Celebrating a birthday with Buster Keaton on Wednesday, April 21 in Greenfield, Mass.

A bearded Buster seems wary of Dorothy Sebastian in 'Spite Marriage' (1929).

I'm on the road again (someone ought to write a song about that!), heading over to Greenfield, Mass. this week for a special occaision: the 92nd birthday of one of New England's surviving downtown movie palaces.

It's the Greenfield Garden Cinemas, where I'll be accompanying Buster Keaton's comedy 'Spite Marriage' (1929) on Wednesday, April 21 at 7 p.m. 

'Spite Marriage,' Keaton's last silent feature, was released in 1929, the same year the Garden opened its doors as the most opulent movie venue the Pioneer Valley had ever seen.

It was the final year of silent pictures, but the Garden still came equipped with a massive theater organ to accompany the action on the screen. Talkies soon prevailed, and the Garden began a long process of adapting to changing tastes (and economics) that continues today.

The Garden Cinemas today, its big sidewalk-overhanging marquee re-engineered to accommodate the seven screens inside.

The organ survives, with its console now on display in the lobby. But although the theater has endured, the fact that the name is now the "Garden Cinemas" indicates a significant change.

Like so many movie palaces, the Garden was "multi-plexed" some years ago. More screens equals more movies which equals more seats filled more of the time, generally. 

And so the Garden's grand auditorium and balcony were filled with walls and partitions and smaller screens and projection spaces. What had once been one house became pluralized: it was now seven theaters. 

But it's still the Garden, and movies are still shown there, and its survival in the face of so many challenges over the decades (most recently, the pandemic that saw it forced shut for months) is something worth celebrating. 

And so we will. Join us on Wednesday night for a screening of 'Spite Marriage' with live music. We're not exactly sure if Buster's comedy was ever screened at the Garden in its original release, and we're also not sure what the opening night program was, either.

 But until we find out, Buster will be our birthday boy! Press release below has more info about the film, the theater, and the screening. See you there!

*   *   * 

A vintage lobby card promoting 'Spite Marriage' (1929).

TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more info, contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Classic Buster Keaton farce 'Spite Marriage' at Garden Cinemas on Wednesday, April 21

Comedian's final silent feature film to be screened with live music to celebrate theater's 92nd birthday

GREENFIELD, 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 'Spite Marriage' (1929), Keaton's last silent feature film, on Wednesday, April 21 at 7 p.m. at the Greenfield Garden Cinemas, 361 Main St., Greenfield, Mass.

The screening honors the 92nd birthday of the Garden Cinema, which opened at the end of the silent era and has been showing movies to Greenfield and Pioneer Valley residents ever since.

Admission is $9.50 per person, $8.50 for children, students, and seniors

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

The Garden was built in 1928-29 to a design by Mowll & Rand of Boston for the Goldstein family, which owned a theater chain across western Massachusetts.

The theater has had only three owners in its nearly century-long history. Most recently, the Garden was taken over in 2019 by Isaac and Angela Mass.

'Spite Marriage' finds the poker-faced comic smitten by stage actress Trilby Drew (Dorothy Sebastian)—so much so that he joins the cast of her current production, a Civil War melodrama.

The fun begins when she unexpectedly asks Buster to marry her, but only to get even with an old flame. Complications with gangsters lead to a climax at sea, making for a classic Keaton comedy full of memorable routines.

Going south: Buster bumbles through a Civil War stage melodrama.

Keaton, along with Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, stands as one of the three great comics of the silent screen.

Many critics regard Keaton as the best of all; Roger Ebert wrote in 2002 that "in an extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, (Keaton) worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies."

"Buster Keaton was the stone-faced comic who never smiled on camera, so he's sometimes thought of as the most silent of the silent clowns," Rapsis said.

"But seen today, his films are remarkable for their effective stories, their innovative cinematography, and their ability to still produce gales of laughter," Rapsis said. "A chance to see a Keaton film as originally presented—in a theater, with live music and an audience—is not to be missed."

Rapsis said it's currently a new golden age for silent film because so many titles have been restored, and are now available to watch at home or via online streaming.

However, the birthday screening at the Garden Cinemas enables film fans to really understand the power of early cinema, which was intended to be shown on a big screen, with live music, and with an audience.

"Put those elements together, and films from the silent era spring right back to life in a way that helps you understand why people first fell in love with the movies," Rapsis said.

Buster Keaton's comedy 'Spite Marriage' will be shown on Wednesday, April 21 at 7 p.m. at the Greenfield Garden Cinemas, 361 Main St., Greenfield, Mass. Admission $9.50 per person, $8.50 for children, students, and seniors. For more info, call (413) 773-9260 or visit www.gardencinemas.net.

 

'Spite Marriage' (1929), Keaton's last silent,on Thursday, July 14 in Plymouth, N.H.

An original lobby card for 'Spite Marriage.'

'Spite Marriage,' Buster Keaton's last silent feature, is often looked at as his 'transition' film.

It came after the brilliance of 'The Cameraman' (1928), and led directly to the alleged mediocrity of his MGM talkies, which in turn led to his career unraveling.

For me as a teenager, this was reinforced by a book on Keaton I found in the public library of my hometown of Nashua, N.H.

David Robinson's 'The Films of Buster Keaton' was an eye-opener. It introduced me to the basic plots and settings of all of Keaton's feature films, none of which I had seen.

(At age 13, I was just beginning to order 8mm prints of Keaton's short films such as 'Cops,' which in 1977 was the only way you could see them.)

Robinson's book, published in 1971, focused on the features Keaton produced independently for producer Joseph Schenk up through 1928's 'Steamboat Bill, Jr.'

Keaton signed with MGM after that, and for some reason Robinson glossed over Keaton's two MGM silents, 'The Cameraman' and 'Spite Marriage.'

Of the two, at least 'The Cameraman' got some analysis and commentary. But 'Spite Marriage' merited barely a mention, with Robinson admitting it wasn't available for viewing and that he'd never seen it.

So this planted on my impressionable mind the idea that 'Spite Marriage' was somehow a lame horse, a misfire, a mistake that wasn't up to Keaton's standards and perhaps not even a real "Keaton" film at all.

And this didn't change until many years later, when I finally, actually saw the picture. And I was surprised to find it quite polished (it was MGM, after all) and with no shortage of what seemed to be great Keaton sequences and gags. It was like discovering Beethoven had written a symphony that no one knew about.

This was confirmed when I ran the picture with an audience a few years ago. People roared!

Pretty good for Buster's "transition," film, I thought. But I've accompanied it several times since, and it always kills. Maybe I'd been selling 'Spite Marriage' short all this time.

Well, I'm now delighted to accompany Buster's last silent feature whenever and wherever. And that means tomorrow night (Thursday, July 14) at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center in downtown Plymouth, N.H.

Hope you can join us! More info in the press release below.

* * *

Dorothy Sebastian and Buster in 'Spite Marriage.'

TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2016 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more info, contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Classic Buster Keaton farce 'Spite Marriage' at Flying Monkey on Thursday, July 14

Pioneering comedian's final silent feature film to be screened with live musical accompaniment

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

Acclaimed for their originality and timeless visual humor, Keaton's films remain popular crowd-pleasers today.

See for yourself with a screening of 'Spite Marriage' (1929), Keaton's last silent feature film, on Thursday, July 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 South Main St., Plymouth, N.H.

Admission is $10 per person.

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

'Spite Marriage' finds the poker-faced comic smitten by stage actress Trilby Drew (Dorothy Sebastian)—so much so that he joins the cast of her current production, a Civil War melodrama.

The fun begins when she unexpectedly asks Buster to marry her, but only to get even with an old flame. Complications with gangsters lead to a climax at sea, making for a classic Keaton comedy full of memorable routines.

Buster in the play-within-a-movie in 'Spite Marriage.'

The program opens with short comedy films Keaton made earlier in his career.

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

"Buster Keaton was the stone-faced comic who never smiled on camera, so he's sometimes thought of as the most silent of the silent clowns," Rapsis said.

"But seen today, his films are remarkable for their effective story construction, their innovative cinematography, and their ability to still produce gales of laughter," Rapsis said. "A chance to see a Keaton film as originally presented—in a theater, with live music and an audience—is not to be missed."

'Spite Marriage' is the latest in a monthly series of silent films presented with live music at the Flying Monkey. The series provides local audiences the opportunity to experience silent film as it was intended to be shown: on the big screen, in good-looking prints, with live music, and with an audience.

Rapsis said it's currently a new golden age for silent film because so many titles have been restored, and are now available to watch at home or via online streaming.

However, the Flying Monkey series enables film fans to really understand the power of early cinema, which was intended to be shown on a big screen, with live music, and with an audience.

"Put those elements together like we do at the Flying Monkey, and films from the silent era spring right back to life in a way that helps you understand why people first fell in love with the movies," Rapsis said.

Upcoming programs in the Flying Monkey's silent film series include:

• Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016, 6:30 p.m.: Rudolph Valentino Double Feature! On the 90th anniversary of the heartthrob's shocking and untimely death, we pay tribute with 'The Sheik' (1921) and 'Son of the Sheik' (1926). Bring tissues!

Buster Keaton's comedy 'Spite Marriage' will be shown on Thursday, July 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 South Main St., Plymouth, N.H. Admission is $10 per person. For more info, call (603) 536-2551 or visit www.flyingmonkeynh.com. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

Tonight 9/23: Opening night at Rogers Center features double bill of Buster's best pictures

Buster in 'Sherlock Jr.' (1924), showing tonight at the Rogers Center in North Andover, Mass.

Alas, I'm not attending this year's Buster Keaton Celebration in Iola, Kansas, which takes place this weekend.

But I'm doing the next best thing: accompanying a pair of upcoming Keaton programs in my corner of the world.

First up is tonight's season-opener at the Rogers Center for the Arts on the campus of Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.

The program features 'Sherlock Jr.' (1924) and 'Our Hospitality' (1923), two of Buster's best silents that I think show his remarkable abilities even early in his film career, when these pictures date from.

For more info on this show, and the rest of the season at the Rogers Center, check out the press release below.

And then on Sunday, Sept. 27, I'm accompanying Keaton's last silent feature, the MGM-produced "Spite Marriage" (1929) at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H. Showtime is 4:30 p.m.

Both programs are free and open to the public, although a suggested donation of $5 per person is requested for the Wilton show to help defray expenses.

Buster's silent features still work as well as ever, and remain audience favorites today.

But even just a little historical perspective makes them all the more interesting and amazing, I think.

What I'm thinking about is how I recall someone once described the difference among silent film's "Big Three" of comedy.

Charlie Chaplin's art was essentially rooted in the past—a kind of Victorian sensibility found in the theatrical melodramas of the 19th century. Audiences responded to the timeless and familiar qualities of this kind of story-telling.

Harold Lloyd played a character very much of the present, meaning the Roaring '20s. Audiences responded to him because his adventures were part of the shared experience of contemporary living.

And Keaton? Well, we're still trying to catch up to Buster: his outlook, his attitude, and everything else.

In that sense, I think an important aspect of Buster's work is how he used the film medium.

Watch enough silent films of all types, and you realize how advanced Keaton was for his time.

Remember, it was an era when filmmakers were just beginning to develop the basic grammar of cinema: long shots vs. close-ups, transitions, camera positions, and so much else.

Apparently on instinct alone, Buster knew how to position a camera and frame a shot and edit a sequence for maximum impact.

Timeless appeal: Buster and a sundial in 'Seven Chances' (1925).

So his films are full of techniques that later became common in motion pictures.

But that's something not immediately apparent to modern audiences, who've been marinated in visual story-telling and entertainment our whole lives.

To us, Buster's films look like: well, what films are supposed to look like. But check your calendar: we live in 2015, and Buster was working 90 years ago.

Talk about timeless!

Okay, here's info about tonight's screening and the rest of the 2015-16 season of silent film with live music at the Rogers Center in North Andover, Mass. Hope to see you there!

* * *

Buster Keaton (left) stars in 'Our Hospitality' (1923), part of the 2015-16 silent film series at the Rogers Center for the Arts.

MONDAY, SEPT. 7, 2015 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Rogers Center announces silent film series with live music for 2015-16 season

Classic comedies, dramas to be screened with live accompaniment at Merrimack College, North Andover, Mass.

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.—Silent film on the big screen and with live music will return to the Rogers Center for the Arts in North Andover, Mass. with a series of shows scheduled for the 2015-16 season. Admission to the screenings is free and the public is welcome.

The schedule includes a double dose of comedy from one of silent era's top funnymen; a creepy thriller to be shown for Halloween; a mind-bending epic drama set in four different time periods; and the original silent version of 'Ben Hur.'

Musical accompaniment will be performed live by silent film composer Jeff Rapsis, regarded as one of the nation's leading silent film musicians.

The series aims to recapture the magic of early Hollywood by presenting silent films as they were intended to be shown: in restored prints, in a theater on a big screen, with live music, and with an audience.

"If you can put together those elements, it's surprising how much power these films still have," said Rapsis, who specializes in improvising live music for silent film screenings throughout New England and beyond. "You realize why these films caused people to first fall in love with the movies."

The series features some of the most-requested titles from the silent film era:

• Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, 7 p.m.: 'Buster Keaton Double Feature' starring Buster Keaton. Buster breeches the fourth wall big-time in the imaginative "Sherlock Jr." (1924); an old-time backwoods family feud is the focus of "Our Hospitality" (1923), Keaton's breakthrough feature film. Laugh your way through two of the funniest comedies of the silent era!

• Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015, 7 p.m.: 'The Lodger' (1927), directed by (a very young) Alfred Hitchcock. The search is on for the man responsible for a series of murders in fog-shrouded London. Legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock's career began in the silent era, when then young director first produced his brand of darkly suspenseful thrillers. Remember: in silent film, no one can hear you scream! See if if you dare!

A poster for 'Intolerance' (1916), part of the 2015-16 silent film series at the Rogers Center in North Andover, Mass.

• Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016, 7 p.m.: 'Intolerance' (1916), directed by D.W. Griffith and starring (literally) a cast of thousands. D.W. Griffith's early blockbuster about man's inhumanity to man weaves together four stories spanning four eras of civilization. Filmed an a vast scale, setting a new standard for Hollywood extravagance. A movie made for the big screen, and here's your chance to see it!

• Wednesday, March 23, 2016, 7 p.m.: 'Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ' (1925) starring Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman. Just in time for Easter! In the Holy Land, a Jewish prince is enslaved by the occupying Romans; inspired by encounters with Jesus, he lives to seek justice. One of the great religious epics of Hollywood's silent film era, including a legendary chariot race that's lost none of its power to thrill.

All films will be screened at the Rogers Center for the Arts, Merrimack College, 315 North Turnpike St., North Andover, Mass.

"If you haven't seen a silent film the way it was intended to be shown, then you're missing a unique experience," Rapsis said. "At their best, silent films can be surprisingly sophisticated. They still retain a tremendous ability to cast a spell, engage an audience, tap into elemental emotions, and provoke strong reactions."

The opening program in this season's silent film series at the Rogers Center will include Buster Keaton's 'Sherlock Jr.' (1924) and 'Our Hospitality' (1923), to be screened on Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. at the Rogers Center for the Arts, located on Walsh Way on the campus of Merrimack College, 315 Turnpike St., North Andover, Mass. Admission is free. For more information, call the Rogers box office at (978) 837-5355.

Unexpected reactions to two films:'Robin Hood' and 'Spite Marriage'

So last weekend saw the last screenings before my mid-summer late June/early July silent film lull. On Sunday, June 24, we screened 'Robin Hood' (1922), the famous Douglas Fairbanks blockbuster. Then, on Tuesday, June 26, we screened 'Spite Marriage' (1929), Buster Keaton's rarely seen final silent feature. Guess which one worked?

Well, the fact that I'm bringing up the question should make it obvious: the Fairbanks film produced only a mild reaction at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre, while the Keaton film produced gales of laughter and applause at the Manchester (N.H.) Public Library. What's the deal?

Well, for starters, I think the music was a factor. I specialize in improvised live scores, and sometimes things just don't click. You never know. With 'Robin Hood,' I had prepared several big themes to use to build the score on, but it never seemed to come together effectively.

For 'Spite Marriage,' I didn't have time to create original material beforehand, but came up with a few simple themes on the spot and it all fell together wonderfully! I've noticed that's the case with me: when I overprepare, I seem to set myself up for failure, but when I play something cold, good things seem to happen more often.

Plus, with 'Robin Hood,' I made the mistake of starting too strong, which leaves you with nowhere to go, especially for a film that's nearly two-and-a-half hours long. The Keaton score, however, built organically from a goofy little diatonic tune that I riffed on and developed as the film unspooled.

But other factors played a part, too. For one thing, the Fairbanks picture takes a lot of time just showing us the Middle Ages in all its glory, which was big news to movie-goers of the 1920s but not so much to us in the we've-seen-it-all age. For a film about a well known legend such as Robin Hood, we expect it to start right in with the robbing-from-the-rich, and Fairbanks takes about 90 minutes before introducing even the idea of Robin Hood.

Buster's film, however, is a contemporary comedy, and as such just gets right to things, with a non-legendary story unhampered by audience expectations. He just makes us laugh, and then even the flimsiest plot (which 'Spite Marriage' has) doesn't seem to matter that much as long as the laughs keep coming, which they did at our screening.

Another strike against 'Robin Hood' is more basic: the way the Merry Men prance about the wilderness, alas, seems unintentionally comic to today's sensibilities. It kinda takes away from the magic spell that a good silent film can weave. But Keaton's dead-pan approach has worn pretty well over the years -- perhaps it's okay to call it timeless? One style gets in the way of the spell, while another enhances it.

I must say I knew what we were getting into with 'Robin Hood.' I've run it before, and it's not the most rousing of the Fairbanks swashbucklers, despite the gigantic castle sets. But I'd never had a chance to run 'Spite Marriage,' nor had I ever seen it with an audience, so I was curious to see what kind of reaction that "lesser" Keaton would get.

I was pleasantly surprised! Scene after scene was greeted with delighted laughter, so much so that I really backed off the accompaniment to let the reaction cross-pollinate and build and grow as naturally as it could. Once again, a picture that seems mildly amusing when watched alone became an absolute riot when shown with an audience.

The highlight for me was the sequence in which Keaton tried to get a passed-out Dorothy Sebastian into bed. It's always been called a classic, and Keaton used the routine quite a bit later in life, but I've never thought it was that terrific.

But audience last Tuesday night rewarded it with constant, astonished laughter, including a spontaneous round of applause when Keaton places a chair under Sebastian and gets her into a sitting position. It was one of those great moments when, sitting there at the keyboard in the darkness, I felt a powerful sense of joy at what we were all doing.

And one final thought about music. 'Spite Marriage' was released with a recorded soundtrack, and I imagine purists would insist that this be used in any screenings. But to me the recorded track sounds antique and a little hyperactive, actually, and serves to place the film in a "yesterday" box.

But by doing fresh music and doing it live, I like to think we helped bridge the gap between yesterday and today for our audience, making 'Spite Marriage' less of a museum piece and more immediate and compelling and easier to lose oneself in.

Thanks to all for a great first half of 2012. And to top it all off, I just found out that I was recently included in New Hampshire Magazine's annual "Best of N.H." survey, for which I'm profoundly grateful.

I'm really looking forward to the second part of the year, which includes more performances of the Moving Panorama in Saco, Maine; a program with Kevin Brownlow at the University of Arkansas, and screenings galore in New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and elsewhere. See you at the movies!

Next up: 'Robin Hood' on Sunday, June 24,then Keaton's 'Spite Marriage' on Tuesday, June 26

Our summer celebration of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. kicks off this weekend with 'Robin Hood' (1922), the swashbuckling star's big screen adaptation of the famous legend from Merrie Olde England. It's showing with live music at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre on Sunday, June 24 at 4:30 p.m., with free admission. (But buy some popcorn and support the theater. It's good popcorn. Really.)

I've done 'Robin Hood' once before, but I'm developing all-new music for this screening. It's a challenging film for modern audiences, I think, because Fairbanks framed it a story of aristocrats, and so it takes forever to get to the actual "Robin Hood" part.

Today, we'd expect a film titled 'Robin Hood' to get right to the action in Sherwood Forest, with the green-suited bandit robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. The Fairbanks 'Robin Hood' isn't set up that way, so we'll see how patient our audience is on Sunday afternoon.

Keaton's 'Spite Marriage' (1929) is a film I've never done before, but I'm eager to see how it fares with live music at our screening, set for the Manchester (N.H.) Public Library on Tuesday, June 26 at 6 p.m.

Growing up, books such as Rudi Blesh's 'The Films of Buster Keaton' made 'Spite Marriage' seem like a really minor film—Keaton's sad last gasp, with little of the originality and excitement of his great 1920s silent features.

But the truth is, Keaton remained a popular star throughout the early talkie era, and 'Spite Marriage' wasn't badly received by audiences at the time. It has some pretty inventive sequences, I think.

However, 'Spite Marriage' was released with a recorded musical score—one that's interesting from an historical perspective, but which now sounds pretty dated, at least to my ears.

So for 'Spite Marriage,' I'll try to do my usual thing of supporting an older film with updated music that sounds something like what today's audiences would expect when they see a film in a movie theater.

This one is also free, so hope to see you there as we bring Buster's last silent feature back to life.