This week: The 'Marion Davies Late Summer Four-Places-in-New England Book Tour' with author Lara Gabrielle plus 'Show People' (1928) with live music

It's here! This week brings the New England book tour of author Lara Gabrielle, whose long-awaited Marion Davies biography 'Captain of Her Soul' came out last year and is winning raves.

Lara will host four book-signing/screening events starting Thursday, Sept. 21. Each will include a screening of 'Show People' (1928), one of Marion's most celebrated silent film hits, with live music by me.

Here's a quick run-down of each of Lara's appearances, which are (in order) in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts:

• Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, 7:30 p.m.: The Jane Pickens Theatre, 49 Touro St., Newport, R.I.; (401) 846-5474; https://janepickens.com/. Tickets $16 per person, available online or at the door. Screening and author book-signing in partnership with Charter Books, 8 Broadway, Newport, R.I.; (401) 236-8678.

• Friday, Sept. 22, 2023, 7:30 p.m.: Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.; (603) 654-3456; www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com. Admission free, donations of $10 per person encouraged. Screening and author book-signing in partnership with Balin Books, Somerset Plaza, 375 Amherst St./Route 101A, Nashua, N.H.; (603) 417-7981.

• Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, 2 p.m.: Harbor Theater, 185 Harbor Avenue, Boothbay Harbor, Maine; 207-633-0438; https://boothbaycinema.org/. Admission $10; members $8. Screening and author book-signing in partnership with Sherman's Books of Boothbay Harbor, 5 Commercial St., Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

• Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, 2 p.m.: Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass.; http://www.somervilletheatreonline.com. Tickets $16 adults, $12 seniors/students; on sale at the door or in advance online. For more info, call the theater box office at (617) 625-5700. Screening and author book-signing in partnership with Porter Square Books, Porter Square Shopping Center, 25 White St., Cambridge, Mass.

I first met Lara when she was the featured speaker at this year's Kansas Silent Film Festival back in February. She's done a great job crafting this long overdue comprehensive biography of Davies, one of the brightest stars of early Hollywood but whose career and life story have been neglected by critics and scholars. 

But don't take my word for it. Here's what critic and film historian Leonard Maltin had to say:

“Author Gabrielle has given us a gift: an honest biography of a woman whose life and career have long been misunderstood. . . .  In short, this is the book Marion Davies has always deserved.”

I think you'll find Lara is an eloquent advocate for all of Marion's accomplishments, both on screen and off. I'm thrilled that she agreed to include New England in her travels to promote the book. It's a real privilege to be working with her.

Each stop on the tour will include opening remarks from Lara to put Marion and her career in context. We'll then screen 'Show People' (1928), a crackerjack Davies comedy for which I'll provide live accompaniment. 

Afterwards, Lara will answer questions, then sign copies of her book, which will be on sale by local bookstores at each appearance. 

For more detail, here's the text of the press release that went out promoting the tour. (Details for each screening are above, if you missed them.) 

*   *   *   

William Haines and Marion Davies meet Charlie Chaplin in 'Show People' (1928).

Author Lara Gabrielle to embark on four-stop New England tour in September to promote new Davies biography

She was among Hollywood's top box office stars of the 1920s. But for many fans, her best-known role was longtime companion of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst.

She was Marion Davies, an actress (and later philanthropist) whose pioneering professional and personal journey was as remarkable as any role she played during a highly successful film career.

Davies's full life story is told for the first time in a new comprehensive biography, 'Captain of Her Soul: The Life of Marion Davies' by author Lara Gabrielle. Published by University of California Press in 2022, the book was the result of a decade of research and writing.

Gabrielle will travel to New England in September for a four-stop book tour that will include screenings of 'Show People' (1928), a popular MGM comedy showing Davies at the peak of her stardom.

Gabrielle will speak about Davies' multi-faceted life, which included significant work in the fields of entertainment, business, and charity. She will also sign copies of her new Davies biography, 'Captain of Her Soul,' in partnership with local independent bookstores at each appearance.

In writing the biography, Gabrielle removed layers of rumor and mistruth that have clung to the actress, who grappled with a stutter and rarely gave interviews. 

The story of Davies' life has long been overshadowed by her relationship with legendary press baron William Randolph Hearst.

Many movie buffs believe that the character of Susan Alexander in Orson Welles' landmark film 'Citizen Kane' (1941) was based on Davies, an assumption that has distorted Davies's reputation for decades. Gabrielle addresses and clarifies this idea in 'Captain of Her Soul,' bringing Davies back into view as she truly was.

"There's a common misconception that Marion Davies allowed Hearst to manipulate her work and her image," Gabrielle explains. "But in fact, Marion overhauled her whole persona when she felt it wasn't working for her, and became one of the greatest comedians of the silent era, entirely on her own. She was an independent, hard-working, exceptionally intelligent woman whose generosity knew no bounds. It's been an immense honor to tell her true life story."

According to the publisher, the book "reveals a woman who navigated disability and social stigma to rise to the top of a young Hollywood dominated by powerful men."

"The title of my book is 'Captain of Her Soul,'" says Gabrielle, "and that comes from a quote that Marion Davies said about herself. She took charge of her own career, negotiated her own contracts, and lived her life, her way."

 

A scene from 'Show People' (1928).
 

'Show People,' directed by King Vidor, shows Davies at the height of her 1920s popularity as a screen icon. The light-hearted story follows Peggy Pepper (Marion Davies), a beauty queen from small-town Georgia who hopes to break into the movies as a dramatic actress. William Haines plays Billy Boone, lead actor at a slapstick comedy studio where Pepper lands her first opportunity.

Can a young actress yearning for drama survive the indignity of pies in the face? When her big chance finally comes, will it mean sacrificing her growing friendship with Billy? Will low comedy win out over high drama?

In pursuing those questions, 'Show People' pokes fun at Hollywood phoniness and the culture of celebrity worship that had emerged by the 1920s. 

'Show People' also offers rare behind-the-scenes glimpses of movie-making at the very end of the silent period, when studios were rushing to prepare for sound.

"They knew an era was ending, and 'Show People' is kind of a Valentine to the whole silent film experience," said Rapsis, who will accompany the screening. "It's a love letter to the movie business."

 

A scene from 'Show People' (1928).

'Show People' features cameos by dozens of major stars of the period, including Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., William S. Hart, and John Gilbert.

In 2003, 'Show People' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

For more information about 'Captain of Her Soul: The Life of Marion Davies' and author Marion Davies, visit www.mariondaviesbook.com.

About Lara Gabrielle: Lara Gabrielle is a biographer and researcher, whose work on Marion Davies has been featured in Alta, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Missouri Review, The Wall Street Journal, and on PBS’s American Experience. Gabrielle has spoken at film festivals and retrospectives worldwide, and is acknowledged as the leading authority on Davies’s life and legacy, serving as a consultant on Marion Davies for books, dissertations, and film projects. Gabrielle’s biography, Captain of Her Soul: The Life of Marion Davies, has been included on many top book lists for 2022. She lives in Oakland, California.

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.

After illness, returning to the keyboard with 'Metropolis' at Aeronaut Brewery on 1/8

What time is it? Time to return the keyboard!

Very excited about my first big show of the new year: doing live music for 'Metropolis' (1927) on Sunday, Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Aeronaut Brewing Co. in Somerville Mass.

More details in the press release below!

First, a personal note: In show biz, they say timing is everything. And that's certainly true in the very tiny corner of it occupied by silent film.

So get this: Three days before Christmas, I woke up to find the hearing in my left ear was messed up!

For some reason, what I heard through my left ear was distorted, and also sounded far away.

Also, there was a cluster of frequencies—tones around middle C on the musical scale—that were physically painful to hear, producing that "nails on a chalkboard" effect.

Wow!

I had no other symptoms, and couldn't imagine what was going on. There was no wax in my ear, and I hadn't been exposed to loud noise. There was no sign of any physical damage, and nothing felt wrong with my ear.

Annoyingly, voices in the "weird" range were hard to take. When I heard news on the radio read by a woman in that alto range, I had to switch stations.

In my left ear, a dial tone sounded about a whole step higher, and distant, and also would shift pitch slightly upwards if I tried to listen to it.

Another weird sound effect is that at home in the evenings, I would hear a rushing sound, like the water was running somewhere in another room. But it was a completely phantom thing—there was no water running anywhere.

I wangled a doctor's appointment that day and nothing was found. I was told to take Sudafed as an anti-inflammatory, and Naproxen as well, and if nothing changed over Christmas weekend, to get an appointment with an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist.

Well, nothing changed, except over Christmas I came down with a monumental head cold that quickly took over and spread throughout my throat and respiratory systems. Uck!

With my hearing still screwed up, I then found that trying to get a referral to a specialist in the week between Christmas and New Year's is like expecting an invitation to join the American Academy of Arts and Letters. It just ain't gonna happen.

So I was getting a little panicky there, as my cold worsened and with my hearing awry and with some other problems that all happened at once.

I got through doing music for a screening of 'Tramp Tramp Tramp' (1926) on Christmas Day, but found I had to point one of my speakers away from me because its output was just too painful to take at the volume it had to be at.

What does this have to do with timing? Well, I was very fortunate, I felt, for this to happen at the one time of the year when I don't have a lot of silent film screenings. Count your blessings!

And it was a good thing, because this went on for two solid weeks. Over this time, my hearing has gotten closer to normal, which is a relief. But the cold got worse, causing me to stay home in bed for two entire days last week.

And then I finally got an appointment with a specialist, which took place yesterday.

Alas, the hearing loss in my left ear isn't related to the head/sinus cold I've had. The hearing loss is "Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss," a condition that happens spontaneously to a relatively small number of people. It occurs when something disturbs the process of how signals are carried from the ear's hardware to the brain, and is little understood. Read on:

About half of people with SSHL will recover some or all of their hearing spontaneously, usually within one to two weeks from onset. Eighty-five percent of those who receive treatment from an otolaryngologist (a doctor, sometimes called an ENT, who specializes in diseases of the ears, nose, throat, and neck) will recover some of their hearing.

Experts estimate that SSHL strikes one person per 5,000 every year, typically adults in their 40s and 50s. The actual number of new cases of SSHL each year could be much higher because the condition often goes undiagnosed. Many people recover quickly and never seek medical help.

If my hearing doesn't recover, the next step would be to take a course of steroids (yikes!) and wish for the best. Hope it doesn't come to that, and I'm encouraged that the left ear seems to be coming back.

Even so, next week I'm having my head scanned as a precaution (hooray!) due to the very small chance there's a disruption (i.e. tumor!) that's causing this.

Meanwhile, the cold is dissipating. Today (Saturday, Jan. 7) is the first day in two weeks I've felt back to normal, or as close to it as I ever am.

Alto voices no longer make my teeth chatter, which is a huge relief. A dial tone sounds almost the same from one to the other.

And just in time for a big gulp of a screening: 'Metropolis' (1927) on Sunday, Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Aeronaut Brewing Co. in Somerville, Mass.

I'm afraid seating is limited, and it sounds like they're very close to selling out. So before you trek down to Somerville for this, please check their online listings for info about ticket status, or call them directly using the contact info in the press release below.

Happy New Year and looking forward to making a lot of music (and hearing it, too!) in 2017!

* * *

Vintage poster art for 'Metropolis.' (1927)

THURSDAY, DEC. 29, 2016 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more info, contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Restored sci-fi classic 'Metropolis' to screen at Aeronaut Brewery on Sunday, Jan. 8

Landmark early fantasy movie about a dystopian future, with half-hour of rediscovered footage, to be shown with live music

SOMERVILLE, Mass.—A silent film hailed as the grandfather of all science fiction fantasy movies will be screened with live music on Sunday, Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Aeronaut Brewery, 14 Tyler St. (near Union Square), Somerville, Mass.

This special screening with live music is open to the public and is part of the Aeronaut's commitment to showcase local music, art, and performance.

Admission is $10 per person. Tickets are available online at www.eventbrite.com; search on "Aeronaut Brewery."

"This is one of the great all-time classics of cinema, and we're thrilled to present it so fans can experience it with an audience and live music," said Aeronaut spokesperson Christine Holmes.

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

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

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

In reviving 'Metropolis' and other great films of cinema's early years, the Aeronaut aims to show silent movies as they were meant to be seen—in high quality prints, on a large screen, with live music, and with an audience.

"All those elements are important parts of the silent film experience," said Rapsis, who will improvise an original live score for 'Metropolis' on the spot. "Recreate those conditions, and the classics of early cinema leap back to life."

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

A scene from 'Metropolis' (1927).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The restored 'Metropolis' will be shown on Sunday, Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Aeronaut Brewery, 14 Tyler St. (near Union Square), Somerville, Mass. Admission is $10 per person. Tickets are available online at www.eventbrite.com; search on "Aeronaut Brewery." For more info about Aeronaut Brewing, visit www.aeronautbrewing.com.

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

Below are the links to the Facebook page and EventBrite page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/915572348578178/
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/silent-film-metropolis-with-live-music-tickets-30686635553

CRITIC'S COMMENTS on ‘METROPOLIS’

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

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

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For more info, contact:
Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com
Images attached.
More high-resolution digital images available upon request.

'Metropolis' at Aeronaut Brewing Co. show SOLD OUT on Sunday, April 17

Not sure whether to celebrate this or offer regrets, but our screening of 'Metropolis' (1927) at the Aeronaut Brewing Co. on Sunday, April 17 is sold out.

I wanted to post that here so that anyone planning to travel to Somerville, Mass. for this show is aware.

Of course I don't like the idea of turning anyone away, but the Aeronaut has a strict limit to its occupancy permit and as of now, they're full up.

If you're a fan who really planned on coming down to take in this screening, please call me at (603) 236-9237 and we'll see what we can do.

Also, because of the overwhelming response to this event, the folks at the Aeronaut are considering an encore screening at some point. I'll post info here as soon as we know.

Sorry to disappoint anyone, but there will be other chances to catch this amazing movie. Thanks for understanding!

Fritz Lang's 'Woman in the Moon' (1929) on Sunday, Jan. 17 at Aeronaut Brewery

A poster for the original release of 'Woman in the Moon.'

What if J.D. Salinger had written a sequel to 'The Catcher in the Rye?'

And what if it was discovered among his papers after his death here in New Hampshire a few years ago, and was now in bookstores?

Wouldn't that just be flat-out amazing?

I imagine the excitement of discovery would be similar to what I felt when I first encountered Fritz Lang's 'Woman in the Moon' (1929).

Even non-silent-film-fanatics are familiar with 'Metropolis' (1927), Lang's jaw-dropping futuristic silent film epic.

But very few people have heard of 'Woman in the Moon,' a space travel fantasy that Lang made afterwards on an equally grand scale.

Why is 'Woman in the Moon' not better known?

Reasons include its release at very tail end of the silent era, when all people wanted were talkies, causing the 'Woman in the Moon' to tank at the box office.

And after that, Mr. Hitler came to power. He had some very specific ideas for all the German rocketry technology on display in 'Woman in the Moon,' and so suppressed the film, making it very difficult to see.

Later, heavily edited "highlight" editions of the film appeared. These cut-down versions lack coherence, to put it kindly, further causing 'Woman in the Moon' to be regarded as something of a misfire.

Fritz Lang (right) on the set of 'Woman in the Moon.'

And there things stood until about 10 years ago, when a fully restored version of 'Woman in the Moon' was finally compiled from the best surviving material and restored to its original length of nearly three hours.

What the restoration allowed us to see is a film rich with characters, humor, and a story line that pulls viewers along until a series of epic confrontations.

Also, the film accurately depicts realistic moon travel a full four decades before the Apollo program was underway.

Seeing it for the first time, I was thunderstruck. Although not strictly a sequel to 'Metropolis,' it plays like a continuation of the earlier film's vision, imagination, and audacity.

Discover what this feels like by attending our screening of 'Woman in the Moon' at the Aeronaut Brewery in Somerville, Mass. on Sunday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.

More information about the film is in the press release below.

And if you come, you'll be ready just in case a 'Catcher' sequel does turn up in J.D.'s papers.

* * *

Exploring the lunar surface in 'Woman in the Moon.'

MONDAY, DEC. 21, 2015 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent sci-fi adventure film on Sunday, Jan. 17
at Aeronaut Brewery in Somerville, Mass.

'Woman in the Moon,' Fritz Lang's pioneer space drama about mankind's first lunar voyage, to be screened with live musical accompaniment

SOMERVILLE, Mass.—A sci-fi adventure hailed as the first feature film to depict realistic space travel will be screened in January at the Aeronaut Brewery.

'Woman in the Moon' (1929), directed by German filmmaker Fritz Lang ('Metropolis,' 1927), will be screened with live music on Sunday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Aeronaut Brewery, 14 Tyler St. (near Union Square), Somerville, Mass.

The screening is open to the public and is part of the Aeronaut's commitment to showcase local music, art, and performance. Admission is an optional $10 donation per person to be collected during the screening.

The rarely seen full-length version of 'Woman in the Moon' follows an intrepid band of space pioneers as they attempt mankind's first voyage to the lunar surface, where they hope to find large deposits of gold.

The film, made with German rocket experts as technical advisers, anticipated many of the techniques used by NASA for the Apollo moon launch program 40 years later. For example, a multi-stage rocket is employed to escape Earth's gravity, and a separate capsule is used to reach the lunar surface.

The film is also noted for introducing the idea of a dramatic "countdown" prior to launch, which later became standard procedure in actual space flight. Critics regard the film's extended launch sequence as a masterpiece of editing and dramatic tension.

But 'Woman in the Moon,' with its melodramatic plot, also stands as the forerunner of many sci-fi soap opera elements that quickly became clichés: the brilliant but misunderstood professor; a love triangle involving a female scientist and her two male crewmates; a plucky young boy who yearns to join the expedition; fistfights and gunfire and treachery on the lunar surface.

The cast of 'Woman in the Moon' views their destination prior to landing.

Added to the mix is a vision of the moon (created entirely on a massive studio set in Berlin, Germany) that features a breathable atmosphere, giant sand dunes, distant mountain peaks, and bubbling mud pits.

"This is a great and at-times bizarre film, one that must be seen to be believed," said Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who will create live music for the Aeronaut's screening. "It's as entertaining as any spy-thriller. And as a past vision of a future that didn't quite come to be, it really gets you thinking of time and how we perceive it."

Rapsis, a resident of Bedford, N.H., will improvise live musical accompaniment during the screening, using a digital synthesizer to recreate the sound of a full orchestra and other more exotic textures.

'Woman in the Moon,' a full-length feature than runs more than 2½ hours, should not be confused with the much earlier film 'A Trip to Moon,' a primitive "trick" short movie made by French filmmaker George Méliès in 1902 and famous for the image of a space capsule hitting the eye of an imaginary moon man.

"Unlike the Méliès film, there's nothing primitive about 'Woman in the Moon,' " Rapsis said. "It's silent film story-telling at the peak of its eloquence, with lively performances, imaginative camera angles, and superb photography."

In 'Woman in the Moon,' large amounts of beach sand were used to create the lunar surface inside a studio.

Director Fritz Lang, responsible for the groundbreaking sci-fi epic 'Metropolis' (1927), planned 'Woman in the Moon' as another step in his quest to stretch cinema's visual, story-telling, and imaginative capabilities.

Bad timing is one reason that 'Woman in the Moon' (titled 'Frau im Mond' in German) is not as well known today as 'Metropolis,' its legendary predecessor. Lang completed 'Woman in the Moon' just as the silent film era was coming to a close.

As one of the last silent films of German cinema, 'Woman in the Moon' was unable to compete with new talking pictures then in theaters, making it a box office flop at its premiere in October, 1929.

However, German rocket scientist Hermann Oberth worked as an adviser on the movie, and it developed cult status among the rocket scientists in Wernher von Braun's circle starting in the 1930s. During World War II, the first successfully launched V-2 rocket at the German rocket facility in Peenemünde had the "Woman in the Moon" logo painted on its base.

During the war, the Nazis tried to recall and destroy all prints of 'Woman in the Moon' due to its detailed depiction of state-of-the-art rocket propulsion technology; in later years, this served to make the film even more hard to find. For many years, the film was available only in cut-down 16mm versions that ran as short as one hour.

But pristine and complete 35mm copies of 'Woman in the Moon' did survive in several European archives. Today, restored prints are amazingly clear and sharp, Rapsis said.

" 'Woman in the Moon' is technically one of the best-looking silent films I've ever seen," he said. "If you think all silent films are grainy and scratchy-looking, 'Woman in the Moon' will change your mind. It's like an Ansel Adams photograph come to life."

"Although 'Woman in the Moon' is available for home viewing, this is a motion picture that should be experienced as intended: on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience," Rapsis said. "There's nothing like it."

‘Woman in the Moon’ will be shown with live music on Sunday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Aeronaut Brewery, 14 Tyler St. (near Union Square), Somerville, Mass. Admission is an optional $10 donation per person. For more info, visit www.aeronautbrewing.com or call (617) 987-4236; for more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

Thoughts on accompanying 4 films in 4 days; Harry Langdon in Ogunquit on Thursday, 9/17

An original promo sheet for 'The Strong Man' (1926).

Usually I preview upcoming shows here. But with four films in the past four days, that process kind of got away from me, so nothing got posted. Apologies!

So let me say up front: the next silent film program I'm accompanying will be a Harry Langdon's 'The Strong Man' (1926) on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit, Maine.

If you'd like more info, the full press release is tacked to the end of this post.

But now let me recap the what I've been up to since last Thursday before it gets buried by the days ahead.

From 'Hangman's House.: The Emerald Isle or the Weimar Republic?

• Thursday, Sept. 10: 'Hangman's House' (1928) at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse in Plymouth, N.H.: Attendance was down in this entry of our monthly series, probably because it was NFL kick-off night featuring Tom Brady's return to the New England Patriots, which is very big news in this part of the planet.

Still, John Ford's last silent film held the screen with its Murnau-inspired visuals, with the action set in a part of Ireland subject to heavy ground fog, apparently. Great to see John Wayne show up as an over-excited villager busting down a fence during a horse race.

'The Cameraman': a film about film itself.

• Friday, Sept. 11: 'The Cameraman' (1928) at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H.: This one fell together quite effectively, I thought. Above average attendance for Red River, and a film that the audience found hilarious right from the beginning, when Buster Keaton finds his face in the lovely Marceline Day's hair.

I know 'The Cameraman' pretty well now, and so knew to keep the music as light as possible for as long as possible. Only when Keaton tries photographing the chaotic Tong War can you open up, but then you have to bring it right back down again. Thrilled to hear laughter even during the loudest sections of the war. Success!

The silent Tarzan: supply your own jungle yell if you like.

• Saturday, Sept. 12: 'Tarzan and the Golden Lion' (1927) at the Brandon Town Hall and Community Center in Brandon, Vt.: A wealth of pre-show publicity in the local media coupled with a rainy evening led to a record-busting attendance of about 125 people. Nice!

James Bridges as Tarzan got a good reaction, but people seemed more excited by our warm-up feature, 'The Sign of the Claw' (1926), the only surviving feature of second-tier German shepherd star Peter the Great. Hooting and hollering on this one started early, when Peter pulled a hapless toddler from the path of a heavy truck.

From 'The Leaping Fish': the label says it all.

• Sunday, Sept. 13: 'The Matrimaniac' (1916) and other films starring Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. at the Somerville Theatre in Somerville, Mass.: More rain helped boost attendance at this program of rarely screened early Fairbanks pictures, which also included 'The Missing Millionaire' (1917) and 'The Mystery of the Leaping Fish' (1916).

For 'Matrimaniac,' the only full-length feature, reaction was muted, I thought—possibly the effect of having to run the 35mm print at 24 fps, clearly too fast. Looking forward to the Somerville getting the ability to run variable speed when needed on its 35mm Norelcos.

'Millionaire,' a later film that used the same footage from 'Matrimaniac' to tell a completely different story to capitalize on Fairbanks' popularity, was a real treat. Seeing the two movies one after another reminded me of a Michael Frayn farce—or a bit like Keaton's 'Spite Marriage' (1929), where we see scene played completely straight, then see it again as Buster ruins it in increasingly creative ways.

And what can you say about 'Leaping Fish' and its gleeful depiction of drug use? Throughout the film, my accompaniment was augmented by the sound of jaws hitting the floor.

So it was a good four-day run with a variety of films in some vastly different settings.

But I like doing these mini-marathons because by the end, I feel like I have a fluency at the keyboard that allows me to go places I usually can't.

Somehow, the momentum carries me. Either that, or I'm so disoriented I just don't know what the hell I'm doing anymore.

Could be a combination of both!

Okay, here's the press release for the Langdon program later this week. Hope you can make it!

* * *

Harry Langdon in 'The Strong Man' (1926).

MONDAY, AUG. 24, 2015 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

See Frank Capra's first-ever film at Leavitt Theatre on Thursday, Sept. 17

Harry Langdon's classic silent comedy 'The Strong Man,' directed by a very young Capra, to be shown with live music

OGUNQUIT, Maine — Silent film with live music returns to the big screen at the Leavitt Theatre in September with a showing of an uproarious comedy starring Harry Langdon.

The screening, on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m., will feature Langdon's classic picture 'The Strong Man' (1926).

Helming 'The Strong Man' was young first-time director Frank Capra, who would later go on to create such Hollywood classics as 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' (1939) and 'It's a Wonderful Life' (1946).

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

Admission is $10 per person.

'The Strong Man' tells the story of a World War I soldier (Langdon) who, following his discharge, finds work as assistant to a circus strong man. As the act travels the United States, Langdon continually searches for a girl he corresponded with while stationed overseas in the military.

The search leads to a town controlled by Prohibition-era gangsters, which forces Harry to test the limits of his own inner strength even as he looks for his dream girl. Can Happy triumph over the bad guys? And is love more powerful than brute strength?

The feature-length film showcases the unique child-like personality of Langdon, who is largely forgotten today. For a brief time in the 1920s, however, he rivaled Charlie Chaplin as Hollywood's top movie clown.

Langdon's popularity, which grew quickly in the last years of the silent era, fizzled as the movie business abruptly switched to talkies starting in 1929.

'The Strong Man,' a family-friendly comedy, was was selected in 2007 for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Harry Langdon experiences temptation in 'The Strong Man' (1926).

In recent years, 'The Strong Man' has been recognized as a major achievement of the silent film era—a satisfying and timeless balance of emotion and comedy.

"A little tragedy and a lot of laughs can be seen in 1926's The Strong Man," wrote critic Richard von Busack in 2007. "Director Frank Capra's energy and sturdy plot sense counterpoint Langdon's wonderful strangeness."

'The Strong Man' will be accompanied by live music by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who performs at venues across the region and beyond.

"These films were created to be shown on the big screen as a sort of communal experience," Rapsis said. "With an audience and live music, they still come to life in the way their makers intended them to.

"So the Leavitt's silent film screenings are a great chance for people to experience films that first caused people to first fall in love with the movies," he said.

The Leavitt, a summer-only moviehouse, opened in 1923 at the height of the silent film era, and has been showing movies to summertime visitors for nine decades.

The silent film series honors the theater's long service as a moviehouse that has entertained generations of area residents and visitors, in good times and in bad.

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.

Upcoming shows in this year's series include:

• Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015, 8 p.m.: 'The Lodger' (1927). A serial killer is on the loose in fog-bound London. Will the murderer be caught before yet another victim is claimed? Just in time for Halloween, suspenseful British thriller directed by a very young Alfred Hitchcock. The program is subtitled 'Chiller Theater' due to the theater's lack of central heating.

'The Strong Man' (1926) will be screened with live music on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. at the Leavitt Theater, 259 Main St., Route 1, Ogunquit, Maine. Admission $10. For more information, call (207) 646-3123 or visit www.leavittheatre.com.

For info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

Frank Capra's 'The Strong Man' will be screened with live music by Jeff Rapsis on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. at the Leavitt Theater, 259 Main St., Route 1, Ogunquit, Maine. Admission $10. For more information, call (207) 646-3123 or visit www.leavittheatre.com.

Needed: Audience members at 4/9 screening to help out documentary on Buster Keaton

Buster's autograph as obtained by Linda Olmsted in 1956.

First priority: to plug a screening of Keaton's 'Three Ages' (1923) on Thursday, April 9, as a documentary film crew will be on hand to interview attendees about Buster.

So come along. What are you waiting for? The more, the merrier!

But first, a few highlights from a holiday weekend as packed with silent film adventures as a child's egg-filled Easter basket.

• Friday, April 3: 'The Lost World' (1925) at Red River Theatres, Concord, N.H. Small turnout but strong reaction to this very entertaining film.

Just before the screening, a Red River staffer brought in an item from the collection of Barry Steelman, a well-known local movie buff and part of the Red River family.

I'll be darned: an original booking contract for 'The Lost World,' framed and perfectly intact, complete with full-color letterhead with artwork derived from the film's promotional materials.

But it was only the start of a weekend filled with unexpected artifacts...

• Saturday, April 4: 'The General' (1927) at the hall of Blazing Star #71 Grange in Danbury, N.H. Small theater but packed with locals for what promised to be an unusual night out.

It certainly was for me. First, the Blazing Star's hall appears unchanged since perhaps the McKinley era, with the exception of modern wiring. Stern faces of Grange leaders from the pre-World War I Grange heydays stare down from the hall's wooden walls.

The small proscenium stage, still in working order, is home to an impressive collection of antique theater curtains and scenic backdrops, some of it original to the hall and some of it acquired from other small theaters.

One of many antique scenic backdrops housed at the Blazing Star Grange Hall in Danbury, N.H.

A group of volunteers are working on conserving these rare artifacts. The ones on display are a sight to behold.

For the silent film program, the same people created a very substantial white screen, complete with wooden frame held together by clamps. Amazing!

As for the films: Buster rocked the house. It's always a treat to do a screening for such an appreciative audience.

But a highlight for me was when a woman approached me prior to the show with an old-time autograph book open to a particular page.

On it was written, in classic Palmer method script: Buster Keaton.

(I seem to have heard somewhere that Buster, who attended exactly one day of public school in his entire life, was functionally illiterate. I don't know if the very stilted penmanship of his signature bears this out, but it would be interesting to get it evaluated. Any volunteers?)

The woman, Linda Olmsted, said she was a Girl Scout in Manchester, Conn. on a field trip to New York City in the mid-1950s when she spotted Keaton on the street near what she thought was a TV studio.

So she asked, and Keaton obliged. And she still had the book, and Keaton's signature, after all these years. Again, today's word: Amazing!

Unfortunately, Danbury resident Carl Hultberg could not attend Saturday night's screening due to illness.

Hultberg had contacted me earlier, wanted to let me know his grandfather was Rudi Blesh, Keaton's authorized biographer who was working with him just prior to Keaton's death in early 1966.

He has since sent along a note apologizing for not attending, but saying he's still like to show me something I might find interesting: one of Keaton's hats.

Geez, what is it with Keaton and Danbury, N.H.? After all this, it wouldn't surprise me if the Grange stove was the same one used in Keaton's two-reel comedy 'Hard Luck.'

Thou Shalt Not Miss It: an original poster for Cecil B. DeMille's 'The Ten Commandments.'

• Sunday, April 5: 'The Ten Commandments' (1923) in 35mm at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, Somerville, Mass. About 100 people made a Biblical epic part of their Easter Sunday, despite my comments that the Archdiocese of Boston would not allow attendance to count as Mass.

Got to use my one sure-fire laugh line on this. To depict the parting of the Red Sea, technicians used large blocks of gelatin sprayed with water. My wife said it had to be strawberry Jell-O because, after all, it's the RED SEA. Har!

The film itself is a great one for music, I think: all broad gestures and a good amount of motion at varying tempos. I had five melodic cells picked out for this and wound up making heavy use of just two of them. Still, it held together and I felt it was one of my better efforts.

Okay, on to Buster Keaton's 'Three Ages' (1923) on Thursday, April 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center in Plymouth, N.H.

Come one, come all! Because it would be great to have a sizable turnout so the documentary producers will have something to work with.

The filmmakers are Jessica Roseboom and Gavin Rosenberg of Merge Creative Media. Based in New York City, they're assembling material for a documentary on Keaton's silent comedy and how it continues to delight and mesmerize audiences nearly a century after it was produced.

For a good write-up of what they're doing, check out this story that ran on Sunday, April 5 in the Concord (N.H.) Monitor.

Or better yet, come to the screening and be part of the experience. For more info about 'Three Ages' and the program on Thursday, April 9, check out the press release below.

See you there!

* * *

Pre-historic Buster takes a pre-historic bath in 'Three Ages' (1923).

SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 2015 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Documentary film crew to visit Flying Monkey on Thursday, April 9

Local audience for Buster Keaton silent film program to be interviewed for possible inclusion in documentary

PLYMOUTH, N.H.—Audience members who attend next week's silent film screening at the Flying Monkey will have some unusual company.

A documentary film crew will visit Plymouth and the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center on Thursday, April 9 for a screening of Buster Keaton's classic silent comedy 'Three Ages' (1923).

Filmmakers Jessica Roseboom, Gavin Rosenberg and Chad "CJ" Gardella, of New York City-based Merge Creative Media, are currently making a feature-length documentary about Keaton's enduring popularity.

Titled "Buster Keaton: To Be Funny," the project has been actively underway for several months. Filming locations so far have included Tucson, Ariz. and New York City.

As part of their work, Roseboom contacted New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis, who provides live music for the Flying Monkey's monthly silent film series.

The Flying Monkey's screening of Keaton's 'Three Ages' prompted the filmmakers to come to Plymouth for the event.

During their visit, they plan to interview audience members and also film audience reactions during the screening.

"It's a real honor to have the Flying Monkey selected for inclusion in this project," Rapsis said. "Buster Keaton's films are always popular, but now there's an another reason for people to attend."

The program, accompanied by live music, will also include several Keaton comedy short films released prior to his jump into full-length feature films.

The Keaton show is on Thursday, April 9 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $10 per person.

'Three Ages,' a loose send-up of the then-famous drama 'Intolerance' (1916), weaves together similar love stories told in three different epochs: the Stone Age, the Roman Age, and "Modern" (1920s) times.

The three-stories-in-one approach was Keaton's first attempt at a feature-length comedy. If 'Three Ages' showed signs of box office trouble, Keaton planned to split it up into three shorter films to be released separately.

But the picture was a success, due primarily to inspired comic touches that still shine through to audiences today. 'Three Ages' launched Keaton's spectacular run of classic comic features that lasted until the industry's transition to sound pictures in 1929.

Keaton, one of the silent film era's great comics, was known for his ingenuity with gags, acrobatic stunts, and his trademark dead-pan manner.

'Three Ages' is the latest in a series of monthly silent film screenings at the newly renovated Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performing Arts Center. The series aims to recreate the lost magic of early cinema by assembling 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 a live audience.

The Flying Monkey's silent film series will continue in 2015 with these upcoming titles:

• Thursday, May 21, 2015, 6:30 p.m.: 'The Count of Monte Cristo' (1922) starring John Gilbert. The original screen adaptation of the Andre Dumas swashbuckler about a man unjustly imprisoned who later seeks revenge. A film thought lost for decades until a print surfaced in the Czech Republic!

• Thursday, June 11, 2015, 6:30 p.m.: 'Wings' (1927) starring Clara Bow, Buddy Rogers, Richard Arlen. Just in time for Flag Day! Epic saga of American flyboys in World War I took the first-ever Academy Award for Best Picture. One of the all-time great silents, just as moving, thrilling, and exciting as when first released.

• Thursday, July 9, 2015, 6:30 p.m.: 'A Dog Double Feature' spotlighting silent-era canine stars Peter the Great and Rin Tin Tin. In 'The Sign of the Claw,' a police dog helps solve a crime wave. The only surviving film of Peter the Great, a popular German shepherd performer. 'The Night Cry' (1926) finds iconic dog superstar Rin Tin Tin accused of killing sheep. Can he find the real bandit and clear his name?

Buster Keaton's comedy ‘Three Ages’ will be shown on Thursday, April 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performing Arts Center, 39 Main St., Plymouth, N.H. Admission $10 per person. For more info, call (603) 536-2551 or visit www.flyingmonkeynh.com.

For more information on the documentary "Buster Keaton: To Be Funny," visit www.tobefunnythemovie.com

Thursday, Jan. 30: Pickford in Concord, N.H.; then a three-day weekend of silents in Boston

Mary Pickford in 'Sparrows' (1926), showing on Thursday, Jan. 30 at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H., and then on Friday, Jan. 31 in 35mm at the Somerville Theatre.

Four days in a row of doing music for ambitious silent film programs? Wow, it's almost like I do this for a living!

But yes: on Thursday, Jan. 30, it's a Mary Pickford program hosted by author Christel Schmidt at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H., and then THREE DAYS of silent film (all in 35mm) at the wonderful Somerville Theatre down in Davis Square, just outside downtown Boston.

We're getting a fair amount of publicity for these screenings, so first priority is getting details posted here for anyone looking for info. As it's coming up first, below is the text of the press release for the Pickford program at Red River in Concord.

For the trio of Somerville screenings this weekend, you'll find details by clicking on the 'Upcoming Screenings' link at upper right. We're showing 'Sparrows' (1926), 'Way Down East' (1920), and 'Wings' (1927). I'll post the full release for these once the Red River program happens.

Here we go!

* * *
MONDAY, JAN. 20, 2014 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'Lost' silent film found in N.H. barn
to highlight Mary Pickford program at Red River

Screening on Thursday, Jan. 30 hosted by noted author;
includes feature film 'Sparrows' (1926) with live music

CONCORD, N.H.—A film thought lost for nearly a century until a copy was discovered in a New Hampshire barn will highlight a program at Concord's Red River Theatres on Thursday, Jan. 30.

The event, hosted by noted film scholar Christel Schmidt (at left), will feature a screening of 'Their First Misunderstanding,' a short drama starring Mary Pickford and her then-husband Owen Moore that was produced in 1911.

The program, which starts at 7 p.m., will also include a screening of Pickford's full-length feature film 'Sparrows' (1926), regarded as one of the masterpieces of the silent film era. The program will be held in Red River's 'Lincoln' cinema. General admission is $15 per person.

Long thought lost, 'Their First Misunderstanding' is notable because it was the first credited screen appearance of Pickford, who would go on to be one of Hollywood's first superstars and among the most powerful figures in Hollywood.

A 35mm print of the film was discovered in 2007 in a barn in Nelson, N.H. by a contractor who was hired to tear down the structure. The film has since been restored by Keene State College and the Library of Congress; its "re-premiere" at Keene State College last October was hailed by film experts worldwide as a major rediscovery.

The screening at Red River will be only the second time 'Their First Misunderstanding' has been publicly screened since its restoration.

The films will be accompanied by live music created by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film musician and Red River's house film accompanist.

Hosting the event is Christel Schmidt, noted Pickford expert and editor of 'Mary Pickford: Queen of the Movies,' a book recently co-published by the Library of Congress and the University Press of Kentucky.

Schmidt will be on hand to sign copies of her book, an anthology of writing about one of the most important — and misunderstood — figures in American film history. Copies will be available for purchase and signing before and after the show.

Also on the program is Larry Benaquist, professor emeritus of film at Keene State, who coordinated the restoration of 'Their First Misunderstanding' and several other films discovered in Nelson, a small town about 10 miles north of Keene.

Only about 20 percent of all silent films produced in the U.S. survive today. Most were lost to decay, neglect, or deliberate destruction after silent film was superceded by talking pictures in the late 1920s. As a result, the rediscovery of any film title thought lost is considered rare and unusual.

Owen Moore and Mary Pickford in 'Their First Misunderstanding' (1911).

Screening 'Their First Misunderstanding' at Red River helps the theater fulfill its mission to bring out-of-the-ordinary cinema to New Hampshire residents.

"We're thrilled to be hosting only the second-ever screening of this early Pickford film that was discovered right here in New Hampshire," said Shelly Hudson, executive director of Red River. "It's amazing that this piece of cinema history has been unearthed in our own backyard, and we're glad to be able to give Granite State residents a chance not only to see it, but also understand more about its importantance."

Perspective on Pickford and her career will be provided by Schmidt, an independent researcher affiliated with the Library of Congress who has specialized in cataloging and tracking down all surviving Pickford films.

Pickford, an early superstar, was a major force in early Hollywood, helping establish the United Artists studio and serving as a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives out the annual Oscar awards.

However, Pickford's films receive little attention today, in part due to the myth that Pickford often played wholesome and traditional female characters.

In truth, Pickford's movies often required her to take action, challenge authority, and play strong roles uncommon for a woman of the era. In 'Sparrows' (1926), also on the Red River program, Pickford must single-handedly protect a group of orphans from an evil guardian, and then battle a pack of criminals. In a dramatic higlight, she leads the orphans on a perilous journey through a dangerous alligator-infested swamp.

"We hope this program helps people understand what a dynamic woman Mary Pickford was, both on screen and in her career," Hudson said. "If you've never experienced a silent film with live music, I encourage you to join us on Thursday, Jan. 30."

The screening is supported in part by HippoPress, the region's arts and entertainment newspaper, as well as the Concord Monitor, the Capitol Region's daily newspaper.

Red River Theatres, an independent cinema, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to screening a diverse program of first-run independent films, cult favorites, classics, local and regional film projects, and foreign films. The member-supported theater’s mission is to present film and the discussion of film as a way to entertain, broaden horizons and deepen appreciation of life for New Hampshire audiences of all ages.

Red River Theatres includes silent film in its programming to give today's audiences a chance to experience the great films of cinema's early years as they were intended: in restored prints, on the big screen, and with live music and an audience.

“These films are still exciting experiences if you show them as they were designed to be screened,” said Rapsis, Red River's accompanist. “There’s a reason people first fell in love with the movies, and we hope to recreate that experience with the Pickford program and the other silent films we show at Red River. At their best, silent films were communal experience—one in which the presence of a large audience intensifies everyone’s reactions.”

"Mary Pickford: Queen of the Movies" will be presented on Thursday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. Admission is $15 per person; for more info, call (603) 224-4600 or visit www.redrivertheatres.org. For more information about 'Mary Pickford: Queen of the Movies, visit https://www.facebook.com/MaryPickfordQueenOfTheMovies. For more information about the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.