This month, a New Hampshire theater will host a relocated version of the Kansas Silent Film Festival, an annual vintage film event cancelled this year due to Covid-19. In honor of the scrubbed Kansas festival, a three-day program of classic silent films with live music will be shown on the last weekend of February at the Town Hall Theatre, a two-screen independent movie house in Wilton, N.H.
The"Kansas
Silent Film Festival in New Hampshire," running from Friday, Feb. 26
through Sunday, Feb. 28, will feature vintage comedies and dramas
starring performers with ties to the Sunflower State.
Among
highlights: Kansas-born starlet Louise Brooks in 'The Show Off' (1926);
and Buster Keaton (born in Kansas when his parents were in a traveling
medicine show) in the classic silent comedy 'The Navigator' (1924.)
The
festival also includes a rare screening of 'The Little Church Around
the Corner' a 1923 melodrama featuring Kansas-raised Claire Windsor and
actor Walter Long, a native of Milford, N.H.
Also on the festival's
program: the original silent film version of 'The Wizard of Oz' (1925),
with comic Oliver Hardy playing the Tin Man.
All
screenings will feature live music by Jeff Rapsis, a New
Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who travels each year to perform
at the Kansas Festival, held at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas."When
this year's Kansas festival was cancelled," Rapsis said, "we figured we
could stage a tribute event here in New Hampshire, where movie theaters
are able to show films while observing Covid-19 safety precautions."
The
Town Hall Theatre, a well-known independent movie house, reopened in
July. It currently shows only classic films and other specialty programs
due to the lack of first-run features in release. The theatre follows
all recommended Covid-19 safety guidelines.
All
"Kansas Silent Film Festival in New Hampshire" screenings are free and
open to the public, with no tickets needed or available in advance.
Donations are welcome, with proceeds going to support the Kansas Silent
Film Festival, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Organizers
plan to add Kansas flavor to the event by bringing in selected local
delicacies from the Sunflower state. Between screenings, movie-goers may
sample sunflower seeds alongside Porubsky's hot pickles, to be shipped
in from an iconic Polish deli in Topeka.
In
Kansas, in lieu of live performances this year, the Kansas Silent Film
Festival will host a program of virtual screenings for online viewing.
For more info, visit www.kssilentfilmfest.org. In New Hampshire, each day of the relocated tribute festival includes two feature films separated by an intermission.
•
Friday, Feb. 26, 2021, 7:30 p.m.: Claire Windsor in 'The Little Church
Around the Corner' (1923) and Fatty Arbuckle in 'The Round-Up' (1920).
Kansas-born star Claire Windsor stars in 'The Little Church Around the
Corner' (1923), a labor relations melodrama with a role for Milford,
N.H. native Walter Long; followed by 'The Roundup' (1920), a rarely
screened feature film starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (also from
Kansas) that wasn't released in the U.S. following accusations of murder
against the comedian, leading to a notorious series of court trials
that exonerated Arbuckle, but left his career in ruins.
•
Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021, 7:30 p.m.: Silent screen icon Louise Brooks in
'The Show-Off' (1926) and Kansas-born actress Zasu Pitts in 'Casey at
the Bat' (1927). In 'The Show Off,' actress Louise Brooks (from
Cherryvale, Kansas) stars in the story of a working-class family's
reluctance to accept their daughter's suitor. The film also stars Ford Serling in the title role, and Lois Moran. In 'Casey at the Bat,'
Zasu Pitts (from Parsons, Kansas) stars with Wallace Beery, Ford Sterling and Sterling Holloway in a
cinematic retelling of the classic baseball story.
•
Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021, 2 p.m.: The original silent 'Wizard of Oz'
(1925) plus Buster Keaton in 'The Navigator' (1924). In the final
program, we're definitely not in Kansas anymore with the original silent
version of 'The Wizard of Oz,' starring comedian Larry Semon as the
scarecrow and featuring Oliver Hardy as the Tin Man! Then it's the
timeless visual comedy of Kansas-born Buster Keaton, often called the
most silent of the silent comedians. In 'The Navigator' (1924), Buster
sets sail on a deserted ocean liner, riding a high tide of hilarity.
Classic silent film comedy!
"Thanks
to everyone at the Kansas festival for giving us permission to stage
this socially distanced tribute," said Rapsis, who has attended every
Kansas Silent Film Festival since 2000. "We may be 1,500 miles away, but
our hearts are in the same place." For more about the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H., please visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com or call (603) 654-3456. For more about the Kansas Silent Film Festival, visit www.kssilentfilmfest.org. For more about the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.
Oh my goodness! Living in MA I may try to attend a few of these. I also have a tie to Kansas from my growing up years. Sounds like a lot of fun. I've seen Jeff Rapsis several times at the Somerville Theatre and Coolidge Corner Theatre here in Greater Boston. He's great.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this.
I envy you the opportunity. Be safe!
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