On Sunday: 'Within Our Gates' (and maybe a second feature) at the Somerville Theatre

From Oscar Micheaux's drama 'Within Our Gates' (1920).

Sunday, Feb. 5 takes me down to Davis Square in Somerville, Mass., for the relaunch of the Somerville Theatre's 'Silents, Please!' series.

I'll accompany 'Within Our Gates' (1920), a "race drama" directed by Oscar Micheaux that's being screened in honor of Black History Month.

Showtime is 2 p.m. More details about the film and the full 'Silents, Please!' schedule are included in a press release pasted in below.

'Within Our Gates' is hailed as something of a breakthrough: it was the first U.S. feature-length film directed by an African-American. 

The movie was intended for "Black Only" movie theaters that flourished in certain parts of the U.S. during the Jim Crow era. 

Much of the product for that market was produced on shoestring budgets by small companies (many in Florida) that often vanished when the rent came due. 

As a young Black filmmaker, race movies were the only outlet open to Micheaux. Despite the limitations, he was aiming for something more, as seen in 'Within Our Gates.'

Unusual for its time, the film tackles head-on the racism that was pervasive in the U.S. at the time. 

A hundred years later, have things changed all that much? See the film, and decide for yourself.

The film will be shown via a 35mm print on loan from our friends at the Library of Congress. 

In shipping 'Within Our Gates,' the LOC included a 35mm print of a second film that we didn't specifically request.

It's 'The Other Woman's Story' (1925), a seemingly routine courtroom drama with absolutely nothing to do with Black History Month.

But then, as Paul Harvey used to say, there's "...the rest of the story." 

Turns out one of the lead actresses in 'The Other Woman's Story,' Helen Lee Worthing would shortly become infamous for...marrying an African-American!

This was at a time when interracial marriage was actually against the law in California and many other states. 

The resulting scandal and ongoing furor in the press not only caused the marriage to break down, but led to Worthing's involuntary commitment to an insane asylum a few years later. She died in 1948, at the young age of 52.

I won't say any more in case the theater does run the film. I hope they do. It's a rare chance to see one of Helen Lee Worthing's few surviving films—and I've never had a chance to do music for it before.

Cross your fingers!

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A scene from 'Within Our Gates' (1920).

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 25, 2023 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'Within Our Gates' on Sunday, Feb. 5 opens Somerville Theatre's 2023 'Silents Please!' series

First feature-length film directed by African-American to be screened in 35mm with live music to honor Black History Month

SOMERVILLE, Mass.—They're back where they belong: on the big screen.

Classic motion pictures from Hollywood's early days, shown using 35mm prints and accompanied with live music, mark the return of the Somerville Theatre's 'Silents, Please,' a long-running series at the Davis Square moviehouse.

The 2023 line-up kicks off on Sunday, Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. with a screening of 'Within Our Gates' (1920), the first U.S. feature-length film to be directed by an African-American, Oscar Micheaux.

The movie—a ground-breaking drama that deals directly with racism in the U.S. as experienced a century ago—will be shown in honor of Black History Month.

The plot features an African-American woman who goes North in an effort to raise money for a rural school in the Deep South for poor black children. Her romance with a Black doctor eventually leads to revelations about her family's past and her own mixed-race, European ancestry.

Tickets $16; seniors/children $12. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.somervilletheatre.com or call the box office at (617) 625-5700.

'Within Our Gates' was produced at a time when the mainstream Hollywood film industry was shut off to Black Americans.

Micheaux (at left, in a formal portrait) was able to self-produce 'Within Our Gates' on a shoestring budget and outside the studio system.

'Within Our Gates' portrays the contemporary racial situation in the U.S. during the early 20th century—the years of Jim Crow, the revival of the Ku Klux Klan, and the Great Migration of Blacks to cities of the North and Midwest.

At the time, it was part of an emerging genre known as "race films"—pictures intended for segregated Black-only movie theaters that existed primarily in the U.S. south from the 1920s until after World War II.

The film portrays racial violence under white supremacy. It was produced, written and directed by Micheaux.

'Within Our Gates' stirred up considerable controversy during its original release because it contained a scene in which a Black man is lynched by a white mob.

At first the film, which eventually had its premiere in Chicago, was rejected by the Chicago Board of Movie Censors who were afraid the movie could possibly inspire a race riot. However, a second screening of the film by the press, Chicago politicians, and prominent members of the Black community convinced the Censors to grant the film a permit since it addressed horrendous conditions that needed reform.

Not everyone agreed with this assessment, however, and some of the most vigorous protests against the film came from Black activists.

Not surprisingly, white theatre owners in the south who catered to Black patronage were also offended by 'Within Our Gates' and refused to book it. One theatre owner in Shreveport, La., admitted "it was a very dangerous picture to show in the south" and his comment was typical for the region.

Micheaux, no stranger to controversy, refused to compromise his material despite being locked out of numerous distribution channels and went on to tackle other unpopular but equally topical problems in films like 'God's Stepchildren' (1938), in which a light-skinned African-American tries to pass for Caucasian, and 'Birthright' (1939), the story of a Black Harvard graduate who encounters opposition from both whites and members of his own race.

While Micheaux was well aware that audiences wanted to be entertained, he also felt it was his duty to confront challenging issues that would, in his words, "leave an impression" on audiences.

Michaeux died in 1951 at age 67, having independently produced a total of 44 films and earned a reputation as the most successful African-American filmmaker of the first half of the 20th century.

For many years, 'Within Our Gates' was regarded as a lost film. However, a single copy turned up in Spain in the 1970s. The version to be screened at the Somerville Theatre descends from this single surviving copy.

The precursor to Black History Month was Black History Week, established in 1926 to coincide with the birthday of Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 12 and Frederick Douglass on Feb. 14. Primary emphasis was placed on encouraging the coordinated teaching of the history of American Blacks in the nation's public schools.

In 1976, the expansion to Black History Month was officially recognized by the U.S. government. At the time, President Gerald Ford urged Americans to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history."

Following 'Within Our Gates,' the 'Silents, Please!' schedule features a broad range of titles, from well-known classics to obscure films rarely seen since their release, which in some cases was more than a century ago.

Several programs are double bills on a common theme, such as a July program saluting 'Canada Day' with two films set in the Canadian West. All films in the series will be shown using 35mm prints, with most on loan from the U.S. Library of Congress.

A roster of upcoming films includes:

• Sunday, March 5, 2023, 2 p.m.: 'Annie Laurie' (1927) starring Lillian Gish and 'Cinderella' (1914). Celebrate Women's History Month with a double feature of two films featuring leading ladies of early Hollywood. 'Annie Laurie' (1927), a rarely-screened MGM epic about warring Scottish clans, features silent-era megastar Lillian Gish as leading lady while legions of men in kilts do battle. Plus, an early adaptation of 'Cinderella' (1914) starring film industry pioneer Mary Pickford.

• Sunday, May 7, 2023, 2 p.m.: Buster Keaton 'Boats and Trains' Double Feature! Two Keaton classics in which Buster creates large-scale comedy with big machines. In 'Steamboat Bill, Jr.' (1928), Buster plays the effete college-educated son of a rough-hewn riverboat captain who must help his father fight a domineering businessman—who just happens to be the father of Buster's girlfriend. In 'The General' (1926), Buster's Civil War-era masterpiece tells the story of a Confederate railroad engineer whose train is hijacked by Northern spies.

• Sunday, July 9, 2023, 2 p.m.: Salute to Canada Double Feature! To mark "Canada Day" (July 1), we salute our neighbors with a double helping of vintage cinema set north of the border. In 'Mantrap' (1926), silent-era "It" girl Clara Bow stars in a battle-of-the-sexes comedy about a big city divorce lawyer hoping to get away from it all at a Canadian wilderness retreat. 'The Canadian' (1926) stars Thomas Meighan in the tale of a pioneering couple homesteading in Alberta, where they battle bad weather and financial woes.

• Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023, 2 p.m.: 'The Fire Brigade' (1926). MGM’s blockbuster production stars Charles Ray as the youngest in a long line of fearless Irish American firefighters. Things get complicated when he falls in love with the daughter (May McEvoy) of a crooked building contractor. Spectacular fire sequences with hand-colored effects included in this recent Library of Congress restoration.

• Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023, 2 p.m.: 'The Big Parade' (1925) starring John Gilbert, Renée Adoree. 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.

'Within Our Gates' (1920), a silent drama directed by Oscar Micheaux, will be shown in 35mm with live music on Sunday, Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass.  Tickets $16; seniors/children $12. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.somervilletheatre.com or call the box office at (617) 625-5700.

Live music for three films in a single day: 'Docks' and 'Hell's Hinges' and 'Go West,' oh my!

Betty Compson and George Bancroft in 'The Docks of New York' (1928), directed by Josef von Sternberg.

It's one of the very best films from the silent era. And I get to do live music for it tomorrow.

It's 'The Docks of New York' (1928), a drama running in 35mm at the Somerville (Mass.) Theatre on Sunday, July 8 at 2 p.m.

More details about the movie and the screening in the press release pasted in below.

It's the latest installment of the Somerville's 'Silents, Please!' series, and I've been looking forward to this one for awhile.

Why? Because it's a late silent (one of the last from Paramount) that shows the medium at the height of its power and eloquence.

Directed by Josef von Sternberg, the movie uses light and shadow, camera placement and atmosphere, and features a cast of great faces: George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Clive Cook, Olga Baclanova, and Gustav von Seffertitz, among others.

Extras seem to have been chosen in a kind of reverse beauty pageant, and the whole run-down waterfront saloon atmosphere and its ballet of light and shadow is captured in masterful black & white by cinematographer Harold Rosson, who would go on to win an Academy Award a decade later for his work on MGM's 'The Wizard of Oz' (1939).

To add to the anticipation, legendary Somerville Theatre projectionist David Kornfeld reports that the print (from the UCLA Archive) looks fantastic.

To quote David:

"We have a gorgeous print, with ravishing density, courtesy of our friends at UCLA. I ran it last night & it will blow you away!

Well, you can't get better marks than that.

So if you think movies from the silent era were all primitive "flickahs" accompanied by rinky-tink piano music, please attend.

(Weirdly, there are two long sequences in 'Docks' that really do call for rinky-tink piano music. But it's in the context of a run-down waterfront saloon.)

Later the same day, I'm at the Aeronaut Brewing Co. (also in Somerville), where we're screening a Western double feature that's half drama and half comedy.

For drama, it's the deadly serious 'Hell's Hinges' (1916), an early William S. Hart effort.

And for comedy, it's 'Go West' (1925), Buster Keaton's send-up of the genre.

I've wanted to try something like this for a long time—to see if running a serious film first, and then a parody after it, makes any difference in the comedy.

A lot of silent film comedy consists of sending up popular films of the period. So, after John Barrymore's 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde' came out, Stan Laurel starred in 'Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pride.'

To audiences at the time, the comedy was playing off a popular film that most people had recently seen.

But to us today, it's hard to recreate that context unless you show both films. And that's a problematic thing to do.

Why? Because the comedy/parody is usually 20 minutes or less, while the film it mocks is often a full-length feature.

So if you show the comedy first (the usual position in a program), the audience hasn't yet seen the feature.

But if you show the comedy after the feature...well, a short film doesn't seem like the way to end a program, does it?

My solution was to take two relatively short features (both are about one hour) and run them back-to-back.

So on Sunday, night, Hart's 'Hell's Hinges' will function as the set-up, while Keaton's 'Go West' will be the pay off.

Will it work? Join us and find out. In addition to the press release for 'Docks of New York,' I'm also pasting in the press release for the Aeronaut screening as well.

See you at one, the other, or both!

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TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 2018 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Cinematic masterpiece 'Docks of New York' to screen Sunday, July 8 at Somerville Theatre

Josef von Sternberg's silent working class drama to be shown in 35mm on the big screen with live music

SOMERVILLE, Mass.—It's a rare chance to see a masterpiece of early cinema presented as intended: via 35mm film, on the big screen, with live music and in an actual theater.

It's 'The Docks of New York' (1928), a working class drama directed by Josef Von Sternberg, to be shown at the Somerville Theatre on Sunday, July 8 at 2 p.m.

Live music will be provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis. Admission is $15 per person, $12 students/seniors.

It's the latest installment of the Somerville's 'Silents, Please!' series, which gives movie-goers a chance to experience great pictures of the silent era as originally presented.

"Seeing these great pictures on actual 35mm film and in a theater with live music is an opportunity that's increasingly rare," said Ian Judge, manager of the Somerville Theatre.

"But it's the only way to really understand why people first fell in love with movies, and why these pictures were so popular in their day."

Betty Compson and George Bancroft in 'The Docks of New York' (1928).

'The Docks of New York,' one of the last silent films released by Paramount Pictures, explores the lives and loves of lower-class waterfront denizens.

Roughneck stoker Bill Roberts (George Bancroft) falls for Mae (Betty Compson), a wise and weary dance-hall girl. But the relationship changes Roberts' hard-luck life in unexpected ways.

Fog-shrouded cinematography by Harold Rosson ('The Wizard of Oz'), expressionist set design by Hans Dreier ('Sunset Boulevard'), and sensual performances by Bancroft and Compson make this one of the legendary director Joseph von Sternberg’s finest works.

The film was daring for a Hollywood picture at the time for its realism: the unflinching and unromantic portrayal of working class people, and its refusal to rely on traditional story formulas and outcomes.

Unlike many early movie directors, von Sternberg emphasized the visual quality of his pictures, using lighting and scene composition in new and innovative ways.

Working as a studio director for Paramount, the native Austrian was aided by the increasing ability of black-and-white film stock by the mid-1920s to capture light and shadows.

The result was a series of ground-breaking dramas at the very end of the silent era, including 'Underworld' (1927) and 'The Last Command' (1928), the latter which helped Emil Jannings win "Best Actor" at the first-ever Academy Awards ceremony.

After the transition to talking pictures, von Sternberg discovered German actress Marlene Dietrich, inviting her to Hollywood to make a series of highly successful pictures under his direction.

With their moody lighting and extensive use of shadows, von Sternberg's films are widely acknowledged as paving the way for the "film noir" look that took hold in Hollywood in subsequent decades.

Although von Sternberg's directing career faded in the 1950s, his legacy continues today in surprising places—including the field of early rock music.

Between 1959 and 1963, Sternberg taught a course on film aesthetics at the University of California at Los Angeles, based on his own works. His students included Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek, who went on to form the rock group The Doors.

The group recorded songs referring to Sternberg. Manzarek has described Sternberg as "perhaps the greatest single influence on The Doors."

'Docks of New York' was released at the very end of the silent era, causing it to be overlooked by critics at the time.

Previewed by the New York City press during the same week that saw the fanfare opening of Al Jolson’s 'The Singing Fool,' Sternberg’s film was ignored in the excitement over competing talking pictures.

Film critic Andrew Sarris lamented that Sternberg’s film “quickly vanished in undeserved oblivion...confirm[ing] Chaplin’s observation that the silent movies learned their craft just about the time they went out of business.”

Museum of Modern Art film curator Charles Silver ranked The Docks of New York as “probably the last genuinely great silent film made in Hollywood [rivaling] Chaplin’s masterpieces of the 1930s.”

Upcoming programs in the Somerville's silent film series include:

• Sunday, Aug. 12: a selection of Laurel & Hardy's rarely screened silent comedies, all in 35mm prints from the Library of Congress, including 'Big Business' (1929), 'The Finishing Touch' (1928), 'You're Darn Tootin'' (1928), and 'Call of the Cuckoos' (1927).

‘The Docks of New York' (1928) will be shown on Sunday, July 8 at 2 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass. Tickets are $15 adults, $12 students/seniors. For more information, visit www.somervilletheatre.com or call (617) 625-4088.

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And here's a release for the Aeronaut double feature...

Buster and his co-star Brown Eyes in 'Go West' (1925).

THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2018 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'Go West' with Buster Keaton at Aeronaut Brewing Co. on Sunday, July 8

Classic silent film comedy masterpiece to be screened with live musical accompaniment

SOMERVILLE, Mass.—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 'Go West' (1925), one of Keaton's landmark feature films, on Sunday, July 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Aeronaut Brewing Co., 14 Tyler St., Somerville, Mass. Admission $10 per person, limited seating. Tickets available through eventbrite.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/377955156024833/
Eventbrite: www.aeronaut-film.eventbrite.com

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

The program will include an early western, 'Hell's Hinges' (1916), starring William S. Hart.

The screening is part of the Aeronaut's commitment to give local artists and audiences a chance to connect in the brewery's performance space.

In 'Go West,' Buster heads out to ranch country, where the stone-faced comedian encounters romance with—a cow! Can he save his love from a trip to the livestock yards? Rustle up some belly laughs as Buster must once again prove himself worthy to all those who doubt him.

Buster Keaton heeds the title in 'Go West.'

'Go West' was an unusual film for Keaton. With its portrayal of a down-and-out wanderer who becomes a reluctant hero, 'Go West' could have been a vehicle for Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp.

The film was praised by critics and did well at the box office, but today is lesser known than Keaton classics such as 'The Navigator' (1924) and 'The General' (1926).

Co-starring in 'Go West' is a mourn-faced cow named Brown Eyes, with whom Keaton worked extensively prior to the filming. Brown Eyes received a credit in the movie, and even got a salary of $13 a week for her acting.

Keaton's female co-star is actress Kathleen Myers. Joe Keaton, the comedian's father and a popular vaudeville performer, appears briefly in a barbershop scene.

Much of 'Go West' was shot on location in Kingman, Ariz., during the summer of 1925, in temperatures approaching 120 degrees.

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

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

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

‘Go West' (1925) starring Buster Keaton will be shown with live music on Sunday, July 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Aeronaut Brewing Co., 14 Tyler St., Somerville, Mass. Admission $10 per person, limited seating; tickets available through eventbrite.com.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/377955156024833/
Eventbrite: www.aeronaut-film.eventbrite.com

For more information, visit www.aeronautbrewing.com.

'Steamboat Bill' in 35mm Sunday in Somerville, plus weird pre-show accompanist rituals

Promotional art for 'Steamboat Bill Jr.' featuring a rosy-cheeked Keaton, making me thankful the films weren't made in color.

Just as some athletes have unusual warm-up routines, silent film accompanists often have weird pre-show rituals.

With me, it's when I plug in the sustain pedal into the back of my synthesizer. I then have to lower the pedal down to the floor behind the keyboard, almost like I'm weighing anchor.

And because of the way the pedal unit hangs from its power cord, getting it to land right side up takes a deft shift of the line at the very last minute, when the unit touches the ground.

If it lands correctly, I consider it a good omen. If not, I steel myself for whatever grand joke the Gods are about to play.

For last night's screening of 'The Winning of Barbara Worth' (1926) at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H., the pedal landed correctly. And so the screening went forward without a hitch, unless you count (SPOILER ALERT) the marriage at the very end. Har!

We'll see how the pedal falls on Sunday, May 13 at the Somerville Theatre, when I'll accompany the screening of a 35mm print of Buster Keaton's 'Steamboat Bill Jr.' (1928) at 2 p.m.

There's a lot of 'Steamboat' around this weekend. I notice fellow accompanist Ben Model is doing music for the iconic film, which he refers to simply as "one where the house falls on him."

It says something about a film when people refer to it with even having to use the title. Nice!

But 'Steamboat' is one of the most popular Keaton's, mostly because it's so good, but also because due to an oversight it's in the public domain.

I've done it so frequently that my material for the film has emerged as not so much improvised but recalled from prior performances.

So it's a good candidate for sitting down this summer and putting the score on paper, which is something I'd like to do more of. We'll see.

For now, there's no sheet music—it's all in my head, and will be at the Somerville Theatre this Sunday when we run 'Steamboat.'

Hope to see you there! And if you'd like more info, I'm pasting in the press release below.

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Buster's burly on-screen father, Ernest Torrence, first encounters his unexpectedly un-masculine grown son in Steamboat Bill, Jr.

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

Silent comedy 'Steamboat Bill Jr.' at Somerville Theatre on Sunday, May 13

Buster Keaton masterpiece to be screened with live music as venue's 'Silents Please' series returns

SOMERVILLE, Mass.—Silent film with live music returns to the Somerville Theatre this month with 'Steamboat Bill Jr.' (1928), a classic comedy starring Buster Keaton, one of era's top performers. 'Steamboat Bill Jr.' will be revived using a 35mm print for one showing only at the Somerville Theatre, Davis Square, on Sunday, May 13 at 2 p.m.

Live music will be provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis. General admission is $15 per person; $12 seniors and students.

The Somerville Theatre's 'Silents Please!' allows fans to experience silent film the way its makers originally intended: on the big screen, in 35mm prints, with live music, and with an audience.

"If you put the experience back together, you can see why silent films caused such excitement for early movie-goers," said Ian Judge, the Somerville's manager and director of operations.

In 'Steamboat Bill Jr.,' Buster plays the bumbling son of a riverboat’s rough captain. When a rival brings a newer boat to the river, the family is forced to face competition, just as Buster is forced to ride out a cyclone threatening to destroy the community.

Can Buster save the day and win the hand of his girlfriend, who happens to be daughter of his father's business rival?

The film includes the famous shot of an entire building front collapsing on Keaton, who is miraculously spared by a conveniently placed second-story window.

Keaton, who grew up performing with the family vaudeville act, was known for never smiling on camera, an important element of his comic identity. A trained acrobat who learned at an early age how to take falls, Keaton did all his own stunts on camera in the era before post-production special effects.

Critics continue to hail Keaton’s timeless comedy as well as his intuitive filmmaking genius. In 2002, Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton that “in an extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, he worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies.”

Keaton, who never attended school, thought of himself not as an artist but as an entertainer using the new medium of motion pictures to tell stories and create laughter.

The screening of 'Steamboat Bill Jr.' will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating music for silent film presentations.

Rapsis will create the accompaniment on the spot, improvising music as the movie unfolds to enhance the action on the screen as well respond to audience reactions. He will perform the music on a digital synthesizer capable of producing a wide range of theatre organ and orchestral textures.

"Live music was an integral part of the silent film experience," Rapsis said. "Because most films at the time weren't released with sheet music or scores, studios depended on local musicians to come up with an effective score that was different in every theater. At its best, this approach created an energy and a connection that added a great deal to a film's impact. That's what I try to recreate," Rapsis said.

Upcoming titles in the Somerville's 'Silents, Please!' series include:

• Sunday, June 10: 'Chicago' (1927). The original big screen adaptation of the notorious Jazz Age tabloid scandal, based on real events. Dancer Roxie Hart is accused of murder! Is she innocent or headed for the slammer? Shown via DCP.

• Sunday, July 8: 'The Docks of New York' (1928). Masterful drama about a ship laborer who rescues a beautiful woman from drowning, but then finds his life changed in unexpected ways. A gem from the late silent years. Shown via 35mm print.

• Sunday, Aug. 12: 'Laurel & Hardy Silent Comedies.' Some of the timeless duo's finest (and funniest) comedy two-reelers, all presented in 35mm, including 'Big Business' (1929), You're Darn Tootin' (1928), and 'The Finishing Touch' (1928).

'Steamboat Bill Jr.' will be screened on Sunday, May 13 at 2 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass. Tickets are $15 adults, $12 students/seniors. For more information, visit www.somervilletheatre.com or call (617) 625-4088. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

Keaton's 'Steamboat Bill Jr.' launches new silent series at Capitol Theatre, plus 'The Wind' on Sunday, April 9 at Somerville Theatre

Buster and Ernest Torrence in 'Steamboat Bill, Jr.'

Starting tonight, there's a new venue in the Boston area for enjoying silent films with live music and an audience.

It's the Capitol Theatre in Arlington, Mass., which is launching a new monthly series tonight (Thursday, April 6) with a screening of Buster Keaton's comedy 'Steamboat Bill, Jr.' (1928).

Showtime is 8 p.m. (and not 7:30 p.m., as I had listed earlier), the Capitol is at 204 Massachusetts Ave. in Arlington, Mass. Check it out online at http://capitoltheatreusa.com. Admission is $12 per person; $10 students/seniors.

This is the one that finds Buster caught up in a cyclone. Fittingly, the forecast this evening calls for heavy rain!

The Capitol's exterior on Mass. Ave. in Arlington.

The Capitol is sister theatre to the venerable Somerville Theatre, not far away in Davis Square in neighboring Somerville.

While the Somerville runs a monthly "Silents, Please!" program using 35mm prints, not all great silents are available in this format.

So Ian Judge, who manages the theaters, felt it would be worth starting a separate series at the Capitol for silents on other media—meaning mostly DVD transfers.

We tried a dry run at the Capitol last Halloween, when I accompanied Lon Chaney in 'The Unholy Three' (1925), a film that just isn't available in 35mm.

I'm not sure "dry" run is the right term, as it was pouring rain that evening as well.

But it was successful enough for management to greenlight a monthly mini-series of silents at the Capitol, starting this month with Keaton's 'Steamboat Bill' and running through the summer.

Here's what's also on the bill:

• Thursday, May 11, 2017, 8 p.m.: "The Winning of Barbara Worth" (1926) starring Gary Cooper, Ronald Coleman, Vilma Banky. Epic Western about the settling and irrigation of California's Imperial Valley, once a wasteland but now an agricultural paradise. Shot on location by director Henry King in Nevada's Black Rock desert, one of the first films to take audiences to the wide open spaces of the great American West. With a young Gary Cooper playing a key role.

• Thursday, June 22, 2017, 8 p.m.: "The Kid" (1921) starring Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Coogan. Chaplin's landmark comedy/drama about a man who raises an infant against all odds. As the film tells us: "A story with a smile, and perhaps a tear." Highlighted by amazing performance of four-year-old Coogan, who matches Chaplin pratfall for pratfall. Bonus Chaplin comedy: "A Dog's Life" (1918).

• Thursday, July 6, 2017, 8 p.m.: "The Lost World" (1925) starring Wallace Beery, Bessie Love. First-ever movie adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary tale of British explorers who discover pre-historic creatures still thriving atop a remote South American plateau. Great entertainment; ground-breaking special effects by the same team that later created 'King Kong' mesmerized early movie audiences and remain impressive today.

• Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017, 8 p.m.: "Grandma's Boy" (1922) starring Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis. A cowardly young man must learn to conquer his fears before dealing with a larger menace to his community. Riotous small town comedy that helped propel Harold Lloyd into the most popular movie comedian of the 1920s. Bonus Lloyd short comedy: "Never Weaken" (1921).

One bonus for me: the family-oriented Capitol (which even has baby-friendly matinees) has its own in-house ice cream shop, the Capitol Creamery, in the theater lobby.

Can you guess where you'll find me before the show?

Speaking of the Somerville Theatre: after a few months of, well, silence, the 'Silents, Please!' series restarts on Sunday, April 9 with Lillian Gish in 'The Wind' (1928).

Showtime is 2 p.m. The theater is in Davis Square in Somerville, Mass.; admission is $15 per person, $12 students/seniors.

A chance to see this legendary film in 35mm with an audience in a theater is an experience not to be missed.

It's especially worth seeing because for some reason, MGM hasn't released 'The Wind' in any format for home viewing since a version came out on laser disc back in the late 1980s!

So other than firing up the laser disc player, the only way to experience 'The Wind' is just like when the film was released in 1928: by going to the theater.

For more details on 'The Wind' and other upcoming 'Silents, Please!' screenings, here's the press release that went out about the screening:

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Lillian Gish in 'The Wind.'

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2017 — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more info, contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Somerville Theatre announces 2017 'Silents, Please!' series

Starting with 'The Wind' (1928) on Sunday, April 9; monthly screenings of silent film masterworks shown in 35mm with live music scoring

SOMERVILLE, Mass.—Great films that caused early audiences to first fall in love with the movies will once again grace the big screen in this year's 'Silents, Please!' series at the Somerville Theatre.

The series features monthly screenings of legendary titles shown as originally intended: in 35mm on the big screen, in a real movie theatre with an audience, and with live musical scoring.

Upcoming titles in the 2017 season include Eric von Stroheim's epic drama 'Greed' (1924); Harold Lloyd in 'Safety Last' (1923); and the recently rediscovered original big screen adaptation of 'Sherlock Holmes' (1916).

"With silent film, if you put all the pieces back together again, you can really understand why people found early movies so entertaining," said Ian Judge, the Somerville's general manager.

All films in the series are shown via archival 35mm prints—the original format for theatrical movies. Today, 35mm prints of films are often very difficult to obtain and screen properly.

Live music for each program is provided by New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis.

First up in the series is Lillian Gish in 'The Wind' (1928), an intense MGM drama often rated as one of the best films from any era.

In 'The Wind,' Gish plays a frail young woman from the east moves in with her cousin in the west, where she causes tension within the family and is slowly driven mad while in an isolated cabin.

'The Wind,' directed by Victor Seastrom, will be screened on Sunday, April 9 at 2 p.m. General admission is $15 per person/$12 student and seniors.

Additional titles in the Somerville's 2017 'Silents, Please!' series include:

• Sunday, May 14, 2017, 2 p.m.: 'Greed' (1924), directed by Erich von Stroheim. Legendary director Von Stroheim's great masterpiece brought silent film drama to new heights of intensity, and also inspired huge behind-the-scenes battle over control of final cut. Rare chance to see this film in 35mm on the big screen with live music.

• Sunday, June 18, 2017, 2 p.m.: 'So This Is Paris' (1926). If you like your 1920s sex comedies light and frothy, then director Ernst Lubitsch is your guy. This madcap romp, set among the sophisticated elite in the City of Light, buzzes with energy on the dance floor and elsewhere. Plus it helped popularize the Charleston!

• Sunday, July 9, 2017, 2 p.m.: 'Safety Last' (1923). Ambitious young Harold Lloyd heads from small town to big city to make his fortune, with unexpected results. The iconic image of Lloyd dangling from the hands of a downtown clock is only one small piece of a remarkable thrill comedy that has lost none of its power over audiences.

• Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, 2 p.m.: 'Get Your Man' (1927) starring Clara Bow, Buddy Rogers. Long-lost Clara Bow feature only recently rescued and restored by the Library of Congress. Bow is Nancy Worthington, a liberated (of course) American in Paris who meets cute with French nobleman Robert Albin (Rogers) while on vacation by herself. Robert and Nancy fall hard for each other, but an arranged, politically motivated marriage stands in their way. Nancy scams her way onto the family estate, and complications ensue.

• Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017, 2 p.m.: 'Sherlock Holmes' (1916) starring William Gillette. Recently discovered in France after being lost for nearly a century, see this original 1916 adaptation of Sherlock Holmes stories as performed by William Gillette, the actor who created the role on stage. Holmes does battle with arch-rival Prof. Moriarty in an amalgam of several stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

All screenings will be via 35mm prints and with live musical scoring created by New Hampshire silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis. Rapsis achieves a traditional "movie score" sound for silent film screenings by using a digital synthesizer to reproduce the texture of the full orchestra.

'The Wind' will be screened in 35mm with live music on Sunday, April 9 at 2 p.m. at the Somerville Theater, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass. Admission is $15 adults, $12 students/seniors; general admission seating. For more information, call (617) 625-5700 or visit www.somervilletheatre.com. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

Somerville's "Silents, Please!" restarts with Keaton's 'Steamboat'' (1928) on Sunday, 2/21

Pay no attention to the weather—come see 'Steamboat Bill' on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre.

Of all the regular gigs I hold down, the monthly series at the Somerville Theatre ranks as perhaps the most authentic.

Why? Well, for starters, the films are shown in an actual vintage theater that remains largely unchanged from the 1920s.

Also, the series uses only 35mm prints, with projection handled expertly by David Kornfeld.

Also, because the theater is right in the middle of metro Boston, it's not unusual for more than 100 people to turn up for a screening.

So the experience comes pretty close, I think, to what it was like when these films were in original release.

It's also a bit special for me because it's Boston, after all.
Imagine: me doing film accompaniment in a world-class city that's home to some of most highly regarded music schools and institutions—and musicians—anywhere! Yo-Yo Ma, anyone?

I know—I can't believe it either. I keep thinking some mistake must have been made along the way.

Me at the keyboard (lower left) for 'Himmelskibet' (1918) during this year's Boston Sci-Fi 24-Hour Marathon at the Somerville Theatre.

But until I'm told to stop, I'll continue trekking down to the Somerville each month for a silent film program. And the next one is tomorrow!

Yes, the theater's 'Silents, Please!' series, dormant over the holidays, reboots with 'Steamboat Bill, Jr.' (1928), Buster Keaton's legendary riverboat comedy.

'Steamboat' is so well-known, you almost don't have to include the film's title to get people to turn out.

My accompanist colleague Ben Model in New York, who's also playing for 'Steamboat' this weekend, described it this way on Facebook:

The one where the house falls on him. Tomorrow Sat 2/20 at 7pm w/me on pipe organ in Westchester.

Yes, the one where the house falls on him. Of course!

We're running 'Steamboat' on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. More info in the press release pasted in below.

The thing about 'Steamboat' is that it was Keaton's final independent feature—the last film he made on his own, with financing by his brother-in-law, Joseph Schenk.

With Keaton in charge, it was a team that produced a run of titles that no less a critic than Roger Ebert regarded as some of the best and most courageous filmmaking of any era.

After 'Steamboat,' Keaton signed with MGM, becoming just another MGM superstar, with little control over his films.

In hindsight, Keaton called it the worst mistake of his life. And knowing that, I think, colors my perception of 'Steamboat' just a little.

Buster and Ernest Torrence on deck in 'Steamboat.'

No one knew it when the film was being planned, but 'Steamboat' marked the end of an incredibly fertile kind of filmmaking.

It was a world where Buster, supported by Schenk's money, was free to take his time, improvise, experiment, and just keep trying things until he got what he was after.

Did it work? Well, it was a method that produced great one-of-a-kind films such as 'The Navigator' (1924) and 'The General' (1927).

Other filmmakers of the era, including Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, employed a similar system. So I think it was an essential ingredient in how their movies emerged as they did.

I think there's a lot we could gain by studying how filmmakers of the 1920s went about creating new worlds, both on screen but also in the organization of their studio.

Someone should do a study. Whether or not anyone ever does, we can still enjoy 'Steamboat Bill Jr.', so I hope you'll join us tomorrow (Sunday, Feb. 21) at the Somerville to see it in 35mm!

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SUNDAY, FEB. 14, 2016 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent comedy 'Steamboat Bill Jr.' to be shown in 35mm at Somerville Theatre on Sunday, Feb. 21

Somerville's 'Silents Please!' series resumes with Buster Keaton masterpiece screened with live music

SOMERVILLE, Mass.—Silent film with live music returns to the Somerville Theatre this month with 'Steamboat Bill Jr.' (1928), a classic comedy starring Buster Keaton, one of the era's top performers.

'Steamboat Bill Jr.' will be revived for one showing only on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. General admission is $15 per person.

With 'Steamboat Bill Jr.,' the Somerville Theatre resumes its popular 'Silents Please!' series, which gives movie-goers the chance to experience silent film in the way its makers originally intended: on the big screen, using 35mm prints, with live music, and with an audience.

In 'Steamboat Bill Jr.,' Buster plays the bumbling son of a riverboat’s rough captain. When a rival brings a newer boat to the river, the family is forced to face competition, just as Buster is forced to ride out a cyclone threatening to destroy the community.

Can Buster save the day and win the hand of his girlfriend? And will it matter that the girl just happens to be daughter of his father's business rival?

The film includes the famous shot of an entire building front collapsing on Keaton, who is miraculously spared by a conveniently placed second-story window.

The screening of 'Steamboat Bill Jr.' will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based performer who specializes in creating music for silent film presentations.

Rapsis will create the accompaniment on the spot, making up the music as the movie unfolds to enhance the action on the screen as well respond to audience reactions. He will perform the music on a digital synthesizer, which is capable of producing a wide range of theatre organ and orchestral textures.

"Live music was an integral part of the silent film experience," Rapsis said. "Because most films at the time weren't released with sheet music or scores, studios depended on local musicians to come up with an effective score that would be different in every theater. At its best, this approach created an energy and a connection that added a great deal to a film's impact. That's what I try to recreate," Rapsis said.

Keaton, who grew up performing with the family vaudeville act, was known for never smiling on camera, an important element of his comic identity. A trained acrobat who learned at an early age how to take a fall, Keaton did all his own stunts on camera in the era before post-production special effects.

Critics continue to hail Keaton’s timeless comedy as well as his intuitive filmmaking genius. In 2002, Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton that “in an extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, he worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies.”

Keaton, who never attended school, did not think of himself as an artist but as an entertainer using the new medium of motion pictures to tell stories and create laughter.

Upcoming screenings in the Somerville Theatre's 'Silents Please!' series include:

• Sunday, April 3: 'Intolerance' (1916). Nothing succeeds like excess as D.W. Griffith's massive four-stories-in-one spectacle celebrates its centennial.

• Sunday, May 15: 'Paths to Paradise' (1925). Rediscover the beguiling talents of Boston-born silent comic Raymond Griffith, who stars in this jewel-heist caper, one of his best surviving films.

• Sunday, June 5: 'Flesh and the Devil' (1926). The MGM drama that put budding megastars Greta Garbo and John Gilbert on the map as the screen's hottest couple.

• Sunday, July 10: 'So's Your Old Man' (1926) and 'It's the Old Army Game' (1926). A pair of vintage W.C. Fields silent feature comedies; program hosted by the great man's granddaughter, Dr. Harriet Fields.

'Steamboat Bill Jr.' will be screened in 35mm on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass. Admission to the screening is $15 or $12 seniors/students. For more info, call (617) 625-5700 or visit www.somervilletheatreonline.com. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.