Have now slid through the first two days of Slapsticon, and am having a blast. Have seen a load of great comedy shorts, and am enjoying the Harry Langdon and Larry Semon entries. Tonight UCLA Film & TV’s new restoration of the Semon feature Spuds (1928) was screened (with yours truly at the piano) on the same bill with two othe Semon shorts, Babes and Boobs (yes you read that right) which was very good and looked amazing, and The Grocery Clerk which I’d seen (did I play for it, too?) at the Cinesation last September.
Phil Carli and I are holding up quite well, and have found the formula of “checker-boarding” the shorts accompaniments — he’ll play one, then I’ll take the next, etc etc — to be helpful for both stamina and sanity.
Am having fun seeing people I’ve not seen since last year and meeting people I only knew via e-mail.
Tomorrow morning at 9am there is a program of cartoons from the 1930s, as usual, and while I’m a little wiped, I plan to make this show. Where else can you see these films in a theatrical setting? That’s followed by a program of Roach rarities, which will include the very first Our Gang short. Also on the slate for the day is, in the afternoon are Mabel Normand and Charley Chase programs (which I’ll be playing) and in the evening is a Max Davidson program. I’ll try to get some photos tomorrow and postum here.
Details for Stumfilm Dagere in Tromsø are coming together, and a number of school shows are being scheduled for me to do along with the regular programs. I have requested a few shorts to be asked for by the fest from the Danish Film Institute, so we’re not just showing The Cook at these. Will post the titles of these when I have confirmation of them.
Looking forward to the show of Waxworks on Sunday at the National Gallery. Still haven’t looked at the DVD of it I got a month or so ago. I’ve brought it with me and will probably make myself look at it (maybe on 2x or 4x speed) on my laptop sometime tomorrow, although there’s so much good stuff programmed I can’t figure out what I’d miss to come back to the hotel and watch it.
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