Silent movies with an orchestra in Northridge

[Brian]

Timothy Brock's restoration of Chaplin's score was released on CD in Germany last year.

When Anni and I saw Timothy Brock conduct the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" at the silent film gala at UCLA in 2014, we weren't told that the gala's 25th anniversary evening would be its last.  But Brock is back on Friday, November 18, with the New West Symphony for another screening of "Modern Times" at the Valley Performing Arts Center on the campus of California State University, Northridge.  The arts center will also host conductor Richard Kaufman in March for Buster Keaton's "The General."  We nabbed series tickets on the VPAC website:

www.valleyperformingartscenter.org/tickets/subscriptions/silence-amplifed/


An official trailer for "Modern Times" made in this century by the Chaplin estate.

[Brian]

Buster Keaton discovered film in 1917.

Aug 14, 2016 23:00:17 GMT -8 Brian said:

...Conductor Timothy Brock is back on November 18 with the New West Symphony for another screening of Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" at the Valley Performing Arts Center on the campus of California State University, Northridge.  The arts center will also host conductor Richard Kaufman in March for Buster Keaton's "The General."  We nabbed series tickets...

Brock took ill, so the November event was cancelled.  Sadly, the series tickets that Anni and I bought last August come down to one screening next Saturday, March 25.  Dennis James, organist and score compiler, will play with the New West Symphony.  Actor Jamie Farr will lead a discussion about film, comedy and the immortal Buster Keaton.

This is a high definition trailer promoting a restored print of "The General," first released in 1927, which screened in theaters in the U.K. three years ago.

[Oss Rae]

I went to a lot of silent movies when I was a young adult, and typically there'd be a live organist there. I saw some at The Vagabond  (long gone revival theater on Wilshire near MaCarthur Park), the Nuart, and the silent theater out on Fairfax (now called Cinefamily or something like that). At the latter, they showed short subjects before the feature. That's the only time I ever saw any of the 1920s silent Our Gang/Little Rascals movies.

My grandmother remembered watching a Charlie Chaplin movie as a child in Pasadena and watching the organist play. She remembered it being at a theater on Colorado called The Egyptian (I'm guessing it later became The Uptown).

[Brian]

Halfway into the screening last Saturday at Valley Performing Arts Center, I remembered where I first watched "The General" -- on the other side of the Cal State University Northridge campus in 1976, when I took a film class. I've seen it many times since, twice at the late and lamented annual silent film gala at UCLA with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra over its 25 years.  Buster Keaton's masterpiece, long in the public domain, can be seen in full in a gazillion posts on You Tube and elsewhere, varying widely in print quality and musical score.  Nothing compares to hearing the original music performed by a full symphony orchestra in front of the big screen.

I used to love the chamber orchestra at Royce Hall so much that I bought seats in the first row, so I was knocked out by the power of the New West Symphony. Score compiler Dennis James played instead of the orchestra on a replica silent movie house organ during a few scenes.

This was my first visit to VPAC, a beautiful facility with great acoustics.  In his introduction to the sold out show, Executive Director Thor Steingraber said that conductor Richard Kaufman will be back for two performances next season, to be announced in May.  I hope that they're going to be silent movie events, but I'll take any excuse to return to VPAC.  And I'd like to reuse that tumbler I bought that allows you to drink coffee, wine, water or whatever in your seat.