On Wednesday, Nov 20 at 7pm, there will be a presentation at MoMA about Arthur Kleiner, silent film accompanist. It’s a name classic film fans aren’t familiar with, but he was “the sound of the silents” at the museum for… Read More »Arthur Kleiner – Mid-Century Silent Film Pianist
“It was Blanchette Rockefeller’s piano,” I was told when I was introduced to the instrument in 2003. This was at the Gramercy Theatre on West 23rd Street, and when I arrived was greeted in the auditorium by Ethel Shein. And… Read More »A 1950s Baby Grand for 1910s-1920s Films
Getting to accompany silent films for MoMA’s Modern Matinees series Iris Barry’s History of Film gives me two ways to grow. Neither of which were part of the plan, of course. One is something regular attendees may experience, at a… Read More »Getting Better All The Time: Fall-Winter 2019 Edition
Wait…don’t I have a print of a March of Time episode about the opening of MoMA’s new building and film library from 1939? Ah, yes. Here it is…The March of the Movies, in 16mm. Turns out there were two episodes… Read More »The March of the Movies – and MoMA
When I was in college, I played for a silent film course taught by MoMA’s Charles Silver. Charles loaned me a few LPs to listen to, since I was new to this. One of the records was Musical Moods from… Read More »MoMA’s Arthur Kleiner – Moods on Vinyl
There was no one way all film was accompanied musically during the silent film era. There was a range. A wide range. Everything from a solo upright to a full symphony. Everything from fully written-out composed scores published, disseminated, rehearsed… Read More »Improvising A Silent Film Score: Now, and Then
Every once in a while, I’ll hear or be told about some new amazing silent film discovery being shown at some festivals I don’t get to play at. It happens, I would imagine, with some of my colleagues, as well… Read More »Scoring Something Good
I first heard about this CD project during the Arbuckle retrospective I co-curated for MoMA in 2006 with Ron Magliozzi, Curator in MoMA’s Department of Film and with Steve Massa. Ron had spent a number of years acquiring dozens and… Read More »“Let’s Go In to a Picture Show” – popular songs about silent movies
For a clown, a real honest-to-goodness Clown, the core of what they are doing is rooted in the honest, raw, vulnerable connection they create and have with the audience members. This is the source of where the laughs come from.… Read More »Red Noses in Black & White: Clowns in Silent Movies
Worries and Wobbles (1917) has what might appear to be three strikes against it on the surface: “Jimmy Aubrey comedy”, “directed by Larry Semon” and that it’s a rather blatant knock-off of Chaplin’s One A.M.. The first of these is… Read More »“Jimmy Aubrey Comedy” is Not Always an Oxymoron