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
The injury humor of Johnny Knoxville, the Farrelly Brothers, and thousands of anonymous klutzes is nothing new — French and Italian comedians were doing it during movies’ first decade. Last September, a lot of people sent me a link to… Read More »The Humor of “Jackass” and AFV In the Early 1900s, as Performed by Marcel Perez and Others
coming in January 2017: 3 special episodes of the podcast This mini-episode is more of a trailer of sorts for three special podcast episodes that I will post simultaneously in the first half of January 2017.In this 10-minute mini-podcast –… Read More »coming in January 2017: 3 special episodes of the podcast
Just got the PDF of MoMA’s May/June 2009 members calendar, with the full listings for Cruel and Unusual Comedy in it. Am posting the pertinent pages from the calendar here; click on the images below to see them larger. Unfortunately,… Read More »Cruel and Unusual Comedy in MoMA calendar
Well, I’d only seen the American-release version of Variety, up till Weds (Feb 4). I’d played for it a number of times, and was glad I finally got to see the film with its original first 2 reels and storyline… Read More »Variety, Loves of Carmen, Kid Brother & The Wanderer
An article appeared on the Comedy Central Insider website this afternoon, plugging the “Silent But Deadly” PopRally event. Love the headline: MoMA to Get Let Artsy, More Fartsy. This article came from a tip from the blog of Max Silvestri,… Read More »Comedy Central Insider posts “Silent But Deadly”
pictured above, L-R: Sandra DeFeo, Steve Massa, Ron Magliozzi, Ben Model Okay, here’s what my day was like — Arrived at MoMA at 11:15-ish, went to Titus 1 and got the Miditzer equipment and rolled it through the catacombs of… Read More »long day at MoMA
photo of our Nov 19th class with guest speaker Eileen Bowser, MoMA senior film curator emerita. L to R: Eileen Bowser, Ron Magliozzi, Steve Massa, Ben Model Last night was our third class session for Cruel and Unusual Comedy at… Read More »Cruel and Unusual @ MoMA Nov 19
October is wrapping up, and I’ve just wrapped up a slew of shadowy, creepy silent films: Barrymoore’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Sun 10/26 @ Silent Clowns, on piano), the Chaney/Browning West of Zanzibar (Tues 10/28 @ C.A.C., on Miditzer… Read More »Spooky Silents ’08
I played at a press screening yesterday for the new poster exhibit at MoMA organized by Ron Magliozzi and Jenny He. The posters are all one-of-a-kind hand-painted posters from the Eastman Theater in Rochester. George Eastman didn’t care for the… Read More »silent film poster exhibit opens at MoMA