Lillian Gish and 'The Wind' blowing into Wilton, N.H. on Sunday, June 11 with live music

An original release poster for 'The Wind' (1928).

The weekend forecast calls for 'The Wind' (1928) to be felt on Sunday, June 11 in Wilton, N.H.

There, at the Town Hall Theatre, at 2 p.m., the MGM classic silent drama starring Lillian Gish will be screened with live music by me. 

Lots more info on the press release pasted in below. For now, a few thoughts on recent screenings—and then a confession.

Last Wednesday, I had the privilege of accompanying the original silent version '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' (1916) at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center in Plymouth, N.H.

The screening attracted a lively crowd of nearly 100 people—quite large by the standards of the monthly screenings I've done there for more than 10 years now.

Pre-show at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center.

By "lively," I mean very reactive to what was on the screen. Because of the somewhat primitive nature of the movie-making to today's eyes, people were prone to laugh at some of the drama—at scenes and sequences that weren't going for laughs, but were getting them.

I remember early on in this adventure of creating music for silent film screenings, it bothered me when accompanying a film intended to be serious, but which audiences treated as hilarious.

Was I doing something wrong?

I specifically remember a screening of 'Phantom of the Opera' around Halloween one year, at which Mary Philbin's broad gestures produced belly laughs worthy of Mack Swain. 

It seemed to spin the whole experience away from the deeply felt communion with big emotions that's one of the great things about silent cinema, I think. And it helped spoil it for everyone else.

What to do? Well, over the years, in speaking before film screenings, I've learned to try to set expectations by not over emphasizing the "audience participation" element of the experience. Feel free to react. But try to let the film in and do what its makers wanted it to do.

Yes, the audience is a crucial element of the silent film experience. However, the show should really be mostly on the screen, and not among your fellow theater-goers. 

But for '20,000 Leagues'—well, it's such a trippy film to modern eyes, I bowed to the inevitable. After making sure everyone know this was NOT the Disney version from the 1950s with James Mason as Captain Nemo, I said it was okay to treat it as a kind of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" experience.

And many did! And in this case, it seemed to be okay. Yes, there was a lot of hooting and hollering at the film's more implausible elements, all the way up to the bizarre flashback ending, described as a story "Jules Verne never told."

But there was also genuine emotion present throughout the film. There was wonder at the primitive underwater photography. (Because the undersea scenes were viewed behind a big glass window in Nemo's 'Nautilus,' I felt justified in playing Philip Glass music during these sequences.)

There was also heartbreak at Nemo's own backstory. It was still there, not washed away by the laughter but somehow still present to be savored. Maybe the laughter helped unlock the way to more tender emotions. Anyway, it worked.

Another interesting experience occurred last week, when I played the same film to two very different audiences. It was Buster Keaton's 'Our Hospitality' (1923), first to a gymnasium filled with 400 middle schoolers, then two days later to an audience of about 40 senior citizens.

The audience at Great Brook Middle School in Antrim, N.H.

In both cases, Keaton killed. The young kids were into it, and the older folks, too. How amazing that a 100-year-old entertainment can still have such broad appeal and speak to such a wide range of people after so much time.

Finally, there was Greta Garbo in 'The Temptress' (1926), a little-regarded drama that I've found has a mesmerizing effect on modern audiences. 

We screened it last Saturday in Brandon, Vt., and it literally stunned the audience into silence. The film ended with mouths agape. Applause seemed to be an afterthought, or somehow inappropriate. 

This might have been because people were waiting for the second "happy" ending, which we showed after a pause to change digital reels, so to speak. After that, applause came forth.

However, a quick post-film poll indicated that virtually everyone present preferred the original "tragic" ending. So much for Louis B. Mayer's faith in Hollywood-style happy endings!

And now, the confession. As a former journalist and editor, I take pride in composing press releases that I think reflect a fairly high standard within the profession. I take time to research and synthesize and write. I put them together to be easy-to-use by harried editors. It's the one useful skill I have!

So it's with some trepidation that I reveal that the press release below was actually composed by generative AI—specifically, the ChatGPT application that's been in the news so much lately.

Not long ago I scoffed at this, vowing to never make use of AI in this fashion. But after experimenting with it for innocuous purposes, such as writing celebratory limericks for co-worker and colleagues, I got curious about what AI could do in the press release department.

The result is below. What it produced is definitely not what I would have written, but it wasn't bad. There was some unnecessary hyperbole that I edited out, but it did a pretty good job capturing the film's importance and why people might want to see it.

It also got the who-what-when correct, prompting me to fill in any missing but necessary information.

So I sent it out, and yes—it was picked up by some of the few remaining local news outlets we have in this part of the country. 

I don't think I'll make a habit out this. But I'm here to say the future is now, even in the arcane field of silent film press releases.

Sounds like another story Jules Verne never wrote!

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Classic still of Lillian Gish losing her grip in 'The Wind' (1928).

TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2023 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Lillian Gish stars in silent classic 'The Wind' on Sunday, June 11 at Town Hall Theatre

Screening features live music; rare chance to see renowned MGM drama on big screen

WILTON, N.H.—The Town Hall Theatre is delighted to announce a special screening of the timeless classic silent film, 'The Wind,' starring the legendary Lillian Gish. This remarkable cinematic experience will take place on Sunday, June 11, at 2 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $10. Attendees will also have the pleasure of enjoying live music accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis.

Directed by Victor Sjöström and released in 1928, 'The Wind' has long been regarded as a masterpiece of early silent cinema.

The film tells the gripping story of a young woman named Letty Mason (Lillian Gish) who moves to a desolate Texas prairie, where she battles against the relentless forces of nature and confronts her own internal demons.

Gish's exceptional performance, coupled with Sjöström's visionary direction, has secured 'The Wind' a place in film history as one of the most significant and haunting films of its time.

Lillian Gish and suitor Montagu Love in 'The Wind' (1928).

The screening of 'The Wind' at the Town Hall Theatre presents a rare opportunity for cinephiles and film enthusiasts to experience the magic of silent cinema in its purest form.

The film's powerful narrative, combined with Gish's mesmerizing acting, will transport the audience to the stark landscapes of the Texas prairie, allowing attendees to feel the turmoil and struggle faced by the characters.

In 1993, the film was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Adding to the enchantment of the event, acclaimed silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis will provide a live musical score, enriching the viewing experience with his talent for capturing the mood and emotion of each scene.

The Town Hall Theatre invites the community to join them on Sunday, June 11, at 2 p.m., for this unique cinematic event.

While admission is free, a suggested donation of $10 will support the preservation and restoration of classic films and the continuation of such captivating screenings in the future. Don't miss this extraordinary opportunity to witness a silent film masterpiece with live music accompaniment!

For more information contact the theater at (603) 654-3456. 

 Hey! That thing may be loaded!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's what's also on the bill:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

* * *

Lillian Gish in 'The Wind.'

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

Somerville Theatre announces 2017 'Silents, Please!' series

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finishing out March with a comedy, a drama, and then another comedy

See 'The Wind' (1928) on Thursday, March 27 at 7 p.m. at Keene State College in Keene, N.H.

March is supposed to go out like a lion, so maybe it's appropriate we're screening the great MGM silent drama 'The Wind' (1928) on Thursday, March 27 at 7 p.m. at Keene State College in Keene, N.H. (In addition to having a weather-related title, it begins with Leo, the MGM lion, in silent roar.)

This Lillian Gish classic will be bookended by screenings of two Harry Langdon films: 'The Strong Man' (1926) on Wednesday, March 26 at 7 p.m. at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., and then the rarely screened 'Long Pants' (1927) on Sunday, March 30 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H.

Right now, I'm in the post-tour let-down period following appearances in the past month at the Kansas Silent Film Festival in Topeka, Kansas and then Cinefest in Syracuse, N.Y. In recent years, these two back-to-back festivals have served as the annual climax of my accompaniment calendar. It's a lot of film to accompany, and now that's it's over, I kinda feel like smoking a cigarette.

Accompanist Rodney Sauer and I showed up at the Kansas Silent Film Festival in nearly identical performing garb, with me furthering the illusion with eyewear borrowed from festival director Bill Shaffer.

These festivals cut both ways. Because I get to hear other accompanists, see films that are new to me, and interact with a lot of people, they inspire me to want to improve my craft. But the stress of performing in unfamiliar places, and sometimes to films that I've never seen (five different features at Cinefest!), wears me out for a time.

The four accompanists at Cinefest 2014: me, Makia Matsumura, Judy Rosenberg, and Jon Mirsalis. Thanks for the photo, Makia!

The calendar beckons, however, with places to go and shows to do, and silent films to help bring to life for today's audiences. And so I soldier on, having already done music for 'The Lost World' (1925) this past Thursday at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center in Plymouth, N.H. And now these three upcoming shows to finish out the month.

(If you'd like more info on the Langdon films or 'The Wind,' check out the "Upcoming Screenings" page on this site. I haven't had time for press releases just yet.)

Coming out of this period, I feel the need to do fewer screenings, and work a bit more on material for screenings that I do commit to. Until now, I wanted to do as many shows as possible, if only so the feel of performing live would become second nature, and to get experience winging it if I had to.

Okay, so I'm not always relaxed and in control at the keyboard.

I think I've gotten where I want to in that area. Now the challenge, I believe, is to work at further forging my own personal musical language for silent film accompaniment, which has developed somewhat but has a long way to go.

The main way to do that, I sense, is by taking time to work up consciously new material even for films I've done many times before. Less winging it, more careful preparation prior to sitting down on the bench, even though I'll still be mostly improvising during the actual screening. 

In the coming months, I'd like to develop a suite of melodic material built on elements that I'm attracted to: the call of the sharped fourth or the flatted seventh is beckoning. And I'd like to get better at producing material on demand that reflects this language.

Plus I might acquire a real piano to replace the spinet I've been pounding for well nigh 40 years now. And the Korg synth and speakers are showing their age, too. We'll see about upgrading them as well.

Lots to do, but the main thing is—fewer gigs, and a little more time spent preparing for each. I'm really looking forward to it!