Ben Model’s
Silent Film Performance Schedule
Below are the listings of my upcoming performances, live-streams and home-video releases, with links to each venue for more details. Shows are usually posted 2-3 months in advance. Sign up for my emails to stay informed and get insider info.
For booking info, send me an email.
I’ll see you at the silents!
April 2024
Tues Apr 9 – Blu-ray/DVD release from Undercrank Productions of Accidentally Preserved: Volume 5 – disc contents and ordering links are here
Weds April 10 at 8:00pm – Raymond Griffith in You’d Be Surprised (1926), plus Charley Chase in Dog Shy (1925) – both films are presents in new digital restorations by Undercrank Productions – Wesleyan Film Series (free!) – Middletown CT – digital virtual theatre organ
Sat Apr 13 at 2:30pm – Reginald Denny in What Happened to Jones? (1926) – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Fri Apr 19 at 3:30pm – Raymond Griffith in Paths To Paradise (1925), plus Edward Everett Horton in Dad’s Choice (1928) – The 15th annual TCM Classic Film Festival; program introduced by Leonard Maltin – Hollywood CA – digital virtual theatre organ
Sat Apr 20 at 6:30pm – newly restored Fleischer cartoon Ko-ko’s Tattoo (1928) – The 15th annual TCM Classic Film Festival; part of “Back From the Ink: Restored Animated Shorts” program, introduced by Seth MacFarlane (Family, Guy, Ted)– Hollywood CA – acoustic upright piano
Sat Apr 20 at 2:00pm – Charlie Chaplin in The Adventurer (1917) – Union Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Deanna Tham – Dowd Theater – Monroe NC – orchestral score by Ben Model (not in attendance)
Thurs Apr 25 at 7:00pm – Yasujiro Ozu’s A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) – MoMA – New York NY – Steinway S piano
Fri Apr 26 at 7:30pm – Clara Bow in Get Your Man (1927), dir. by Dorothy Arzner; plus short subject TBA – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Sat Apr 27 at 1:00pm – Harold Lloyd in For Heaven’s Sake (1926) – part of the Lenfest Kids film series – Lenfest Center for the Arts – New York NY – digital piano
May 2024
Coming soon: info about shows at the Library of Congress (Culpeper VA), The Strand Center for the Arts (Plattsburgh NY), Willsboro High School (Willsboro NY), the Jacob Burns Film Center (Pleasantville NY), the Cinema Arts Centre (Long Island NY), The Silent Clowns Film Series (NYC and Brooklyn), and more.
Shows I’ve Already Played in 2024:
January – February 2024
Sat Jan 13 at 1 :30pm – Monta Bell’s Man, Woman and Sin (1927), starring John Gilbert and Jeanne Eagels – new restoration – MoMA – New York NY – acoustic Steinway “S” grand piano
Sun Jan 14 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 98 – live–streamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are here – acoustic piano
Tues Jan 16 at 7:30pm – Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail (1929) – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Fri Jan 26 2024 at 7:30pm – Tom Mix in Sky High (1922) – new digital restoration by Undercrank Productions – Library of Congress Packard Campus Theatre – Culpeper VA –Walker digital Wurlitzer organ
Weds afternoons Jan 31 through May 8 – “Silent Storytelling” – teacher and accompanist, undergraduate film studies course – NOT OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC – Wesleyan University – acoustic piano
Sat Feb 10 at 2:30pm – “Marcel Perez: the International Mirthmaker” – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Tues Feb 13 at 7:30pm – Harold Lloyd in Girl Shy (1924) – 35mm print – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Sun Feb 18 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 99 – live–streamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are here – acoustic piano
Fri Feb 23 and Sat Feb 24 – The Kansas Silent Film Festival – events held at White Concert Hall at Washburn University – film and registration details are on the KSFF website – Topeka KS – acoustic grand piano and pipe organ
Shows I Played in 2023:
December 2023
Tues Dec 5 at 7:30pm – Laurel & Hardy: Year One – newly restored 1927 comedy shorts Duck Soup, Putting Pants on Philip, The Second Hundred Years, and Do Detectives Think? – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Sat Dec 9 at 2:30pm – “Animal Magnetism: The Silent Comedy Menagerie” – comedy shorts featuring animal performers – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Sun Dec 17 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 97 – live–streamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are here – acoustic piano
November 2023
Fri Nov 3 at 5:00pm – Buba (1930) and A Crofter’s Life in Shetland (1931) – this program is part of the screening series After Alice, Beyond Lois: Mining the Archive with the Women Film Pioneers Project –MoMA – New York NY – Steinway piano
Fri Nov 3 at 7:00pm – Her Anniversaries (1917) with Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Drew, and The First Year (1926) directed by Frank Borzage – this program is part of the screening series After Alice, Beyond Lois: Mining the Archive with the Women Film Pioneers Project –MoMA – New York NY – Steinway piano
Sat Nov 4 at 2:30pm – Marion Davies in Beverly of Graustark (1926) plus Charley Chase in One Mama Man (1927) – special guest speaker: Lara Gabrielle, author of Captain of Her Soul: The Life of Marion Davies – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Sun Nov 5 at 2:00pm – Ain-el-Ghezal (La fille de Carthage; The Girl from Carthage) (1924) and ‘A Santanotte (The Holy Night) (1922) – this program is part of the screening series After Alice, Beyond Lois: Mining the Archive with the Women Film Pioneers Project –MoMA – New York NY – Steinway piano
Tues Nov 7 at 4:30pm – The Girl Spy Before Vicksburg (1910) and Kajastus (The Dawning) (1930) – this program is part of the screening series After Alice, Beyond Lois: Mining the Archive with the Women Film Pioneers Project –MoMA – New York NY – Steinway piano
Tues Nov 7 at 7:00pm – Baby ryazanskie (Women of Ryazan; The Peasant Women of Riazan) (1927) – this program is part of the screening series After Alice, Beyond Lois: Mining the Archive with the Women Film Pioneers Project –MoMA – New York NY – Steinway piano
Thurs Nov 9 at 2:00pm – King Vidor’s The Big Parade (1925) – Elmont Memorial Library – Elmont NY (Long Island) – acoustic piano
Sun Nov 12 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 96 – live–streamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are here – acoustic piano
Mon Nov 13 at 6:30pm – Khas-push (1928) – MoMA – New York NY – Steinway piano
Fri Nov 17 at 3:00pm – presentation for SDSU students (not open to public) – Founders Recital Hall, Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center at South Dakota State University – Brookings SD – Salmen-Reuter pipe organ
Fri Nov 17 at 7:30pm – Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) – Founders Recital Hall, Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center at South Dakota State University – Brookings SD – Salmen-Reuter pipe organ
Sat Nov 18 at 7:30pm – Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) – Founders Recital Hall, Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center at South Dakota State University – Brookings SD – Salmen-Reuter pipe organ
Tues Nov 21 at 7:30pm – The Eagle (1925) with Rudolph Valentino – 35mm print – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Weds Nov 29 at 1:00pm – King Vidor’s The Jack-Knife Man (1920) and Henry King’s The Seventh Day (1922) – MoMA – New York NY – Steinway acoustic piano
October 2023
Sat Oct 14 at 6pm – “Ernie Kovacs: TV Comedy’s First Auteur” – presenter and panel mod. – screening + panel discussion with Josh Mills, Ben Model, Alan Zweibel, David Bianculli, and Heather Hendershot – Anthology Film Archives – New York NY
Sun Oct 15 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: “Rewind episode” – re-broadcast of an earlier-in-the-run live–streamed and live-accompanied episode – my YouTube channel – acoustic piano
Thurs Oct 19 – NOT OPEN TO PUBLIC – silent film course Guest Speaker, plus evening silent film program – Bowdoin University – Brunswick ME – digital keyboard
Sat Oct 21 at 2:30pm – Buster Keaton in Sherlock, Jr. plus The Goat – new restoration of Sherlock, Jr. from Cohen Film Collection – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Sun Oct 22 at 2:00pm – Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill, Jr. – The Bedford Playhouse – Bedford NY – acoustic upright piano
Tues Oct 24 at 7:30pm – The Unknown (1927) with Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford – new restoration by George Eastman Museum – plus the short Local Showers (1916) from the “Mishaps of Musty Suffer” comedy serial – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Thurs Oct 26 at 4:00pm – program “The Ladies Get The Last Laugh”: A Lady and Her Maid (1913), The Boatswain’s Mate (1924) and Moral (Morality) (1928) – part of the screening series After Alice, Beyond Lois: Mining the Archive with the Women Film Pioneers Project –MoMA – New York NY – Steinway piano
Fri Oct 27 at 7:45pm – Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera (1925) – Barrymore Film Center – Fort Lee NJ – Allen MDS Theatre II Plus electronic theatre organ
Tues Oct 31 at 5:00pm – Handë: Das Leben und die Liebe eines Zärtlichen Geschlechts (Hands: The Life and Loves of the Gentler Sex) (1928) plus Soleil et ombre (Sol y sombra; Sun and Shadow) (1922) starring and prod/dir by Musidora – this program is part of the screening series After Alice, Beyond Lois: Mining the Archive with the Women Film Pioneers Project –MoMA – New York NY – Steinway piano
Tues Oct 31 at 7:00pm – Ain-el-Ghezal (La fille de Carthage; The Girl from Carthage) (1924) and ‘A Santanotte (The Holy Night) (1922) – this program is part of the screening series After Alice, Beyond Lois: Mining the Archive with the Women Film Pioneers Project –MoMA – New York NY – Steinway piano
September 2023
Fri Sept 1 at 4:00pm – Loves of Casanova (1927), dir. by Aleandre Volkoff – part of the series Eye Candy: The Coming of Color – The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – New York NY – acoustic Steinway grand piano
Sat Sept 2 at 2:00pm – Broken Blossoms (1919), dir. by D.W. Griffith; starring Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess – part of the series Eye Candy: The Coming of Color – The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – New York NY – digital virtual theatre organ
Sat Sept 2 at 4:00pm – Redskin (1929), dir. by Victor Schertzinger; with Richard Dix – part of the series Eye Candy: The Coming of Color – The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – New York NY – digital virtual theatre organ
Tues Sept 5 at 4:30pm – Wladyslaw Starewicz shorts (1925-26) – part of the series Eye Candy: The Coming of Color – The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – New York NY – Steinway acoustic piano
Weds Sept 6 at 6:30pm – Wladyslaw Starewicz shorts (1925-26) – part of the series Eye Candy: The Coming of Color – The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – New York NY – Steinway acoustic piano
Sat Sept 9 at 2:30pm – Alice Howell comedies – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Sun Sept 10 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 95 – live–streamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are here – acoustic piano
Tues Sept 12 at 9:00am – Street Angel (1928) starring Janet Gaynor, dir. by Frank Borzage – Wesleyan film course screening: not open to the public – Middletown CT – digital virtual theatre organ
Fri Sept 15 at 7:30pm – newly restored Laurel & Hardy comedies (1927) – Duck Soup, Putting Pants on Philip,The Second Hundred Years and Do Detectives Think? – Library of Congress Packard Campus Theatre – Culpeper VA –Walker digital Wurlitzer organ
Weds Sept 20 – launch of new Kickstarter fan-funding campaign for Roland West’s THE BAT (1926) – click/tap to pledge
Fri Sept 22 at 8:00pm – Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs (1927) – Epsilon Spires – Brattleboro VT – Estey pipe organ
Tues Sept 26 at 7:30pm – The Scarlet Letter (1926), dir by Victor Seastrom; starring Lars Hansen and Lillian Gish – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Weds Sept 27 at 8:00 pm – So This is Paris dir. by Ernst Lubitsch, plus Edward Everett Horton in Dad’s Choice (1927) – screening is part of the 3rd annual National Silent Movie Day events – County Theatre – Doylestown PA – digital virtual theatre organ
Thurs Sept 28 at 8:00 pm – “It” starring Clara Bow, plus Alice Howell in Cinderella Cinders (1920)– screening is part of the 3rd annual National Silent Movie Day events – Ambler Theatre – Ambler PA – digital virtual theatre organ
August 2023
Thur Aug 4 at 7:00pm – Reginald Denny in What Happened to Jones (1926) + Charlie Chaplin in The Adventurer (1917) – new restorations – The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – New York NY – digital virtual theatre organ
Tues Aug 8 at 7:00pm – Padlocked (1926), dir. by Allan Dwan – new restoration – The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – New York NY – acoustic Steinway grand piano
Sun Aug 13 at 11:00am – Mary Astor in Second Fiddle (1923) and My Lady o’ the Pines (1921) – Capitolfest – Rome NY – 1928 Möller theatre pipe organ
Tues Aug 29 at 7:30pm – Feel My Pulse (1928) starring Bebe Daniels and William Powell – 35mm print – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Weds Aug 30 at 4:30pm – The Phantom of the Opera (1925), starring Lon Chaney – part of the series Eye Candy: The Coming of Color – The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – New York NY – digital virtual theatre organ
Weds Aug 30 at 7:00pm – La revue des revues (Parisian Pleasures) (1927), starring Josephine Baker – part of the series Eye Candy: The Coming of Color – The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – New York NY – digital virtual theatre organ
June – July 2023
June 13 – Raymond Griffith: The Silk Hat Comedian – Bluray/DVD release from Undercrank Productions – digital virtual theatre organ
Tues June 13 at 8:00pm – Charlie Chaplin program – Williams Center for the Arts – Rutherford NJ – Steinway grand piano
Tues June 20 at 7:30pm – Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
June 20 – Rin Tin Tin in Clash of the Wolves (1926) – Bluray release from Kino Lorber – digital virtual theatre organ
Thurs June 29 at 7:00pm – Harold Lloyd in Safety Last (1923) – outdoor event presented by The Brattle – Cambridge MA – digital keyboard/piano
Sat July 8 at 12:00pm – Harold Lloyd in Safety Last (1923) – Jacob Burns Film Center – Pleasantville NY – digital piano/keyboard
Sun July 9 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 94 – live–streamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are here – acoustic piano
Sun July 16 at 11:00am (PDT) – Edward Everett Horton silent comedy shorts – The San Francisco Silent Film Festival – acoustic grand piano
July 18 – Tom Mix: Sky High and The Big Diamond Robbery – Bluray/DVD release from Undercrank Productions – digital grand piano & digital virtual theatre organ
Wed July 19 at 7:30pm – Laurel & Hardy silent comedies – The Silent Clowns Film Series – Cobble Hill Cinemas – Brooklyn NY – digital keyboard/piano
Tues July 25 at 7:30pm – Tom Mix in Sky High (1922) – new restoration from Undercrank Productions – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
July 25 – Ernie in Kovacsland – co-edited by Josh Mills, Ben Model & Pat Thomas – book published by Fantagraphics Books
Mon July 31 at 8:00pm – Harold Lloyd in Safety Last (1923) – Strand Theatre – Schroon Lake NY – acoustic upright piano
May 2023
Wed afternoons (thru May 10) – Silent Storytelling – teacher and accompanist, undergraduate film studies course – Wesleyan University – acoustic piano
Sun May 7 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 93 – live–streamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – special guests Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi and Maggie Hennefeld presenting selections from the Cinema’s First Nasty Women Blu-ray box set – individual show pages are here – acoustic piano
Sun May 7 at 9pm PT/midnight ET – Tom Mix in Sky High (1922) and The Big Diamond Robbery (1929) – broadcast world premiere of new restorations by Undercrank Productions – Turner Classic Movies (TCM) – digital grand piano & virtual theatre organ
Sun May 7 at 8:00pm (CT) – Buster Keaton in One Week (1920) – orchestral score by Ben Model performed live-to-picture by the Oklahoma Youth Orchestra – orchestral accompaniment
Tues May 9 at 8:00pm – William Wellman’s Wings (1927) with Clara Bow, Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen – Williams Center for the Arts – Rutherford NJ – Steinway grand piano
Wed May 17 at 7:30pm – Harold Lloyd in The Kid Brother (1927) – The Silent Clowns Film Series – Cobble Hill Cinemas – Brooklyn NY – digital keyboard/piano
Sat May 20 at 2:00pm –The Johnstown Flood (1926) – new restoration – Library of Congress Packard Campus Theatre – Culpeper VA –Walker digital Wurlitzer organ
Tues May 23 at 7:30pm – Yasujiro Ozu’s I Was Born, But… (1931) – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Fri May 26 at 2:30pm – Buster Keaton in The General (1926) – Elmont Memorial Library – Elmont NY (Long Island) – acoustic grand piano
April 2023
Wed afternoons – Silent Storytelling – teacher and accompanist, undergraduate film studies course – Wesleyan University – acoustic piano
Sat Apr 1 at 9:45pm ET – Rin Tin Tin in The Clash of the Wolves (1925) – TCM (Turner Classic Movies) – broadcast premiere of new restoration from Kino-Lorber/Library of Congress, new musical score – digital virtual theatre organ
Sun Apr 2 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 91 – live–streamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are here – acoustic piano
Tues Apr 4 at 7:30pm – Buster Keaton in The General (1926) – Williams Center for the Arts – Rutherford NJ – Steinway grand piano
Sat Apr 8 at 2:30pm – Edward Everett Horton silent comedies (1927-28) – new restorations – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Sun Apr 16 at 7:15pm PT – Rin Tin Tin in The Clash of the Wolves (1925) – TCM Classic Film Festival – broadcast premiere of new restoration from Kino-Lorber/Library of Congress, new musical score – digital virtual theatre organ
Fri Apr 21 at 8:00pm – Harold Lloyd in Safety Last (1923) – Epsilon Spires – Brattleboro VT – Estey pipe organ
Tues Apr 25 at 7:30pm – Harold Lloyd in The Kid Brother (1927) – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
March 2023
I didn’t have time to update the site in detail, but I did play shows at:
- The Town School (assemblies for 4th graders and for Kindergardeners)
- Dorot (NYC) – Sherlock, Jr.
- Cobble Hill Cinemas in Bklyn (Silent Clowns Film Series) – Steamboat Bill, Jr.
- The Cinema Arts Centre – The Marriage Circle – new restoration by MoMA
- The Hewlett-Woodmere Library (Long Island) – The Eagle
- The Wesleyan Film Series – Beverly of Graustark
Plus my Wesleyan silent film course, the 90th episode of The Silent Comedy Watch Party, the Ft. Collins symphony performed my score for Felix the Cat in “Pedigreedy”, and I accompanied silents at a course at Columbia University.
February 2023
Wed afternoons, beginning Feb 1 – Silent Storytelling – teacher and accompanist, undergraduate film studies course – Wesleyan University – acoustic piano
Thur Feb 2 at 4:30pm – Ernst Lubitsch’s The Marriage Circle (1924) – new restoration by the Museum of Modern Art – MoMA – New York NY – Steinway B grand piano
Sat Feb 11 at 2:30pm – Harry Langdon Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) – The Silent Clowns Film Series – NYPL Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center – New York NY – Steinway D grand piano
Thurs Feb 16 at 10:30am ET / 15:30 in UK – Raymond Griffith in Paths To Paradise (1925) – new restoration by Undercrank Productions – Slapstick Festival – presented simultaneously as a live-stream and in-cinema at Watershed Cinema (Bristol UK) – live-streamed virtual cinema – Baldwin acoustic grand piano
Sun Feb 19 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 89 – live–streamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are here – acoustic piano
Tues Feb 21 at 7:30pm – Pola Negri in A Woman of the World (1925) – new restoration from Paramount Pictures – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Fri Feb 24 & Sat Feb 25 – The 26th annual Kansas Silent Film Festival – screening schedule is here – Topeka KS – acoustic grand piano
January 2023
Jan 12-26 – Tom Mix in The Best Bad Man (1925) and Outlaws of Red River (1927) – MoMA Virtual Cinema – recorded scores for streamed presentation – digital Steinway D grand piano
Sun Jan 15 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 88 – live–streamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are here – acoustic piano
Fri Jan 20 – The Making of a Bronze Statue (1923) – premiere of recorded score for streamed presentation on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “From The Vaults” online archive – digital grand piano
Fri Jan 20 at 7:30pm – William Wyler’s Wings (1927) – Library of Congress Packard Campus Theatre – Culpeper VA –Walker digital Wurlitzer organ
Tues Jan 24 at 7:30pm – Buster Keaton in The Navigator (1924) – new digital restoration by Lobster Films – Cinema Arts Centre – Huntington NY (Long Island) – digital virtual theatre organ
Sun Jan 29 at 2:00pm – Lon Chaney in The Unknown (1927) – new restoration by George Eastman Museum – MoMA – New York NY – Steinway B grand piano
Tues Jan 31 at 9:00am – Frank Borzage’s Street Angel (1927) – Wesleyan film course screening: not open to the public – Middletown CT – digital virtual theatre organ