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June 26, 2009Gauchos, Gangsters and GagsAnne M. HockensThe 14th Annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival What do swashbuckling romance, the Valentino of China, Soviet Science Fiction, and Edgar Allan Poe have in common? They are all part of the diverse line up for the14th Annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival running July 10th through 12th at the historic Castro Theatre. In addition to screening eleven feature films starring a wide range of actors and directors, the festival also includes a presentation of recently restored shorts and fragments called Amazing Tales from the Archives. They will also present a program of animated shorts, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney's initial try at building a series of animated shorts around a cute animal. As with previous festivals, a short film screens prior to each feature. Every year the selection of shorts corresponds to an overarching theme. This time the programmers selected a series of Biograph shorts featuring the luminous and brilliant actress Mary Pickford, whose husband Douglas Fairbanks stars in the opening night film, The Gaucho. An opening night party on the Mezzanine with live music by Parlor Tango, free drinks and hors d'oeuvre follows the film. As usual, live music accompanies each film. This year’s performers include pianist Phillip Carli, percussionist Mark Goldstein, flautist and keyboardist Stephen Horne, the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, soprano Joanna Seaton, pianist Donald Sosin and organist Dennis James on the Mighty Wurlitzer. You have not seen a silent film until you have seen it in a single screen movie palace with an audience and accompanied by live music. So mark your calendars and keep tuned here for previews of the films. Here’s the line-up: FRIDAY, JULY 10: SATURDAY, JULY 11: SUNDAY, JULY 12 4 CommentsLeave a comment |
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I'm very much looking forward to the Disney cartoons, I know so little about silent era animation and Dennis' should tear it up for The Wind. Sorry to say, we just lost him as accompanist at the Seattle Paramount. He is however playing for King Vidor's The Crowd at Bainbridge Island's Lynwood Theater on July 5.
Now, please allow me a tiny nit-pick (I can't help myself). Mary Pickford WAS married to Doug, but during the Biograph years she was hitched to that wife-beating alcoholic Owen Moore.
Eileen Whitfield’s book, The Woman Who Made Hollywood is a must read for any fans of Little Mary, and one of the best silent film biographies I have ever read. To my surprise, I looked up the Amazon.com link and discovered it seems to be out of print! Where to find a copy? A call to Stephanie Ogle at Cinema Books may remedy that!
David,
I was deeply saddened by Denis James and The Paramount's parting of the ways. I heard there were protesters, is that true?
And you are correct, Doug was Mary's future husband at the time she was at Biograph. The loathsome Owen Moore was her husband then, my theory is that she married him to break away from her mother's control.
I agree that The Woman Who Made Hollywood is must reading for any Pickford fan. I would also recommend her autobiography Sunshine and Shadow as well as Cari Beauchamps's Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood - which focuses on Francis Marion - one of Pickford's favorite creative collaborators.
I encourage all of you fans to come to the Paramount tomorrow at 6pm with signs in support of Dennis... He has given soooo much to us! Its now time for us to show him how grateful we are!
Don't forget to write to the theater to let them know how much Dennis' performances add to the experience of watching the films and that you would like to have him back.