This weekend: 'Zorro' still on, but 'Straight is the Way' (1921) postponed to Saturday, April 5 due to weather

I'm sorry to report that due to incoming inclement weather, members of the Blazing Star Grange of Danbury, N.H. have decided to postponed a screening of 'Straight is the Way' (1921) from Saturday, March 29 to Saturday, April 5.

I'm pasting in the revised text of the press release with the new date. Hope you'll be able to make it to the screening, which includes a "soup and bread" supper. So whether you're hungry for silent cinema or just plain hungry, this event as something for everyone.

However, this weekend's planned screening of the two Douglas Fairbanks 'Zorro' films is still a go at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H.. On Saturday, March 29 at 2 p.m., we'll run 'The Mark of Zorro' (1920); and then on Sunday, March 30 at 2 p.m., it's the sequel 'Don Q, Son of Zorro' (1925).

It's a great chance to see the two films back-to-back. Not only can you appreciate the many connections between the two, but you can also see how much the technique of movie-making had advanced in just five years.

Okay, below is info on 'Straight is the Way.' Hope to see you at the movies!

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A scene from 'Straight is the Way' (1921), a film with a story set in 'Hampton Falls, N.H.'

 

FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2025 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Vintage feature film with story set in Granite State to be screened in Danbury, N.H. on Saturday, April 5

Rare surviving silent comedy/drama 'Straight is the Way' (1921) to be shown with live music at Blazing Star Grange

DANBURY, N.H. — It's a film not seen in theaters since its original release more than a century ago. And it's set in fictional 'Hampton Center, N.H.,' a small town where a pair of big-city crooks hide out from the law.

It's 'Straight is the Way,' a Paramount release that proved a modest box office success in the spring of 1921.

The film then completely disappeared—until now.

On Saturday, April 5, the Blazing Star Grange of Danbury, N.H. will host a screening of 'Straight is the Way,' which boasts a screenplay by two-time Academy Award-winning writer Frances Marion.

The event takes place at the Blazing Star Grange Hall, 15 North Road in Danbury, N.H.

The evening begins with a "soup and bread dinner" served at 6 p.m., cost $5 per person.

The film starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free, with donations gladly accepted; suggested amount is $5 per person.

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

The story of 'Straight is the Way' follows two burglars who flee to rural "Hampton Center, N.H." to hide out in the unused wing of a mansion, where an impoverished family faces eviction.

Exposed to small town values, the pair resolve to change their ways.

'Straight is the Way' was promoted with the tagline: "They came to lift the silver, but they stayed to lift the mortgage."

"It should be a fun screening because the filmmakers depict 'Hampton Center' as a small rural Granite State community—rather like Danbury today," Rapsis said.

The film, a comedy/drama, features scenes in which a Ouija board is used to contact the spirits of long-dead relatives.

Ouija boards had become popular in the years following World War I, when 'Straight is the Way' was released.

How does a film disappear for 100 years, and then resurface?

Produced by Cosmopolitan Pictures, 'Straight is the Way' was one of dozens of titles on Paramount's 1921 release schedule. After its initial run, the film was never reissued or re-released.

This was the fate of nearly all motion pictures of the era, most of which were lost to neglect, decay, or accident. Today, about 75 percent of all silent films no longer exist in any form.

But 'Straight is the Way' is among the survivors. A single 35mm print of the film is in the collection of the U.S. Library of Congress. The print was part of a hoard of film material donated long ago by 1920s star Marion Davies, whose pictures were produced by Cosmopolitan.

However, the print is on fragile and flammable nitrate cellulose film stock, meaning it can't be safely projected or loaned out. To keep the film from deteriorating, the print is kept in long-term storage at the Library of Congress media center in Culpeper, Va.

 

The "Ouija Board" scene in 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

In 2021, Maine-based film archivist Ed Lorusso organized an online Kickstarter program to raise funds to transfer the surviving print of 'Straight is the Way' to digital media. The fundraiser was successful, and the transfer was completed earlier this year.

Lorusso made the film available on DVD to fellow vintage film enthusiasts, including accompanist Rapsis, who felt the film's Granite State setting merited a revival, complete with live music.

The film's "world re-premiere" took place in December 2021 at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H., which hosted the first theatrical showing of the film since its original run.

"Very few films are set in New Hampshire, then or now," Rapsis said. "What's interesting about 'Straight is the Way' is that it shows how the state was viewed at the time—a place of small towns and old-fashioned ways, including a constable patrolling the town in a horse and buggy."

Although 'Straight is the Way' contains authentic details such as New Hampshire license plates on the few autos that appear, Lorusso has found no evidence that any part of the film was shot in the state.

Instead, 'Straight is the Way' was produced in New York City, where Cosmopolitan Pictures was based, and which continued to host film production even after most movie-making moved to California in the 1910s.

'Straight is the Way' features several location shots of Manhattan scenes such as Washington Square in Greenwich Village as it appeared in 1921.

Lorusso believes the New Hampshire scenes were most likely filmed in the rural countryside of Long Island or New Jersey, just outside the city, as was common practice at the time.

Lorusso has identified one location: the mansion shown in the film is the summer home of author Ethel Watts Mumford in Sands Point, Long Island. Mumford wrote 'The Manifestations of Henry Ort,' on which 'Straight is the Way' was based.

The screenplay was by Frances Marion, the one recognizable name associated with the production.

Marion, a prolific writer, authored more than 300 screenplays in a career that spanned three decades. Her credits include silent classics such as 'The Wind' (1928); she would later win Academy Awards for writing the prison drama 'The Big House' (1930) and the iconic boxing story 'The Champ' (1931).

 

A trade publication ad promoting 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

'Straight is the Way' features a cast of solid performers, all unknown today: Matt Moore, Mabel Bert, Gladys Leslie, George Parsons, Henry Sedley, Van Dyke Brooke, and Emily Fitzroy.

The film was directed by Robert Vignola; the following year, he would direct Marion Davies in 'When Knighthood Was in Flower' (1922) a big budget costume drama.

Rapsis said the Blazing Star Grange screening of 'Straight is the Way' is a rare chance to see the film as it was meant to be experienced—on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience.

'Straight is the Way' (1921), a silent comedy/drama set in New Hampshire, will be screened with live music on Saturday, April 5 at 7 p.m. at the Blazing Star Grange Hall, 15 North Road in Danbury, N.H.

The evening begins with a "soup and bread dinner" served at 6 p.m., cost $5 per person. The film starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free, with donations gladly accepted; suggested amount is $5 per person.

Like father, like son: double feature of 'Zorro' and 'Son of Zorro' this weekend at Town Hall Theatre

Original poster art for 'The Mark of Zorro' (1920).

I have a theory that will get tested this weekend.

The theory goes like this: that 'The Mark of Zorro' (1920) starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. was so popular and so familiar to audiences at the time, that its 1925 sequel, 'Don Q: Son of Zorro' was crafted to take advantage of this.

Yes, the sequel stands on its own as a great movie. I saw 'Son of Zorro' just last month at the Kansas Silent Film Festival and people loved it. So yes, you don't have to see the original 'Zorro' to enjoy the sequel.

But to get the full effect of the sequel, it's worth seeing the original first, so it's fresh in your head, just as it must have been to movie-goers of the time. 

That way, it's possible to pick up on quite a few references to the earlier film that must have made the sequel and extra special experience when it hit theaters in June 1925, just under 100 years ago. 

Like what? Well, check out how the sequel, once it gets going, circles back to refer to scenes from the original 'Zorro,' in a kind of 'greatest hits' kind of way. On a smaller scale, several personality traits are carried through both films, including a penchant for cheap 'sleight of hand' tricks. 

Is there anything to this theory? The only way to find out is to do what we're doing this weekend: show both films, one after another, and see if the whole really does add up to something greater than the parts. 

They're both terrific audience-pleasers, so either one on its own will make for a good afternoon in the cinema. But I hope you'll join me in recreating the full 'Zorro' experience via back-to-back screenings, with 'Mark of Zorro' on Saturday, March 29 and 'Don Q: Son of Zorro' on Sunday, March 30.

Both screenings are 2 p.m. matinees at the Town Hall Theatre in beautiful downtown Wilton, N.H. More info in the press release pasted in below. See you at the movies!

Oh, and while I'm at it: in the midst of this weekend's mini 'Zorro-thon,' I'm accompanying another film, 'Straight is the Way' (1921), on Saturday night at the Blazing Star Grange in Danbury, N.H. 

The film is preceded by a 'Soup and Bread Supper,' which sounds good to me. Details about this event are in a press release pasted further below. 

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Original poster art for 'Don Q, Son of Zorro' (1925).

SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 2025 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more info, contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Town Hall to screen 'Zorro' and sequel 'Son of Zorro' over a single weekend March 29 & 30

Swashbuckling silent adventure films starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. to be shown with live music for 100th anniversary of Zorro sequel's release

WILTON, N.H.—It's a rare chance to see the classic silent adventure 'The Mark of Zorro' and its popular sequel, 'Son of Zorro' all in one weekend.

On Saturday, March 29, the Town Hall Theatre will present 'The Mark of Zorro' (1920) starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr.

Then, on Sunday, March 30, the theatre will run 'Don Q, Son of Zorro' (1925) on the 100th anniversary of the film's release—a continuation of the Zorro story and Hollywood's first-ever big budget sequel.

In 'Don Q, Son of Zorro,' Fairbanks plays dual roles: his original sword-brandishing 'Zorro' character and also his whip-wielding son.

Both screenings start at 2 p.m. and will be accompanied by live music performed by Jeff Rapsis.

Admission is free; a donation of $10 per person is suggested to defray expenses and support the Town Hall Theatre's silent film series.

"These two films were among the most popular of the 1920s, and there are many links between them," Rapsis said. "It's a rare chance to see them both together, although each is entertaining and enjoyable on its own." 

Promotional art depicting a scene from 'The Mark of Zorro' (1920).

Douglas Fairbanks Sr., an immensely popular star whose career peaked in the 1920s, served as the model for the George Valentin character in 'The Artist,' the silent film that won multiple Academy Awards in 2012, including the Oscar for Best Picture.

'The Mark of Zorro,' to be screened on Saturday, March 29, tells the story of young Don Diego Vega, the son of a wealthy ranch owner in Spanish California of the early 19th century.

Witnessing the mistreatment of the poor by rich landowners and the oppressive colonial government, Don Diego assumes the identity of "Señor Zorro," a masked figure of great cunning and skill, and vows to bring justice to the region.

The film stars Fairbanks, who until 'Zorro' had focused on playing traditional all-American leading roles in romantic comedies.

The success of 'Zorro' launched Fairbanks on a series of historical adventure films that went on to rank among the most popular spectacles of the silent era, including 'The Three Musketeers' (1921) and 'Robin Hood' (1922).

The enduring popularity of 'Zorro' led Fairbanks to film the sequel, which continues the story to another generation. 

Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in a scene from 'Don Q, Son of Zorro' (1925).

In 'Don Q, Son of Zorro,' Fairbanks plays Don Cesar de Vega, Zorro's grown son, a prodigy with the whip who is visiting the family's Spanish homeland to finish his education.

The trip is no dull semester abroad: Cesar duels with Don Sebastian of the Queen's Guard (soon to be his rival for the hand of lovely Dolores de Muro), makes love to a general's daughter, and befriends the visiting Archduke of Austria.

But a quarrel ending in violence gives Don Sebastian the chance to dispose of his rival by framing him for murder. Feigning suicide, Zorro's whip-wielding son escapes to the family's abandoned castle, where he makes plans to clear the family name.

Both screenings will be accompanied live by silent film musician Jeff Rapsis.

Rapsis achieves a "movie score" sound for silent film screenings by using a digital synthesizer to reproduce the texture of the full orchestra.

"Each of the 'Zorro' films are terrific movies on their own, but the chance to see the original and then the sequel is a great way to present these two films as they were intended to be seen: on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience," said Rapsis, who provides live music accompaniment for silent film screenings across New England and beyond.

'The Mark of Zorro' (1920) will be screened with live music on Saturday, March 29 at 2 p.m. Its sequel, 'Don Q, Son of Zorro' (1925) will be screened with live music on Sunday, March 30 at 2 p.m. Each screening is free and open to the public; a donation of $10 per person is suggested to defray expenses.

Both screenings take place at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. For more info, visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com or call (603) 654-3456. 

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A production still from 'Straight is the Way' (1921) featuring a car with N.H. license plates.

MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2025 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Vintage feature film with story set in Granite State to be screened in Danbury, N.H. on Saturday, March 29

Rare surviving silent comedy/drama 'Straight is the Way' (1921) to be shown with live music at Blazing Star Grange

DANBURY, N.H. — It's a film not seen in theaters since its original release more than a century ago. And it's set in fictional 'Hampton Center, N.H.,' a small town where a pair of big-city crooks hide out from the law.

It's 'Straight is the Way,' a Paramount release that proved a modest box office success in the spring of 1921.

The film then completely disappeared—until now.

This month, the Blazing Star Grange of Danbury, N.H. will host a screening of 'Straight is the Way,' which boasts a screenplay by two-time Academy Award-winning writer Frances Marion.

The event takes place at the Blazing Star Grange Hall, 15 North Road in Danbury, N.H.

The evening begins with a "soup and bread dinner" served at 6 p.m., cost $5 per person.

The film starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free, with donations gladly accepted; suggested amount is $5 per person.

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

The story of 'Straight is the Way' follows two burglars who flee to rural "Hampton Center, N.H." to hide out in the unused wing of a mansion, where an impoverished family faces eviction.

Exposed to small town values, the pair resolve to change their ways.

'Straight is the Way' was promoted with the tagline: "They came to lift the silver, but they stayed to lift the mortgage."

"It should be a fun screening because the filmmakers depict 'Hampton Center' as a small rural Granite State community—rather like Danbury today," Rapsis said.

The film, a comedy/drama, features scenes in which a Ouija board is used to contact the spirits of long-dead relatives.

Ouija boards had become popular in the years following World War I, when 'Straight is the Way' was released.

How does a film disappear for 100 years, and then resurface?

Produced by Cosmopolitan Pictures, 'Straight is the Way' was one of dozens of titles on Paramount's 1921 release schedule. After its initial run, the film was never reissued or re-released.

This was the fate of nearly all motion pictures of the era, most of which were lost to neglect, decay, or accident. Today, about 75 percent of all silent films no longer exist in any form.

But 'Straight is the Way' is among the survivors. A single 35mm print of the film is in the collection of the U.S. Library of Congress. The print was part of a hoard of film material donated long ago by 1920s star Marion Davies, whose pictures were produced by Cosmopolitan.

However, the print is on fragile and flammable nitrate cellulose film stock, meaning it can't be safely projected or loaned out. To keep the film from deteriorating, the print is kept in long-term storage at the Library of Congress media center in Culpeper, Va.

 

The "Ouija Board" scene in 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

In 2021, Maine-based film archivist Ed Lorusso organized an online Kickstarter program to raise funds to transfer the surviving print of 'Straight is the Way' to digital media. The fundraiser was successful, and the transfer was completed earlier this year.

Lorusso made the film available on DVD to fellow vintage film enthusiasts, including accompanist Rapsis, who felt the film's Granite State setting merited a revival, complete with live music.

The film's "world re-premiere" took place in December 2021 at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H., which hosted the first theatrical showing of the film since its original run.

"Very few films are set in New Hampshire, then or now," Rapsis said. "What's interesting about 'Straight is the Way' is that it shows how the state was viewed at the time—a place of small towns and old-fashioned ways, including a constable patrolling the town in a horse and buggy."

Although 'Straight is the Way' contains authentic details such as New Hampshire license plates on the few autos that appear, Lorusso has found no evidence that any part of the film was shot in the state.

Instead, 'Straight is the Way' was produced in New York City, where Cosmopolitan Pictures was based, and which continued to host film production even after most movie-making moved to California in the 1910s.

'Straight is the Way' features several location shots of Manhattan scenes such as Washington Square in Greenwich Village as it appeared in 1921.

Lorusso believes the New Hampshire scenes were most likely filmed in the rural countryside of Long Island or New Jersey, just outside the city, as was common practice at the time.

Lorusso has identified one location: the mansion shown in the film is the summer home of author Ethel Watts Mumford in Sands Point, Long Island. Mumford wrote 'The Manifestations of Henry Ort,' on which 'Straight is the Way' was based.

The screenplay was by Frances Marion, the one recognizable name associated with the production.

Marion, a prolific writer, authored more than 300 screenplays in a career that spanned three decades. Her credits include silent classics such as 'The Wind' (1928); she would later win Academy Awards for writing the prison drama 'The Big House' (1930) and the iconic boxing story 'The Champ' (1931).

 

A trade publication ad promoting 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

'Straight is the Way' features a cast of solid performers, all unknown today: Matt Moore, Mabel Bert, Gladys Leslie, George Parsons, Henry Sedley, Van Dyke Brooke, and Emily Fitzroy.

The film was directed by Robert Vignola; the following year, he would direct Marion Davies in 'When Knighthood Was in Flower' (1922) a big budget costume drama.

Rapsis said the Blazing Star Grange screening of 'Straight is the Way' is a rare chance to see the film as it was meant to be experienced—on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience.

'Straight is the Way' (1921), a silent comedy/drama set in New Hampshire, will be screened with live music on Saturday, March 29 at 7 p.m. at the Blazing Star Grange Hall, 15 North Road in Danbury, N.H.

The evening begins with a "soup and bread dinner" served at 6 p.m., cost $5 per person. The film starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free, with donations gladly accepted; suggested amount is $5 per person.

Five screenings in five days, but first: a case of 'Music' turning into 'Magic' in Campton, N.H.

The parking lot will soon be full of cars. Next month, it'll be full of mud!

This week brings an unusual happening—a rare mid-winter stretch of five straight days of silent film screenings in venues across three states.

It's like I'll be in training for the Kansas Silent Film Festival, which is coming up at the end of this month.

But before we look forward, let's look back with a report on last night's showing of 'Straight is the Way' (1921) at the Campton N.H. Historical Society. 

This "Silent Movie Night" screening, which has become an annual event, is highlighted by the community pot luck supper that always precedes it, and this year was no exception.

However, this time we enjoyed a truly special added attraction: an hour's worth of music from young people who are part of the Fiddlehead Field Orchestra. A pot luck supper accompanied by music!

Young people in the Fiddlehead Field Orchestra program wait to go on stage.

This local Fiddlehead program, directed by flat-out amazing folk musician/fiddler and educator Jessye Bartlett, gives young people the chance to learn an instrument and play together in groups. 

That's what they did during Saturday night's pot luck supper, and did marvelously. One ensemble after another took the stage to play through a wide range of music, all of it infused with joy, compassion, and humanity.

I don't know about you, but something about the sight and sound of young kids making music together gives me hope in a way that nothing else does.

Yes, we have problems. But hearing these kids—some of whom are only just starting to learn their instruments—play through pieces, I feel increasingly confident that all will be okay.

And here's something weird: it seems that the more local or homegrown the music, the most intensely I feel this reaction. 

Fiddlehead leader Jessye Bartlett coaxes a performance out of two youngsters in the program.

Really! Compare: two weeks ago I joined about 1,500 people at Symphony Hall to hear the Boston Symphony. The concert was superb. But the great playing, and the presence of so many people gathered together to share music, didn't affect me the way the Fiddlehead players did. 

I was thrilled to learn that the Fiddlehead group is planning a trip to Ireland in 2024. Imagine that! Young musicians traveling to the Emerald Isle to meet other young musicians and play together. Why can't we as a nation do more of that, instead of starting wars in the Mideast?

That's a question for another blog. For now, if you'd like to contribute to the Fiddlehead group, visit them online and get in touch. They're worth your attention and support. 

I got so carried away, I couldn't help but get up and make an announcement, which went something like this:

"If you want hope for the future, don't watch the news. Instead, listen to this. What we're hearing here tonight reminds me that if you take the word 'Music' and change just two of the letter, it becomes 'Magic.' They're that close!"

I don't think I ever heard that "music is close to magic" thought ever before. So I may have invented it right there on the spot. Hey, it happens. 

Saturday night's Fiddlehead performances included some impromptu dancing.

Also invented on the spot: an entire score to 'Straight is the Way,' the Cosmopolitan Pictures comedy/drama set in New Hampshire and rescued from obscurity last year by film historian Ed Lorusso. 

Last night's screening marked on the second known public screening of the film since its original release more than a century ago. (The first was our 'World Repremiere' in Concord, N.H this past December.)

Audience reaction was strong—in fact, a lot stronger than what we got back in December when I accompanied the film in Concord. 

I think one reason was the kids in the audience. The young people (mostly kids in the Fiddlehead program, but also others) found the story and characters surprisingly hilarious. The scenes in which attempts are made to contact Uncle Henry via a Ouija boardprodued gales of laughter.

And that really carried along the rest of the audience, as sometimes happens at a silent film screening. With the young people in effect giving everyone permission to laugh, the intensity of reactions grew as the film progressed.

Further stirring the pot (appropriate for an event featuring a pot luck supper) were my pre-movie comments, which included instructions for people to react openly to what they were seeing. If a character does something bad, feel free to boo—which they did, at times quite lustily.

The Campton audience found the Ouija board scenes unexpectedly hilarious.

The music fell together nicely, I thought, with good contrasting music for the thieves, the innocent locals, and the romance that eventually develops

The one cue I missed was right at the end, when a character tries to summon help by ringing a handbell. Alas, the handbell I always travel with (which belonged to my grandmother) was out of reach in the darkness below me and couldn't be retrieved in time. 

But it didn't seem to hurt the film, which earned a tumultuous ovation. Thanks again to Ed Lorusso for getting 'Straight is the Way' out of the vault and available for people to enjoy, which they certainly did last night in Campton, N.H. 

Funny how some screenings really click. Maybe what it takes is a pot luck supper and several dozen young musicians for the magic to happen. 

Up next: Greta Garbo in 'The Temptress' (1926), which we're showing on Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center in Plymouth, N.H. 

The film has two different endings, and we're showing them both. I'll do a separate post on this flick, but wanted to mention it here to whet your appetite. See you at the movies! (And bring your violin if you want to play before the show.)

Tonight: 'Straight is the Way' in Campton, N.H., plus report on 'The General' in Newport, R.I.

Exhibitor trade journal ad promoting 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

Tonight the "Homecoming Tour" of the silent comedy/drama 'Straight is the Way' (1921) continues with a screening in Campton, N.H. for the Campton Historical Society, complete with pot luck supper starting at 5 p.m.

The film, reissued last year via a Kickstarter campaign organized by Ed Lorusso, has the distinction of being the only silent feature film I know of with a story set specifically in New Hampshire.

Hence the "Homecoming Tour" of Granite State screenings, which is up to two so far: the "world re-premiere" of 'Straight is the Way' in the big city (and state capital) of Concord, and now tonight's screening in genuinely small-town New Hampsha'.

And never mind that the movie, set in "Hampton Center, N.H.," was actually filmed in either Long Island or New Jersey. It's still an interesting look at how the nation regarded small-town New Hampshire long before Yankee Magazine started publishing (in 1935) or Thornton Wilder's play 'Our Town.' (in 1938).

Even back then, on the cusp of the Roaring '20s, we were country bumpkins. Citizens consulted their Ouija boards to communicate with long-dead ancestors, and the local constable rode around town in a horse and buggy. Har! 

Well, here we are again, on the cusp of another '20s, although it's hard to say if they'll be "roaring" or anything else. And New Hampshire is still regarded as a slightly backwards place, complete with pot luck suppers and all that.

The press release for the screening, with a lot more info, is pasted in below.

This past Thursday, a journeyed to a new venue for me—the Jane Pickens Theater and Event Center in downtown Newport, R.I, site of a book-signing and film show celebrating the publication of 'Camera Man,' a new Buster Keaton book by Slate critic Dana Stevens. 

I had a ball accompanying 'The General' in this wonderful vintage one-screen theater, which has somehow remained intact and functioning for a century. It's really the perfect venue for silent film with live accompaniment, and I'm pleased to say that response was strong enough to merit possible future screenings. We'll see.

The interior of the Jane Pickens Theatre, a 1920s moviehouse in Newport, R.I. that looks remarkably like the movie theater in Buster Keaton's 'Sherlock Jr.' (1924), columns and all:

It was a pleasure to meet a lot of people: author Dana Stevens, of course, but also Steve Iwanski of Charter Books, which organized the event, and Alex Whitney, the theater's operations manager. Everyone could not have been more helpful, and audience reaction was strong throughout.

Looking ahead: this week I'm in for a rare mid-winter run of five screenings five days in a row. (This usually only happens in the summer, when I'm doing seasonal series in several venues.) It starts on Wednesday, Feb. 16 with Greta Garbo in 'The Temptress' (1926) at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center in Plymouth, N.H. 

Subsequent evenings see screenings in Manchester, N.H.; Arlington, Mass., Brattleboro, Vt.; and Wilton, N.H. It's like I'm in training for the Kansas Silent Film Festival, which happens at the end of this month. 

But for now, bring a dish with you and attend tonight's pot luck supper / screening of 'Straight is the Way' (1921) at the Campton Historical Society in Campton, N.H. Details below!

*    *    *

A vintage sedan sports a N.H. license plate in 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

TUESDAY, FEB. 1, 2022 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Vintage feature film with story set in N.H. to be screened on Saturday, Feb. 12

Rare surviving comedy/drama 'Straight is the Way' (1921) to be shown with live music at Campton Historical Society

CAMPTON, N.H. — It's a film that's not been seen in theaters since its original release more than a century ago. And it's set in fictional 'Hampton Center, N.H.,' a small town where a pair of big-city crooks hide out from the law.

It's 'Straight is the Way,' a Paramount release that proved a modest box office success in the spring of 1921.

The film then completely disappeared—until now.

This month, the Campton Historical Society will host a screening of 'Straight is the Way,' which boasts a screenplay by two-time Academy Award-winning writer Frances Marion.

The event, which is free and open to all, takes place at Campton Town Hall, 529 Route 175, Campton, N.H.

It starts with a pot luck dinner at 5 p.m., with the film program to begin at 6 p.m.

Those attending the pot luck dinner are asked to bring one of the following: soup, bread, salad, main dish, dessert or beverage.

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

The story of 'Straight is the Way' follows two burglars who flee to rural "Hampton Center, N.H." to hide out in the unused wing of a mansion, where an impoverished family faces eviction.

Exposed to small town values, the pair resolve to change their ways.

'Straight is the Way' was promoted with the tagline: "They came to lift the silver, but they stayed to lift the mortgage."

"It should be a fun screening because the filmmakers depict 'Hampton Center' as a small rural Granite State community—rather like Campton today," Rapsis said.

The film, a comedy/drama, features scenes in which a Ouija board is used to contact the spirits of long-dead relatives.

Ouija boards had become popular in the years following World War I, when 'Straight is the Way' was released.

How does a film disappear for 100 years, and then resurface?

Produced by Cosmopolitan Pictures, 'Straight is the Way' was one of dozens of titles on Paramount's 1921 release schedule. After its initial run, the film was never reissued or rereleased.

This was the fate of nearly all motion pictures of the era, most of which were lost to neglect, decay, or accident. Today, about 75 percent of all silent films no longer exist in any form.

But 'Straight is the Way' is among the survivors. A single 35mm print of the film is in the collection of the U.S. Library of Congress. The print was part of a hoard of film material donated long ago by 1920s star Marion Davies, whose pictures were produced by Cosmopolitan.

However, the print is on fragile and flammable nitrate cellulose film stock, meaning it can't be safely projected or loaned out. To keep the film from deteriorating, the print is kept in long-term storage at the Library of Congress media center in Culpeper, Va.

In 2021, Maine-based film archivist Ed Lorusso organized an online Kickstarter program to raise funds to transfer the surviving print of 'Straight is the Way' to digital media. The fundraiser was successful, and the transfer was completed earlier this year.

Lorusso made the film available on DVD to fellow vintage film enthusiasts, including accompanist Rapsis, who felt the film's Granite State setting merited a revival, complete with live music.

The film's "world re-premiere" took place in December 2021 at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H., which hosted the first theatrical showing of the film since its original run.

"Very few films are set in New Hampshire, then or now," Rapsis said. "What's interesting about 'Straight is the Way' is that it shows how the state was viewed at the time—a place of small towns and old-fashioned ways, including a constable patrolling the town in a horse and buggy."

Although 'Straight is the Way' contains authentic details such as New Hampshire license plates on the few autos that appear, Lorusso has found no evidence that any part of the film was shot in the state.

Instead, 'Straight is the Way' was produced in New York City, where Cosmopolitan Pictures was based, and which continued to host film production even after most movie-making moved to California in the 1910s.

'Straight is the Way' features several location shots of Manhattan scenes such as Washington Square in Greenwich Village as it appeared in 1921.

Another car in 'Straight is the Way'—sporting the same identical license plate as the other vehicle above!) 

Lorusso believes the New Hampshire scenes were most likely filmed in the rural countryside of Long Island or New Jersey, just outside the city, as was common practice at the time.

Lorusso has identified one location: the mansion shown in the film is the summer home of author Ethel Watts Mumford in Sands Point, Long Island. Mumford wrote 'The Manifestations of Henry Ort,' on which 'Straight is the Way' was based.

The screenplay was by Frances Marion, the one recognizable name associated with the production.

Marion, a prolific writer, authored more than 300 screenplays in a career that spanned three decades. Her credits include silent classics such as 'The Wind' (1928); she would later win Academy Awards for writing the prison drama 'The Big House' (1930) and the iconic boxing story 'The Champ' (1931).

'Straight is the Way' features a cast of solid performers, all unknown today: Matt Moore, Mabel Bert, Gladys Leslie, George Parsons, Henry Sedley, Van Dyke Brooke, and Emily Fitzroy.

The film was directed by Robert Vignola; the following year, he would direct Marion Davies in 'When Knighthood Was in Flower' (1922) a big budget costume drama.

Rapsis said the Campton Historical Society screening of 'Straight is the Way' is a rare chance to see the film as it was meant to be experienced—on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience.

'Straight is the Way' (1921), a silent comedy/drama set in New Hampshire, will be screened with live music at Campton Town Hall, 529 Route 175, Campton, on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. 

The screening is free and open to the public, with donations accepted to support the Campton Historical Society.

The program will be preceded by a pot luck supper starting at 5 p.m. Those attending the pot luck dinner are asked to bring one of the following: soup, bread, salad, main dish, dessert or beverage.

For more information, visit www.camptonhistorical.org.

Unseen for a century: 'Straight is the Way' with live music on Thursday, 12/9 in Concord, N.H.

A vintage print ad promoting 'Straight is the Way' for its 1921 release.

I'm thrilled to be doing live music for upcoming screenings of 'Straight is the Way,' a comedy/drama released in 1921 and not seen in theaters for a full century.

The film's "World Re-Premiere" will take place on Thursday, Dec. 9 at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H. Showings are scheduled at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

For details about the screenings, check out the full press release pasted in below.

Why stage the premiere in New Hampshire? Because 'Straight is the Way' is set in fictional 'Hampton Center, N.H.' (It was apparently shot, however, just outside New York City.)

And why now? Because after languishing in obscurity for 100 years, the sole surviving print of 'Straight is the Way' was recently transferred to digital media and is now available. 

The transfer was accomplished thanks to a successful crowd-funding effort (which I donated to) this summer led by Ed Lorusso, a Maine-based film buff. Ed has organized many such transfers of vintage films that survive in fragile one-of-a-kind film prints that otherwise wouldn't get shown.

Dig that vintage N.H. license plate!

So now 'Straight is the Way' is back among us. And although the transfer was done primarily to provide DVD copies to vintage film nerds, the movie's Granite State setting (as well as its 100th birthday) seemed to call for a theatrical run—to give this picture a chance to be seen once again on the big screen, and in a theater, with an audience and live music, as its makers envisioned it.

Thus, with Ed's blessing and the enthusiastic participation of Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H., we're giving the film its first known theatrical screenings in 100 years.

The return of 'Straight is the Way' to the big screen has captured some attention. Already we've received a big write-up in the Concord Monitor, the region's daily paper. Check it out here.

To me, the most interesting aspect of  'Straight is the Way' was its setting. When I learned the story took place in my home state of New Hampshire, I simply had to back the Kickstarter campaign, and couldn't wait to see the movie.

Very few movies, and almost NO silent films, are set specifically in New Hampshire. In terms of movie locales, the Granite State is pretty much off the map. 

Maybe it's because we're so far away from Hollywood. And of the few movies that are set in New Hampshire, most get made somewhere else.

One big exception is 'On Golden Pond' (1981), starring Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, which was filmed in the Squam Lake area. Also, scenes for the 1995 movie 'Jumanji' were shot in Keene, N.H.

From 'Jumanji': "looters" race through "Brantford, N.H.," a.k.a. Central Square in Keene, in a photo taken by my former colleague Michael Moore at the Keene Sentinel.

But more commonly, Granite State settings are subbed out to more other "stand-in" locations. 

Take the 1991 comedy 'What About Bob?' with Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. Set on New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee, it was actually filmed at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.

How about 'To Die For' (1995), an adaptation of the Pam Smart murder-for-hire scandal? It was also set in New Hampshire, but filmed in Toronto, Canada.

It's not like we're without celebrity connections. (Name dropping alert!) Comedian Sarah Silverman grew up in Bedford, N.H. in a house on the same road as mine. Talk show host Seth Myers grew up in Bedford, too—for decades, his mother taught French in a middle school two houses from mine. 

And from an earlier era...legendary actor Claude Rains is buried in Moultonborough, N.H. And back in Bedford, my own community was once home to a spa called "Belle Reve," a 1940s getaway that attracted the likes of Peter Lorre. 

In the case of 'Straight is the Way,' the New York City scenes are clearly filmed on location in the Big Apple, where the studio was based. 

For the "Hampton Center" scenes, Lorusso can find no evidence that any shooting took place in New Hampshire. It's most likely the scenes were shot outside New York, in either rural Long Island or New Jersey, a common practice at the time. 

The one clue about the location is that the mansion in the film appears to be the Long Island summer home of Ethel Watts Mumford, who wrote 'The Manifestations of Henry Ort,' a story on which "Straight is the Way" is based.

But as they might say in Hampton Center, N.H., that don't make no never mind. It's a fun film that I think audiences will find enjoyable, especially if seen on the big screen with live music and an audience, as intended.

So thanks to Ed Lorusso for resurrecting this film, and for Red River Theatres for giving it a chance once again on the big screen a full century after its original release. 

See you there! More information in the press release below.

*   *   *

 

A vintage 'Coming Attractions' slide promoting 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

MONDAY, NOV. 29, 2021 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Vintage feature film with story set in N.H. to get first screening in 100 years

Rare surviving comedy/drama 'Straight is the Way' (1921) to be shown with live music at Concord's Red River Theatres

CONCORD, N.H. — It's a film that hasn't played in theaters since its original release exactly one century ago. And it's set in fictional 'Hampton Center, N.H.,' a small town where a pair of big-city crooks hide out from the law.

It's 'Straight is the Way,' a Paramount release that proved a modest box office success in the spring of 1921.

The film then completely disappeared—until now.

Next month, Red River Theaters of Concord will host the world re-premiere of 'Straight is the Way,' which boasts a screenplay by two-time Academy Award-winning writer Frances Marion.

The film will run twice on Thursday, Dec. 9: once at 5:30 p.m., and again at 7:30 p.m. General admission is $12 per person, $10 for Red River members.

Both screenings will feature live music by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who arranged for permission to screen the movie, which was transferred to digital media earlier this year.

The story follows two burglars who flee to rural "Hampton Center, N.H." to hide out in the unused wing of a mansion, where an impoverished family faces eviction.

Exposed to small town values, the pair resolve to change their ways.

 

A Ouija board scene in 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

'Straight is the Way' was promoted with the tagline: "They came to lift the silver, but they stayed to lift the mortgage."

The film, a comedy/drama, features scenes in which a Ouija board is used to contact the spirits of long-dead relatives.

Ouija boards had become popular in the years following World War I, when 'Straight is the Way' was released.

How does a film disappear for 100 years, and then resurface?

Produced by Cosmopolitan Pictures, 'Straight is the Way' was one of dozens of titles on Paramount's 1921 release schedule. After its initial run, the film was never reissued.

This was the fate of nearly all motion pictures of the era, most of which were lost to neglect, decay, or accident. Today, about 75 percent of all silent films no longer exist in any form.

But 'Straight is the Way' is among the survivors. A single 35mm print of the film is in the collection of the U.S. Library of Congress. The print was part of a hoard of film material donated long ago by 1920s star Marion Davies, whose pictures were produced by Cosmopolitan.

However, the print is on fragile and flammable nitrate cellulose film stock, meaning it can't be safely projected or loaned out. To keep the film from deteriorating, the print is kept in long-term storage at the Library of Congress media center in Culpeper, Va.

In 2021, Maine-based film archivist Ed Lorusso organized an online Kickstarter program to raise funds to transfer the surviving print of 'Straight is the Way' to digital media. The fundraiser was successful, and the transfer was completed earlier this year.

Lorusso made the film available on DVD to fellow vintage film enthusiasts, including accompanist Rapsis, who felt the film's Granite State setting merited a theatrical revival, complete with live music.

"Very few films are set in New Hampshire, then or now," Rapsis said. "What's interesting about 'Straight is the Way' is that it shows how the state was viewed at the time—a place of small towns and old-fashioned ways, including a constable patrolling the town in a horse and buggy."

Although 'Straight is the Way' contains authentic details such as New Hampshire license plates on the few autos that appear, Lorusso has found no evidence that any part of the film was shot in the state.

Instead, 'Straight is the Way' was produced in New York City, where Cosmopolitan Pictures was based, and which continued to host film production even after most movie-making moved to California in the 1910s.

'Straight is the Way' features several location shots of Manhattan scenes such as Washington Square in Greenwich Village as it appeared in 1921.

Lorusso believes the New Hampshire scenes were most likely filmed in the rural countryside of Long Island or New Jersey, just outside the city, as was common practice at the time.

Lorusso has identified one location: the mansion shown in the film is the summer home of author Ethel Watts Mumford in Sands Point, Long Island. Mumford wrote 'The Manifestations of Henry Ort,' on which 'Straight is the Way' was based.

The screenplay was by Frances Marion, the one recognizable name associated with the production.

Marion, a prolific writer, authored more than 300 screenplays in a career that spanned three decades. Her credits include silent classics such as 'The Wind' (1928); she would later win Academy Awards for writing the prison drama 'The Big House' (1930) and the iconic boxing story 'The Champ' (1931).

George Parsons as burglar "Loot" Follett in 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

'Straight is the Way' features a cast of solid performers, all unknown today: Matt Moore, Mabel Bert, Gladys Leslie, George Parsons, Henry Sedley, Van Dyke Brooke, and Emily Fitzroy.

The film was directed by Robert Vignola; the following year, he would direct Marion Davies in 'When Knighthood Was in Flower' (1922) a big budget costume drama.

Rapsis said the Red River screening of 'Straight is the Way' is a rare chance to see the film as it was meant to be experienced—on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience.

"On the 100th anniversary of the film's release, I'm delighted Red River will give New Hampshire audiences a chance to see the film as it was intended to be shown, and also see how our state was depicted in the early years of cinema." Rapsis said.

'Straight is the Way' (1921), a silent comedy/drama set in New Hampshire, will be screened with live music on Thursday, Dec. 9 at 5:30 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St. in Concord.

A live score will be created by accompanist Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based performer who specializes in music for silent film presentations.

Tickets are general admission $12; Red River Theatres members $10. For more info and to purchase advance tickets, visit www.redrivertheatres.org or call (603) 224-4600.