Harold, Gloria, Greta and Buster all wish you a very happy Valentine's Day

Harold Lloyd displays one reaction to romance in 'Never Weaken' (1921).

Every year I have such high hopes for Valentine's Day.

As a silent film accompanist, I imagine doing music for great old films while surprised couples find them so beguiling that the deal is sealed right there.

They love each other! Or they love silent film! I'll take either outcome.

So, will my latent Yente find satisfaction this time around?

We'll know soon, as here comes yet another Valentine's Day, and silent film romance is in the air—or at least on selected screens in my corner of the world.

Romantic or not, you're welcome to join us for a stretch of some great classic cinema in some really great venues.

We start off Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. with a Harold Lloyd program at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H.

On the bill are two of what I would call Lloyd's sure-fire romantic comedies—the short 'Never Weaken' (1921) and feature-length 'Girl Shy' (1924).

To call these films "romantic comedies" is to reverse-engineer the label, which wasn't used to describe this genre of movies until much, much later.

Even so, Lloyd, by weaving somewhat plausible romance into his character and stories, pioneered the notion of the sweet boy-meets-girl picture that became a staple of the motion picture industry.

Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston, along with dog and train conductor, in the midst of their "meet-cute" in 'Girl Shy.'

Also, among its other virtues, 'Girl Shy' boasts some of the most exciting and suspenseful sequences of any of the Lloyd features.

And there's nothing like seeing Lloyd films in a theater with an audience, which is how they were meant to be experienced.

So check it out—complete info for the Red River's Harold Lloyd Pre-Valentine's Day Show is found in the press release pasted in below, or visit www.redrivertheatres.org.

Then Saturday, Feb. 10, I haul myself up to the foothills of the White Mountains for what's become an annual tradition: pot luck supper and silent movie night at the Campton (N.H.) Historical Society.

This year our star is Gloria Swanson, who will hold the screen with 'Zaza,' her big 1923 feature for Paramount Pictures.

I created music for a DVD/Blu-Ray reissue of 'Zaza' by Kino-Lorber last year; Saturday night's screening will be a live recreation of the score.

Also on the program: Gloria's early appearance in 'Teddy At the Throttle' (1916), a Mack Sennett Keystone comedy.

Admission is free, but attendees are expected to bring a dish for the pot luck. Also, donations accepted to help support the historical society's programming.

Dinner is at 5 p.m., the movies start at "6-ish." For more info, visit the Campton Historical Society online.

And on Sunday, Feb. 11, it's a double helping of romance.

At 4:30 p.m., we're running Greta Garbo's 'Wild Orchids' (1928) at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H.

When that wraps, I zip down to the Aeronaut Brewing Co. in Somerville, Mass., where at 8 p.m. we're running Buster Keaton's classic comedy 'The Cameraman' (1928).

More info about these screenings is on my online calendar. Hope you can make it!

Okay, here's the press release for our Harold Lloyd program on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.:

Not sure how Harold's approach to women will go over in the midst of the "Me, too" movement—but we'll find out.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 24, 2018 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

No words: Red River salutes Valentine's Day with silent comedy romance

Live music to accompany Harold Lloyd's uproarious feature film 'Girl Shy' on Thursday, Feb. 8

CONCORD, N.H.—When words can't express how you feel, then let a classic silent film do the talking.

That's the sentiment behind an upcoming screening of 'Girl Shy,' a vintage Harold Lloyd silent comedy, to be shown at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H.

'Girl Shy' (1924), along with a Lloyd comedy short 'Never Weaken' from 1921, will be screened on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. in Red River's Stonyfield Farm Theater. The films will be accompanied live by silent film musician Jeff Rapsis.

Admission to this special program is $12 per person.

'Girl Shy' (1924) stars Harold Lloyd as a shy young man from a small town who pens a book about imaginary female conquests. Trouble begins when bashful Harold falls in love for real, and then must rescue his beloved from marrying the wrong man in the big city.

Harold's dilemma prompts a climactic race to the altar that stands as one of the great chase sequences in all of cinema. The sequence was so successful that MGM used it as a model for the famous chariot race in the original 'Ben Hur' (1925).

Co-starring in 'Girl Shy' is actress Jobyna Ralston, who often played Lloyd's leading lady, including in later Lloyd masterpieces 'The Freshman' (1925) and 'The Kid Brother' (1927).

'Girl Shy,' directed by Lloyd's colleagues Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, was among the top 10 grossing films of 1924.

The screening of 'Girl Shy' will be preceded by 'Never Weaken,' an earlier short film that features Lloyd's brand of "thrill" comedy. In it, a jilted Lloyd attempts to commit suicide, only to wind up stranded on the girders of an uncompleted skyscraper high over the street of Los Angeles.

Harold Lloyd, along with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, stands today as one of the three masters of silent comedy. Throughout the 1920s, Lloyd's films enjoyed immense popularity, ranking regularly among the highest-grossing of the era.

Though Lloyd's reputation later faded due to unavailability of his movies, the recent re-release of most of his major films on DVD and other media has spurred a reawakening of interest in his work and has led to more screenings of his work in theaters, where it was designed to be shown.

"Seeing a Harold Lloyd film in a theater with live music and an audience is one of the great experiences of the cinema of any era," said Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film musician who will accompany both films.

Rapsis emphasized the value of seeing early cinema as it was originally intended to be shown.

"These films were designed for the big screen, live music, and large audiences. If you can put those conditions together again, you get a sense of why people first fell in love with the movies," Rapsis said.

'Girl Shy' and 'Never Weaken,' two comedies starring Harold Lloyd, will be screened with live music on Thursday, Feb. 8 at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. Admission is $12 per person.

For more info, visit www.redrivertheatres.org. or call (603) 224-4600. For more about the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

Post V-Day program: 'The Clinging Vine' (1926)on Thursday, 2/16 at Flying Monkey, Plymouth

An androgynous Leatrice Joy gets dating advice from grandma in 'The Clinging Vine' (1926).

Just back from London, where I made my accompaniment debut last week with music for 'Salt for Svanetia,' a Soviet propaganda film, at the amazing Kennington Bioscope in Lambeth.

Before the film, I was asked to make remarks. So I couldn't resist: "For those fans of Soviet-era economic plan promotional films, I'm sorry to report that this one has no tractors in it. However, it does have some really great steam roller footage."

I'll post a lot more about the Bioscope when I get photos back from a friend who was there. (I didn't take pics as my phone had died.) But it was a great time and I got to meet a lot of folks in the British silent film community.

And yes, applause broke out when the steam roller appeared!

Coming up: later this week I head out to Sioux City, Iowa to do music on a big old Mighty Wurlitzer for a silent comedy program on Sunday, Feb. 19 at the Orpheum Theatre.

Very much looking forward to that, and would like to publicly thank Rick Mullin and everyone else with the festival for organizing this special presentation.

But first, it's up to Plymouth, N.H. on Thursday to do music for 'The Clinging Vine' (1926), a seldom-screened romantic comedy with a surprising gender-bending premise.

More details in the press release below. But because the screening date for this monthly series fell just after Valentine's Day, we figured it would be a perfect chance to showcase this unusual take on romance and gender stereotypes.

The film will run on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m. Hope to see you there!

A more traditional publicity shot of Leatrice Joy, silent-era leading lady.

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TUESDAY, FEB. 7, 2017 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more info, contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Gender-bending comedy 'The Clinging Vine' at Flying Monkey on Thursday, Feb. 16

Uproarious silent film farce about gender stereotypes to be shown with live musical score

PLYMOUTH, N.H.—Tired of Valentine's Day? The Flying Monkey has just the antidote.

It's 'The Clinging Vine' (1926), a silent film comedy that turns traditional gender roles completely upside down.

The movie, starring Leatrice Joy, will be screened on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 South Main St., Plymouth.

Admission is $10 per person.

The program will feature live music for the movie by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis. The film is appropriate for all ages, making for a unique evening of family entertainment.

Produced by Cecil B. DeMille, 'The Clinging Vine' tells the story of a successful hard-driving female business executive who yearns for romance.

But she's frustrated in love because all men she encounters are intimidated by her ability and intelligence.

After confiding in her wise grandmother, the two set about transforming her into a woman who men will find attractive.

Considered daring for its time, 'The Clinging Vine' continues to earn comments from critics for its story and subject matter.

In a recent online review, author Kevin M. Wentink wrote that "what, on the surface, appears to be a slight romantic comedy that playfully addresses the changing role of women in the postwar jazz age, 'The Clinging Vine' actually flat out states that all men are stupid, really really stupid, in every way imaginable."

"And...even though women are by far superior to men in intellect and business acumen," Wentink wrote, "a woman would be far happier pretending to be dumber, and thus attractive to the Neanderthal, then she would to be a wise and successful spinster."

"An equal opportunity offender of both sexes, 'The Clinging Vine' is one of the most daringly trivial programers to come out of Hollywood in the silent era."

How's that as antidote for Valentine's Day?

Making her film debut as an extra in 1917, actress Leatrice Joy soon graduated to playing opposite comics Billy West and Oliver Hardy. Director Cecil B. DeMille took her under his wing and starred her in several of his films, including 'The Clinging Vine.'

Often playing career girls dressed in mannish suits, or sophisticated society girls, Joy is generally credited with starting the bobbed-hair craze in the 1920s.

In an early celebrity wedding, Joy she married superstar John Gilbert in the 1920s.

She retired shortly after the advent of sound, but made occasional appearances in small supporting roles over the years. She died in 1985 at age 91.

Accompanist Jeff Rapsis specializes in creating live musical scores for films made prior to the introduction of recorded sound. Based in New Hampshire, Rapsis specializes in improvising music for silent film screenings at venues ranging from Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. to the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in San Francisco, Calif.

Rapsis creates film scores in real time, as a movie is running, using a digital synthesizer to reproduce the texture of a full orchestra. He averages about 100 performances per year, and has created music for more than 250 different silent feature films.

"Improvising a movie score is a bit of a high wire act, but it can result in music that fits a film's mood and action better than anything that can be written down in advance," Rapsis said. "It also lends a sense of excitement and adventure to the screening, as no two performances are exactly alike."

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

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

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

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

Upcoming silent film titles at the Flying Monkey include:

• Thursday, March 16, 2017, 6:30 p.m.: 'Sadie Thompson' (1928) starring Gloria Swanson, Lionel Barrymore. Intense drama of a "fallen woman" who comes to an island in the South Seas to start a new life, but encounters a zealous missionary who wants to force her back to her former life in San Francisco.

• Thursday, April 13, 2017, 6:30 p.m.: 'King of Kings' (1927) directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Just in time for Easter: Cecil B. DeMille blockbuster includes crucifixion scene complete with earthquake, landslides, and a cast of thousands.

• Thursday, May 18, 2017, 6:30 p.m.: 'Speedway' (1929) starring William Haines, Ernest Torrance. Fasten your seat belts! We mark the traditional Memorial Day running of the Indianapolis 500 with a vintage race car drama filmed right on the famed track—at speeds topping 115 mph!

‘The Clinging Vine’ (1926) will be shown on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 South Main St., Plymouth, N.H. Admission is $10 per person. For more info, call (603) 536-2551 or visit www.flyingmonkeynh.com. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

My Mid-Winter Big City Tour: A quartet of silent films in Beantown

In my part of the world, the big city is BOSTON. It's about an hour south of here by car, unless you're driving there during the morning rush, in which case you should budget three hours. (No kidding! Just look at the bus schedules.)

As I've tried to build my proficiency at creating live music for silent films, I've become more eager to get gigs down in Boston, otherwise known to us as Beantown or, more grandly, "the HUB of the UNIVERSE."

Whatever you call it, around here it's the big time—New England's world-class city, a center of finance, culture, education, research, medicine, technology, and hopelessly obsessed sports fans. (And starting last year, non-stop flights to Tokyo on the new 787, when the plane isn't catching fire.)

I've had a few gigs in Boston. But for some reason, recently the stars came together to bring me no less than four screenings in four separate venues in the coming month. A quartet of silent film diversity! And though it wasn't planned this way, I'm thinking of it as my "Mid-Winter Big City Tour," with silent films filling up that dead space in the calendar between MLK Day and Valentines Day.

Truth by told, even if this had actually been planned, it would seem pretty random. But still, I was impressed enough by the synchronicity of the bookings (they just happened!) to send out a press release today to the Boston media that reads like this:

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Bessie Love is menaced by a prehistoric creature in 'The Lost World' (1925), a silent film to be screened with live music by Jeff Rapsis on Friday, Jan. 18 at the Westin Boston Waterfront as part of the 2013 Arisia Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention.

SUNDAY, JAN. 13, 2013 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

On the big (and silent) screen: Dinosaurs, Satan, Mars, and Romance

In mid-winter Boston area tour, silent film musical accompanist to bring four rarely seen movies to life

BOSTON—When silent film musician Jeff Rapsis sits down to accompany a feature film, there's a reason he brings no sheet music.

That's because Rapsis improvises complete movie scores from scratch, making up the music on the spot as the film runs. As a result, he's never sure how the music will go until the movie is run in real time with an audience.

"It's a high wire act, but I find that improvising music live adds a special kind of energy and immediacy to a silent film," Rapsis said. "It helps bridge the gap between a film that's eight or nine decades old and today's audiences."

In the coming weeks, Rapsis will take his brand of improvisational silent film scoring to four separate Boston area venues for screenings of a quartet of classics from cinema's silent era. The films include Hollywood's first "dinosaur" feature, an adaptation of the 'Faust' legend from director F.W. Murnau, a Russian science fiction film involving a rebellion on Mars, and a rollicking romantic comedy from Harold Lloyd to be screened on Valentine's Day in 35mm.

"They're four very different movies," Rapsis said. "But having them all available for viewing in the next month is a rare chance for Boston-area film fans to experience the breadth and range of early cinema as it was intended: on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience."

The screenings will take place in four locations as diverse as the films themselves:

• On Friday, Jan. 18 at 10 p.m., Rapsis will accompany the original 1925 silent film version of 'The Lost World,' Arthur Conan Doyle's story of a land where prehistoric animals still roam. The screening is a highlight of the film program at this year's Arisia Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention, which runs from Friday, Jan. 18 to Monday, Jan. 21 at the Westin Boston Waterfront.

'The Lost World' will be shown in 16mm in the Weston's Harborside Ballroom 3, which will function as the convention's cinema. The screening is open to registered Arisia attendees; more information can be found at www.arisia.org.

Emil Jannings stars as Mephisto in 'Faust' (1926), a silent feature directed by F.W. Murnau to be shown with live music by Jeff Rapsis on Wednesday, Jan. 23 as part of the 'Dead of Winter: Satan on Screen' series at the Brattle Cinema, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge, Mass.

• On Wednesday, Jan. 23 at 7 p.m., Rapsis will accompany F.W. Murnau's 'Faust' (1926) at the Brattle Cinema, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge, Mass. 'Faust,' an ambitious and visually stunning adaptation of the Faust legend, stars Emil Jannings and was the last film that Murnau directed in Germany before moving to Hollywood in 1927.

'Faust,' part of the Brattle's ongoing "Dead of Winter: Satan on Screen" series, will be paired with a screening of 'Witchcraft Through the Ages,' to be shown at 5:15 p.m. and repeated at 9:30 p.m. 'Faust' will be screened from a remastered digital transfer. Admission for the double feature is $12 general admission. For more information, call the Brattle at (617) 876-6837 or visit www.brattlefilm.org.

• On Sunday, Feb. 10 at 3 p.m., Rapsis will accompany 'Aelita, Queen of Mars' (1924), a Russian science fiction film as part of the 'Cinephile Sunday' series at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass. 'Aelita,' directed by Soviet filmmaker Yakov Protazanov, is notable for it constructivist sets; its design influenced pictures ranging from 'Metropolis' (1927) to the Flash Gordon serials.

The program also includes the short French film 'A Trip to the Moon' (1902) by pioneer moviemaker George Méliès. The screenings will take place in Collins Cinema, located in the Davis Museum complex of Wellesley College, 106 Central St., Wellesley, Mass. The program is free and open to the public.

Harold Lloyd takes matters into his onw hands in 'Girl Shy' (1924), a silent romantic comedy to be screened in 35mm with live music by Jeff Rapsis on Valentine's Day, Thursday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass.

• On Thursday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m., Rapsis will accompany 'Girl Shy' (1924), Harold Lloyd's effervescent romantic comedy, in the main theater of the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass. 'Girl Shy,' one of Lloyd's most popular features, will be screened with Lloyd's 'Never Weaken' (1921), a short comedy. Both films will be shown in 35mm. General admission is $15 per person. For more info, call the Somerville at (617) 625-5700 or visit www.somervilletheatreonline.com.

In accompanying films, Rapsis tries to subvert the stereotype of silent movie music as "rinky-tink" melodies played on an out-of-tune piano. Instead, he uses a digital synthesizer to recreate the texture of a full orchestra, and aims to create music that sounds like what today's audiences expect to hear when they attend a movie.

"I don't limit myself to authentic music of the silent film era," Rapsis said. "Today, we've all grown up hearing movie music by composers such as Bernard Hermann, John Williams and so many others. In bringing a silent film to life for modern audiences, I try to use the full vocabulary of scoring that's developed over time. I think this helps today's audiences really connect with a silent film, instead of regarding it as a museum piece or a mere curiosity of bygone days."

Rapsis, a resident of Bedford, N.H., performs at about 80 screenings each year, mostly around his home base in Northern New England but also at events such as the Kansas Silent Film Festival (February 2013), the Cinefest Vintage Film Festival in Syracuse, N.Y. (March 2013), and the Carnegie Center for the Performing Arts in Covington, Ky. (May 2013).

A lifelong silent film buff, Rapsis believes that the true value of Hollywood's early films can only be appreciated if they're screened as originally intended: on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience present.

"These factors were baked into the films by the people who conceived and created them," Rapsis said. "They weren't designed to be watched alone or on a home entertainment center. They were intended to be communal experiences. The bigger the audience, the better."

Rapsis said his accompaniment experiences have convinced him of how essential all these elements are to silent film.

"And I've seen it happen again and again—a film that seems only mildly interesting when viewed alone just leaps to life on the big screen, with live music and an audience," he said. "Somehow the comedy seems funnier, the drama seems more dramatic, and the action scenes seem more exciting. It was really all part of the experience, which is quite different from what today's movies offer."

Each of the four films being screened in the Boston area —'The Lost World' (1925), 'Faust' (1926), 'Aelita, Queen of Mars' (1924) and 'Girl Shy' (1924) — are proven crowd-pleasers when they're shown they way they were intended, Rapsis said.

"There's still a lot of excitement and power in these early films, if they're shown under the right conditions," Rapsis said. "And it's worth doing because the films are entertaining and in many cases ripe for rediscovery. Also, they provide a sense of why people first fell in love with the movies. Also, with the passage of time, they've become a window to the recent past of a few generations ago — a way to see how much we've changed, and how much we haven't."

Preparing for 'The Kiss' (1929)

I'm looking forward to tonight's screening of 'The Kiss' (1929), a late silent that I've grown to appreciate after looking at it a few times. The screening, by the way, is Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Manchester (N.H.) Public Library, 405 Pine St.; admission is free.

In preparing music for this flick, I've become very impressed with the visual story-telling in this picture, noteworthy as MGM's last silent release. Although it's not a spectacular blockbuster, it's a well made film that shows how fluent directors and actors had bcome in the silent film art by the late 1920s.

Visually, the film is filled with all manner of lively and creative shots: tracking shots, extreme close-ups, mirrors, and so on. But you get shifting tones even at the basic level of the rhythm of the performances, even without music.

The film's opening scene demonstrates that perfectly: a guide is taking visitors through an art gallery so fast as to be comical, but as the group finally sweeps out of frame, we are suddenly left in the midst of a torrid love scene with Greta Garbo and Conrad Nagel, setting the main plot immediately in action.

What a perfect way to jump-start a plot, to carry us breathlessly from our world into the story's world. It works well even without music! But I'll try to underscore it to bring out that contrast between the brisk comedy and intense romance.

Throughout the film, director Jacques Feyder (that's him on the right in the above photo) uses the camera and the medium of visual story-telling with creative flair. There are multiple exposures (in the tennis scene) and fantasy sequences in which Garbo re-enacts a scene in her mind, making it up as she goes along, with the hands of a clock spinning crazily out of control as she changes her mind.

Look how the scrawny detective, played by George Davis, trails Garbo by watching her reflection in store windows. And just as basic story-telling, the first time we see THE GUN in a opened desk drawer clearly sets the stage for bad things to come. Interestingly, later on we do NOT see the gun being used, but knowing where it is lends the scene immense power, even if it's staged behind a closed door.

Alas, it's not a great silent because it does rely a bit heavily on dialogue-driven intertitles, and the ending is kind of a let-down in my opinion. (Judge for yourself: come see the picture!) But as an example of how fluent the makers of silent film had become just as the medium was being phased out, 'The Kiss' stands as an excellent example.

And finally, if you're having a little trouble getting in the right spirit for Valentine's Day, then a film titled 'The Kiss' might help, too.