This weekend, it's 'The Freshman' in Vermont, then 'The Fire Brigade' in Somerville, Mass.

Harold Lloyd hangs on in 'The Freshman' (1925).

Football season! What better time to uncork 'The Freshman' (1925)?

Harold Lloyd's comedy about college football was his top-grossing film up to that time, and one of the major hits of the entire silent era.

We'll be screening it (and I'll be accompanying it) on Saturday, Sept. 9 at Brandon Town Hall in Brandon, Vt.

Showtime is 7 p.m. More details in the press release below.

Also this weekend: a screening of 'The Fire Brigade' (1926), an MGM thriller that I'll be accompanying on Sunday, Sept. 10 at 2 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass. (More about that in a future post.)

I have a fondness for 'The Freshman' that predates my time as a silent film accompanist.

In 1993, at the time of Harold's 100th birthday, celebrations included a major retrospective at the Film Forum in New York City. (Yikes! I wasn't yet 30 years old!)

We were hosting a visitor from Russia at the time. It was his first trip ever outside what until recently had been the Soviet Union. We were visiting New York at the time the Lloyd films were running. 

Hey, what more American thing to do than to bring a Russian guy to a Harold Lloyd film?

And so we did. It happened to be 'The Freshman' (1925), with piano accompaniment by the Film Forum's longtime accompanist Steve Sterner.

I knew it would be fun. But I wasn't prepared for how 'The Freshman' absolutely took over the theater. Once the film got going, the laughs built fast until—well, it became one of the three greatest audience experiences I've ever been a part of.

(The other two: a screening of 'Duck Soup' (1933) at the old Metro on New York's upper West Side back when I was at Fordham, and then later the stage musical version of 'The Producers' in London.)

Will Saturday's screening of 'The Freshman' produce the same result? Only one way to find out—come join us and be a part of the experience.

Press release below. See you in Brandon!

*   *   *

Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston in 'The Freshman' (1925).

TUESDAY, AUG. 22, 2023 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film classic 'The Freshman' on Saturday, Sept. 9 at Town Hall in Brandon, Vt.

Celebrate football season with Harold Lloyd's comic masterpiece about college life, with live music

BRANDON, Vt.—What happens when a first-year student's dreams of college collide with the realities of campus life?

The result is Harold Lloyd in 'The Freshman' (1925), one of the most popular comedies of the silent film era. Filled with classic scenes and a great story, 'The Freshman' endures as one of Lloyd's most crowd-pleasing movies.

See for yourself with a screening of 'The Freshman' (1925) on Sept. 9; kick-off time is 7 p.m. at the Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, Route 7, in Brandon, Vt.

All are welcome to this family-friendly movie. Admission is free, with free will donations accepted in support of ongoing Town Hall renovations.

The screening, the latest in the venue's silent film series, will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating music for silent films.

"Put the whole experience back together, and you can see why people first fell in love with the movies," Rapsis said.

'The Freshman,' the most successful film of Lloyd's career, was an enormous box office smash. Its release sparked a craze for college films that lasted well beyond the 1920s, and even a popular hit song, the collegiate fox trot "Freshie."

The story follows Lloyd, small town newbie, to Tate College, where he hopes to achieve fame as Big Man on Campus. Instead, his quest to win popularity becomes a humiliating college-wide joke, with Harold getting tricked by upperclassmen into hosting the school's annual "Fall Frolic" at his own expense.

Realizing he's an outcast, Lloyd decides he can make his mark on the college football team, where he holds the lowly position of waterboy and serves as tackling dummy. On the day of the Big Game, can the bespectacled "freshie" somehow save the day and bring gridiron glory to dear old Tate?

For football fans, the film's climactic game sequence was shot on the field at the actual Rose Bowl in 1924. The crowd scenes were shot at halftime at California Memorial Stadium during the November 1924 "Big Game" between UC Berkeley and Stanford University. Other exterior scenes were filmed near the USC campus in Los Angeles.

Beyond its comic appeal, 'The Freshman' today has acquired an additional layer of interest in its depiction of college life in the 1920s—a time of raccoon coats, ukeleles, and many other long-gone fads and fashions.

"It was long before television, the Internet, cellphones, or Facebook," said Rapsis. "To us today, it looks like college on another planet, which I think adds to the appeal of a film like 'The Freshman.' "

"But at its core, 'The Freshman' is still a great story about people, and that's why it remains such an entertaining experience today, especially when shown as Lloyd intended it," Rapsis said.

In 1990, 'The Freshman' was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," named in only the second year of voting and one of the first 50 films to receive such an honor.

Lloyd, along with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, is recognized as one of the silent screen's three great clowns. Lloyd's character, a young go-getter ready to struggle to win the day, proved hugely popular in the 1920s. While Chaplin and Keaton were always critical favorites, Lloyd's films reigned as the top-grossing comedies throughout the period.

Despite the passage of time, audiences continue to respond just as strongly as when the films were new, with features such as 'The Freshman' embraced as timeless achievements from the golden era of silent film comedy.

Critics review 'The Freshman':

"Regarded as the quintessential Harold Lloyd vehicle.”
—TV Guide

"Gag for gag, Lloyd was the funniest screen comic of his time. Passionately recommended. "
—Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

The screening of 'The Freshman' is sponsored by local residents Frank Mazza and Linda Zaragoza; Kathy and Wayne Rausenberger; and Edward Loedding and Dorothy Leysath.

Upcoming programs in the Brandon Town Hall's silent film series include:

• Saturday, Oct. 7, 7 p.m.: 'My Best Girl' (1927) starring Mary Pickford, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers. In a big city department store, romance blossoms between a humble stockroom clerk and the store owner's son—who is already engaged! A sparkling “rich man, poor girl” romantic comedy from 1927 starring screen icon Mary Pickford and Charles 'Buddy Rogers,' her future real-life husband. Sponsored by Harold and Jean Somerset; Fyles Brothers, Inc.; and Jeanette Devino.

• Friday, Oct. 27, 7 p.m.: 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927). Can a group of distant relatives survive the night in a haunted house to learn the secret of a madman's will? Find out in the original Gothic thriller from silent film director Paul Leni. Just in time for Halloween, a movie filled with deep shadows, dark secrets, and a surprisingly timeless mix of humor and horror that will keep you guessing. Sponsored by Pam and Steve Douglass.

• Saturday, Nov. 11, 7 p.m.: 'The Big Parade' (1925) starring John Gilbert. We salute Veterans Day with this sweeping saga about U.S. doughboys signing up and shipping off to France in 1917, where they face experiences that will change their lives forever—if they return. MGM blockbuster directed by King Vidor; one of the biggest box office triumphs of the silent era. Sponsored by Donald and Dolores Furnari; Jeanette Devino; and Lorrie Byrom.

Head back to school with ‘The Freshman’ (1925), to be shown with live music by Jeff Rapsis on Saturday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, Route 7, in Brandon, Vt.

Admission is free, with free will donations accepted in support of ongoing Town Hall renovations. For more info, visit www.brandontownhall.com.

Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston in 'The Freshman' (1925).

Notes from 'Tempest,' 'The Cameraman,' 'The Last Command,' and Lloyd / Keaton

Talk about synchronicity! Last week, several monthly gigs pig-piled into the span of a few days, providing quite a workout. A few notes to keep the memories fresh, starting with 'The Freshman.':

• Sunday, Sept. 8: 'The Freshman' (1925) starring Harold Lloyd, at the Somerville Theatre, Davis Square, Somerville, Mass.: Great crowd despite street fair limited access to theater. Did harried interview with Lisa Mullin of National Public Radio during set-up; will be curious to hear what she comes up with! Fun intro by Annette D'Agostino Lloyd, who asked newbies to raise their hands and at least half the crowd did so.

Score was okay but not a triumph. I thought a childhood friend was in the audience, and that somehow threw me and made me more self-conscious than I usually am. (And turned out he wasn't!) But got to use my new call bell (Ding!) during the Fall Frolic scene, and also a referee's whistle as added effect. Limited the whistle to just opening titles and then only three or four times during the climactic game; no less an authority than vintage film expert Richard Finegan offered praise for my restraint.

• Tuesday, Sept. 10: 'Tempest' (1928) starring John Barrymore, at the Manchester City Library, Manchester, N.H.: We continue to get good crowds at these monthly library screenings, now being done without the help of my high school helper Matt, who went off to college this fall. Damn that higher education!

First time doing 'Tempest,' an extravagent "historical" drama (the Russian Revolution was still underway, arguably, when the film was made) which I found surprisingly adept and polished. Our audience agreed, drinking in the visual feast set out by cameraman Charles Rosher and designer Wiliam Cameron Menzies. Great scenes include the opening framing device using miniatures and a travelling camera; Barrymore looking through the bottom of a glass; and Barrymore having visions while locked in prison. A real gem that I'm sure to do again.

• Wednesday, Sept. 11: 'The Cameraman' (1928) starring Buster Keaton, at Merrimack College, North Andover, Mass.: Opening night of the 2013-14 season of silents at the Rogers Center for the Arts drew a surprisingly big turnout: maybe about 80 folks, or twice what I would have expected. Lots of newbies roared at Buster's antics in his first film for MGM.

But the experience also contained a first for me. A little more than half-way through the film, I had to go. I mean I really had to go, as in go right now, to the bathroom. And there was clearly no way I was going to be able to tough it out, especially with the Tong War sequence still to come. On screen, Buster was just getting the tip that would send him the Tong War. I weighed my options, which weren't plentiful, and then made my move.

Pushing away from the keyboard, I muttered "Folks, I'll be back in just a second." And then, as Buster silently collided with Jocko the Monkey, I sprinted up the aisle to the men's room off the lobby. There! And I sprinted back just in time to pick things up when the monkey revives.

That had never happened before, I hope it never happens again. It felt awful, like I had abandoned the audience and Buster as well, breaking the silent movie spell and disrupting the experience. But as awful as it felt, I'm sure it would have felt even worse to...well, let's not go there. :)

• Thursday, Sept. 12: 'The Last Command' (1928) starring Emil Jannings, at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center in Plymouth, N.H.: Modest turnout for this powerhouse film, which I'm doing in New York in November and wanted to brush up on. Score didn't quite jell due to lack of prep, and also I was starting to feel performance fatigue. Still, people enjoyed it, with the ending coming across as particularly powerful.

However, this is a movie with a lot of subcurrents, both in the story and visually, as in how cigarettes and smoking are used to illustrate positions of power and subserviance. Done properly, music can help bring these things out for an audience not used to watching a film for that kind of stuff. And I have to say, I didn't quite hit all the moments, so it's a testament to the power of this movie that it still help up and made quite an impact.

• Saturday, Sept. 14: 'Dr. Jack' (1922) starring Harold Lloyd and 'Seven Chances' (1925) starring Buster Keaton at Brandon Town Hall in Brandon, Vt.: Ended the week with a terrific comedy double-feature that drew our largest crowd ever (119 people) to Brandon Town Hall in Brandon, Vt. This was partly due to an article in the Rutland (Vt.) Herald and other great press we received.

The Herald piece (posted at right) is notable because the reporter actually quoted me about my "big-ass keyboard," something I usually think of as an offhand remark. Well, now it's officially in print. Maybe Korg will build their next marketing campaign on it.

Shades of Somerville: Lots of Harold newbies who responded to Lloyd like a geyser. I introduced 'Dr. Jack' as "another perspective on the timeless conundrum of healthcare" and that seemed to set things up just about right. Right from the start, one big laugh after another! The Keaton film, by contrast, seemed to produce fewer laughs, at least at first.

A very thorough and thoughtful account of the evening was posted by a student at Middlebury (Vt.) College who writes about vintage cinema on her Nitrate Diva blog. She has a lot to say and says (or writes) it all very well. She introduced herself after Saturday night's screenings and it was a pleasure to make her acquaintance. I look forward to following her blog!

Now I get a few days to recover before another busy stretch this weekend...

Something of a busy week: Five days, four shows, three states

Fresh off a fun screening of Harold Lloyd's 'The Freshman' (1925) at the Somerville Theater in Somerville, Mass., I'm heading into a week with four diffent films in three different states over the next five days.

Luckily, this is New England, and the states are small. So the driving isn't too bad, although Saturday's trek up to Vermont is about 2½ hours one way.

Below is the schedule. But before I take off, a few quick thoughts about yesterday's music for 'The Freshman.'

We had a lively crowd of about 120 people on hand for an afternoon screening that took place right at the same time as opening game for the New England Patriots (so scratch off any serious football fans) and also during a fair that blocked several key streets around the theater. (Scratch easy access.)

The score marked the debut of my new referee's whistle for the football scenes as well as a call bell for the "Fall Frolic" sequence.

I blew the whistle right at the start, to get things going, but then held off until the climactic game scenes. I didn't use it at all during the extended football practice sequence because no one is visibly seen blowing a whistle, and besides, a little goes a long way.

So it was nice to hear afterwards from some folks who were glad I used it sparingly. Even so, a couple of times during the climax, the whistle was the victim of "dry mouth" syndrome, meaning when I tried to blow on it, nothing came out!

The call bell was a little trickier because it kept sliding down the the synthesizer's cover panel and onto my keys, making it kind of a nuisance during the film. And then, when it was time to use it, it was tougher than I thought to synchronize hitting it to the scenes on-screen of a bell being hit impatiently, while at the same time keeping the dance music going with my left hand.

Maybe I'm a little too demanding on myself, but a sound effect cue like this really has to be exactly right on or it's not worth doing, because then it draws attention to itself and kills the comedy. I was close, but didn't quite hit one cue exactly right, I thought.

Afterwards, no one seemed bothered by it. But that didn't matter because it bothered me, and I found myself wishing for another chance.

Things went well overall, though, especially considering the traffic diversions around the theater. Any kind of disruption can effect a performance, and I did have a tough time getting into the film, but it all came together for Harold's big scene with Jobyna and then the big game that follows.

I also had the pleasure of being interviewed by Lisa Mullins, a public radio journalist whose work is heard on 'The World' and other programs. She's planning on putting together a piece that might hit the Boston airwaves prior to our next Somerville Theatre screening, another Lloyd film: 'Safety Last' (1923) on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 1 p.m. As they say, stay tuned!

In the meantime, here's a round-up of this week's busy schedule, which brings a mix of drama and comedy...

• Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013, 6 p.m.: "The Tempest" (1928) starring John Barrymore, Camilla Horn; Carpenter Memorial Auditorium, Manchester Public Library, 405 Pine St., Manchester, N.H.; (603) 624-6550; Manchester Public Library. Epic drama in which an officer in the Czar's army (Barrymore) falls hard for a haughty princess (Horn), who spurns him and causes him to be stripped of rank. But the tables are turned with the Russian revolution, which upends the aristocracy and puts the soldier and the princess at the mercy of forces that no one can control. Monthly series of rarely screened silent films presented with live music in 1913 auditorium. Admission free, donations encouraged.

• Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013, 7 p.m.: "The Cameraman" (1928); Rogers Center for the Arts, Merrimack College, 315 North Turnpike St., North Andover, Mass. (978) 837-5355. Portrait photographer Buster exchanges his still camera for a movie camera in an effort to break into the newsreel business and win the attention of a special gal. Spectacular movie-themed Keaton comedy filled with great stunts filmed on a grand scale. Silent film with live music on the campus of Merrimack College. Free admission. For more information, visit the Rogers Center online.

• Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013, 6:30 p.m.: "The Last Command" (1928) starring Emil Jannings, William Powell; The Flying Monkey Movie House and Performance Center, 39 South Main St., Plymouth, N.H.; (603) 536-2551; http://www.flyingmonkeynh.com/. Jannings snagged the first-ever Best Actor Academy Award for his towering portrayal of a Czarist general and patriot forced to contend with love and the Russian Revolution in this sweeping late silent drama directed by Josef von Sternberg. Part of a monthly silent film series at a newly restored moviehouse in Plymouth, N.H. Admission, $10 per person.

• Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013, 7 p.m.: "Lloyd and Keaton: Silent Comedy Double Feature"; Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, Main Street/Route 7, Brandon, Vt.; http://www.brandontownhall.org. In 'Dr. Jack' (1922), Harold Lloyd stars as a country doctor with unorthodox methods that get results! But now comes his toughest case yet: a poor little rich girl (Mildred Davis), bed-ridden with a mysterious condition. Harold's cure is sure to make you smile! In 'Seven Chances' (1925), Buster will inherit a fortune provided he's a married man...by 7 p.m. today! Classic Keaton comedy, complete with one of the best silent film comedy endings ever created. Part of a summer series of silent film and live music in a wonderfully restored town hall in Brandon Vt. that features great acoustics. Admission free, donations accepted, with proceeds to help continuing preservation work.

Back to school (and football!) with Lloyd's 'The Freshman' in 35mm on Sunday, Sept. 8

Harold hangs on during the big game in 'The Freshman' (1925).

I'm not quite ready to give it up on summer, but the calendar is beginning to disagree with me. Just today, September arrived, and that puts us one week away from a screening of Harold Lloyd's 'The Freshman' (1925) on Sunday, Sept. 8 at the Somerville Theatre outside of Boston.

Also, I'm pleased to report that introducing the film will be Annette D'Agostino Lloyd, noted Lloyd author and scholar and enthusiast for all things Harold!

This is one I've really been looking forward to, as the Lloyd pictures are great for audience reactions and we've been steadily building attendance for the Somerville's monthly silent film series.

And the timing is right, too. Boston is a college town, with students now arriving for the fall semester. Plus, it's also the start of football season, with our local NFL team (the New England Patriots) starting against Buffalo on Sunday, Sept. 8. Game time is...oops, exactly the same time as our screening: 1 p.m.!

Well, you can see the Patriots play anytime, but how often do you get to see a Harold Lloyd feature in 35mm on the big screen with live music and a large audience? Okay, we're doing 'Safety Last' (1923) in October, but still, it's not every day that everything gets put back together for a Lloyd film to be seen the way it was intended.

About 'The Freshman' (1925): although I never played football, I was a band geek in high school (baritone horn and sousaphone), and so went to a lot of games. And even to someone like me, one element of 'The Freshman' that's interesting is to see how football has changed since the 1920s. The game is still the same, but the uniforms and equipment have really come a long way.

Interestingly, the Lloyd crew filmed several sequences for 'The Freshman' during actual big college-level games on the West Coast. So football fans, take note: you'll get to see glimpses of a real stadium setting from nearly a century ago.

And although all of Harold's films hold up well and need little explanation to contemporary audiences, the opening of 'The Freshman' has a curve ball that most people today won't get. Harold's Dad is described as the "the best bookkeeper in the county and the worst radio liar in the state." What's that all about?

At the time, with radio so new, it was common for people to try to pull in distant signals on their home receivers. People kept logs and compared them, and apparently it was not uncommon for some people to stretch the truth just a little. Hence the humor when Harold's father, hearing his son's vaguely Asian college chants upstairs, mistakenly thinks he's received China!

China or not, I hope you'll join us for 'The Freshman' on Sunday, Sept. 8 at 1 p.m. at the Somerville Theater in Davis Square, Somerville, Mass. For more info about the film and the screening, the press release is pasted in below. See you there! Go team!

* * *

Harold Lloyd with the lovely Jobyna Ralston, co-star for most of his great features in the 1920s.

TUESDAY, AUG. 27, 2013 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film classic 'The Freshman' in 35mm
on Sunday, Sept. 8 in Somerville, Mass.

Head back to school with Harold Lloyd's comic masterpiece about college life, with live music at historic Somerville Theatre

SOMERVILLE, Mass.—What happens when a first-year student's dreams of college collide with the realities of campus life? The result is Harold Lloyd in 'The Freshman' (1925), one of the most popular comedies of the silent film era. Filled with classic scenes and a great story, 'The Freshman' endures as one of Lloyd's most crowd-pleasing movies.

See for yourself with a screening of 'The Freshman' (1925) on Sunday, Sept. 8 at 1 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass.

'The Freshman' will be screened in the Somerville's main theater using a 35mm print made available by the Harold Lloyd Trust. The program will be accompanied live by silent film musician Jeff Rapsis. General admission is $15 per person.

The program is the latest in the Somerville Theatre's 'Silents Please' series, which offers audiences a chance to experience silent film as it was intended: on the big screen using 35mm film, with live music, and in a theater with an audience.

"Put the whole experience back together, and you can see why people first fell in love with the movies," said Rapsis, one of the nation's leading silent film accompanists. Rapsis performs on a digital synthesizer that reproduces the texture of the full orchestra, creating a traditional "movie score" sound.

'The Freshman,' Lloyd's most successful silent film of the 1920s, was hugely popular at the time of its release. It sparked a craze for college films that lasted well beyond the 1920s, and even a popular hit song, the collegiate fox trot "Freshie."

The story follows Lloyd, small town newbie, to Tate College, where he hopes to achieve fame as Big Man on Campus. Instead, his quest to win popularity becomes a college-wide joke, with Harold getting tricked by upperclassmen into hosting the school's annual "Fall Frolic" at his own expense.

Lloyd finally decides he can make his mark on the college football team, where he holds the lowly position of waterboy and serves as tackling dummy. On the day of the Big Game, can the bespectacled "freshie" somehow save the day and bring gridiron glory to dear old Tate?

For football fans, the film's climactic game sequence was shot on the field at the actual Rose Bowl in 1924. The crowd scenes were shot at halftime at California Memorial Stadium during the November 1924 "Big Game" between UC Berkeley and Stanford University. Other exterior scenes were filmed near the USC campus in Los Angeles.

Beyond its comic appeal, 'The Freshman' today has acquired an additional layer of interest in its depiction of college life in the 1920s—a time of raccoon coats, ukeleles, and many other long-gone fads and fashions.

"It was long before television, the Internet, cellphones, or Facebook," said Rapsis. "To us today, it looks like college on another planet, which I think adds to the appeal of a film like 'The Freshman.' But at its core, 'The Freshman' is still a great story about people, and that's why it remains such an entertaining experience today, especially when shown as Lloyd intended it."

In 1990, 'The Freshman' was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," named in only the second year of voting and one of the first 50 films to receive such an honor.

Lloyd, along with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, is recognized as one of the silent screen's three great clowns. Lloyd's character, a young go-getter ready to struggle to win the day, proved hugely popular in the 1920s. While Chaplin and Keaton were always critical favorites, Lloyd's films reigned as the top-grossing comedies throughout the period.

However, Lloyd's public image faded after his retirement in the 1930s, when Lloyd turned his energies to charitable causes such as the Shriners. He retained control over his films, refusing to release them for television and only rarely allowing them to be screened at revivals, fearing modern audiences wouldn't know how to respond to his work or to silent films in general. He died in 1971.

In recent years, Lloyd's family has taken steps to restore Harold's reputation and public image. They're released his work on DVD, and arranged for more frequent screenings of his films in the environment for which they were made: in theaters with live music and a large audience.

Despite Lloyd's fears, audiences continue to respond just as strongly as when the films were new, with features such as 'The Freshman' embraced as timeless achievements from the golden era of silent film comedy.

Critics review 'The Freshman':

"Regarded as the quintessential Harold Lloyd vehicle.”
—TV Guide

"Gag for gag, Lloyd was the funniest screen comic of his time. Passionately recommended. "
—Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

Upcoming films in the Somerville's 'Silents Please' series include:

• Sunday, Oct. 6, 1 p.m.: 'Safety Last' (1923) starring Harold Lloyd. Landmark comic romp that finds go-getter Harold, eager to climb the corporate ladder, instead forced to clamber up the exterior of a towering downtown department store. Filmed without trick photography. Hilarious and terrifying at the same time; one of the great thrill rides of the cinema.

• Sunday, Nov. 17, 1 p.m.: 'Peter Pan' (1924) starring Mary Brian, Betty Bronson, Ernest Torrence. Original silent film adaptation of J.M. Barrie's stage classic, supervised by the author himself, retains its appeal to children of all ages, especially ones who refuse to grow up. Heartfelt acting, imaginative set design, and pioneering special effects combine to create pure visual magic.

Head back to school with Harold Lloyd's 'The Freshman' (1925), to be shown in 35mm on Sunday, Sept. 8 at 1 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass. Admission is $15 per person. For more information, call (617) 625-5700 or visit http://www.somervilletheatreonline.com.