Sipping on excellent iced tea in Kingston, New York, thinking of the residents of Santa Cruz County in Northern California (some of whom have been evacuated from their homes due to the still raging wildfires), as well as the friends and family in the Bay Area I cannot see because of the incompetent, ignorant, catastrophic and lethal non-response to COVID-19, I am very much missing the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum. Glad to hear the museum is hosting Zoom events on Saturday and Sunday. The links will be available at 12:01am daily.
Saturday, August 22
A Silent Cinema Cover Cavalcade
Tim Lussier presents various artists, some famous and some not, painted portraits of silent film stars that graced the covers of all the major fan magazines during the silent era. This slideshow features dozens of covers from his collection of magazines spanning the 1916-1928 years of silent cinema. Enjoy!
Talk to the Silent Movie Musicians
ZOOM 1:00 pm PDT / 4:00 pm EDT
The museum website adds:
As regular Niles attendees know, silent films were never silent and always had music, and we continue to honor that tradition today. But how do the musicians do it? How do they come up with scores for films? How did they learn to do this? How did they get started? Who inspires them? Learn the answers to these questions and more as Jon Mirsalis moderates a panel of internationally recognized silent film accompanists, Frederick Hodges, Makia Matsumura, Ben Model, Philip Carli, and Andrew Earle Simpson. A lively discussion will be followed by Q&A with the audience.
Sunday August 23rd
All About Thanhouser Studios includes the documentary The Thanhouser Studio and the Birth of American Cinema (2014, Thanhouser Company Film Preservation, Inc.) – as seen on TCM and numerous film festivals. There will also be streaming films from the Thanhouser Company, the New Rochelle-based production company,.
The Thanhouser Studio was one of the earliest independents and among those who invented American cinema in the early 20th century, sophisticated in approach and concept. They were making films quite advanced in filmmaking technique for the early teens and stylistically closest to those Alice Guy Blaché at Solax. Edwin S. Porter, D.W. Griffith and Alice Guy Blaché were not the only ones inventing and developing cinema technique in the first decade of the 20th century.
The museum press release elaborates: This multi-award winning documentary recounts the untold story of the rise and fall of this remarkable pioneering motion picture studio during the first decade of the twentieth century. It traces the evolution of one family’s career as it transitioned from producing live theater to establishing one of the most successful independent silent motion picture studios in early cinema. Set against a backdrop of Thomas A. Edison and his Motion Picture Patents Trust companies dominating the industry, the story plays out in New York, Florida and California. It is a compelling story of fame and fortune, twisted by the vagaries of fate and ending on a bittersweet note.
Sunday ZOOM EVENT - 5pm PDT / 8pm EDT
• Q & A with the keeper of the films, Ned Thanhouser himself!
The Thanhouser Studio made 1000 films and was among the cutting edge production companies before the outbreak of World War I. Thanhouser's principal star was Florence La Badie
Sadly, the silver screen career of Florence La Badie was cut short by her passing in an automobile accident in 1917.
Finding a Location for The Great Train Robbery
Sunday August 23 (Links available at 12:01am daily)
Historian and author David Kiehn explains how he used modern technology in his research and detective work to identify one of the locations for this iconic classic shot by Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Studios in the “wilds” of New Jersey.
Gilbert “Broncho Billy” Anderson was featured in three roles in this 12-minute film which gives an extra connection for us as the Edison theater, the home of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, CA. Highway 80 in New Jersey continues all the way to California and the East Bay near the city of Fremont and the historic district of Niles.
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