If it's May, then it must be time to start showing silent films with live music in Brandon, Vt.

Not-so-elegant dining: A scene from Chaplin's 'The Gold Rush' (1925)

...and sure enough, it is!

Join me for Opening Night of the Brandon (Vt.) Town Hall and Community Center's annual Silent Film Series!

The 2024 edition opens on Saturday, May 11 at 7 p.m. (hey, that's tonight!) with Chaplin's 'The Gold Rush' (1925), with live music by me.

Lots more info in the press release below, including the entire Brandon schedule now through November.

See you at the movies!

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A German poster promoting Chaplin's 'The Gold Rush' (1925).

MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2024 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Classic Chaplin comedy 'The Gold Rush' with live music on Saturday, May 11 in Brandon, Vt. 

Brandon Town Hall's 2024 silent film series kicks off with classic comedy featuring the Little Tramp's search for fortune and romance in the Klondike

BRANDON, Vt.—Classics from the silent film era return to the big screen this May at the Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, which will host another season of vintage cinema with live music.

First up is Charlie Chaplin in 'The Gold Rush' (1925), an epic comedy in which the Little Tramp joins in the Klondike Gold Rush. The film screens on Saturday, May 11 at 7 p.m. at the Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, Route 7, in Brandon, Vt.

Admission is free; donations are welcome to help support ongoing Town Hall renovation efforts.

Live music for each silent film program will be provided by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based performer and composer who specializes in scoring and presenting silent films.

'The Gold Rush,' a landmark comedy and one of the top-grossing films of the silent era, finds Chaplin's iconic 'Little Tramp' character journeying to the frozen wastelands of the Yukon. There as a prospector, the Tramp's search for gold turns into a pursuit of romance, but with plenty of laughs along the way.
 

Improvised foot-warming: Chaplin in 'The Gold Rush' (1925).

The film contains several famous scenes, both comic and dramatic, including a starving Chaplin forced to eat his shoe for Thanksgiving dinner and a heart-breaking New Year's Eve celebration.

As a comedian, Chaplin emerged as the first superstar in the early days of cinema. From humble beginnings as a musical hall entertainer in England, he came to Hollywood and used his talents to quickly rise to the pinnacle of stardom in the then-new medium of motion pictures. His popularity never waned, and his image remains recognized around the world to this day.

'The Gold Rush,' regarded by many critics as Chaplin's best film, is a prime example of his unique talent for combining slapstick comedy and intense dramatic emotion.

" 'The Gold Rush' is still an effective tear-jerker," wrote critic Eric Kohn of indieWIRE. "In the YouTube era, audiences — myself included — often anoint the latest sneezing panda phenomenon as comedic gold. Unless I’m missing something, however, nothing online has come close to matching the mixture of affectionate fragility and seamless comedic inspiration perfected by the Tramp."
The screening of 'The Gold Rush' provides local audiences the opportunity to experience silent film as it was intended to be shown: on the big screen, in restored prints, with live music, and with an audience.

Rapsis, who uses original themes to improvise silent film scores, said the best silent film comedies often used visual humor to create laughter out of simple situations. Because of this, audiences continue to respond to them in the 21st century, especially if they're presented as intended — with an audience and live music.

"These comedies were created to be shown on the big screen as a communal experience," Rapsis said. "With an audience and live music, they still come to life as their creators intended them to. So this screening is a great chance to experience films that first caused people to fall in love with the movies," he said.

Rapsis achieves a traditional movie score sound for silent film screenings by using a digital synthesizer that reproduces the texture of the full orchestra.

"It's a real treat to return to Brandon for another season of great silent film," Rapsis said. "If you've never seen one of these movies in a theater, check it out. These films were the pop culture of their day, and retain their ability to hold an audience and deliver a great time at the movies."

It's the 13th year of the popular silent film series, which gives residents and visitors a chance to see great movies from the pioneering days of cinema as they were meant to be shown—on the big screen, with an audience, and accompanied by live music.

Screenings are held once a month, generally on Saturday nights starting in May and running through November. Admission is free; donations are encouraged, with proceeds to benefit the Town Hall's ongoing restoration.

Over the years, silent film donations have helped support projects including handicapped access to the 19th century building; renovating the bathrooms; and restoring the structure's original slate roof.

The screening of 'The Gold Rush' is sponsored by Bill and Kathy Mathis in memory of Maxine Thurston

Other films in this year's Brandon Town Hall silent film series include:

• Saturday, June 8, 2024, 7 p.m.: "The Thief of Bagdad" (1924) starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. Celebrate the 100th anniversary of this eye-popping cinematic spectacle; starring Fairbanks in top form as Arabian adventurer who must complete a series of epic tasks to save his beloved. Timeless tale told imaginatively and on a grand scale, complete with cutting edge special effects.

• Saturday, July 20, 2024, 7 p.m.: "The Cameraman" (1928) starring Buster Keaton. In 'The Cameraman,' Keaton tries to impress the gal of his dreams by working as a newsreel photographer. Can he get a break and get the girl? Classic visual comedy with Keaton at the peak of his creative powers; set in NYC and includes 1920s shots of Midtown Manhattan and the old Yankee Stadium.

• Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, 7 p.m.: "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" (1921) starring Rudolph Valentino. Sweeping drama of a divided family with members caught up on opposites sides during World War I. Breakthrough film for Rudolph Valentino, introducing the sultry tango and launching him to stardom. The real deal! Shown both in honor of the 110th anniversary of World War I's outbreak and the anniversary of Valentino's untimely death in 1926.

• Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, 7 p.m.: "Speedy" (1928) starring Harold Lloyd. Harold's final silent feature cis a tribute to New York City, baseball, and the idea that nice guys can indeed finish first, highlighted by one of the most exciting races to the finish in all silent cinema. Complete with an extended cameo from none other than Babe Ruth!

• Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, 7 p.m.: "Phantom of the Opera" (1925) starring Lon Chaney. Long before Andrew Lloyd Webber created the hit stage musical, this silent film adaptation starring Lon Chaney put 'Phantom' firmly in the pantheon of both horror and romance. Just in time for Halloween!

• Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, 7 p.m.: "Barbed Wire" (1927) starring Pola Negri, Clive Brook. During World War I, the French government commandeers a family farm for use as a camp for German POWs, setting the local population at each other. Intense drama about forbidden love and the human condition, with a special holiday twist.

See Charlie Chaplin in the 'The Gold Rush' (1925) with live music on Saturday, May 11 at 7 p.m. at the Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, Route 7, in Brandon, Vt. All are welcome to this family-friendly event. Admission is free, with free will donations accepted in support of ongoing Town Hall renovations.

Report from 'Arisia 2014' film room: You were expecting a Hunchback?

Okay, back in the silent film saddle after three weeks away from the keyboard bopping around southern India.

First screening was Friday, Jan. 17 at "Arisia," a four-day confab billed as New England's largest sci-fi/fantasy convention. Held each year at the Westin Hotel in Boston, it's one of my favorite events on the calendar because of the luminaries with whom I get to mingle:

I tell ya, the life of a silent film accompanist is just one glamorous encounter after another. That's me on the left.

Each year Arisia features a film room where they run honest-to-goodness actual 16mm film and even some 35mm for the entire four days. When they started this 25 years ago, home video was still in its infancy (VHS still battling Betamax), and so it was still a rare treat to see film of any type outside of a theater.

Well, they've kept running film all this time, and by now what's old is new again: the all-film program is a unique hold-out from an earlier era, and somehow fits quite well into the offerings at a sci fi/fantasy gathering.

And each year they run at least one silent with live music. A few years ago, I was asked to come down to accompany Keaton's 'The General' (1926), and it went well enough for me to be asked back each time.

I'm glad, as it gets me in front of audience that doesn't usually see a lot of silent film, but is open to new things, or maybe things so old they're new again. (See above.) Consider a blurb for this year's convention that ran in the Boston Globe this week:

"Some of the top picks include New England’s largest Masquerade competition, an art show where participants can purchase sci-fi/fantasy art pieces, graceful period dances, a showing of the silent film The Hunchback of Notre Dame accompanied by live organist Jeff Rapsis, and a gender-reversed presentation of Star Trek’s “The Trouble with Tribbles.” There truly is something for everyone."

Rats! I'm sorry I missed that gender-reversed presentation of Star Trek’s “The Trouble with Tribbles.”

Despite the often battered and splicy prints turned up by the film crew, the screenings draw a good crowd and always provoke a lively reaction. Last year, a showing of 'The Lost World' (1925) was highlighted by full-throated cheering by the audience near the end, when the dinosaur gets loose and starts ravaging the streets of London, sowing the seeds for generations of stop-motion action to come.

This year, it was 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923), one of Lon Chaney's iconic roles. Or so I thought.

What we thought we were getting...

This past Friday night, after getting all my gear into the hotel (no easy task, having to dodge guys with giant sabres and courtesans from the future) and outside the film room for the 10 p.m. showing, I found there was a change in plan. The print of 'Hunchback' never arrived! So, at the last minute, an old print of Chaplin's 'The Gold Rush' (1925) was to be screened in its place.

...and what we actually got.

Wow! Nothing like a sudden shift of program to help you get over a 10.5-hour time difference. The good news is that no one in the audience of about 40 people seemed to be disappointed when I announced the switch. The bad news is that I had plugged my synthesizer and sound equipment into the same jury-rigged line that fed a pair of colored spotlights at the base of the screen.

So, when the movie (and the music) started, the lights then went down, taking the music down with it. Ooops! So we had to stop while I figured out a better way to set things up. I was a little concerned because the old Korg isn't designed to be powered down by a variable dimmer switch, but it fired right back up again and off we went.

Gotta add that to the list of things to watch out for: don't plug your stuff into something that's going to be shut off while the movie's running. Duh!

But once underway, Chaplin prevailed, even in a dupey old print that left my eyes tired just watching it. It says something for the strength of silent film (and for what Chaplin accomplished in particular) that reaction was strong, even if the film didn't look nearly as good as it should.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to find more time to prepare for screenings, and so I did go through 'Hunchback' prior to the screening. That won't go for naught, as we're running the film later this week, on Thursday, Jan. 23 at the Flying Monkey up in Plymouth.

But if we have to run 'The Gold Rush' up there as well, I'm ready for that, too.

'Trail of '98' on Tuesday, Dec. 4: Adventure with something for everyone

I'm really looking forward to our screening of 'The Trail of '98' (1928), an adventure film directed by Clarence Brown, intended as a blockbuster by MGM, and released at the very end of the silent era.

For one thing, it features a ship named the "Topeka," which reminds me of the Kansas Silent Film Festival, held every February on the campus of Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. (The next one is Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22 & 23, 2013.)

But more interestingly, I think, is that the film seems to me to be a template for many of the "disaster" movies that Hollywood churned out in the 1970s, most famously by producer Irwin Allen.

The standard method in those pictures was to lay out maybe a half-dozen stories featuring a variety of character types: the headstrong young man, the woman he loves, the ailing child who needs a transplant, the shortcut-taking businessman, the engineer who predicts disaster, the cute elderly couple, and so on.

We get to know them a little, and then BAM! They all get caught in whatever disaster is the real star of the movie. Pick one: an earthquake, a flaming skyscraper, a capsized cruise ship, a plane doomed to crash—even a swarm of bees.

No kidding! There was not only Irwin Allen's big screen epic 'The Swarm' (1978), but a made-for-TV movie from 1974, 'Killer Bees,' that featured one of the last performances of no less than Gloria Swanson.

Speaking of made-for-TV, I can boast of one small personal connection to the golden age of 1970s disaster movies. One of the lesser entries was 'Smash-Up on Interstate 5' (1976), a made-for-TV movie based on a novel called 'Expressway.'

I can vaguely recall it being broadcast with much fanfare back when there were just three networks. A quick Internet search finds the cast included the likes of Robert Conrad and Buddy Ebsen. Wow, James T. West and Jed Clampett in the same movie! Well, doggie!

Now fast-forward to the early 1990s. I am employed as a reporter at the Keene (N.H.) Sentinel, and one of my colleagues was a guy named Philip Price. And it turned out that Philip's father was the guy who adapted 'Expressway' into the script for 'Smash-Up on Interstate 5' so long ago.

Wow, brush with fame! I know, but hey, we take what we can up here in glamour-starved New Hampshire.

So what does all this have to do with 'The Trail of '98'? Well, it's a picture about a BIG subject—in this case, the Alaskan Gold Rush of 1898, but also the larger matter of human greed in general.

How to tackle these topics but make a good movie? It seems to me that the film's structure is very much like the formula I remember from the disaster-movie era: take a bunch of people of varying types, get to know them, and then fling them together and put them through some kind of ordeal. In this case, the ordeal is the demanding challenge of getting through the snowbound wilderness of the great North in search of untold riches.

This technique itself seems to be a variant of the formula of exploring a "big" topic by telling stories in various eras, a technique pioneered by D.W. Griffith in 'Intolerance' (1916) and familiar enough to be parodied by Buster Keaton in 'The Three Ages' (1923).

But 'The Trail of '98' seems a lot closer in spirit to, say, 'The Towering Inferno' (1975), so it's interesting from that perspective.

It's also interesting because it's one of those pictures released right when silent film was quickly going the way of the dodo bird. As such, it just didn't get a lot of attention, and never seems to have been taken seriously by scholars, authors, or researchers.

That's a shame, because I think 'The Trail of '98' is an important example of silent-era filmmaking and storytelling at its full maturity. MGM lavished nearly $2 million on the film, and it took director Clarence Brown forever to finish, delaying its release practically to the bitter end of the silent era, which I think obscured its prominence.

Alas, it has no big-name stars (even in cameos) to rescue it from oblivion, although silent era buffs will enjoy such mainstays as Dolores Del Rio and Karl Dane. (It does have a young Lou Costello—long before he teamed with Bud Abbott—credited as Delores Del Rio's stunt double, which must rank as one of the oddest film production credits of any era.)

But the cast is able, if not famous, and the story has something for everyone, so I'm looking forward to seeing how 'The Trail of '98' plays for an audience when we screen it on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. at the Manchester (N.H.) City Library.

I kinda hope we'll have some snow by then, as it'll add to the atmosphere. But I'd settle for a packed theater, so please put it on your calendar. For more information, I'm tacking on below a recent press release about the screening as well as the library's silent film schedule for the next few months. Hope to see you there!

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FRIDAY, NOV. 23, 2012 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Manchester (N.H.) City Library announces winter/spring silent film series

Monthly showings to present restored cinema classics on the big screen with live music; free admission

MANCHESTER, N.H.—Comedy, adventure, and romance are all on tap as the Manchester (N.H.) City Library announces its winter/spring series of silent films presented with live music.

The screenings take place in the library's Carpenter Auditorium, 405 Pine St., and are free and open to the public. Music is provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis, a resident of Bedford, N.H. and one of the nation's leading silent film musicians.

Screenings generally occur once a month, and take place on Tuesdays starting at 6 p.m.

The series aims to recreate the full silent film experience, with restored prints projected on the big screen, live music, and the presence of an audience. All these elements are essential to seeing silent films they way they were intended, Rapsis said.

"If you can put it all together again, many of these films still contain a tremendous amount of excitement," Rapsis said. "By staging these screenings of features from Hollywood's early days, it's possible to see why people first fell in love with the movies."

Upcoming films in the library's series include an outdoor adventure set in the Yukon gold rush of 1898; a wild Buster Keaton boxing comedy; a sprawling adaptation of Tolstoy's novel 'Anna Karenina,'; Charlie Chaplin's very first full-length picture; and rarely screened features starring lesser-known comedians Harry Langdon and Johnny Hines.

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

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

The first film in the winter/spring series will be 'The Trail of '98,' a drama set in the days of the Yukon gold rush, which will be shown on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. Directed by Clarence Brown and starring Dolores Costello, this 1928 adventure film offers outdoorsy silent drama on a grand scale. Fortune hunters from all over the country rush to the Klondike to seek their fortunes in the gold, and are tested by hardships of the journey.

"This was one of the last great silent epics released before talking pictures took over completely in 1929, and stands as a great example of silent film at the peak of its story-telling power," Rapsis said. "With its multiple unrelated story lines interwoven around one big event, 'The Trail of '98' actually formed a template for Hollywood's later disaster movies such as 'Earthquake' and 'The Towering Inferno.'

Other upcoming features in the Manchester City Library's silent film series include:

• Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, 6 p.m.: 'Battling Butler' (1926). Silent film funnyman Buster Keaton's rarely screened boxing comedy gives the star a chance to be even more physical than usual. Rich and pampered Buster reluctantly takes up the Sweet Science to impress his girl, leading to knockout comedy both in and outside the ring.

• Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013, 6 p.m.: 'Love' (1927). Starring real-life lovers John Gilbert and Greta Garbo. In a story taken from Tolstoy's novel set in Czarist Russia, Anna Karenina falls in love with the dashing military officer Count Vronsky and abandons her husband and child to become Vronsky's mistress. Just in time for Valentine's Day!

• Tuesday, March 5, 2013, 6 p.m.: 'Conductor 1492' (1924). In honor of St. Patrick's Day, join obscure comic Johnny Hines in a fast-paced romp about a young lad from the Emerald Isle who comes to "Americky" to make his fortune—but the fun really begins when dear old dad arrives from the Old Sod to help fight his battles.

• Tuesday, April 2, 2013, 6 p.m.: 'Tillie's Punctured Romance' (1914). Starring Charlie Chaplin, Marie Dressler. See the unusual (and unusually crude) feature-length Keystone comedy that helped Charlie Chaplin rocket to stardom in his first year of movie-making. An all-star cast of Keystone players, full of slapstick and mayhem.

• Tuesday, May 7, 2013, 6 p.m.: 'The Chaser' (1928). Strange late comedy from Harry Langdon, once considered Chaplin's rival. Carousing Harry is ordered by a judge to swap domestic duties (and clothing!) with his wife. One of Langdon's last feature films and a real curiosity from the final days of silent film.

All screenings are free and open to the public, and take place in the library's historic Carpenter Auditorium, on the lower level of the library, 405 Pine St.

The next installment in the library's silent film series will be 'The Trail of '98' (1928), to be screened with live music by Jeff Rapsis on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. in the Carpenter Auditorium of the Manchester City Library, 405 Pine St., Manchester, N.H. For more information, call (603) 624-6550. For more information about the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

Back in action, screenings galore:A convention, a new series, and more!

Hey, that rhymes!

And that wasn't planned. But, after a brief mid-summer performance hiatus, a lot of silent film is planned for the coming weeks. Highlights include a Bastille Day showing of D.W. Griffith's French Revolution epic, 'Orphans of the Storm' (1921) on Saturday, July 14; three days of continuous silent film short comedies from Thursday, July 19 through Saturday, July 21 as part of the biannual convention of the 'Sons of the Desert,' the Laurel & Hardy appreciation society (happening this year in Manchester, N.H., of all places!) and a new series of silent film presentations at the Rogers Center for the Arts at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.

Get out your calendars, block out the dates! Here's a run-down of it all, starting with Clara Bow in 'It'...

• Thursday, July 12, 2012, 6:30 p.m.: "It" (1927) starring Clara Bow; The Flying Monkey Movie House and Performance Center, 39 South Main St., Plymouth, N.H.; (603) 536-2551; http://www.flyingmonkeynh.com/. See the film that helped make Clara Bow the "It" girl of the Roaring '20s. A perky comedy/romance that will leave you smiling! Part of a monthly silent film series at a newly restored moviehouse in Plymouth, N.H. Admission, $10 per person.

• Saturday, July 14, 2012, 7 p.m.: "Orphans of the Storm" (1921), starring Lillian and Dorothy Gish; Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H.; (603) 224-4600; http://www.redrivertheatres.org/. We mark Bastille Day with D.W. Griffith's silent blockbuster set during the French Revolution. The story: Country girl Lillian Gish accompanies her blind sister Dorothy to Paris for an operation to restore her sight. Separated and then swept up in events beyond their control, they each must fight to survive amidst chaos that threatens to destroy the nation. Admission, $10 per person.

• Thursday, July 19 through Saturday, July 21, 2012: Silent Film Short Comedies with live music at the Manchester (N.H.) Public Library, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, with a break for lunch (and sore fingers). The public is invited to three days of vintage silent short comedies, including about a dozen 35mm prints on loan from the Library of Congress, as part of the biannual convention of the "Sons of the Desert," the international Laurel & Hardy appreciation society, being held this year right in Manchester, N.H.! Free admission, come and go as you please. Carpenter Memorial Auditorium, Manchester Public Library, 405 Pine St., Manchester, N.H.; (603) 624-6550.

• Saturday, July 21, 2012, 7 p.m.: "The Gold Rush" (1925); Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, Main Street/Route 7, Brandon, Vt.; http://www.brandontownhall.org. Cool off from mid-summer heat with Chaplin's iconic tale of prospectors in the snowbound Klondike. Timeless silent comedy that speaks across the generations, as delightful as ever. Part of a summer series of silent film and live music in a wonderfully restored town hall in Brandon Vt. that features great acoustics. Admission free, donations accepted, with proceeds to help continuing preservation work.

• Sunday, July 29, 2012, 4:30 p.m.: "The Thief of Bagdad" (1924); Wilton Town Hall Theatre, Main Street, Wilton, N.H.; (603) 654-3456; www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com. Eye-popping spectacle starring swashbuckling star Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in top form as adventurer who must complete a series of epic tasks to save his beloved. Part of a monthly silent film series with live music. Admission free, donations encouraged.

• Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012, 7 p.m.: "Queen Kelly" (1929), starring Gloria Swanson; Rogers Center for the Arts, Merrimack College, 315 North Turnpike St., North Andover, Mass. (978) 837-5000. Erich Von Stroheim's troubled masterpiece about forbidden love, a masterpiece that was never released in the United States. Silent film on the campus of Merrimack College; program hosted by noted author Christopher DiGrazia, who hosts a pre-screening discussion at 6:30 p.m. Free admission. For more information, visit the Rogers Center online.

• Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012, 6 p.m.: "Four Sons" (1928); Carpenter Memorial Auditorium, Manchester Public Library, 405 Pine St., Manchester, N.H.; (603) 624-6550. Director John Ford's drama about four brothers from Bavaria who become embroiled in World War I—but not on the same side! Interesting period drama set in Europe, carried by great story but with plenty of historical interest as well. Monthly series of rarely screened silent films presented with live music in 1913 auditorium. Admission free, donations encouraged.

• Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, 6:30 p.m.: "The Cameraman" (1928); The Flying Monkey Movie House and Performance Center, 39 South Main St., Plymouth, N.H.; (603) 536-2551; http://www.flyingmonkeynh.com/. Portrait photographer Buster exchanges his still camera for a movie camera in an effort to break into the newsreel business and win the attention of a special gal. Spectacular Keaton comedy filled with great stunts filmed on a grand scale. Part of a monthly silent film series at a newly restored moviehouse in Plymouth, N.H. Admission, $10 per person.

• Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012, 7 p.m.: "Wings" (1927); Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, Main Street/Route 7, Brandon, Vt.; http://www.brandontownhall.org. Sprawling saga of American flyboys caught up in World War I was winner of the first-ever Academy Award for Best Picture. Part of a summer series of silent film and live music in a wonderfully restored town hall in Brandon Vt. that features great acoustics. Admission free, donations accepted, with proceeds to help continuing preservation work.

• Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012, 7 p.m.: "The Kid" (1921) starring Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Coogan; Rogers Center for the Arts, Merrimack College, 315 North Turnpike St., North Andover, Mass. (978) 837-5000. Chaplin's breakthrough feature, a story with "a smile, and perhaps a tear," blends comedy and pathos in equal measures; five-year-old Coogan delivers one of the most remarkable child performances in all of cinema. Silent film on the campus of Merrimack College; program hosted by noted author Christopher DiGrazia, who hosts a pre-screening discussion at 6:30 p.m. Free admission. For more information, visit the Rogers Center online.