records anymore? How many people watch 16mm film, for that matter?)

A lobby card for 'Hot Water' (1924).

A personal highlight was 'Hot Water' (1924), the only Harold Lloyd silent feature film that I'd never had a chance to accompany live.

Really! I've done all the others, some many times. I've even accompanied the rare silent version of 'Welcome Danger' (1929), which Lloyd reshot and released as a talkie.

So with 'Hot Water,' I could say I was hitting for the cycle.

And what's odd about that is that 'Hot Water' was actually the very first Lloyd feature I ever got to see, although in truncated form.

That's because I was first exposed to the Lloyd features via the Time-Life 1970s re-edits of the films, which ran on PBS when I was a teenager.

As a prelude to 'Safety Last' (1923), the producers used an extended excerpt from 'Hot Water.' So when I tuned in to see Lloyd's famous building climb in 'Safety Last,' I first got a good dose of 'Hot Water.'

It's a good comedy, but generally regarded as one of Lloyd's lesser efforts. As such, it almost never gets shown. And over the years, I've wound up accompanying all the Lloyds except this one.

Well, that changed at this year's N.Y. Film Expo, where I created music for it as 'Hot Water' (via another sparkling 16mm print) drew big laughs.

Also on the bill were Keaton's classic feature comedy 'The Navigator' (1924), and also Gloria Swanson's costume vehicle 'Zaza' (1923).

The latter was recently brought out on DVD/Bluray by Kino-Lorber with a recorded score by me. So it was a special privilege to recreate the music live at this year's N.Y. Film Expo.

Response was gratifying and I received many nice comments afterwards.

So thanks to organizer Alex Bartosh and everyone associated with the N.Y. Film Expo.

Nice to see a lot of familiar faces, and looking forward to the next edition of the event, which is set for Labor Day Weekend 2018!