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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As a performer, Keaton was uniquely suited to the demands of silent comedy. Born in 1895, he made his stage debut as a toddler, joining his family's knockabout vaudeville act and learning to take falls and do acrobatic stunts at an early age. He spent his entire childhood and adolescence on stage, attending school for exactly one day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I can date my interest in vintage cinema thanks to one man: Mr. Oliver Norvell Hardy

As I now know, this is Mr. Hardy, not Mr. Laurel.

When asked, I sometimes say I've enjoyed older movies my whole entire life.

But that's not quite accurate. To be precise, I would have to say my interest in vintage cinema dates from one exact day: Jan. 18, 1977.

Why then? Because that day happens to be the birthday of "Ollie," otherwise known as actor Oliver Norvell Hardy, one half of the comedy duo Laurel & Hardy.

And it was the announcement of Hardy's birthdate on a local radio station's almanac that morning that got my 7th-grade mind thinking.

Don't ask me why or how I remember this so clearly, but I do. I remember it was a Tuesday—and I just checked and it really was a Tuesday! So you know this is on the level. :)

I recall sitting at the kitchen counter in our home in Nashua, N.H. poking over a bowl of cereal before heading out for the loooong walk to yet another day at Spring Street Junior High School.

Spring Street Junior High in downtown Nashua, N.H., long since torn down.

The walk was long (about 1.2 miles) because we lived just inside the limits of the school's bus routes. But that's another story.

Like many households in my hometown at the time, the kitchen radio was glued to WSMN-AM 1590, a local station that broadcast local Weather, Sports, Music and News (get it?) all day long.

Unlike Spring Street Junior High, the radio station is still around: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSMN.

Back then, our morning routine was driven largely by the station's programming schedule. Example: If you were still home when the obituary report came on, you were late for school!

(Yes, they actually broadcast a daily obituary report, complete with organ music and a recording of 'The Old Rugged Cross.')

Anyway! Whoever was on air would occasionally read almanac items to fill time until the news, or the next commercial for Eddie's Bedding or Hammar Hardware.

And on that morning of Tuesday, Jan. 18, I learned that it was the birthday of noted film comedian Oliver Hardy, "born this date in 1892."

One reason that clicked was that the front entrance to Amherst Street Elementary School, where I'd just spent six years, had a big stone block embedded in it with that very date: 1892!

But there was more. I'd just discovered Laurel and Hardy through their films on Channel 38, a UHF station out of Boston that at the time was heavy on old-time programs: re-runs of sit-coms, the Three Stooges, and occasionally older stuff like the Laurel & Hardy shorts and features.

I enjoyed it all, just like any other TV-mesmerized kid of my generation.

But something about hearing that today was the birthday of one of the people I'd been watching—and the realization that he was a real person and not just some cartoon on TV—pushed my 13-year-old brain into curiosity mode.

Oliver Hardy. I remember actually thinking the fat one was "Laurel" because that sounded to me like what a fat guy would be named, and so the skinny guy must be Hardy. Was that right?

And if today was his birthday, and he was born in 1892, I figured he was now...87 years old! And I was 13, so together that made 100.

But did I have the right guy? Was he the fat one or the skinny one?

This led me to pick up the thick "1975 WORLD ALMANAC and BOOK OF FACTS" that was laying around (our version of Google in the pre-Internet era) and found a page on "Celebrity Births and Deaths."

Wow! I found a picture of the 1975 World Almanac AND paneling that's exactly like what was in our semi-finished basement and rumpus room!

And sure enough, there he was: Oliver Norvell Hardy, film comedian, 1892-1957. What? Mr. Hardy wasn't 87 years old. He was dead!

And I still wasn't sure if he was the fat one or the skinny one, but something about it started me on a journey that took me to the shelves of film books at the Nashua Public Library, which had a handful of books on comedy and yes, was able to get a much better idea of the lives of both Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy, including who was who.

Not long after that, a music teacher at Spring Street named Mr. Salvo began bringing in 16mm prints of the Chaplin Mutuals (his immortal two-reel comedies from 1916 and 1917) to run in study hall to entertain bored students.

Most students remained bored, but thanks to my research on Mr. Hardy, I was now ready to find out a lot more about Mr. Chaplin. Who was he? What was he like? What were his dates?

So back to the library I went. And journey of discovery, although put aside at times, has never really ended.

And so today, on Jan. 18, 2017—a full 40 years later to the day!—I say thank you, Ollie. And happy birthday once again!

Chaplin: silent film's gateway drug (See for yourself on Thursday, Nov. 15...)

A couple of Chaplin programs coming up this month, so a few thoughts about how his comedies are often the way that folks first get curious about silent film.

That was the case with me. My first exposure to silent film was Chaplin's two-reeler 'One A.M.,' a Mutual comedy from 1916, which was shown in a 7th grade study hall by a music teacher who was also a film buff.

It was a 16mm print from Blackhawk films, and I was entranced. Mr. Salvo, the music teacher, explained that this one was noteworthy because Mr. Chaplin was entirely alone, except for a brief appearance early on by Mr. Albert Austin as a taxi driver.

Even then, something in me was marching to the beat of a different drummer. While my classmates dozed, I couldn't get enough of the antique antics I was seeing. I was especially taken by the idea of Chaplin carrying a movie all by himself.

I had heard of Chaplin (Who knows how exactly? Perhaps watching Lucille Ball imitate him?) of course, and somehow knew he was considered the greatest of the great. But here he was actually doing the stuff that made that reputation. To my 7th grade mind, it was like finding the source to the Nile.

Mr. Salvo (after all these years, I still can't bring myself to refer to him as anything else) brought in other prints from his film collection, and eventually invited a small group of us to his home for screenings -- a very big deal in the days before home video.

He had what seemed to be an immense film collection, as well as a projector set up in a closet. The image was thrown via two mirrors to a large screen mounted on an outside rooftop deck high above the streets of Nashua, N.H. With the canopy of trees, it had a kind of Swiss Family Robinson feel to it.

And that led to the Blackhawk film catalog, and soon I was saving up for Super 8mm prints of Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel & Hardy and more. And that, in turn, led to the library and Walter Kerr's 'The Silent Clowns,' a book so packed with analysis and observation that I am still finding new things in it, all these years later.

So watch out, unsuspecting film-goers! Our upcoming Chaplin programs may hook you in the same way I became hooked back in 7th grade. And I wouldn't be happier.

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Get your Chaplin fix on Thursday, Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 South Main St., Plymouth, N.H.; (603) 536-2551; http://www.flyingmonkeynh.com/. A collection of comedy short films that trace Chaplin's rise from unknown comedian to the most popular star in all of early cinema. Get ready to laugh, as they don't make 'em like this anymore! Part of a monthly silent film series at a newly restored moviehouse in Plymouth, N.H. Admission, $10 per person.

"Double" feature: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1920)

Geez, with so many creepy films on tap, it must be getting close to Halloween. We have Alfred Hitchcock's murderous 'The Lodger' (1927) on Saturday, Oct. 2 at 4:30 p.m. in Wilton, N.H., and then John Barrymore in the original 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' (1920) on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. at the Manchester (N.H.) Public Library.

For info on 'The Lodger,' see the post prior to this one.

I'm looking forward to 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde' (1920) on Tuesday, Oct. 4. The story is one of those great innovative tales that an author (in this case, Robert Louis Stevenson) comes up once in awhile, and you wonder how no one ever thought of it before. Though published as a novella, the tale seems tailor-made for the movies, and so it's no surprise that it's been made into something like a dozen different versions.

The Barrymore film holds up well, I think. I saw an interesting comment about this version on the Internet Movie Database site: that this original version benefits from being so antique, the Victorian atmosphere is achieved more naturally than in many technically superior remakes!

This is aligned with something I've come to believe -- that the more time that passes, silent film will become more interesting because it captures life in a way that no other medium can.

Weird trivia department: the Wikipedia entry for this film lists avant garde composer Edgard Varèse as playing a policeman! But that's Wikipedia for you.

I sometimes joke that in doing music for silent film, I'm collaborating with dead people. Regarding the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I once collaborated on a stage adaptation of the work with author Kurt Vonnegut, who was very much alive at the time, although he didn't know we were working together.

What happened was that some time in the 1970s, Vonnegut had sketched out a wacky musical comedy treatment of the Jekyll and Hyde story that was never produced. No songs were written, but he thought enough of it to include the script in 'Palm Sunday,' a collage of non-fiction and other material that was published in 1980. (At right is a picture of Vonnegut from about that time. He died, alas, in 2007.)

After graduating from college in 1986, I returned to my hometown of Nashua, N.H., where I found myself in charge of directing an annual student-produced musical variety show at my former high school. For a really slam-bang second act, I figured we'd take Vonnegut's treatment and actually get it on stage.

So I wrote songs where Vonnegut indicated they should go, and off we went. I had a college friend in New York City who actually worked for Vonnegut's wife, Jill Krementz, and I was hoping to use that connection to get the author to attend. It didn't happen -- to our surprise, the internationally acclaimed author had other fish to fry. For a while there, though, it was like 'Waiting for Guffman,' or Godot, or some such thing.

Still, it was a lot of fun. Among Vonnegut's tweaks to the story was to have Dr. Jekyll use LSD in his potion and turn into a giant homicidal chicken, all of which we staged. It was pretty subversive stuff for high school theater, but that all now seems like a lifetime ago. Any cast members out there? Whitney Rearick, whatever happened to you?

Well, here we go again with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde -- this time, the 1920 film version (no homicidal chickens) on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. at the Manchester (N.H.) Public Library. Hope to see you there! Here's the press release...

MONDAY, SEPT. 19, 2011 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Original 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde' to screen Tuesday, Oct. 4 at Manchester Public Library

Silent film thriller starring John Barrymore to be shown on the big screen with live music

MANCHESTER, N.H.—It was a sensational best-selling novel, then an immensely popular stage play. So it was just a matter of time before the movies tackled 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde,' Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of a man tortured by two personalities—one thoroughly good and the other completely evil.

'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde' (1920), the original silent film adaptation of Stevenson's classic story, will be shown at the Manchester (N.H.) Public Library on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. The program, the latest in the library's silent film series, will be accompanied by live music performed by silent film composer Jeff Rapsis. Admission is free, with donations welcome.

Starring iconic actor John Barrymore, the film was a huge early hit for Paramount Pictures. It helped establish the "thriller" genre and showed the potential of the movies to vividly tell disturbing and creepy stories.

Dr. Jekyll, a London physician and philanthropist, becomes fascinated with the dual nature of man after the profligate Sir George Carew exposes him to temptation. When Jekyll invents a potion that separates the good from the evil in a person, he decides to live both roles and names the evil persona Mr. Hyde.

Jekyll is in love with Millicent, the daughter of Sir George; meanwhile, Hyde prowls the poorer districts of London, debases and discards Theresa, a dance hall performer. Jekyll's control over Hyde weakens gradually to the point where his alter ego resorts to murder, forcing Hyde into a showdown to save his loved ones and reign in the evil he himself has spawned.

The film put Barrymore, a noted stage actor, on the cinematic map. Following 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde,' Barrymore would go on to be one of the biggest stars of early cinema. His handsome visage, dubbed "the great profile," was instantly recognizable to movie-goers of the time, who flocked to see Barrymore in later films such as 'Sherlock Holmes' (1922), 'Don Juan' (1926), and 'The Beloved Rogue' (1927).

Barrymore's performance in 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde' is noteworthy in part because, in an era of limited special effects, his portrayal of the early stages of Jekyll's transformation was done using only facial expressions and gestures. Make-up was only used later in the film following the full transformation of the Hyde character.

Stevenson's story has been refilmed many times, including versions in 1931 and 1941, and was most recently remade in 2008 as a TV movie starring Dougray Scott.

In screening the original 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde,' the Manchester Public Library aims to recreate all essential elements of silent film experience: high quality prints shown on a large screen, with live music and an audience.

"These films caused people to fall in love with the movies for a very good reason," said Jeff Rapsis, who will improvise a musical score during the screening. "They were unique experiences, and if you can recreate the conditions under which they were shown, they have a great deal of life in them. Though they're the ancestors of today's movies, silent film is a very different art form than what you see at the multiplex today, so it's worth checking out as something totally different."

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

‘Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde' will be shown on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. in the Manchester Public Library's Carpenter Auditorium, 405 Pine St., Manchester, N.H.; (603) 624-6550. Free admission; donations encouraged. For more information on the library, visit http://www.manchesternh.gov. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.