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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!

January – February 2024


Sat Jan 13 at 1 :30pm – Monta Bell’s Man, Woman and Sin (1927), starring John Gilbert and Jeanne Eagels – new restorationMoMA – New York NY – acoustic Steinway “S” grand piano

Sun Jan 14 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 98livestreamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are hereacoustic piano

Tues Jan 16 2024 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 Universityacoustic 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 99livestreamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are hereacoustic 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 97livestreamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are hereacoustic 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 DaviesThe 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 96livestreamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are hereacoustic 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 printCinema 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 livestreamed and live-accompanied episode – my YouTube channelacoustic 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 ColorThe 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 ColorThe 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 ColorThe 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 ColorThe 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 ColorThe Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – New York NY – Steinway acoustic piano

Sat Sept 9 at 2:30pm – Alice Howell comediesThe 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 95livestreamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are hereacoustic 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 ColorThe 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 ColorThe Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – New York NY – digital virtual theatre organ

June – July 2023

June 13 – Raymond Griffith: The Silk Hat ComedianBluray/DVD release from Undercrank Productionsdigital 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 Lorberdigital 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 94livestreamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are hereacoustic piano

Sun July 16 at 11:00am (PDT) – Edward Everett Horton silent comedy shortsThe San Francisco Silent Film Festivalacoustic grand piano

July 18 – Tom Mix: Sky High and The Big Diamond RobberyBluray/DVD release from Undercrank Productionsdigital 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 ProductionsCinema 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 courseWesleyan Universityacoustic piano

Sun May 7 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 93 – livestreamed 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 hereacoustic 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

Clash of the Wolves TCM Classic Film Festival 2023

April 2023

Wed afternoons – Silent Storytelling – teacher and accompanist, undergraduate film studies courseWesleyan Universityacoustic 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 91livestreamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are hereacoustic 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 courseWesleyan Universityacoustic piano

Thur Feb 2 at 4:30pm – Ernst Lubitsch’s The Marriage Circle (1924) – new restoration by the Museum of Modern ArtMoMA – 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 ProductionsSlapstick Festival – presented simultaneously as a live-stream and in-cinema at Watershed Cinema (Bristol UK) – live-streamed virtual cinemaBaldwin acoustic grand piano

Sun Feb 19 at 3:00pm ET – The Silent Comedy Watch Party: Episode 89 – livestreamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are hereacoustic 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 88livestreamed and live-accompanied on my YouTube channel – individual show pages are hereacoustic 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 archivedigital 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 FilmsCinema 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 MuseumMoMA – 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


For shows from 2022 and earlier, click here.