Coming up: 'Sally of the Sawdust' (1925) on Thursday, Aug. 15 in Ogunquit, Maine

A mustachioed W.C. Fields cavorts with an elephant and starlet Carol Dempster in a poster that captures the atmosphere of 'Sally of the Sawdust' with all the subtlety of—well, the circus.

What happens when you put together a silent film director famous for historical epics with a comedian known primarily for his vocal inflections?

You get 'Sally of the Sawdust' (1925), a silent comedy/drama directed by none other than D.W. Griffith and starring none other than W.C. Fields.

This hybrid production is the next feature in our summer silent film series at the historic Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit Maine. Showtime is Thursday, Aug. 15 at 8 p.m. By 'historic,' I mean the Leavitt has been showing movies since—well, since before 'Sally of the Sawdust' was released. (Since 1923, to be exact!)

And yes, it's thatW.C. Fields—he of the nasally twang and the racy byplay with Mae West.

Long before he was feuding with Charlie McCarthy on the radio, Fields was a very successful actor in silent films. It's surprising to most people, who would naturally think of W.C. Fields in the same category as, say, Groucho Marx. How could they do their stuff without words on a soundtrack?

But Fields had a long career as a vaudeville performer who specialized in comedy juggling and pantomime, so he had the chops needed to do the job in motion pictures before dialogue carried the day. Plus, he'd been a headliner all over the country for decades. So for most movie audiences, at least in the United States, he would not have been a complete stranger.

So it makes sense in that way, anyway. Besides, at the time, people didn't think of them as silent movies, but simply as the movies. No one would have expected to hear Fields' voice on the screen.

And D.W. Griffith directing a comedy? Well, why not? In some ways, comedy can be even more demanding that large-scale historical epics such as 'The Birth of a Nation' (1915) and 'Orphans of the Storm' (1922). So don't dismiss it as a day off.

But in this case, Griffith brought something to the table that not everyone had—a knack for telling a tale that sweeps the viewer along so you have to see how it ends. And that makes 'Sally of the Sawdust' more than just a typical 1920s comedy. Underneath it is a multi-generational dramatic story that makes the film a very satisfying experience, I think.

And turns out this is related to the stage as well. I read recently how Griffith's own failure as an upscale stage actor led indirectly to his later success in this kind of storytelling. Unable to make a living playing Hamlet, so to speak, Griffith was reduced to playing roles in lurid melodramas craved by small-town audiences.

No pretensions in this theater—if you didn't deliver, you'd be pelted with vegetables or run out of town on a rail. So anyone working in this environment honed an ability to know what satisfies an audience.

This experience gave Griffith an instinct that served him well when it came time for motion pictures to develop a mass audience. In his bones, Griffith knew what most people really expected from a night's entertainment. And he was able to transfer this knowledge to the motion picture screen at exactly the time (the 1910s) that the business was ready to flourish on a large scale.

Griffith's brand of moralistic storytelling went out of fashion as the 1920s progressed. But his melodramatic story-telling instincts never left him, and are on full display in 'Sally of the Sawdust,' carrying the tale along and leaving us helpless to resist.

And it says something about the universality of these skills, and about what audiences want, that a film such as 'Sally of the Sawdust' is constructed in such a way that we still respond to it as Griffith intended, even in this age of iPads and smart phones and hybrid cars.

See for yourself at our screening of 'Sally of the Sawdust' at the Leavitt Theatre on Thursday, Aug. 15 at 8 p.m. Tickets $10. Here's the text of the press release below...

* * *

W.C. Fields performs with Carol Dempster in 'Sally of the Sawdust.'

TUESDAY, JULY 30, 2013 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Leavitt Theatre to screen rare silent film
starring comic icon W.C. Fields

'Sally of the Sawdust' (1925), comedy/drama on tap for Thursday, Aug. 15, shows legendary comedian in earlier prime

OGUNQUIT, Maine—He was a performer who could be recognized just by the sound of his voice. But prior to reaching iconic fame in talking pictures, comedian W.C. Fields starred successfully in silent feature films for Paramount Pictures and other studios in the 1920s.

See the non-talking W.C. Fields for yourself in 'Sally of the Sawdust' (1925), one of Fields' most popular silent pictures, in a screening on Thursday, Aug. 15 at 8 p.m. at the historic Leavitt Theatre, 259 Main St., Route 1, Ogunquit, Maine.

Admission is $10 per person. Live music will be provided by accompanist Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire resident and one of the nation's leading silent film musicians.

W.C. Fields remains famous for his comic persona as a misanthropic curmudgeon with snarling contempt for dogs, children and women. Fields achieved lasting fame as a movie star in talking pictures of the 1930s, but his long career encompassed decades on the vaudeville stage as well as a series of silent film roles.

In 1925's 'Sally of the Sawdust,' Fields plays Professor Eustache McGargle, a good-natured circus juggler and con man who finds himself responsible for Sally (Carol Dempster), an orphaned girl whose mother has died. Raised by McGargle, Sally grows up to become a popular performer in the rough-and-tumble world of the circus. But when the show arrives in the town where her mother's relatives now live, Sally is forced to choose between the man who raised her and the wealthy family that wants to reclaim her as their own.

'Sally of the Sawdust,' based on the 1923 stage musical 'Poppy,' gives Fields ample opportunity to display his juggling talents, a staple of his vaudeville act. The film was directed by D.W. Griffith, a rare detour into comedy from a filmmaker known for pioneering epic dramas such as 'The Birth of a Nation' (1915) and 'Orphans of the Storm' (1921).

"People find it hard to think of W.C. Fields as a silent film performer, but he was quite successful," Rapsis said. "As a vaudeville performer and juggler, Fields specialized in visual comedy and pantomime that transferred well to the silent screen. Also, as a middle-aged man, he was able to play a family father figure—the kind of role that wasn't open to younger comic stars such as Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton.

In all, Fields starred in 10 silent features in the mid-1920s. Several of these films are lost; in those that survive, Fields sports a thick mustache, part of his vaudeville costume as a "vagabond juggler" which he dropped in later years.

The Leavitt, opened in 1923 as a summer-only seaside resort silent film house, now offers a wide variety of programming, including first-run films, live comedy, open mic nights, and more.

The Leavitt Theatre's silent film series aims to recreate the full silent film experience, with restored prints projected on the big screen, live music, and the presence of an audience. All these elements are essential to seeing silent films they way they were intended, Rapsis said.

"If you can put it all together again, these films still contain a tremendous amount of excitement," Rapsis said. "By staging these screenings of features from Hollywood's early days, you can see why people first fell in love with the movies."

Music is a key element of each silent film screening, Rapsis said. Silent movies were never shown in silence, but were accompanied by live music made right in each theater. Most films, including 'Sally of the Sawdust,' were not released with official scores, so it was up to local musicians to provide the soundtrack, which could vary greatly from theater to theater.

"Because there's no set soundtrack for most silent films, musicians are free to create new music as they see fit, even today," Rapsis said. "In bringing a film to life, I try to create original 'movie score' music that sounds like what you might expect in a theater today, which helps bridge the gap between today's audiences and silent films that are in some cases nearly 100 years old."

Other upcoming features in the Leavitt Theatre's 2013 silent film schedule include:

• Thursday, Aug. 29, 8 p.m.: 'Grandma's Boy' (1922), starring Harold Lloyd. Comedian Harold Lloyd's first starring feature finds him playing a mild-mannered young man forced to confront his chronic cowardice, with a little help from his beloved Grandma, who has a few family secrets up her sleeve. A delightful romp from one of the silent film era's most popular comics.

• Thursday, Sept. 19, 8 p.m.: 'Show People' (1928) starring Marion Davies, William Haines. A silent film about the silent film business! Young Peggy Pepper ventures to Hollywood to make her mark in drama, but finds an unexpected (and unwelcome) flair for slapstick comedy. King Vidor directed this entertaining valentine to a form that would soon be superceded by talking pictures.

• Saturday, Oct. 26, 8 p.m.: 'Nosferatu' (1922). Just in time for Halloween, see the original silent film adaptation of Bram Stoker's famous 'Dracula' story. Still spooky after all these years—in fact, some critics believe this version is not only the best ever done, but has actually become creepier with the passage of time. See for yourself, if you dare!

The next installment in the Leavitt Theatre's silent film series will be 'Sally of the Sawdust' (1925), to be screened with live music by Jeff Rapsis on Thursday, Aug. 15 at 8 p.m. at the Leavitt Theatre, 259 Main St., Route 1 in Ogunquit, Maine. Admission is $10 per person; for more info, call (207) 646-3123 or visit www.leavittheatre.com. For more information on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

This weekend, at sea with Ramon Novarroand Joan Crawford in 'Across to Singapore'

All cast members on deck! From left, Ernest Torrence, Joan Crawford, and Ramon Novarro in 'Across to Singapore' (1928).

So many sea stories, so little time. So, for our "Summer of Silent Swashbucklers Set at Sea" series at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre, we're adding an extra show this weekend.

On Sunday, Aug. 11 at 4:30 p.m., we're running 'Across to Singapore' (1928), a little known late silent from MGM that's blessed with a powerhouse cast: Ramon Novarro, Joan Crawford, and Ernest Torrence.

The film, like many near the end of the silent period, didn't get a lot of notice, as studios were already in the midst of the mad scramble to begin producing sound pictures in 1928 and 1929.

And in the case of 'Across to Singapore,' things got so careless that only a single print is known to survive. And this sole print had begun to decompose when it was copied to safety stock in the nick of time.

So it's available to us today only with several scenes marred by the fog of nitrate decomposition, which in some cases makes it look like cast members are playing their roles through a blizzard of static or an avalanche of mud.

But that makes 'Across to Singapore' even more interesting to me, and I hope to our audience on Sunday afternoon. Not only are the story and the performances of interest, but in this case you get to see first-hand what happened to so many pictures that are now lost.

In many cases, they literally crumbled to dust.

'Across to Singapore' almost joined them in oblivion, and the fact that we can present the complete picture tomorrow to an audience with live music and in a theater is something of a minor pop culture miracle, I think. I guess you'd have to call it "participatory archeology," an experience in which everyone plays a role in bringing the cultural "artifact" (in this case, a romantic drama of the seas from 1928) to life.

And it makes me think of works of art such as the Venus DeMilo (with its missing arms) and Schubert's 'Unfinished' Symphony, with only the first two movements (out of four) complete. Maybe there will come a time when motion pictures with missing footage will be regarded in the same way—as perhaps even more perfect because of what's not there.

I think that way already about 'Sadie Thompson' (1928), a great picture starring Gloria Swanson as a lady with a mysterious past who battles a sanctimonious preacher played by Lionel Barrymore. The conflict between the two builds up magnificently to the final reel, which is...missing!

Wow! Just as things reach the boiling point and we're going to get the big payoff we've been waiting for, the actual last 10 minutes of film is just not there for us. Talk about "dramatus interruptus!"

And yet 'Sadie Thompson' has been restored and reissued, with titles describing the missing action and pan-and-scan techniques on surviving stills to illustrate it. And at the every end, some footage from a later remake is used to help complete the tale.

I've done this film with live music and to me, the effect of the missing scenes is amazing. It almost seems as if mere film just wasn't able to contain the towering conflict between these two very strongb but very flawed characters.

And so we move into another realm, where the imagination of the audience is engaged at an even more personal level, supported by music and the materials on screen, in laying out the final battle and the picture's denouement. Somehow, it's more epic because of what's lacking, and what we as viewers must supply ourselves.

This is a total accident, but I think it's a very fortuitous one, made possible only by missing film.

It doesn't have to be a big climax, either. At the 2012 Cinefest in Syracuse, N.Y., I played music for 'Get Your Man' (1927), a recently restored Clara Bow feature that was missing either Reel 2 or Reel 3—I forget which.

Again, the action was summarized by titles and stills, and I did music to help follow the flow of the story as described onscreen, in the hopes of helping each member of the audience come up with his or her unique vision of what the scenes looked like. And I don't know about others, but it was a remarkable little moment that in some ways was better filmmaking that anything that could have actually been put on film.

Something to think about there.

Then there's Raymond Griffith's comedy 'Paths to Paradise' (1925), which ends perfectly at the end of a wild car chase and makes for a very satsifying film. But it's missing its final reel—one in which a plot twist requires the mad chase to be run all the way back to the beginning. That's one that I hope we discover one of these days.

Well, we do have the complete 'Across to Singapore' (1928), and I'm not complaining. I do hope you'll join us for this rarely screened feature on Sunday, along with a surprise comedy short that also has a nautical bent. For more details, here's the press release:

*   *   *

TUESDAY, JULY 30, 2013 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Sea adventure ‘Across to Singapore’ (1928) in Wilton, N.H. on Sunday, Aug. 11

Classic silent film drama starring Joan Crawford, Ramon Novarro to be screened with live music at Town Hall Theatre

WILTON, N.H.—It was among the first feature films to star a very young Joan Crawford, and it was almost lost in the period when Hollywood made the transition from silent films to soundtracks in the late 1920s.

But a single 35mm print of 'Across to Singapore' (1928) survived, allowing this timeless and ambitious tale of the sea to be rescued and enjoyed by today's moviegoers. To that end, 'Across to Singapore' will be revived with live musical accompaniment on Sunday, Aug. 11 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theater, 40 Main St., in Wilton, N.H.

The show is free and open to the public. It's the latest installment in the Town Hall Theatre's summer-long series of silent films set at sea.

"In warmer weather, many people head to the ocean to cool off," said Jeff Rapsis, who provides musical accompaniment for the Wilton Town Hall Theatre's silent film screenings. "This summer, we're bringing the ocean to the theater, as we showcase the enduring romance between Hollywood and the sea."

Set in the 1800s during the era when wind-powered sailing ships still ruled the seas, 'Across to Singapore' tells the story of two sea-faring brothers whose long-standing love and respect for each other unravels over a woman.

Burly older brother Mark (played by Ernest Torrence), a tough sea captain, is unexpectedly betrothed to Priscilla Crowninshield (Crawford) during a brief visit to home port. But since childhood, Priscilla has had feelings for Mark's younger brother Joel (Ramon Novarro),now preparing to ship out with Mark on his first adventure.

Can Priscilla's love for Joel survive her forced marriage to his domineering older brother?

When the brothers set sail for Singapore, a gale stirs up the situation into a full-blown crisis that leads to mutiny, kidnapping, and a murder plot. Can the brothers overcome their bitter mistrust of each other, survive the storm, save the family shipping business, and do the right thing for the one woman that haunts both of their lives?

'Across to Singapore' (1928), directed by William Nigh, was among the last silent dramas produced by MGM, then the most prestigious studio in Hollywood. In addition to up-and-coming female star Joan Crawford, the film starred A-list actor Ramon Novarro, a heartthrob at the peak of his popularity, as well as gruff character actor Ernest Torrence.

However, like many late silent film releases, 'Across to Singapore' was not carefully preserved following its initial release as MGM rushed to convert to making talking pictures. The film's original negative was lost, and other materials fell victim to neglect and decomposition.

In later years, only a single 35mm print of 'Across to Singapore' was known to survive, and had begun to partially decompose before it was copied. Although some sequences remain marred by decomposition, the film is largely intact. It stands as an excellent example of silent film story-telling at its peak, just before the form was abandoned.

"We're thrilled at the chance to screen this picture, which was rescued from oblivion just in time," said accompanist Jeff Rapsis. "Because it's set at sea, we added an extra screening to our usual monthly schedule to fit it in as part of our summer series."

Music for 'Across to Singapore' will be created live by Rapsis, who specializes in improvising scores to classic silent films in live performance. For each film, Rapsis improvises a score from original musical material composed beforehand, using a digital synthesizer to recreate the sound and texture of a full orchestra.

"What I try to do," Rapsis said, "is create music that bridges the gap between a film that might be 80 or 90 years old, and the musical expectations of today's audiences."

Each of the silent films on this summer's Town Hall Theatre schedule offers a different porthole into the rich treasure trove of tales rooted in ocean-going traditions. Each also offers footage of scenes that in some cases are now quite historic, including images of ships and ship-board life that vanished long ago.

Upcoming screenings of silent film with a salty flavor at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre include:

• Sunday, Aug. 25, 4:30 p.m.: 'The Navigator' (1924). Set sail with Buster Keaton's classic comedy 'The Navigator,' which finds two wealthy socialites adrift all alone on a giant ocean liner. Chock full of unique visual gags; one of Buster's most popular features and the picture that helped establish the comedian as a top-tier star in the motion picture business.

This summer's nautical-themed movies are part of a monthly series of silent films presented with live music at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre. The series provides local audiences the chance to experience silent film as it was intended to be shown: on the big screen, in restored prints, with live music, and with an audience.

Looks like 'Across to Singapore' was playing as late as December, 1929 in Belgium, judging by this bilingual Flemish/French poster. 

The series will continue with a screening of 'Across to Singapore' (1928) on Sunday, Aug. 11 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. Admission is free, with donations of $5 per person encouraged to defray expenses. For more information, visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com; for more information on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

'Sunrise' postponed for two weeks (The movie, not the actual sunrise)

Darling, we'll have to wait two weeks, until Thursday, Aug. 22, for our appearance at the Flying Monkey in Plymouth, N.H.

Yes, sunrise will occur at 6:30 p.m. Nothing's wrong with your almanac—that's when we're showing the great silent film 'Sunrise' (1927) at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center in Plymouth, N.H.

However, we've had to change the date due to a booking conflict at the theater, which caused 'Sunrise' to be eclipsed. (Har!)

Originally set for Thursday, Aug. 8, 'Sunrise' will now take place two weeks later on Thursday, Aug. 22. Same showtime: 6:30 p.m. And same admission price: $10 per person.

Should be a good screening, as it's a chance for folks to see a beautiful film—as well as a performance that helped Janet Gaynor snag the first-ever Academy Award for Best Actress.

I'll post more later. For now, here's a round-up of recent happenings on the road before they fade from my overcrowded noggin.

A scene from 'The Seahawk' (1924), the screening of which nearly got scuttled due to a balky car battery.

• So near, yet so far: A prolonged heat wave in July did a number on my car battery, to the point where it needed to be replaced. That hadn't quite happened when I headed to the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theater on Sunday, July 28 for a matinee screening of 'The Sea Hawk' (1924), the latest in series of silent sea-faring dramas we're running there this summer.

I was early for once, so pulled into a Dunkin Donuts about a mile from the theater for coffee. Instead of the drive-thru, I went in to use the bathroom, then got the coffee at the counter. Came outside to find the car dead as a doornail!

The time: 3:52 p.m.—just 38 minutes to showtime, and me with a Subaru Forester filled with synthesizer and sound gear. I tried calling the theater, which is just up the road, but only got the recorded "movie line" and couldn't leave a message. So I called AAA in hopes that a jumpstart would work. The wait was about 45 minutes!

Just then a guy came out of the store to get back on his motorcycle, which he'd parked next to my deadster. I asked him if he'd do me a favor, but he said no because he was headed to Greenville.

"But it's on the way," I said, begging him to stop at the theater and let them know I was on my way. He said he would, but I had my doubts. (I later found out he didn't follow through.)

After that, an employee came out and said he could give me a jumpstart. Sure, worth a try! And just as he was backing up his pick-up truck, the AAA guy swung off Route 101 and into the parking lot.

It took him all of 90 seconds to jump-start the car, which instantly came back to life. The time: 4:17 p.m. I might make it after all!

Saying thank you, I wasted no time getting out on the highway to drive the last mile to the theater. As I sped up, I heard a noticeable "clunk" on my car's roof, and then noticed brown liquid was coating my rear window. The coffee! I'd left it on the roof.

Think of it! The very thing I'd stopped to get, and which caused my car to die, was now dribbling down the back of my vehicle. Some kind of evil poetic justice going on there.

I had the last laugh, though. During the screening, a violent rainstorm washed away all the coffee residue, so I was back to where I began, minus one cup of coffee.

The music for 'The Sea Hawk' (1924), by the way, came together quite powerfully, I thought. I was able to improvise well in modal mode during the "Moorish" scenes set in Algeria.

Seen in 2013, the original 'Sea Hawk' emerges as quite a politically charged film. The hero, disgusted by the behavior of people who consider themselves Christians, forsakes his religion and instead joins with the armies of Islam to wage war on the West. Sound familiar?

• What? What was that?: On Thursday, Aug. 1, I was thrilled to make my Harvard debut—specifically, at the Harvard Film Archive, which runs a theater that screens a wide variety of esoteric and repertory fare in the Carpenter Center, a big concrete building just off Harvard Yard designed by none other than Le Corbusier.

As an example of Le Corbusier's "brutalism" style, the place has all the ambiance of a parking garage. But the film programming can't be beat. This summer, they're running the slate of nine silent films directed by Alfred Hitchcock and recently restored at by the British Film Institute.

For silents, they work with a regular roster of accompanists, and it can be hard to break into a situation like that. Despite that, I had recently sent in my resume. Still, I was surprised to be contacted about accompanying one of the Hitchcocks.

The reason? No one else was available. Oh well! A young Leonard Bernstein (himself a Harvard man) got his big break as a young conductor when Bruno Walter took ill, so maybe it works the same way with silent film accompaniment. One person's misfortune can be another's gain. :)

So down to Harvard I went, to do music for a rare Hitchcock comedy, Champagne (1928), on the Harvard Film Archive's nice Yamaha baby grand. It had a bright sound, but the action wasn't nearly as heavy as other Yamahas I've played, so off we went.

Before we started, I may have made a faux pas. Before an audience of probably 75 people, programmer David Pendleton was ready to start things off with a few remarks about the film. I had been playing "silent film cocktail music" to warm up, so it seemed only natural to segue to David by means of a modest fanfare.

People laughed somewhat, and then David noted dryly it was the first time he'd ever been preceded by a fanfare.

First time? I had to remember: this was not the Wilton Town Hall Theatre, and I really should be on my best behavior.

But then the film started, and I opened up with a dramatic upwards glissando straight out of Carl Stalling score for a Bugs Bunny cartoon. And I'm afraid from then on, the die was cast.

Because 'Champagne' was a light comedy with a lot of dance scenes, I'd chosen material that was energetic to begin with, and the excitement of the occasion (a new venue, a new film) didn't slow things down, either.

Still, I thought it all came together pretty well, with the music underscoring the comic moments well enough and also adding the right amount of mystery and intrigue that works with any Hitchcock film, even if no bodies are lying around.

Afterwards, people were kind enough to stop and chat. And I was curious: How did I do?

I've learned that you should be careful when asking that question, because you may not like the answer.

So how did I do?

"Well, what you played was very...loud!"

Loud? Loud?!

"Yes. Perhaps in the future you could keep the lid flat on the piano."

Ouch! They found me LOUD at Harvard!

But I also had some kind comments about how the music did support the movie and helped it come to life. David seemed open to the idea of me returning at some point, and that's great!

I just have to remember to bring ear plugs to pass out to anyone who wants them. :)

• Brush with celebrity: Saturday, Aug. 3 brought me up to Brandon Town Hall in Brandon, Vt., where we screened 'Sally of the Sawdust' (1925) to an appreciative crowd of just under 100.

Starring W.C. Fields and Carol Dempster, and directed by D.W. Griffith, I've found this film really does have the Griffith story-telling touch, despite its reputation as a lesser picture. 'Sally of the Sawdust' has that peculiar "inevitable" quality of Griffith films, in which the narrative pull is so strong as to be irresistible.

Afterwards, I got to talking with a few folks, including one gentleman I'd never seen before. A nice guy, maybe 60, kinda big at 6-foot-4, and musically knowledgeable—so much so that I asked about his background.

Oh, he said, his grandfather was the real musician in the family, and had worked as a composer years ago on Broadway and in Hollywood. Who was he? No one I'd know, he said. And then he said the name: Rudolf Friml.

Rudolph Friml? The Rudolf Friml? Composer of music for shows such as "Rose-Marie" (1924), which includes the immortal 'Indian Love Call' made famous by Nelson Eddy and Jeannette McDonald in the 1936 film?

Yes! He himself was Bill Friml, and Rudolf (who lived into his 90s, until 1972) was his grandfather. That's a picture of Rudolf in later life.

I shook Bill's hand and was at a loss for words. What a thrill to think that a grandson of Rudolf Friml had been in the audience for something I had just done. (I'm glad I didn't know beforehand, because it would make me self-conscious.)

I later checked into Friml's life story, and found that in his native Prague he was a student of none other than Antonin Dvorak. Also, in the 1930s he claimed to use a Ouija board to communicate with deceased fellow operetta composer Victor Herbert, and as an older man, he'd start every morning by standing on his head to get blood to the brain. Colorful guy!

I especially like one statement he made: that he had so much music in him that he had to make it or he felt he would burst. I can kinda relate. (Just as the folks at Harvard.)

You just never know who you're going to meet at these screenings. I'm almost tempted to get our the Ouija board and try to chat with Rudolf himself. But grandson Bill was good enough, and I hope to see him at another screening, as the night was getting on and I had to get back on the road to New Hampshire for a show the next day...

• General Approval: I'll keep this short but I need to say that the silent film screenings I'm doing at the Somerville Theater in Somerville, Mass. are turning out to be the highlights of each month.

We've been getting good crowds, and our screening of Keaton's 'The General' (1926) on Sunday, Aug. 4 was no exception: more than 200 people showed up on one of the finest afternoons of the summer to sit in a darkened theater and take in this exciting film on the big screen, as it was intended.

It's gotten to where I feel comfortable at the Somerville, and so I now find it relatively easy to get into the zone where good accompaniment happens. With 'The General,' a film I know well, it happened almost instanteously, and the music came easily and effectively throughout the show.

So it was one good moment after another, and about two-thirds through the film, I began to feel that nice glow that happens when I know I'm nailing a film. Even the ending came together naturally, producing lots of satisfying laughs from the on-screen action as the music pulled things to the end.

And after that, I got one of those amazing ovations that you never expect to get in life, but there it was. It was, of course, for Buster's film, but I stood up anyway and took a bow. Very satisfying to have collaborated with Mr. Keaton in such an endeavor and one of the most satisfying moments of this journey so far.

So I just had to take a picture. It came out blurry, but here it is:

From now on, I'll concentrate on the music and let someone else handle the visuals. :)

This weekend: W.C. Fields in Brandon, Vt.and Keaton's 'The General' in Somerville, Mass.

Sometimes I feel like I'm in that children's book, "Country Mouse, City Mouse." On Saturday, I go way up to rural Brandon, Vermont to do music for a screening of 'Sally of the Sawdust' (1925), a silent film that stars W.C. Fields. Then, the next day, it's down to big bad Boston for a screening of Buster Keaton's 'The General' in 35mm at the Somerville Theater.

And if I had to choose which one I'm looking forward to more, I really couldn't.

The Vermont screening of 'Sally of the Sawdust' will be in town hall with wonderful acoustics, and we usually get a large and very appreciative audience right from within the small community. I feel very much at home there and find it's a place where I have a pretty high batting average. Plus it's nice to make the drive through rural New England in mid-summer, with the corn coming in and the Red Sox game on AM radio.

The screening of 'The General' in Somerville, Mass. will happen under completely different circumstances: in an actual movie theater with a huge screen, with first class 35mm film projection, and in the middle of one of the most congested urban areas in our part of the world. The audience will come from around the metro area, and will include a high proportion of students of cinema, both young and not-so-young.

Country or city? I guess I'm blessed that I don't have to choose, but get to experience them both. And so can you: W.C. Fields in rural Vermont on Saturday, Aug. 3 and then Buster Keaton in the big city on Sunday, Aug. 4. I'm pasting in the text of the respective press releases below, but they both promise to be excellent silent film programs, so hope to see you there!

* * *

THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2013 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Brandon (Vt.) Town Hall to screen rare silent film starring comic icon W.C. Fields

'Sally of the Sawdust' (1925), comedy/drama on tap for Saturday, Aug. 3, shows legendary comedian in earlier prime

BRANDON, Vt.—He was a performer who could be recognized just by the sound of his voice. But prior to reaching iconic fame in talking pictures, comedian W.C. Fields starred successfully in silent feature films for Paramount Pictures and other studios in the 1920s.

See the non-talking W.C. Fields for yourself in 'Sally of the Sawdust' (1925), one of Fields' most popular silent pictures, in a screening on Saturday, Aug. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, Route 7 in Brandon, Vt.

Admission is free; donations are encouraged, with proceeds to support ongoing renovation of Brandon Town Hall.

Live music will be provided by accompanist Jeff Rapsis, a resident of Bedford, N.H. and one of the nation's leading silent film musicians.

W.C. Fields remains famous for his comic persona as a misanthropic curmudgeon who remained a sympathetic character despite his snarling contempt for dogs, children and women. Fields achieved lasting fame as a movie star in talking pictures of the 1930s, but his long career encompassed decades on the vaudeville stage as well as a series of silent film roles.

In 1925's 'Sally of the Sawdust,' Fields plays Professor Eustache McGargle, a good-natured circus juggler and con man who finds himself responsible for Sally (Carol Dempster), an orphaned girl whose mother has died. Raised by McGargle, Sally grows up to become a popular performer in the rough-and-tumble world of the circus. But when the show arrives in the town where her mother's relatives now live, Sally is forced to choose between the man who raised her and the wealthy family that wants to reclaim her as their own.

'Sally of the Sawdust,' based on the 1923 stage musical 'Poppy,' gives Fields ample opportunity to display his juggling talents, a staple of his vaudeville act. The film was directed by D.W. Griffith, a rare detour into light comedy from a filmmaker known for pioneering epic dramas such as 'The Birth of a Nation' (1915) and 'Orphans of the Storm' (1921).

 W.C.Fields and Carol Dempster in 'Sally of the Sawdust' (1925).

"People find it hard to think of W.C. Fields as a silent film performer, but he was quite successful in them," Rapsis said. "As a vaudeville performer and juggler, Fields specialized in visual comedy and pantomime that transferred well to the silent screen. Also, as a middle-aged man, he was able to play a family father figure—the kind of role that wasn't open to younger comic stars such as Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton.

In all, Fields starred in 10 silent features in the mid-1920s. Several of these films are lost; in those that survive, Fields sports a thick mustache, part of his vaudeville costume as a "vagabond juggler" which he dropped in later years.

The screening of 'Sally of the Sawdust' is sponsored by by Lorraine and Warren Kimble; Frank and Ettie Spezzaro; and Terry and Dottie Kline.

The Brandon Town Hall's silent film series aims to recreate the full silent film experience, with restored prints projected on the big screen, live music, and the presence of an audience. All these elements are essential to seeing silent films they way they were intended, Rapsis said.

"If you can put it all together again, these films still contain a tremendous amount of excitement," Rapsis said. "By staging these screenings of features from Hollywood's early days, you can see why people first fell in love with the movies."

Music is a key element of each silent film screening, Rapsis said. Silent movies were never shown in silence, but were accompanied by live music made right in each theater. Most films were not released with official scores, so it was up to local musicians to provide the soundtrack, which could vary greatly from theater to theater.

"Because there's no set soundtrack for most silent films, musicians are free to create new music as they see fit, even today," Rapsis said. "In bringing a film to life, I try to create original 'movie score' music that sounds like what you might expect in a theater today, which helps bridge the gap between today's audiences and silent films that are in some cases nearly 100 years old."

Other upcoming features in the Brandon Town Hall's silent film series include:

• Saturday, Sept. 14, 7 p.m.: "Lloyd and Keaton: Silent Comedy Double Feature." 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 audiences 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. Screening sponsored by Pam and Steve Douglass.

• Saturday, Oct. 19, 7 p.m.: "Nosferatu" (1922). The annual "Chiller Theater" presentation in the as-yet-unheated Brandon Town Hall. Just in time for Halloween, see the original silent film adaptation of Bram Stoker's famous 'Dracula' story. Still scary after all these years—in fact, some critics believe this version is not only the best ever done, but has actually become creepier with the passage of time. See for yourself, if you dare! Screening sponsored by Heritage Family Credit Union.

The next installment in the Brandon Town Hall's silent film series will be 'Sally of the Sawdust' (1925), to be screened with live music by Jeff Rapsis on Saturday, Aug. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, Route 7 in Brandon, Vt. Admission is free; donations are encouraged, with proceeds to support ongoing renovation of the town hall. For more information, visit www.brandontownhall.org. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

* * *

THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2013 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film classic 'The General' in 35mm on Sunday, Aug. 4 in Somerville, Mass.

Buster Keaton's comic masterpiece to be screened with live music at historic Somerville Theatre

SOMERVILLE, Mass.—He never smiled on camera, earning him the nickname of "the Great Stone Face." But Buster Keaton's comedies rocked Hollywood's silent era with laughter throughout the 1920s. Acclaimed for their originality and clever visual gags, and also admired for their realistic stories and authentic location shots, Keaton's films remain popular crowd-pleasers today.

See for yourself with a screening of 'The General' (1926), one of Keaton's landmark features, on Sunday, Aug. 4 at 1 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, Mass.

'The General' will be screened in 35mm film in the Somerville's main house. The program will be accompanied by live music performed by silent film composer Jeff Rapsis. General admission is $15 per person.

'The General,' set during the U.S. Civil War, tells the story of a southern locomotive engineer (Keaton) whose engine (named 'The General') is hijacked by Northern spies with his girlfriend onboard. Keaton, stealing another train, races north in pursuit behind enemy lines. Can he rescue his girl? And can he steal his locomotive and make it back to warn of a coming Northern attack?

Although the film includes vivid and realistic battle scenes, 'The General' is family entertainment suitable for all viewers, with the exception of very young children.

Critics have hailed 'The General' Keaton's masterpiece, praising its authentic period detail, ambitious action and battle sequences, and its overall integration of story, drama, and comedy. It's also regarded as one of Hollywood great train films, with much of the action occurring on or around moving steam locomotives.

The screening is the latest in the Somerville Theatre's monthly silent film screenings. Dubbed 'Silents, Please,' the series aims to showcase the best of early Hollywood the way it was intended to be experienced: in 35mm prints, on the big screen, with live music, and in a theater with an audience.

"All those elements are important parts of the silent film experience," said Rapsis, who improvise the score on the spot as the films screens. "Recreate those conditions, and the classics of early Hollywood leap back to life in surprising ways that can still move audiences today."

Rapsis performs on a digital synthesizer that reproduces the texture of the full orchestra and creates a traditional "movie score" sound.

Buster and his mechanical co-star in 'The General' (1926).

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

While making films, Keaton never thought of himself as an artist, but rather as an entertainer trying to use the then-new art of motion pictures to tell stories and create laughter.

As a performer, Keaton was uniquely suited to the demands of silent comedy. Born in 1895, he made his stage debut as a toddler, joining his family's knockabout vaudeville act and learning to take falls and do stunts at an early age.

A skilled pantomime artist, Keaton naturally used his whole body to communicate emotions from sadness to surprise. And in an era with no post-production special effects, Keaton's acrobatic talents enabled him to perform all his own stunts, including all those in 'The General.'

Critics review 'The General':

"The most insistently moving picture ever made, its climax is the most stunning visual event ever arranged for a film comedy.”
—Walter Kerr

"An almost perfect entertainment!"
—Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

"What makes the film so special is the way the timing, audacity and elegant choreography of its sight gags, acrobatics, pratfalls and dramatic incidents is matched by Buster’s directorial artistry, his acute observational skills working alongside the physical élan and sweet subtlety of his own performance."
—Time Out (London)

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

• Sunday, Sept. 8, 1 p.m.: 'The Freshman' (1925) starring Harold Lloyd. Get in a back-to-school mood with Lloyd's genre-defining comedy about a young man's climb to social prominence via the college football squad. Great story aided by top-rate silent film comedy.

• 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. Hilarious as well as terrifying; 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.

Buster Keaton's 'The General' (1926) will be shown in 35mm on Sunday, Aug. 4 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.

In which I go to Harvard University to accompany Hitchcock without the bodies

Next up: a chance to do music for one of the Hitchcock silents recently restored by the British Film Institute. The film is 'Champagne' (1928), a rare Hitchcock attempt at comedy. I'll be at Harvard Film Institute's Yamaha baby grand for the screening (in 35mm) on Thursday, Aug. 1 at 7 p.m.

By "comedy," I don't mean kick-in-the-pants silent film slapstick. And I don't mean the kind of black comedy Hitchcock was later to do in movies such as 'The Trouble With Harry' (1955). Rather, 'Champagne' is a society comedy, and a light and fizzy concoction at that—very much like the beverage of the title. Unusual for Hitchcock, no bodies anywhere.

Looking back on the film many years later, Hitchcock was displeased, recalling that the film didn't really have a story to tell. Previewing it on YouTube, I can see what he meant. However, it's always a mistake to make judgments about a movie after watching it online in that format, so I encourage you to check it out as Hitchcock intended: on the big screen and in a theater. Me, I'm waiting until Thursday to see how an audience responds.

Whatever misgivings Hitchcock might have had, 'Champagne' is well worth drinking in because you can see how many of the hallmarks of Hitchcock's visual style are already coming together. The camerawork is quite creative in places, Hitchcock having absorbed the vocabulary of German expressionism and well along in the process of making it his own. You can see him developing and fashioning the cinematic language that would later come to full flower in his later masterpieces.

And yes, there are a few moments that promise laugh-out-loud hilarity. We'll see.

So I'm eager to help bring this picture to life at my Harvard debut, which itself contains an element of backstage comedy. The chief reason I'm appearing at the Harvard Film Archive as part of this prestigious series is because (drum roll please)...no one else was available! Yes, none of the theater's regular accompanists could be scheduled, and so yours truly got the call! Thus do I get an opportunity to crash the Ivy League!

Seriously, I'm grateful to the folks at the Harvard Film Archive for a chance to contribute live music to this important project. Let's just hope the comedy doesn't extend to audience members hurling anything at the pianist.

If you'd like to check out 'Champagne,' or any of the Harvard Film Archive's other Hitchcock screenings, more info can be found at http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/

And while we're talking Beantown (what the locals sometimes call Boston), let me put in a plug for our next silent film screening the next town over at the Somerville Theater in Somerville, Mass.

On Sunday, Aug. 4, we're screening a 35mm print of Buster Keaton's 'The General' (1926), the next installment of the "Silents Please" series. There's nothing quite like seeing one of the great silent comedies in a big theater with an audience and live music, so come one, come all. The show starts at 1 p.m. and tickets are $15 per person. For more info, visit the Somerville Theatre's Web site at www.somervilletheatreonline.com.

New book: 'Hollywood of the Rockies' plus 'The Seahawk' (1924) in Wilton, N.H.

Last night's silent film program at the Leavitt Theater in Ogunquit, Maine allowed me to make the acquaintance of Michael J. Spencer, a filmmaker and author who happened to be in attendance. Michael has just published a book that sounds very interesting: "Hollywood of the Rockies."

It's about the movie-making that happened in the mountains of the American West during the early years of the 20th century (mostly in Colorado, I gather) before the cinema pioneers decided on southern California as the place to settle.

I know close to nothing about this period of non-Hollywood filmmaking, except that Jacksonville, Fla. was another place that for a time was popular with early filmmakers. So I'm looking forward to reading Michael's book, which seems like piece of good work judging by the excerpt on Amazon. Check it out!

This weekend brings several silent film programs, including a pair of screenings at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H. and the latest installment of our summer series of silent sea-faring swashbucklers at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H.

In Wilton, it's 'The Seahawk' (1924), a great adventure film that I've done before and I think holds up really well. Hoping for a good crowd to help it all come to life. Showtime is on Sunday, July 28 at 4:30 p.m. If you'd like more info, here's the press release that went out earlier this month...

* * *

A scene from the silent version of 'The Sea Hawk' (1924)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Swashbuckler ‘The Seahawk’ (1924) in Wilton, N.H. on Sunday, July 28

Classic silent adventure film to be screened with live music at Town Hall Theatre

WILTON, N.H.—It was among the first feature films to take movie audiences both out to sea and back in time. ‘The Seahawk,’ a motion picture brimming over with vintage sailing ships, pirates, action, and romance, set the stage for generations of swashbuckling adventure films to come.

'The Seahawk' (1924) will be shown with live musical accompaniment on Sunday, July 28 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St. in Wilton, N.H. THe show is free and open to the public. It's the latest installment in the Town Hall Theatre's summer-long series of sea-faring silent films.

"In warmer weather, many people head to the ocean to cool off," said Jeff Rapsis, who provides musical accompaniment for the Wilton Town Hall Theatre's silent film screenings. "This summer, we're bringin the ocean to our audiences, as we showcase the enduring romance between Hollywood and stories set at sea."

The 1924 silent version of ‘The Sea Hawk,’ based on a 1915 novel by Rafael Sabatini, follows the 1580s adventures of English nobleman Oliver Tressilian, forced by fate and honor from his upper class life and sold into slavery as a galley oarsman. After escaping, Tressilian gets revenge by assuming control of ‘The Sea Hawk,’ a pirate ship that terrorizes the Spanish armada, all the while trying to regain his lady love.

Cast in the lead role of Oliver Tressilian is Milton Sills, a popular actor of the silent film era who is relatively unknown today; the ‘Seahawk’ is ranked among Sills’ finest performances. Also in the cast is longtime Hollywood character actor Wallace Beery, who plays the role of Captain Jasper Leigh.

The movie is considered a landmark of realism due to producer/director Frank Lloyd’s decision to not use models or miniatures, but to stage all ocean-going scenes on recreated sailing ships off the California coast. This enabled Lloyd to line the decks with cutlass-waving actors and to convincingly depict the oaring of a slave-powered galleon, scenes which thrilled audiences of the time.

The battle scenes were regarded as so successful that they were used intact for the later sound remake in 1940 starring Errol Flynn.

Music for 'The Sea Hawk' will be created live by Rapsis, an accompanist who specializes in improvising scores to classic silent films in live performance. For each film, Rapsis improvises a score from original musical material composed beforehand, using a digital synthesizer to recreate the sound and texture of a full orchestra.

"What I try to do," Rapsis said, "is create music that bridges the gap between a film that might be 80 or 90 years old, and the musical expectations of today's audiences."

Each of the silent films on this summer's Town Hall Theatre schedule offers a different porthole into the rich treasure trove of tales rooted in ocean-going traditions. Each also offers footage of scenes that in some cases are now quite historic, including images of ships and ship-board life that vanished long ago. With so many great sea-faring films to choose from, an additional screening has been added in August.

Upcoming screenings of silent film with a salty flavor at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre include:

• Sunday, Aug. 11, 4:30 p.m. 'Across to Singapore' (1928). Intense drama of romantic rivalry among brothers in a tight-knit ocean-going family. Starring Ramon Navarro, Ernest Torrence, and a very young Joan Crawford. A rare film that was nearly lost to decomposition but was rescued just in time.

• Sunday, Aug. 25, 4:30 p.m.: 'The Navigator' (1924). Set sail with Buster Keaton's classic comedy 'The Navigator,' which finds two wealthy socialites adrift all alone on a giant ocean liner. Chock full of unique visual gags; one of Buster's most popular features and the picture that helped establish the comedian as a top-tier star in the motion picture business.

This summer's nautical-themed movies are part of a monthly series of silent films presented with live music at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre. The series provides local audiences the chance to experience silent film as it was intended to be shown: on the big screen, in restored prints, with live music, and with an audience.

The series will continue with a screening of 'The Sea Hawk' (1924) on Sunday, July 28 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. Admission is free, with donations of $5 per person encouraged to defray expenses. For more information, visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com; for more information on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

Recalling a couple of dog costumes: Silent films as related to biology and gravity

In 1992, as his 30-year tenure as 'Tonight Show' host was coming to a close, Johnny Carson would show clips from old broadcasts. One was a comedy sketch where he wore a very elaborate dog costume. After watching the clip, Carson said he had absolutely no recollection of doing that skit or wearing that costume.

After several thousand shows, I'm not surprised. But at the time it struck me as odd, for dressing up as a dog would be something I'd probably remember.

But then I recently got a taste of what Carson meant when I read the results of an interview I did way back last December. On my own, I would have remembered very little of what I said. But there it all was, staring me in the face. There I was, wearing that dog costume that I'd forgotten about.

The interview was conducted by Damon Griffin, a young writer and filmmaker who at the time was working on a book-length project. After a screening of 'The Trail of '98' last December at the Manchester (N.H.) City Library, we walked over to the Red Arrow Diner on Lowell Street and started gabbing about film and music and history.

I'm glad he was there, because he captured two thoughts that I had at the time, but which I'd since forgotten. Not one but two dog costumes here!

Both thoughts were part of a single paragraph in the interview, which went like this: (The "he" is me.)

He looked down at his plate. He scraped some salad around. “It’s like biology,” he said. “We can’t allow one species to go extinct.”

His memory jogged, Jeff sat up. “Actually, filming reality is almost incidental,” he said. “I had the good fortune to live in Tokyo. It was one of the few places where I didn’t know where the ground was. And when a movie denies you that, it’s disorienting. When you watch a great film, you know where the ground is.”

The first point, about extinction, was in answer to this question: Why put time and energy into preserving and showing old film? And the answer I came up with that evening, taken from biology, strikes me as a good one.

Here's the first part: Biologists argue that it's important to keep species from extinction in part because we may have no idea of their future value. Today's snail darter could be tomorrow's cure for cancer.

Ergo: In terms of vintage cinema, we have no idea today how valuable a recorded moving image will have in times to come. Just by accident, an ordinary domestic comedy from the 1920s contains a wealth of information about how people really lived during a certain time: the clothes, the furniture, the front yard, the pets, and so on. Never mind the story: look at the backgrounds!

And imagine how valuable it would be, say, to have the same kind of images from Shakespeare's time. Or during the Crusades. Or from the French Revolution. Or the time of Christ, or the Romans! So even the most worthless Grade Z program-fillers may provide future generations a wealth of information about us in ways that we can't even begin to imagine. But they can't if the films don't exist, and they won't exist if we don't make some kind of effort to keep them unforgotten in our own times.

So there's one reason to support vintage film. Kinda long-winded, but I think it's a worthy perspective that I don't often hear, even among the vintage film community. So thanks to Damon Griffin for reminding me.

The other thought relates to Tokyo. Yes, I lived in Tokyo for a time (working at the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper), and one night I took the subway to the Shibuya area. I thought I was travelling underground, but when I stepped off the train and onto the Shibuya platform, it was actually part of an open-air maze of bridges and platforms extending in all directions.

Below me, another train was pulling into a different station. Looking up, a highway viaduct soared overhead. Stores were below me, a shopping complex was up and to the right, and the local roadways were a nest of ramps and spirals. Where was the actual street level?

What I felt, I think, was something that all humans instinctively crave, as we are all subject to gravity and spend most of our lives walking upright (most of us, anyway) on the surface of our planet. We want to know where the ground is. And we don't realize how much we crave this "anchoring" until the rare moments when it's taken away from us. This is what happened to me, unexpectedly, in Shibuya.

How does this relate to silent film? Well, filmmakers then had little in the way of digital post-production special effects. Instead, if they wanted something to show up in their movie, they had to actually film something real in front of a camera. In the early days, I think this helped establish much of the excitement of the movies: that what you saw on screen actually happened.

In 'The General' (1926), Buster Keaton went to the trouble of dropping an actual steam locomotive through an actual bridge into an actual river. Whatever else you want to say about it, that's an exciting this to watch. And audiences knew it actually happened!

Train + bridge + gravity = excitement.

But now, the amazing flexibility of digital tools mean whole sequences can be constructed on a server with little or nothing actually happening in front of any kind of camera. Even the laws of gravity don't have to be obeyed, as you see in any number of super-hero films in which climactic battles take place with characters able to fly up and down in any direction, without regard to the laws of gravity. They'd be right at home in Shibuya!

This is to take nothing away from all the hard work that goes into creating a modern blockbuster superhit movie. However, the lack of fidelity to reality means the films are not limited to functioning according to the laws of gravity. Yes, this can be liberating. But at the same time, in some ways they don't reflect that age-old desire for people to know where the ground is. And remember, it's something you only really notice when it's missing.

So I think this is something we can learn from older films. Maybe there's a value in building a film out of things that can actually be photographed in front of a camera. Maybe it's an essential element of why people responded to movies so strongly when they were new. I don't know for sure, but I think there's something to this.

So thanks for Damon Griffin for getting not one but two dog costumes in that interview last December. If you'd like to read it in its entirety, it's online at http://lightreade.blogspot.com/p/meet-your-makers.html.

Now appearing at the Leavitt Theatre: D.W. Griffith and... Gilbert Gottfried!

D.W. Griffith's 'Orphans of the Storm' (1921) and Gilbert Gottfried on the same marquee: a billing not likely to be repeated. Apologies for the time/date stamps on these images.

Three epics in four days has me wiped out. That, plus a nice case of poison ivy and (I kid you not) a sprained left pinkie finger, adds up to one spent accompanist.

But still, the show must go on, and so it did: 'Orphans of the Storm' last Thursday in Maine and then again on Saturday in Vermont, and then the original 'Ben Hur' on Sunday in Massachusetts.And that's following a screening of the Johnny Hines comedy 'Burn 'Em Up Barnes' (1921) in Manchester on the Tuesday before.

One thing I enjoy about playing at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit, Maine is that owner Peter Clayton keeps alive many of film exhibitor traditions that were abandoned long ago elsewhere.

Not only does he actively update his marquee, but he goes to the trouble to find and/or reproduce original posters for films, which he then displays on oversized sandwich boards on the sidewalk in front of the lobby. I never expected to see a full-sized poster for 'Orphans of the Storm,' but there it was, out on the sidewalk this past Thursday night, beckoning the curious.

Then there's the cramped ticket booth (visible above), which is straight out of Buster Keaton's film 'Sherlock Jr.' (1924). I've had to man it prior to my own shows, and it's a real throwback to the PDE. (That's "Pre-Digital Era.") Patrons are given numbered tickets, and nightly attendance is tracked by noting the "start" number and the "end" number, and subtracting one from the other.

Last Thursday night, it was nice to return to the theater at 7:30 p.m. (a half-hour before showtime) and find an actual line of people waiting to see D.W. Griffith's French Revolution epic. Because Ogunquit draws a lot of visitors from the French-speaking Canadian provice of Quebec, I had thought the film might resonate as a tribute to Bastille Day (on July 14), but the crowd was more cinema buff than French patriot.

The film takes awhile to get to the events of the actual Revolution, so I paced myself in terms of texture. For the pre-revolutionary action, I stuck with harpsichord settings for the upper class and plain strings for the oppressed. Then, when revolution finally erupts in the streets, the switch to a fuller orchestra palette helped underscore the importance.

This strategy worked well enough for me to repeat it on Saturday night for a screening in Brandon, Vt., another one of my favorite places to do music for silent film. (So is the Somerville Theatre, so it was a good stretch in terms of venues.) Unfortunately, we had to compete with the local bluegrass festival, so attendance was a little off. Next year I'll have to see about doing some kind of co-programming such as 'Tol'able David' (1921) or Harold Lloyd's 'The Kid Brother' (1927).

Sunday's 'Ben Hur' screening was notable in part because we ran a 16mm print of the 1907 Kalem one-reel version prior to the full-length epic. What a vivid way to show how far and fast cinema had come in less than two decades!

For the Kalem version, I used a simple organ setting and just winged it. Then, after speaking a bit to introduce 'Ben Hur,' I sat down and started the music before the lights went down. After a short while, they did, and I deepened the intensity, which seemed really dramatic and effective. Then the curtains parted and the MGM lion appeared (in 35mm), and again I notched things up a bit more.

By the time the 'Ben Hur' title appeared on screen, I had reached a natural peak that to me felt just right and said to the audience: YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE SOMETHING IMPORTANT. You couldn't ask for a better start to a big epic!

The interior of the Somerville's 'Main House,' where they can still screen 35mm film. I set up my gear in the area just below the stage lip.

For 'Ben Hur,' I have a wide Richard-Strauss-like fanfare figure that I use as a leit motif for Judah, and also for triumph in general. There was also a five-note up-the-scale little motif that was the basis for any music concerning Esther, the main love interest. But other than that, the cupboard was pretty bare going into Sunday's screening, if only for lack of preparation time.

So I was especially blessed when a figure for the Romans (and oppression in general) came to me right at the start, when a title refers to their "clanking" armies. Perfect! And perfectly adaptable—mild for when we first meet Messala, and menacing and soulless for subsequent scenes.

And from those materials I was able to build out a full score that I felt supported the film very well in some scenes. Some of the scenes with Esther worked out particularly well, with the music weaving itself into intensity as things heated up on screen.

Things got a little out of hand during the big sea battle and chariot race—the film's two big showpiece sequences—but that was all part of the excitement, I thought. The area that I should have prepared for a little more was in the synchronization of those big drum beats that drive the galley scenes. They're not steady, and every time you try to match them, by the next cut, you're off. It can be done but it requires a little more familiarity with the scene, I think.

Nice reaction from the crowd, including a silent film newbie who said she never expected it to be so good. Moments like that make this all worthwhile!

Now I just have to rest that left pinkie...

Coming soon (like this afternoon)... 'Ben Hur' (1925) at the Somerville Theatre

If you're checking out this blog either in advance of or just after the screening of 'Ben Hur' (1925) at the Somerville Theatre, welcome! It's been a busy week for me, so I'm afraid I don't have a lot of specific info about the show or the film other than to say I'm really looking forward to it.

If you're considering joining us today, please do! It's a one-of-a-kind program (including an earlier one-reel version of the story produced in 1907) and a chance to see one of the great films of early cinema on film and on the big screen with live music and an audience -- the way it was intended to be experienced.

And if you've just seen it, thanks for coming and I would love to get your thoughts and opinions on the movie, the music, or the overall experience, thumbs up or down. You can comment on this blog or reach me via e-mail at jeffrapsis@gmail.com. Feedback is really helpful because I often have no idea what it's like out in the audience.

If you're seeking info about additional screenings, just click on "Upcoming Silent Film Screenings" at the upper right, and you'll see a list of my engagements. A simple search online will lead you to many other silent film screenings as well.

For more info about the screening and the film, I'm pasting in the text of the most recent press release that we sent out. Here goes....

* * * TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Somerville Theatre unearths early 1907 15-minute version of 'Ben Hur' story

Ultra-short version, filmed in NYC, to precede screening of epic full-length ‘Ben Hur’ (1925) on Sunday, July 14

SOMERVILLE, Mass.—One of early Hollywood's greatest epics returns to the big screen with a showing of 'Ben Hur, A Tale of The Christ' (1925) on Sunday, July 14 at the Somerville Theatre in Somerville, Mass. The screening, in 35mm with live music by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis, starts at 1 p.m. Admission is $15 per person.

This week, the Somerville announced a special added attraction to the July 14 program. Preceding the blockbuster 1925 version of 'Ben Hur' will be a rare one-reel adaptation produced in 1907 by the Kalem Film Co. of New York City. The earlier version, which runs just 15 minutes, was filmed on location in and around New York City, with Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn substituting for the Holy Land.

The Kalem one-reel edition is highlighted by an early screen appearance of actor William S. Hart, who had toured for many years in a stage version of 'Ben Hur' in the key role of Messala. Hart would later turn his attention full-time to Hollywood, where he pioneered the western genre during the silent era.

The 1907 'Ben Hur' will be shown via a rare 16mm print as a warm-up for the MGM's 1925 version of 'Ben Hur,' which will be screened in 35mm. Live music for both films will be provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis.

"This earlier version of 'Ben Hur' is a real find," said Ian Judge, Somerville Theatre manager. "It's very unusual to get a chance to see it on the big screen, and we're thrilled to include it with the MGM version of 'Ben Hur' as part of our 'Silents, Please' series."

The one-reel version of 'Ben Hur' was not without controversy. The film was made without obtaining the rights to the story, the usual procedure in the industry at the time, and Kalem was sued by the estate of author Lew Wallace, who had published the immensely popular 'Ben Hur' novel in 1880.

The parties reached an out-of-court settlement in 1911, in which Kalem paid the estate $25,000—an extremely large amount for the time. The action helped to establish the necessity of film studios obtaining motion picture rights to the properties they used for their stories.

The main attraction for the screening on Sunday, July 14 remains the MGM version of 'Ben Hur,' starring Ramon Novarro and Francis X. Bushman. Among the first motion pictures to tell a Biblical-era story on an enormous scale, the film helped establish MGM as a leading Hollywood studio, employed a cast of thousands and boasted action sequences that included a large-scale sea battle.

The 1925 'Ben Hur' is highlighted by a spell-binding chariot race sequence that broke new ground in film editing and still leaves audiences breathless.

Set in the Holy Land at the time of Christ's birth, 'Ben Hur' tells the story of a Jewish family in Jerusalem whose fortune is confiscated by the Romans and its members jailed. The enslaved family heir, Judah Ben Hur (played by Novarro, a leading silent-era heartthrob) is inspired by encounters with Christ to pursue justice, which leads him to a series of epic adventures in his quest to find his mother and sister and restore his family fortune.

The screening is the latest in the Somerville Theatre's monthly series of silent film screenings. Dubbed 'Silents, Please,' the series aims to showcase the best of early Hollywood the way it was intended to be experienced: in 35mm prints, on the big screen, with live music, and in a theater with an audience.

"Put together those elements, and it's amazing how much power these films still have. You realize why these films caused people to first fall in love with the movies, said accompanist Jeff Rapsis, who will improvise a full score for the 2½-hour epic.

For each film, Rapsis improvises a music score using original themes created beforehand. None of the the music is written down; instead, the score evolves in real time based on audience reaction and the overall mood as the movie is screened.

'Ben Hur,' directed by Fred Niblo, was among the most expensive films of the silent era, taking two years to make and costing between $4 million and $6 million. When released in 1925, it became a huge hit for the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio.

The film was remade by MGM in the 1950s in a color and wide-screen version starring Charleston Heston that garnered 11 Academy Awards. Some critics believe the original 1925 version offers superior drama and story-telling. MGM executives at the time, aware of the quality of the original version, attempted to destroy all prints of the 1925 'Ben Hur,' sending the FBI out to confiscate collector copies in the 1950s. However, the studio did preserve the negative of the 1925 version, so the film remains available today.

"We encourage people to attend, as it's a rare chance to see the original 'Ben Hur' from a studio 35mm print," said accompanist Rapsis. "Also, people should come because silent films were communal experience—one in which the presence of a large audience intensifies everyone’s reactions. If you've never attended a silent film with live music, this one is worth checking out.”

Upcoming films in the Somerville's silent series include:

• Sunday, Aug. 4, 1 p.m.: 'The General' (1927) starring Buster Keaton. Stone-faced Buster's cinematic masterpiece, set during the U.S. Civil War, finds Keaton playing a Confederate train engineer forced to pursue his locomotive when it's hijacked by Union spies. One of the grandest adventure/comedy films of all time.

• Sunday, Sept. 8, 1 p.m.: 'The Freshman' (1925) starring Harold Lloyd. Get in a back-to-school mood with Lloyd's genre-defining comedy about a young man's climb to social prominence via the college football squad. Great story aided by top-rate silent film comedy.

Both silent version of ‘Ben Hur’ will be shown on Sunday, July 14 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.