A big audience for a big celebration—plus some embarrassing confessions in a local newspaper

The audience for a screening of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Colonial Theatre in Keene, N.H. 

Wow! A screening of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' on Sunday, Feb. 18 was blessed with a very large and thoroughly engaged audience.

From the reaction to the film, you could tell you were intent on having a good time.

And that shouldn't be a surprise, as the screening was to celebrate the 100th birthday of venue: the Colonial Theatre in downtown Keene, N.H.

Depression, war, television, Tiny Tim, the Internet—nothing in the past century succeeded in darkening the marquee of the Colonial.

This makes it a rare survivor: a single screen downtown movie theater from the silent era that survives in its original configuration, and which is today thriving as the anchor of a performing arts center.

To celebrate, the decision was made to repeat the film that opened the Colonial in January 2024: Lon Chaney in the silent version of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame.'

And celebrate we did, with a steady stream of booing and cheering coming from the audience as the film screened.

One thing to note: I've never heard an audience cheer so lustily at the sequence where the peasants break into the aristocrat ball. Yaaah! Stick it to the callous oppressors!

Also, in my introductory remarks, I found myself recounting a personal experience I had in this same theater in 1971, when I was seven years old. We were spending our summers in Harrisville, a small nearby town, where our family had a lake cottage with a well but no running water.

So one Saturday my mother drove us all into town, where she dropped me and my older brother off at the Colonial for what she thought was a kiddie matinee while she visited a laundromat.

It WAS a kiddie matinee, except it really wasn't. It was the Gene Wilder version of 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' in its original release, and I found it nothing short of terrifying. 

When Augustus Gloop falls into the chocolate river and gets stuck in a clear plastic pipe, it was more than I could stand. I ran up the aisle to escape. My brother found me hiding in a stall in the ladies' bathroom.

August Gloop stuck in the pipe.

Assuring me that it was just a movie, we returned to the theater just in time to see the Violet character turn into a giant human blueberry and get rolled off to "the juicing room."

Once again I ran up the aisle, this time through the lobby and outside into broad daylight, my brother this time in hot pursuit. I recall we spent the rest of the time on a park bench, with me inconsolable and hyperventilating. Thanks, Roald Dahl!

So I related this childhood anecdote to the audience for Hunckback, earned a few chuckles, and then moved on. What I didn't know was that a reporter for the local newspaper, the Keene Sentinel, was in attendance. And so this afternoon I found out that my Willy Wonka story made Page 2 of today's paper.

So my traumatic experience was newsworthy after all!

Next up for me: on Thursday, I head out to the Heartland to attend this year's Kansas Silent Film Festival, which takes place Friday and Saturday.

As I joke: Some people get to go to Aruba in February. I got to Topeka.

But looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones. If you're in the vicinity of Washburn University (where the festival is held), I encourage you to take in some or all of the films. 

Complete info available at the Kansas Silent Film Festival website. See you there!

Sunday, Feb. 18: Celebrate a theater's 100th anniversary with 'Hunchback of Notre Dame'

Patsy Ruth Miller and Lon Chaney prepare to party, sort of, in 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923).

Okay, let's try that again!

Last month's 100th anniversary celebration for the Colonial Theatre in Keene, N.H. was upstaged by snow.

So this weekend brings the rescheduled "Party Like It's 1924," complete with cake and champagne. The fun, which is free and open to all, is on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m.

The star of the show this time will not be Old Man Winter, but Lon Chaney playing the title role in 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923).

It's the film that opened the theater back in January 1924, so they're rerunning the timeless film (with live music by me) to honor the equally timeless theater.

And it IS a rare survivor—a single screen downtown theater built originally as a silent-era moviehouse and vaudeville venue that remains pretty much intact.

Really! Check it out:

 Come join the fun! More details about the film, the theater, and the celebration are in the press release below.

*  *  *

An original poster promoting 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923).

MONDAY, FEB. 12, 2024 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Chaney as Quasimodo in 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' on Sunday, Feb. 18 in Keene, N.H.

Postponed from January: Celebrate Colonial Theatre's 100th anniversary with free screening of classic film that opened theater in 1924

KEENE, N.H.—It was a spectacular combination: Lon Chaney, the actor known as the "Man of 1,000 Faces," and Universal's big screen adaptation of Victor Hugo's sprawling tale of the tortured Quasimodo.

The result was the classic silent film version of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) — a movie so popular that it was chosen as the opening program at Keene's Colonial Theatre when it first opened to the public on Jan. 29, 1924.

Now, 100 years later, the Colonial will once again screen 'Hunchback' as part of a centennial celebration.

 

'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' starring Lon Chaney will be shown on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024 at 2 p.m. at the Colonial Theatre, 95 Main St., Keene, N.H. Admission is free, but attendees are asked to RSVP online in advance at www.thecolonial.org.

The program was originally planned for January but was postponed due to inclement weather.

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

The program includes cake and champagne afterwards.

Lon Chaney post-whipping and Patsy Ruth Miller in 'Hunchback.'

'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' is based on Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, and is notable for the grand sets that recall 15th century Paris as well as for Chaney's performance and make-up as the tortured hunchback Quasimodo.

The film elevated Chaney, already a well-known character actor, to full star status in Hollywood, and also helped set a standard for many later horror films, including Chaney's 'The Phantom of the Opera' in 1925.

While Quasimodo is but one of many interconnecting characters in the original Hugo novel, he dominates the narrative of this lavish Universal production.

In the story, Jehan (Brandon Hurst), the evil brother of the archdeacon, lusts after a Gypsy named Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller) and commands the hunchback Quasimodo (Chaney) to capture her.

Military captain Phoebus (Norman Kerry) also loves Esmeralda and rescues her, but the Gypsy is not unsympathetic to Quasimodo's condition, and an unlikely bond forms between them.

After vengeful Jehan frames Esmeralda for the attempted murder of Phoebus, Quasimodo's feelings are put to the test in a spectacular climax set in and around the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

As the hunchbacked bellringer Quasimodo, Chaney adorned himself with a special device that made his cheeks jut out grotesquely; a contact lens that blanked out one of his eyes; and, most painfully, a huge rubber hump covered with coarse animal fur and weighing anywhere from 30 to 50 pounds.

Chaney deeply identified with Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer at Notre Dame Cathedral who was deafened by his work. Chaney was raised by deaf parents and did a lot of his communication through pantomime.

“The idea of doing the picture was an old one of mine and I had studied Quasimodo until I knew him like a brother, knew every ghoulish impulse of his heart and all the inarticulate miseries of his soul,” Chaney told an interviewer with Movie Weekly magazine in 1923.

“Quasimodo and I lived together—we became one. At least so it has since seemed to me. When I played him, I forgot my own identity completely and for the time being lived and suffered with the Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

The film was a major box office hit for Universal Studios, and Chaney's performance continues to win accolades.

A scene from 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923).

"An awe-inspiring achievement, featuring magnificent sets (built on the Universal backlot), the proverbial cast of thousands (the crowd scenes are mesmerizing) and an opportunity to catch Lon Chaney at his most commanding," wrote critic Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing in 2014.

The famous cathedral, a symbol of Paris and France, was severely damaged by fire in 2019. After a long period of rebuilding, the Cathedral is scheduled to reopen to the public in December 2024.

Screening this classic version of 'Hunchback' 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.

"If you can put pieces of the experience back together again, it's surprising how these films snap back to life," said Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who creates music for silent film screenings at venues around the country.

"By showing the films as they were intended, you can really get a sense of why people first fell in love with the movies."

In creating music for silent films, Rapsis performs on a digital synthesizer that reproduces the texture of the full orchestra and creates a traditional "movie score" sound.

'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) starring Lon Chaney, will be screened with live music on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. at the Colonial Theatre, 95 Main St., Keene, N.H. Admission is free, but attendees are asked to RVSP online in advance at www.thecolonial.org.

 

Sunday, Jan. 28: Chaney's 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' highlights Colonial's centennial celebration

The Colonial's marquee has brightened Keene's Main Street for a full century.

UPDATE! DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER, THIS SCREENING IS POSTPONED TO SUNDAY, FEB. 18. 

Talk about milestones!

This month, the Colonial Theatre of Keene, N.H. marks 100 years of service. 

That's a century of movies and popcorn in that rarest of creatures: a downtown one-screen movie theater that was never multiplexed!

And to celebrate, this Sunday, Jan. 28, the Colonial is turning the clocks all the way back to the very first motion picture that opened the place.

It's 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) starring Lon Chaney. It's my privilege to create live music for this special screening, which is at 2 p.m. and free to all.

The theater is promoting the event with the tagline "Party Like It's 1924!" along with the movie poster showing Esmerelda dancing with a goat. I assume goats are optional.

It's also a personal honor, as I have a history with the Colonial going back to at least 1971—back when the place hadn't even reached the half-century mark.

At that time, my family would spend summers in Harrisville, a small town outside of Keene. 

My mother would drive us into Keene every other Saturday to do laundry. She'd park us at the Colonial for the children's matinee while she washed and dried.

I can pinpoint the year as 1971 because that was when 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' was released. 

And I remember that because to an impressionable 7-year-old, there was no more terrifying film. Things were okay until they entered Wonka's factory, and ghastly things began happening to the children. 

By the time Augustus Gloop got stuck in a clear plastic pipe, I couldn't take it anymore, running up the aisle to get away before anything else could happen.

The Colonial Theatre's interior, pretty much unchanged since it opened in 1924.

My older brother found me in the ladies room hiding in a stall. Coaxing me out, we returned to the darkened theater just in time to see the girl blow up like a giant blueberry and then get rolled off to the "juicing room."

I fled back up the aisle and outside. What happened after that is a blank—we may have ended up on a park bench outside until my mother came to get us.

I've since recovered, but that original version with Gene Wilder in the title role still gives me the creeps. 

Well, Chaney's 'Hunchback' can be creepy, too. But I hope it doesn't compel you to flee the theater!

Lots more info in the press release. Hope you'll join us this Sunday, Jan. 28 at 2 p.m. to celebrate the Colonial's centennial.

There will be cake!

*    *    *

A scene from 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923). 

MONDAY, JAN. 15, 2024 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Chaney as Quasimodo in 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' on Sunday, Jan. 28 in Keene, N.H.

Celebrate Colonial Theatre's 100th anniversary with free screening of classic film that opened theater in 1924; featuring live music by Jeff Rapsis

KEENE, N.H.—It was a spectacular combination: Lon Chaney, the actor known as the "Man of 1,000 Faces," and Universal's big screen adaptation of Victor Hugo's sprawling tale of the tortured Quasimodo.

The result was the classic silent film version of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) — a movie so popular that it was chosen as the opening program at Keene's Colonial Theatre when it first opened to the public on Jan. 29, 1924.

Now, 100 years later, the Colonial will once again screen 'Hunchback' as part of a centennial celebration.

'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' starring Lon Chaney will be shown on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024 at 2 p.m. at the Colonial Theatre, 95 Main St., Keene, N.H. Admission is free, but attendees are asked to RSVP online in advance at www.thecolonial.org.

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

The program includes cake and champagne afterwards.

'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' is based on Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, and is notable for the grand sets that recall 15th century Paris as well as for Chaney's performance and make-up as the tortured hunchback Quasimodo.

The film elevated Chaney, already a well-known character actor, to full star status in Hollywood, and also helped set a standard for many later horror films, including Chaney's 'The Phantom of the Opera' in 1925.

While Quasimodo is but one of many interconnecting characters in the original Hugo novel, he dominates the narrative of this lavish Universal production.

In the story, Jehan (Brandon Hurst), the evil brother of the archdeacon, lusts after a Gypsy named Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller) and commands the hunchback Quasimodo (Chaney) to capture her.

Military captain Phoebus (Norman Kerry) also loves Esmeralda and rescues her, but the Gypsy is not unsympathetic to Quasimodo's condition, and an unlikely bond forms between them.

After vengeful Jehan frames Esmeralda for the attempted murder of Phoebus, Quasimodo's feelings are put to the test in a spectacular climax set in and around the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

A scene from 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923).

As the hunchbacked bellringer Quasimodo, Chaney adorned himself with a special device that made his cheeks jut out grotesquely; a contact lens that blanked out one of his eyes; and, most painfully, a huge rubber hump covered with coarse animal fur and weighing anywhere from 30 to 50 pounds.

Chaney deeply identified with Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer at Notre Dame Cathedral who was deafened by his work. Chaney was raised by deaf parents and did a lot of his communication through pantomime.

“The idea of doing the picture was an old one of mine and I had studied Quasimodo until I knew him like a brother, knew every ghoulish impulse of his heart and all the inarticulate miseries of his soul,” Chaney told an interviewer with Movie Weekly magazine in 1923.

“Quasimodo and I lived together—we became one. At least so it has since seemed to me. When I played him, I forgot my own identity completely and for the time being lived and suffered with the Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

The film was a major box office hit for Universal Studios, and Chaney's performance continues to win accolades.

"An awe-inspiring achievement, featuring magnificent sets (built on the Universal backlot), the proverbial cast of thousands (the crowd scenes are mesmerizing) and an opportunity to catch Lon Chaney at his most commanding," wrote critic Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing in 2014.

The famous cathedral, a symbol of Paris and France, was severely damaged by fire in 2019. After a long period of rebuilding, the Cathedral is scheduled to reopen to the public in December 2024.

Screening this classic version of 'Hunchback' 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.

"If you can put pieces of the experience back together again, it's surprising how these films snap back to life," said Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who creates music for silent film screenings at venues around the country.

"By showing the films as they were intended, you can really get a sense of why people first fell in love with the movies."

In creating music for silent films, Rapsis performs on a digital synthesizer that reproduces the texture of the full orchestra and creates a traditional "movie score" sound.

'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) starring Lon Chaney, will be screened with live music on Sunday, Jan. 28 at 2 p.m. at the Colonial Theatre, 95 Main St., Keene, N.H. Admission is free, but attendees are asked to RVSP online in advance at www.thecolonial.org.

Tonight in Vermont: 'Cat and the Canary,' then 'Nosferatu' and 'The Magician' on Sunday, Oct. 29

Outside the Jane Pickens Theatre last night in Newport, R.I.

As Halloween approaches, the silent film screenings build up to a fever pitch.

Next up: Tonight (Friday, Oct. 27), it's 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927) in Brandon, Vt. More details are in the press release pasted in below.

Last night, it was 'The Phantom of the Opera' (1925) in Newport, R.I. About 120 people piled into the Jane Pickens Theater to experience this classic. 

I got a big laugh when I introduced myself, saying: "If any of you have come here tonight to experience the soaring, passionate melodies of Andrew Lloyd Webber's magnificent score, I'm afraid you're going to be sadly disappointed."

One nice surprise was that the theater had actually put my name on the marquee. So I had to take a picture, even if it required me to point my phone directly at a streetlight:

The night before, it was an equally well-attended screening of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) in Manchester, N.H.—about 120 people at the Rex Theatre. 

Looking beyond tonight's screening of 'The Cat and the Canary' up in Brandon, Vt., it's a double-header on Sunday, Oct. 29.

At 2 p.m., I'll accompany 'The Magician' (1926) at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H. It's a last-minute addition to their schedule and mine. 

'The Magician' concerns a scientist (Paul Wegener) who uses an ancient spell to reanimate a dead body. The secret missing ingredient is, of course, the blood of a virgin, making it a good bet for Halloween.

A Spanish language poster that captures the flavor of 'The Magician' (1926).

Directed by the great Rex Ingram (who helmed 'Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse' in 1921), 'The Magician' is a film I've never done before and only recently learned about. The theater was kind enough to add it to their schedule, so off we go.

Then on Sunday at 7 p.m., it's 'Nosferatu' (1922) out at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit, Maine. And on Monday, Oct. 30 at the Park Theatre in Jaffrey, N.H., it's live underscoring for 'Dracula' (1931), the early talkie starring Bela Lugosi that was released without music. 

And the comes the finish line—Halloween itself!

I get a break for a few days, but then will be at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum out in Fremont, Calif. to sit in as accompanist for another film I've not accompanied before: 'Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman' (1925)

The museum has provided this helpful description and plot summary: 

"RAFFLES, THE AMATEUR CRACKSMAN (USA, 1925)  Raffles, the debonair society burglar, can’t resist a dare, when a noted criminologist claims that he would prevent a threatened theft in the home of an upper crust family. Of course, Raffles gets the pearls, but he promises the beautiful Lady Gwendolyn that he will return them and reform, which he does. With House Peters, Miss Du Pont, Hedda Hopper, Walter Long. Directed by King Baggot. (This is not to be confused with the John Barrymore version (1917), in which the story line is somewhat different.)

This is my first appearance at the Niles museum since they've reopened after the pandemic, so it'll be great to be back. 

And for those of you who, like me, never heard of King Baggot, I'm pleased to report that he had quite a career on stage in his youth and before the camera during the early days of cinema. 

Here's an excerpt of his entry in the always unimpeachable Wikipedia:

"The first individually publicized leading man in America, Baggot was referred to as 'King of the Movies,' 'The Most Photographed Man in the World' and 'The Man Whose Face Is As Familiar As The Man In The Moon.' "

Wow! It'll be an honor to be collaborating with the Man in the Moon.

So if you find yourself in the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday, Nov. 4, drop by for what should be an interesting night at the movies.

And now, here's all the info about tonight's screening of 'The Cat and the Canary' up in Brandon, Vt. Hope you'll join us!

*   *   *

Tully Marshall in an awkward moment in 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927).

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18, 2023 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'Cat and Canary' (1927) to play Brandon Town Hall with live music on Friday, Oct. 27

Just in time for Halloween: Creepy haunted house silent film thriller to be shown after sundown

BRANDON, Vt.—'The Cat and the Canary' (1927), a haunted house thriller from Hollywood’s silent film era, will be screened with live music on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, Route 7, in Brandon, Vt.

All are welcome to this family-friendly movie. Admission is free, with free will donations accepted in support of ongoing Town Hall renovations.

The screening, the latest in the venue's silent film series, will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating music for silent films.

Please note that this program takes place on a Friday, rather than the usual Saturday night for most Brandon Town Hall silent film programs.

'The Cat and the Canary' stands as the original movie thriller—the first picture to feature the reading of a will in a haunted mansion complete with clutching hands, a masked killer, disappearing bodies, and secret passageways.

Silent film starlet Laura LaPlante leads the cast as a young heiress who must spend the night in the creepy old mansion, which is filled with relatives who all have motives to frighten her out of her wits. Meanwhile, a dangerous escaped lunatic is loose on the grounds. Can she and the others make it through the night?

Created for Universal Pictures by German filmmaker Paul Leni and based on a hit stage play, 'The Cat and the Canary' proved popular enough to inspire several remakes, including one starring Bob Hope. It was also the forerunner of all the great Universal horror classics of the 1930s and '40s.

The Brandon Town Hall screening will use a fully restored print that shows the film as audiences would have originally experienced it. 'The Cat and the Canary' will be accompanied by live music by New Hampshire composer Jeff Rapsis, who specializes in silent film scoring.

Rapsis will improvise the score on the spot during the screening.

"Silent film is all about the audience experience, and this one is a perfect Halloween crowd-pleaser," Rapsis said. "It has something for everyone—spooky scenes, some good comedy, and it's all fine for the whole family."

Critics praise the original 'Cat and the Canary' for its wild visual design and cutting edge cinematography.

Film reviewer Michael Phillips singled out the film for using "a fluidly moving camera and elaborate, expressionist sets and lighting to achieve some of the most memorable shots in silent film, from the amazing tracking shots down the curtain-lined main hallway to the dramatic zooms and pans that accompany the film's shocks."

Laura LaPlante in 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927). 

 

Leonard Maltin called the original 'Cat and the Canary' a "delightful silent classic, the forerunner of all "old dark house" mysteries."

The Brandon Town Hall screening of 'The Cat and the Canary' is sponsored by Pam and Steve Douglass.

Upcoming programs in the Brandon Town Hall's silent film series include:

• Saturday, Nov. 11, 7 p.m.: 'The Big Parade' (1925) starring John Gilbert. We salute Veterans Day with this sweeping saga about U.S. doughboys signing up and shipping off to France in 1917, where they face experiences that will change their lives forever—if they return. MGM blockbuster directed by King Vidor; one of the biggest box office triumphs of the silent era. Sponsored by Donald and Dolores Furnari; Jeanette Devino; and Lorrie Byrom.

'Cat and the Canary' will be shown on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, Route 7, in Brandon, Vt.

Admission is free, with free will donations accepted in support of ongoing Town Hall renovations.  For more info, visit www.brandontownhall.com.

 

Pre-Halloween parade continues with Lon Chaney starring in 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at Rex Theatre in Manchester, N.H.

A poster for the 1923 release of 'Hunchback of Notre Dame.'

Up next: a 100th anniversary screening of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at the Rex Theatre in Manchester, N.H.

As of this morning, the venue has sold 69 tickets, so should be a good crowd on hand—always a good thing for a silent film program!

Below is a press release with all the details. Come join us for this classic big screen adaptation of Victor Hugo's sprawling novel set in medieval Paris. 

*    *    *

The classic image: Lon Chaney as the Hunchback being comforted after his undeserved public flogging.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18, 2023 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Chaney as Quasimodo in 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' on Wednesday, Oct. 25 in Manchester, N.H.

Celebrate 100th anniversary of classic silent version with pre-Halloween screening at Rex Theatre; featuring live music by Jeff Rapsis

MANCHESTER, N.H.—It was a spectacular combination: Lon Chaney, the actor known as the "Man of 1,000 Faces," and Universal's big screen adaptation of Victor Hugo's sprawling tale of the tortured Quasimodo.

The result was the classic silent film version of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923), to be shown with live music on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester, N.H.

General admission is $10 per person; tickets are available at the door or online at www.palacetheatre.org.

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

"We felt that with the upcoming reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in 2024, audiences would appreciate a chance to see this film, which takes place throughout the iconic structure," Rapsis said.

The famous cathedral, a symbol of Paris and France, was severely damaged by fire in 2019.

The film is based on Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, and is notable for the grand sets that recall 15th century Paris as well as for Chaney's performance and make-up as the tortured hunchback Quasimodo.

The film elevated Chaney, already a well-known character actor, to full star status in Hollywood, and also helped set a standard for many later horror films, including Chaney's 'The Phantom of the Opera' in 1925.

While Quasimodo is but one of many interconnecting characters in the original Hugo novel, he dominates the narrative of this expensive Universal production.

Lon Chaney and Patsy Ruth Miller in 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923).

In the story, Jehan (Brandon Hurst), the evil brother of the archdeacon, lusts after a Gypsy named Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller) and commands the hunchback Quasimodo (Chaney) to capture her.

Military captain Phoebus (Norman Kerry) also loves Esmeralda and rescues her, but the Gypsy is not unsympathetic to Quasimodo's condition, and an unlikely bond forms between them.

After vengeful Jehan frames Esmeralda for the attempted murder of Phoebus, Quasimodo's feelings are put to the test in a spectacular climax set in and around the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

As the hunchbacked bellringer Quasimodo, Chaney adorned himself with a special device that made his cheeks jut out grotesquely; a contact lens that blanked out one of his eyes; and, most painfully, a huge rubber hump covered with coarse animal fur and weighing anywhere from 30 to 50 pounds.

Chaney deeply identified with Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer at Notre Dame Cathedral who was deafened by his work. Chaney was raised by deaf parents and did a lot of his communication through pantomime.

“The idea of doing the picture was an old one of mine and I had studied Quasimodo until I knew him like a brother, knew every ghoulish impulse of his heart and all the inarticulate miseries of his soul,” Chaney told an interviewer with Movie Weekly magazine in 1923.

“Quasimodo and I lived together—we became one. At least so it has since seemed to me. When I played him, I forgot my own identity completely and for the time being lived and suffered with the Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

The film was a major box office hit for Universal Studios, and Chaney's performance continues to win accolades.

"An awe-inspiring achievement, featuring magnificent sets (built on the Universal backlot), the proverbial cast of thousands (the crowd scenes are mesmerizing) and an opportunity to catch Lon Chaney at his most commanding," wrote critic Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing in 2014.

Screening this classic version of 'Hunchback' 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.

"If you can put pieces of the experience back together again, it's surprising how these films snap back to life," said Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who creates music for silent film screenings at venues around the country.

"By showing the films as they were intended, you can really get a sense of why people first fell in love with the movies."

In creating music for silent films, Rapsis performs on a digital synthesizer that reproduces the texture of the full orchestra and creates a traditional "movie score" sound.

'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) starring Lon Chaney, will be screened with live music on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester, N.H.

General admission is $10 per person; tickets are available at the door or online at www.palacetheatre.org.

Ring a bell for 'Silent Movie Day' with Lon Chaney in the 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) this evening in Derry, N.H.

Happy Silent Movie Day!

I'm celebrating this not-quite-Hallmark holiday (yet) by accompanying a screening of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (19230 starring Lon Chaney.

Showtime is tonight (Friday, Sept. 29) at 7 p.m. at the Derry Opera House. Details in the press release below.

And talk about celebrating—this evening's screening comes in the middle of a run of six screenings in six days!

Last Wednesday, it was Buster Keaton's 'Seven Chances' (1925) at the Rex Theatre in Manchester, N.H.; then yesterday is was Keaton's 'Our Hospitality' (1923) for a retirement community in Concord, N.H. 

Tomorrow, I'll be down in Cambridge, Mass. to accompany a screening of Keaton's 'Three Ages' (1923) at the Brattle Cinema; then it's another 'Hunchback' on Sunday, Oct. 1 in Natick, Mass., and then on Monday, Oct. 2 it's the John Barrymore 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde' (1920) at the Garden Cinemas out in Greenfield, Mass. 

So as we observe Silent Movie Day 2023, I hope you'll join me for a silent film screening or two (or six) near you!

Here's the press release for tonight's 'Hunchback' screening:

*    *    *

Lon Chaney in the title role of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923).

THURSDAY, SEPT. 21, 2023 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Chaney as Quasimodo in 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' on Friday, Sept. 29 in Derry, N.H.

Celebrate 100th anniversary of classic silent version with screening at Derry Opera House; featuring live music by Jeff Rapsis

DERRY, N.H.—It was a spectacular combination: Lon Chaney, the actor known as the "Man of 1,000 Faces," and Universal's big screen adaptation of Victor Hugo's sprawling tale of the tortured Quasimodo.

The result was the classic silent film version of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923), to be shown with live music on Friday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Derry Opera House, 29 West Broadway, Derry, N.H.

The special 100th anniversary screening will be accompanied with live music by silent film musician Jeff Rapsis.

The screening is organized by the Derry Public Library. Admission is free and the program is open to all.

"We felt that with the upcoming reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in 2024, audiences would appreciate a chance to see this film, which takes place throughout the iconic structure," Rapsis said.

The famous cathedral, a symbol of Paris and France, was severely damaged by fire in 2019.

The film is based on Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, and is notable for the grand sets that recall 15th century Paris as well as for Chaney's performance and make-up as the tortured hunchback Quasimodo.

The film elevated Chaney, already a well-known character actor, to full star status in Hollywood, and also helped set a standard for many later horror films, including Chaney's 'The Phantom of the Opera' in 1925.

While Quasimodo is but one of many interconnecting characters in the original Hugo novel, he dominates the narrative of this expensive Universal production.

A scene from 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923).

In the story, Jehan (Brandon Hurst), the evil brother of the archdeacon, lusts after a Gypsy named Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller) and commands the hunchback Quasimodo (Chaney) to capture her.

Military captain Phoebus (Norman Kerry) also loves Esmeralda and rescues her, but the Gypsy is not unsympathetic to Quasimodo's condition, and an unlikely bond forms between them.

After vengeful Jehan frames Esmeralda for the attempted murder of Phoebus, Quasimodo's feelings are put to the test in a spectacular climax set in and around the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

As the hunchbacked bellringer Quasimodo, Chaney adorned himself with a special device that made his cheeks jut out grotesquely; a contact lens that blanked out one of his eyes; and, most painfully, a huge rubber hump covered with coarse animal fur and weighing anywhere from 30 to 50 pounds.

Chaney deeply identified with Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer at Notre Dame Cathedral who was deafened by his work. Chaney was raised by deaf parents and did a lot of his communication through pantomime.

“The idea of doing the picture was an old one of mine and I had studied Quasimodo until I knew him like a brother, knew every ghoulish impulse of his heart and all the inarticulate miseries of his soul,” Chaney told an interviewer with Movie Weekly magazine in 1923.

“Quasimodo and I lived together—we became one. At least so it has since seemed to me. When I played him, I forgot my own identity completely and for the time being lived and suffered with the Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

A scene from 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923).

The film was a major box office hit for Universal Studios, and Chaney's performance continues to win accolades even today.

"An awe-inspiring achievement, featuring magnificent sets (built on the Universal backlot), the proverbial cast of thousands (the crowd scenes are mesmerizing) and an opportunity to catch Lon Chaney at his most commanding," wrote critic Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing in 2014.

Screening this classic version of 'Hunchback' 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.

"If you can put pieces of the experience back together again, it's surprising how these films snap back to life," said Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who creates music for silent film screenings at venues around the country.

"By showing the films as they were intended, you can really get a sense of why people first fell in love with the movies."

In creating music for silent films, Rapsis performs on a digital synthesizer that reproduces the texture of the full orchestra and creates a traditional "movie score" sound.

'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) starring Lon Chaney, will be screened with live music on Friday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Derry Opera House, 29 West Broadway, Derry, N.H.

Admission is free. For more info, visit www.derrypl.org or call (603) 432-6140.

Cheap eats and cheap seats in Keene, N.H., plus Keaton, Valentino screenings coming soon

The marquee last Tuesday night at the Colonial Theatre in downtown Keene, N.H.

I can't wait to tell you all about this week's screening of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) at the Colonial Theatre in Keene, N.H.

But it says a lot about my priorities when I have to say first that I was flat-out amazed by the meal I had just before the show down the street at Lindy's Diner.

Really! Two chicken croquettes, mashed potatoes with gravy, a generous helping of carrots—mind you, all served piping—plus two rolls and butter, and coffee with refills, all for...$8.18!

Can you believe it? I actually took a picture:

On a cold night with snow starting to fall, this was just what the doctor ordered. Really—if prescribed, I believe it would mitigate the symptoms of most afflictions, physical or mental.

In any case, it was great show prep for the on-screen visual feast to come at the Colonial.

And, given my inexpensive meal, would it not seem equally amazing that the admission price for our screening of 'Hunchback' was the sum of...35 cents!

Really? 'Hunchback' on a cold Tuesday night in Keene, N.H., and an absurdly low admission price? What's going on here?

What was going on is that the Colonial's grand opening night was exactly 95 years ago: Jan. 29, 1924. And the opening night attraction, yes, was 'Hunchback,' the Universal blockbuster starring Lon Chaney.

And yes, admission that night was 35 cents per person.

So last Tuesday night in Keene, the audience and I all joined in to recreate not just the early movie-going experience, but also opening night at the Colonial, a terrific medium-sized theater which continues to serve Keene and the surrounding Monadnock Region as a first-class (and now non-profit) performing arts center.

And the comedian in me has to observe that a 35-cent ticket price isn't about to endanger their non-profit status. Har! (Rim shot here, please.)

With a snowstorm looming, no one was sure who might show up, despite the bargain entrance fee. But we got a healthy crowd, and it didn't take long for 'Hunchback' to get everyone absorbed. Reaction was gratifyingly strong throughout.

I think it's a great film for music: lots of scenes that lend themselves to the big lines that I like to spin.

I've done the film quite a few times, but not recently. One element with which I've never been satisfied is the music I create for Esmeralda, the gypsy girl, which always ends up sounding too slow and too much like the Habanara from 'Carmen.'

This time, I deliberately used different material: specifically, a 3/4 riff that I created for action scenes in 'Zorro' (1920) starring Douglas Fairbanks. It worked really well as a theme for Esmeralda! Specifically, it has a modal flavor, and so I could use it to shape some of the big scenes so "her" music was referenced, at least harmonically.

Anyway: another reason to support recycling!

The film got a big ovation, and I had some great conversations afterwards with people who couldn't believe the score was improvised live.

I try to illustrate how it's not all that unusual by pointing out that we're doing it right now: we're having a conversation in real time, and we're not following a script.

The folks at the Colonial were excellent to work with, and there's been enough of an audience interest to merit exploring a regular series of screenings to round out the Colonial's offerings.

I would love to work with them on this, as I love how a venue such as the Colonial are perfect places to exhibit films from a century ago in the way they were intended to be shown.

Plus, these films were designed from the ground up to be experienced by a group of people coming together. And a hundred years later, we need that kind of experience more than ever!

And in the theater world, which faces more and more competition from so many other sources of entertainment (most of it consumed at home), it's important to offer experiences that only a theater can do: such as silent film with live music!

So we'll see what the schedule brings for Keene, N.H. Me—I'd be delighted at the chance to eat regularly at Lindy's. :)

Before that happens, two upcoming screenings might warm you up during this cold spell that's now hit New England. (It's 10 below outside as I write.)

On Saturday, Feb. 2, the good folks at the Campton Historical Society (in Campton N.H.) will hold their now-annual pot luck summer/silent movie night. It's free and the public is welcome, especially if you bring a dish to share at the supper, which starts at 5 p.m. (Here we go with food again, but every year some excellent dishes turn up at this event.)

The movie program, highlighted by Buster Keaton's 'Our Hospitality' (1923), begins at whatever time everyone finished eating. Usually that's about 6:15 p.m. or so.

The post-food attraction in Campton, N.H. on Saturday, Feb. 2.

It'll be interesting this year because I've volunteered to play bass tuba (my other instrument) for a youth concert in Manchester, N.H. that afternoon. It's about an hour and some change up to get to Campton, so if you see a green Subaru Forester bombing up Interstate 93 that afternoon, that'll be me trying to make it to Campton before all the vittles is gone.

More details about this show are on the "Upcoming Screenings" page. Hope to see you there, but make sure you leave some dinner for me, willya?

And then the week after that, it's Rudolph Valentino in 'The Eagle' (1925), a pre-Valentine's Day show on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre.

At Wilton, we usually run silents the last Sunday of the month, but that weekend I'm making my annual pilgrimage to the Kansas Silent Film Festival, so we moved the Wilton date up to take advantage of Valentino/Valentine's Day synergy.

Hope to see you at that one as well. For more info, check out the press release below.

* * *

Vilma Banky and Rudy Valentino generate heat in 'The Eagle' (1925).

THURSDAY, JAN. 31, 2019 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Warm up for Valentine's Day with Valentino at the Town Hall Theatre

'The Eagle' (1925), starring silent film icon Rudolph Valentino, to screen in Wilton, N.H. on Sunday, Feb. 10 with live music

WILTON, N.H.—He was the cinema’s first sex symbol, causing hordes of female moviegoers to flock to his pictures throughout the 1920s. He starred in films designed to show off his Latin looks, his smoldering eyes, and his dancer’s body. And his untimely death in 1926 prompted mob scenes at his funeral.

He was Rudolph Valentino, who remains an icon for on-screen passion long after he caused a sensation in the 1920s.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, one of Valentino’s most acclaimed films will be screened with live music on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 4:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

‘The Eagle’ (1925), a racy story set in Czarist Russia, proved one of his most popular features and marked a peak in his brief career.

Based on the novel Dubrovsky by Alexander Pushkin, ‘The Eagle’ casts Valentino as a lieutenant and expert horseman in the Russian army who catches the eye of Czarina Catherine II. After he rejects her advances and flees, she puts out a warrant for his arrest, dead or alive. When he learns that his father has been persecuted and killed in his hometown, he dons a black mask and becomes an outlaw, finding unexpected romance along the way.

The screening of ‘The Eagle’ will be accompanied by live music by local composer Jeff Rapsis. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $5 per person to defray expenses.

An Italian immigrant who arrived penniless at Ellis Island in 1913, Valentino rose to superstar status in a series of silent pictures that enflamed the passions of female movie-goers from coast to coast and around the world.

But he was more than a pretty face—during his career, critics praised Valentino as a versatile actor capable of playing a variety of roles; his achievements included popularizing the Argentinian tango in the 1921 drama ‘Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.’

‘The Eagle’ was Valentino’s next-to-last film, released the year before his unexpected death at age 31 from complications from peritonitis. Valentino's death in August 1926 occurred at the height of his career, inspiring mourning across the globe and a day-long mob scene at the actor’s New York City funeral.

But Valentino's brief stardom was defined by roles that brought a new level of exotic sexuality to the movies, causing a sensation at the time. In theaters, women openly swooned over Valentino’s on-screen image, especially in pictures such as ‘The Eagle,’ which featured foreign locales and elaborate costumes.

At its peak, Valentino's popularity was so immense that it inspired a backlash among many male movie-goers, who decried Valentino’s elegant image and mannerisms as effeminate.

Valentino’s sudden death fueled his status as a legendary romantic icon of the cinema. For years, a mysterious woman dressed in black would visit his grave at the Hollywood Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, leaving only a single red rose.

Valentino was aware of his effect on audiences, saying that “Women are not in love with me, but with the picture of me on the screen. I am merely the canvas upon which the women paint their dreams.”

‘The Eagle’ is the latest in the Town Hall Theatre's series of monthly silent film screenings with live music. The series aims to recreate the lost magic of early cinema by bringing together the elements needed for silent film to be seen at its best: superior films in best available prints; projection on the big screen; live musical accompaniment; and an audience.

“These films are still exciting experiences if you can show them as they were designed to be screened,” said Jeff Rapsis, the accompanist for the screenings. “There’s a reason people first fell in love with the movies, and we hope to recreate that spirit. At their best, silent films were communal experiences in which the presence of a large audience intensifies everyone’s reactions.”

Live music is a key element of each silent film screening, Rapsis said. Silent movies 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."

For each film, Rapsis improvises a music score using original themes he creates beforehand. None of the the music is written down; instead, the score evolves in real time based on audience reaction and the overall mood as the movie is screened.

‘The Eagle’ will be shown on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 4:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

Upcoming features in the Town Hall Theater's silent film series include:

• Sunday, March 24, 2019, 4:30 p.m.: "Seven Chances" (1925) starring Buster Keaton. In this 1925 farce, Buster is about to be saved from bankruptcy by an unexpected inheritance of $7 million—but only if he gets married by 7 p.m. that very day. One of Keaton's best comedies, climaxed by one of the great chase scenes in all film, silent or otherwise.

The next installment in the Town Hall Theatre's silent film series will be ‘The Eagle’ (1925), to be screened with live music by Jeff Rapsis on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 4:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. Admission is free; a donation of $5 per person is suggested to help defray expenses. For more info, visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com or call (603) 654-3456.

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.

Musical adventures in public schools: Accompanying silent film and a live 'Hunchback'

Buster and his army of would-be brides can still crack up the middle school crowd.

Did you know kids don't learn to read or write in cursive anymore?

Well, school is where you're supposed to learn, and that's something I learned last week during a spate of accompaniment gigs that took me to a couple of local public schools.

The revelation that kids aren't learning cursive came during a screening of Buster Keaton's 'Seven Chances' (1925) at Antrim (N.H.) Town Hall, where each spring I do a program for students at nearby Great Brook Middle School.

When Buster's girlfriend composes a simple handwritten note on-camera, I was surprised when the program's coordinator, Mrs. Maryanne Cullinan, read the note out loud "for those of you who don't know cursive."

Don't know cursive? Really? Turns out that cursive has apparently become a casualty of the keyboard. Districts in all parts of the nation have quietly abandoned the teaching of cursive, which is seen as increasingly irrelevant and not worth the time and effort. "Keyboarding" is in, cursive is out.

Wow! Onward marches the human race, I guess. But that's one more little thing that makes silent film more of a curiosity that has to be explained. (The same thing could be said about me as well!) I used to imagine myself in old age reminiscing about getting through college using a typewriter and Korect-O-Type. Now I can add "we used to read and write in cursive, too" to my old fogy repertoire.

The good news is that unfamiliarity with cursive didn't stop the students from completely embracing 'Seven Chances.' Yes, they made some funny noises when Buster and his gal kissed on-screen (it's middle school, after all), but they were fully engaged from start to finish. The last 15 minutes (culminating with the rock slide) was greeted by constant, astonished laughter, to borrow a phrase from Walter Kerr's great book 'The Silent Clowns.'

Odd that Keaton himself thought so little of 'Seven Chances,' when I've found that audiences totally buy it. It, well, rocks. I'm looking forward to doing music for it at the next Buster Keaton Festival in Iola, Kansas this coming September, when I'm slated to be the house accompanist. (Hey, another rock reference!)

Another recent public school project wasn't silent film, but a distant cousin. It was doing underscoring for a live action high school play.

Last fall, I got a call from Fran White, who's in charge of the theater program at Merrimack (N.H.) High School, which is the town next door to where I live.

For her spring production, Fran was staging a dramatic adaptation of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame,' and wanted to know if I'd provide musical underscoring to help it all hold together. She knew of me, and knew of the Lon Chaney silent film version, so I got the call.

The dates were open, so I didn't hesitate. Yes! I had just finished accompanying several presentations of 'The Moving Panorama,' a 19th century tapestry depicting the story of John Bunyan's 'A Pilgrim's Progress.' Presented by a museum in Saco, Maine, it was an interesting change of pace from silent film accompaniment, and I thought the high school production of 'Notre Dame' would be equally absorbing.

So next thing I knew, it was May, and I was being fingerprinted in the basement of the superintendent of school's office, a prerequisite for working with kids in the public schools these days. They'd been rehearsing for a couple of months, so the show was pretty much all together by the time I came on scene.

Some of the 'Hunchback' cast on stage prior to a run-through.

All it took was one session with Fran to go over where music was required (scene changes and the like), and then she left the rest up to me. So I set up my Korg synthesizer and there I was, doing what I usually do in a darkened theater, only now with real live actors and actresses on stage, and actually speaking lines!

And I found that the same dramatic instincts developed in supporting silent film also apply to stage productions, with the exception of the need for continuous music. And a little goes a long way: just throwing a bass note underneath an ominous scene can add a whole extra dimension to what's happening onstage.

So sometimes it's more like sound effects or atmosphere rather than full musical accompaniment. Interesting, and something I'd like to work on back in the silent film arena.

Because it was a stage play and not a musical, I had to be careful to avoid overdoing the music. And I had to be extra careful about not covering up any spoken lines, which I did by trying to keep any underscoring in different ranges than the voices of the characters. After we'd run through the show a couple of times, the only request Fran had was for me to not do any music during scenes with just two characters.

I really liked the way she put it: that the music was so strong and had such a presence that it was like a whole additional character, and so was too much for those scenes. Now there's someone who should work for the state department!

And the kids were great! Many cast members were seniors, and so the end-of-year sense of excitement was palpable. I'd lost track of what that felt like, but there it was! The whole scene brought back the best vibes of when I did a lot of theater, including playing Billy Bigelow in my senior class production of 'Carousel.' (I had hoped we would do Sweeney Todd, but no dice.)

My God, was that 30 years ago? But there we were all over again, reinvented as students at Merrimack High School, and now putting on 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame.'

If you worry or wonder about young people today, do what I did. Find a way to be involved in a local high school. It'll reaffirm the idea that most kids are capable and considerate young people with good heads on their shoulders and as full of dreams and possibilities as you were at that stage in life. (And I hope you still are.)

As I say about the college classes I teach, I get as much if not more from the students than they get from me. The same thing was true about doing 'Hunchback' at Merrimack High School. It was a very rewarding experience, and a thrill to help them put on a show that drew strong audience reaction for all three performances.

So best of luck to the graduates! I really enjoyed working with everyone, I hope you have a great summer, and to those going into the healthcare field, I really look forward to someday reminiscing about my typewriter while you care for me in some nursing home of the future. :)

'Faust' (1926) postponed to Sunday, Nov. 6

The big snowstorm that hit our corner of the world this past weekend left the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre without power, and so the planned screening of 'Faust' (1926) on Sunday, Oct. 30 has been postponed to Sunday, Nov. 6 at 4:30 p.m.

I wasn't able to update this blog until now (Monday morning) because it's the first Internet access I've had since the storm hit our area on Saturday. Yes, the storm itself had blown over by Sunday morning. But what it left behind was a landscape of downed trees and power lines, and no landline or cellphone service. Fortunately for us, our house in Bedford, N.H. had power restored fairly early; even now, large parts of our town are without power, and it could take several days to restore everyone, I'm told.

Having no way of knowing if the Wilton screening was still on, I loaded up the gear and off I went. I found the roads into Wilton barricaded due to downed trees, but managed to thread my way through back streets to the downtown area. There, theater manager Dennis Markavarich had posted handwritten "CLOSED NO POWER" signs on the doors, but I knocked and he was there anyway. The town (and the theater) had lost power on Saturday night, and no one knew when it might be restored. Later, I discovered (see the map) that Wilton was right in the heaviest bands of snow.

Well, I apologize to anyone else who may have made the trek out there to see 'Faust.' With no power, we had no show, and we had no way to make a decision about it beforehand and get out the word. However, it's still a film that's really worth seeing, and so I hope folks can make it out to our "replacement" showing on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 4:30 p.m. We're also screening Buster Keaton's comedy short 'The Haunted House,' (1922), in honor of Halloween but also because it contains, improbably, a big reference to 'Faust.'

Back in Wilton, phone service had also been lost completely, prompting the town to put temporary signs along roads telling people to drive to the fire department in case of emergency. But what was really unusual was the lines of cars at gas stations -- in some cases, dozens of vehicles snaking out of station parking lots and down roads, blocking traffic lanes and so on. It reminded me of the gas shortage lines of the 1970s. It was, of course, the combination of many stations closed with people needing fuel for gas-powered generators. Back where I live in Bedford, with 60 percent of the town is still without power, after dark the cold landscape throbbed with the asymetric hum of generators running all night.

What does this have to do with silent film? Other than some of the gas lines having the potential to deteriorate into scenes similar to Laurel & Hardy's comedy short 'Two Tars,' not much. But I at least wanted to try getting the word out about our changing plans.

By the way, we're still showing 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) at the Manchester (N.H.) Public Library on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 6 p.m. -- unless we get another two feet of snow between now and then. After Hurricane Irene in August and now this, anything's possible.

Update: It's now Monday evening (Oct. 31), and I've seen news reports this evening that describe Wilton as one of the hardest-hit communities in the state. There's even a small chance that the power may not be on by this next weekend, so keep your fingers crossed and we'll update things as they happen.