Silent movies at UCLA

[Brian]

Every year, Anni and I go to UCLA's Royce Hall to watch a new print of a classic silent movie with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. This Sunday, they're playing Charlie Chaplin's beautiful score to "The Gold Rush!" Tickets are still available:

www.laco.org/events/108/

I started writing about our dates online in 2007. This still appears on Next Exit, mainly a message board for fans of Tim and Neil Finn:

Anni and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary Saturday with a silent movie double feature by Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin at UCLA, the 18th annual such event but only the second one we've attended. (Next year, they'll screen a Harold Lloyd movie -- we've already marked our calendar.)

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra played instead of the usual organist. They used Chaplin's own score for his film, "The Pilgrim" from 1923, and had one commissioned for Keaton's 1924 "Sherlock Jr.," written by the conductor. Dustin Hoffman, who could not attend because he was shooting a movie in New York, was the honorary chairman.

The whole evening was a time trip for both of us. It was weird to think that Hoffman made his first movie, "The Graduate," 40 years ago -- and these films they screened were released 40 some-odd years before that. And Anni's Dad was old enough to have been the Brat Boy in Charlie's movie while my father was too young to have seen any silent movies, being born in 1925.

We walked down to Westwood for dinner beforehand, the site of so many dates and revelry for both of us when we were young -- Anni starting in 1969 and me, being younger, in 1974. But it was our first date in Westwood after being together for nearly 14 years.

Much of the pleasure was laughing in a theater, although for some reason the people downstairs were laughing more than those with us in the cheap seats in the balcony. At $40 each, they cost almost as much as Crowded House tickets at the Greek.

It was a charity event. I don't know if they were actually in the audience, but Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and Victoria Principal were named in the program. Rose Marie, the actress best known for "The Dick Van Dyke Show" who's old enough to have been in silent films, was introduced to great applause. And a speaker told us that they had finally turned the corner on film preservation -- that they were able to save films like those on nitrate stock that would have perished forever -- so one problem in this world has been solved.

[Brian]

Last year at this time, I wrote the following review on Pearls of Blather, another ProBoards forum that has since been deleted by its nutty caretaker in New Jersey:

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra screened Harold Lloyd's last silent movie, "Speedy," for its 19th annual benefit Saturday evening at UCLA's Royce Hall.

The only Lloyd film to be nominated for an Academy Award, "Speedy" was shot partially on location in New York City -- because of the crowds, a four-week schedule was extended to 12 weeks. The feature remains the greatest cinematic document of the city in 1928. But the laughs are as timeless as the themes: ambition, corporate greed, love and baseball. Babe Ruth makes an extended cameo. Another highlight is a street fight with a gang of real Civil War veterans as the good guys. The cinematography and special effects were impeccable.

Long-time honorary chairman Dustin Hoffman was standing in the lobby when we entered, taller than we thought he would be. Last year he was off acting and sent a letter. Last night he introduced "Speedy" without notes, saying that silent films get a bad rap for overacting because of all the parodies since. He tells young actors to watch the greats like Lloyd, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin to learn how to act without words.

The L.A. Chamber Orchestra, which you've heard in many current movies, played Carl Davis' original score. We also got our annual update on the progress of film restoration: although 80 percent of all silent films made have long been thought lost, about a quarter of those have been found overseas in places like Australia and France and bipartisan Congressional funding is coming this month to repatriate them.

Anni and I have had tremendous ticket karma all year, from Tim Finn in January through the concerts by Ray Davies and Crowded House. We bought $35 seats in the balcony but were given $75 tickets six rows behind the orchestra. Maybe because we go every year to celebrate our anniversary.

Tonight! Charlie Chaplin's "The Gold Rush" --

www.laco.org/events/108/

[martine]

Brian..did you know that Harold Lloyd wore a prosthetic thumb? I can't remember which hand, but whenever I catch one of his flicks on TCM, I end up trying to spot it. Was "Speedy" the film where he was hanging off a clock high off the air?

[anni]

Hey, Martine!!! I found this on Wikipedia:

His films frequently contained "thrill sequences" of extended chase scenes and daredevil physical feats, for which he is best remembered today. Lloyd hanging from the hands of a clock high above the street in Safety Last! is one of the most enduring images in all of cinema. Lloyd did many of these dangerous stunts himself, despite having injured himself in 1919 during the filming of Haunted Spooks when an accident with a prop bomb resulted in the loss of the thumb and index finger of his right hand (the injury was disguised on film with the use of a special prosthetic glove, though the glove often did not go by unnoticed).


Love you!!!

[Brian]

When I was a kid, KHJ Channel 9 broadcast "The Million Dollar Movie" every night. Even in the mid-Sixties, a double feature at the Hilltop Theater didn't cost that much to produce. But the first $1 million comedy -- $923,886.45 to be exact, and that's in 1925 dollars -- is still one of the greatest movies ever made.

I first saw "The Gold Rush" projected before an audience when I was in college, with the tacked on, sometimes tacky soundtrack, and many times since on television. Maybe even at a Straw Hat Pizza Palace. Sunday night, we watched the picture Charlie Chaplin wanted to be remembered by in UCLA's Royce Hall with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra playing the score he wrote for its 1942 reissue.

We laughed at everything that's been funny for 84 years -- the boot eating, the dancing rolls and the teetering cabin -- and applauded spontaneously and often. Mostly, I marveled at Chaplin's genius for illuminating a soul with a gesture.

Delivering his annual film preservation report, event co-chair Roger L. Mayer said 1500 have been saved to date -- and that Congress has funded up to $1 million a year for the next ten years by unanimous vote, with all the money going into rescuing the fragile film stock itself.

Hannah Kennedy has run the benefit for the L.A. Chamber Orchestra for 20 years, so her speech was delayed by short film tribute to her. Then she read a telegram from the often absent honorary chairman Dustin Hoffman that had only arrived three hours earlier, saying he was working in London.

Maybe he'll show up next year, when they screen "The Cameraman," Buster Keaton's last great silent movie.

[martine]

Charlie Chaplin was a visionary and genius and in my humble opinion the most pre-eminent in the entertainment field in the 20th century. You're so lucky to have seen this film with one of his original scores.

[anni]

Yes, Martine!!! All you say is sooooooo true. I was especially struck with his grace and subtle deference to the content of the scene.

And ever since I was a little girl one of my all time favorite songs is:

'Smile' by Charlie Chaplin

[Brian]

Buster Keaton in "The Cameraman," 1928

This is my favorite time of year because Anni agreed to marry me in 1995. We always celebrate by attending the annual benefit for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra where they perform the score for a silent movie in Royce Hall at UCLA. Here's the program for Sunday, May 23 -- tickets are still available:

www.laco.org/events/135/

[Lindypoo]

My Brother got the BEST. I love having you as my Sis Happy Anniversary to the both of you

Attachments:

[Brian]

Let's get the important stuff out of the way: the Falafel King, founded in 1969, has moved again. The sign was still up at the old location but the interior was stripped bare, with nothing on the windows saying what happened. We found them on the east side up Broxton, around the corner from Stan's Donuts. So our proud tradition of eating falafel in Westwood has crossed yet another decade.

I'd been betting that honorary chairman Dustin Hoffman wasn't going to show for the 21st annual Silent Film Gala after reading in Bill Plaschke's column this morning that he was the star ham of the Kiss Cam with his wife Lisa at Laker home games. I figured he'd be watching the contest in Phoenix on TV since he missed half the benefits Anni and I have attended. But he was there to read a biography of Buster Keaton beautifully and introduce Buster's descendants in the audience at Royce Hall.

Anni popped for the $75 seats instead of the $35 tickets this year. Row E of the balcony, near the projector, was the best location to see the screen and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. This was the world premiere of conductor Timothy Brock's original score for "The Cameraman," perfect in composition, execution and syncopation with the film. I hope we can afford the $300 tickets next year for the LACO benefit dinner afterwards, but still go to Falafel King beforehand.

Next year: Two shorts by Charlie Chaplin, "A Dog's Life" and "Shoulder Arms," both from 1918.