Comments on: MoMA Asks Comedians To Respond To Silent Shorts http://blog.spout.com/2008/12/18/moma-asks-comedians-to-respond-to-silent-shorts/ Daily coverage of what is truly interesting in the film world Sat, 28 Nov 2009 10:34:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Ben Model http://blog.spout.com/2008/12/18/moma-asks-comedians-to-respond-to-silent-shorts/#comment-118660 Ben Model Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:36:20 +0000 http://blog.spout.com/?p=8438#comment-118660 Hey, thanks for posting news about this event! The film selections came from a 5-part course we taught at MoMA this fall called "Cruel and Unusual Comedy" which screened rare silent short from MoMA's collection, grouped by different social issues. I'll list here the films that Ron Magliozzi, Steve Massa (who is a film historian, not an accompanist) and I picked for the "Silent But Deadly" event on Jan 6: LIZZIES OF THE FIELD (1924) - chock full of bizarre car gags - from our "Mack Sennett vs. Henry Ford" session CHASING THE CHASER (1925) - in this rarity directed by Stan Laurel, henpecked James Finlayson's suspicious wife hires a detective, played by femail impersonator Fred Covert, to spy on him; look for a cameo by Fay Wray - from our "drag" session THE KNOCKOUT (1923) - this boxing picture is part of a series of one-reelers featuring "The Dippy Do-Dads"...and all animal cast (dogs, monkeys, chickens, ducks etc), complete with miniature sets - from our "Kids and Animals" session Three other shorts we picked will be displayed on video monitors in the lobby during the reception: MIND THE BABY (1924) - a kidnapping plot with sequences involving a dog, a baby and an alligator (all in the same shot!) A CHANGE OF COMPLEXION (1913) - a kitchen maid pull a prank on her employers...while they are asleep she blacks up their faces THE PHONEY CANNIBAL (1913) - down-on-their-luck comedy duo Ham & Bud pass themselves off as a preacher and a tribal pygmy to raise rent money I'll be accomanying the silents at 8pm on the piano. Ben Model silent film accompanist Hey, thanks for posting news about this event! The film selections came from a 5-part course we taught at MoMA this fall called “Cruel and Unusual Comedy” which screened rare silent short from MoMA’s collection, grouped by different social issues. I’ll list here the films that Ron Magliozzi, Steve Massa (who is a film historian, not an accompanist) and I picked for the “Silent But Deadly” event on Jan 6:

LIZZIES OF THE FIELD (1924) - chock full of bizarre car gags - from our “Mack Sennett vs. Henry Ford” session

CHASING THE CHASER (1925) - in this rarity directed by Stan Laurel, henpecked James Finlayson’s suspicious wife hires a detective, played by femail impersonator Fred Covert, to spy on him; look for a cameo by Fay Wray - from our “drag” session

THE KNOCKOUT (1923) - this boxing picture is part of a series of one-reelers featuring “The Dippy Do-Dads”…and all animal cast (dogs, monkeys, chickens, ducks etc), complete with miniature sets - from our “Kids and Animals” session

Three other shorts we picked will be displayed on video monitors in the lobby during the reception:

MIND THE BABY (1924) - a kidnapping plot with sequences involving a dog, a baby and an alligator (all in the same shot!)
A CHANGE OF COMPLEXION (1913) - a kitchen maid pull a prank on her employers…while they are asleep she blacks up their faces
THE PHONEY CANNIBAL (1913) - down-on-their-luck comedy duo Ham & Bud pass themselves off as a preacher and a tribal pygmy to raise rent money

I’ll be accomanying the silents at 8pm on the piano.

Ben Model
silent film accompanist

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