Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, to screen in Youngstown, Ohio on October 29

Pandora's Box, the frequently revived 1929 silent film starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at the Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown, Ohio on Sunday, October 29th at 2:30 pm. Live musical accompaniment for this event, which is expected to draw more than 1500 people, will be provided by Jay Spencer. More information about this event can be found HERE.

Here is some more information about this special screening from the host website: 

"Pandora’s Box is a 1928 1929 silent film based on two plays by Frank Wedekind; Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box. Louise Brooks plays Lulu, who is a wickedly charming showgirl and the mistress of a wealthy publisher, Dr Ludwig Schön. A tragic series of events is set into motion when Schön finds Lulu entertaining another man. In his attempt to end his relationship with Lulu, Schön confesses he is engaged to another woman. An intense argument results in Lulu shooting and killing him. Now on the run, Lulu’s downward spiral devastates everyone around her.

Organist Jay Spencer has been playing the organ at the Canton Palace Theatre since the early 90s, and performing with Silent films there for thirteen years. In addition to performing on the organ, Spencer has also spent a great deal of time volunteering at the Palace Theatre, from concessions to ticket taker, he says he 'loves everything about it [the theatre]'.  Spencer prepares his repertoire for silent film accompaniment by watching the film several times and then utilizing popular music from the era to compliment the themes and characters of the films. 

The E.M. Skinner Pipe Organ, Opus 582 is the only remaining Skinner organ in the area. The organ features a four manual consoles, 67 stops, and nearly four thousand pipes that vary from the smallest which is the size and weight of a #2 pencil to the largest which is 30 inches by 32 feet and weighs 750 pounds. There are 58 ranks altogether."

Built in 1926, the Stambaugh Auditorium is a grand space. I wish I could be there. Tickets are on sale now on the Stambaugh Auditorium website. Tickets cost $7 with a $3 service fee, and refreshments will be available to purchase.

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

WINGS screens in Cleveland, Ohio at Cleveland Silent Film Festival

The inaugural Cleveland Silent Film Festival and Colloquium, which kicks off this weekend, will screen Wings, one of the great films of the silent era. Along with Wings, the Festival is also set to screen Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), starring Buster Keaton, The Wedding March (1929), starring Erich von Stroheim, and Sunrise (1927), starring Janet Gaynor. Click to access the Festival's Facebook Page which contains information on the various screenings and concerts as well as ticket information.

I was honored that the Cleveland Silent Film Festival published my essay on Wings in their festival program. I also penned a piece for the local Cleveland, Ohio patch entitled "WINGS to screen at Cleveland Silent Film Festival: First Oscar winner was the most popular film in the city in the 1920s".

On Friday, February 18, the newly launched Cleveland Silent Film Festival will screen Wings, a film which holds two unique distinctions; it was the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. And secondly, Wings can rightly claim to have been the most popular film shown in Cleveland in the 1920s. 

If that isn't enough to pique your interest, this blockbuster film will be shown with a newly recorded reconstruction of the lavish musical score first heard at the film's 1927 premiere. That score was composed by J.S. Zamecnik, a Cleveland-born composer widely regarded as one of the leading film composers of his time.

 

Dates and films set for first ever Cleveland Silent Film Festival

The dates and line-up of films have been announced for the first ever Cleveland Silent Film Festival and Colloquium. The multi-film, multi-day series of events begins February 13 and runs through February 20. It looks to be an impressive event. A complete listing of festival and colloquium events is below. Ticketing information is listed with each event. Consult with each venue about its COVID-19 safety policies and admission requirements. More information HERE.

A consortium of five area institutions has come together to put on the week-long Cleveland Silent Film Festival and Colloquium. The 2022 Cleveland Silent Film Festival is a new venture planning exciting programs of silent era classics accompanied by top silent film music specialists as well as workshops for area musicians interested in learning to play for silent films. 

 The newly formed Festival will screen four feature films, and a few shorts. However, the main attraction or "star" of the Festival is not a film or actor or director, but rather the Cleveland-born film score composer, J.S. Zamecnik, whose music will be featured and performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. I have seen them accompany a number of silent films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and they really are outstanding. I also own the CD pictured at the bottom of this post. If there name sounds familiar, it is likely because they provided the musical accompaniment to the KINO Lorber release of the 1928 Louise Brooks film, Beggars of Life.

FILM FESTIVAL AND COLLOQUIUM SCHEDULE

3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 13
Hermit Club (1629 Dodge Ct., Cleveland)
“From Hermit Club to Hollywood: A Concert of Music by J.S. Zamecnik and Dvorak”
Featuring members of the Cleveland Orchestra, led by violinist Isabel Trautwein. Rodney Sauer, director of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, will be sitting in on piano for the Zamecnik Piano Trio.
Tickets, $40, at eventbrite.com.

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15
Birenbaum Innovation and Performance Space (10 E. College St., Oberlin)
Short silent films accompanied live by Oberlin Conservatory of Music students
Free admission.

8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16
Apollo Theater (19 E. College St., Oberlin)
Film: “Steamboat Bill, Jr.”
Free admission.

 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18
Harkness Chapel (11200 Bellflower Road, Cleveland)
“Silent Film Scoring for Working Musicians,” with Rodney Sauer, director of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, and Daniel Goldmark, director of the Center for Popular Music Studies at CWRU
Free admission.

7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18
Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque (11610 Euclid Ave., Cleveland)
Film: “Wings” (1927), with a newly recorded soundtrack of the score heard at the film's NYC premiere in 1927
Tickets, $12, at cia.edu/cinematheque

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19
Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque
Film concert: “The Wedding March” (1929), with live accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Tickets, $15, at cia.edu/cinematheque

3:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 20
Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque
Film concert: “Sunrise” (1927), with an original score inspired by Zamecnik’s music, performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Tickets, $15, at cia.edu/cinematheque

Some Louise Brooks finds at the Ohio State University

I was in Columbus, Ohio this past weekend for a family wedding (congrats David and Brittni), and took the opportunity to visit the Ohio State University library. I was there to look through back issues of the school's student newspaper, The Lantern.

A few years back, I had surveyed the three Columbus newspapers of the 1920's and 1930's, and had acquired a good number of clipping regarding Brooks' two 1923 Denishawn performances at the city's Memorial Hall, as well as the later screenings of her various silent and sound films at Columbus movie theater's.

The three newspapers I surveyed were the Columbus Citizen, Columbus Dispatch, and the Ohio State Journal. I was curious as to whether or not The Lantern had covered any of these events, just had other student newspapers I have examined had done so.


I can report that I found an article about Denishawn and an advertisement, as well as small write ups about a couple of Louise Brooks' films. I also found a bunch of advertisements for the actress's films at the time they played in Columbus.

A big thank you to student librarian assistant at the Thompson Library who helped me access this material.

Here is some of what I came across.

 

Diary of a Lost Girl shows in Columbus, Ohio

Diary of a Lost Girl will be screened tonight in Columbus, Ohio as part of an ongoing film series. According to theColumbusalive website. "The Summer Abroad series continues on Wednesday, July 20, with two extraordinary examples of early German cinema: G.W. Pabst’s silent classic Diary of a Lost Girl, in which the luminous Louise Brooks is a naïve girl who stumbles onto the path to ruin when she becomes pregnant, and Fritz Lang’s M, one of the first, best and most thoughtful serial killer movies ever made. Between M star Peter Lorre’s constant humming of Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” and the live accompaniment toDiary by Scrawl’s Sue Harshe, you’ll be leaving the theater with a song in your head."