I think we’ve said before now that silent film accompanist Ben Model is probably the most web savvy among his peers, with a smart grasp of social media and an infectious keenness to share the silent film medium with everyone. His latest venture is a case in point.

His YouTube channel already features a number of great silent comedies to which Model has supplied new musical scores taken (with permission) from DVD releases. Now Model is taken 16mm silent films from his personal collection, which are primarily obscure comedies of the kind unlikely ever to be programmed or released on DVD, so the best chance anyone is going to get of seeing them is if someone does a video transfer and sticks them on YouTube. This Model is doing, as the delightful introductory video above explains. Just subscribe to www.youtube.com/silentfilmmusic and every other Wednesday you’ll receive notice of the latest video he’s uploaded, with his own piano or organ score, naturally.

There’s just the one video there so far, Cook, Papa, Cook (1928) a typical example of a minor knockabout comedy of the period (in this case starring Henry Murdock, Lucille Hutton and Eva Thatcher). It’s no masterpiece, but it’s cheerful fun, and certainly whets the appetite for further fortnightly treats.

To keep up with Ben there’s
his website (http://www.silentfilmmusic.com)
his blog (http://www.silentfilmmusicblog.com)
his Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/silentfilmaccompanist)
his Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/silentfilmmusic)
his YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/silentfilmmusic)
his Vimeo channel (http://vimeo.com/benmodel)
his Tumblr (http://silentfilmmusic.tumblr.com)
his SoundCloud page (http://soundcloud.com/silentfilmmusic)
and probably a lot more that I’ve missed [update: indeed I did – see comments]. Anyway, a great initative from someone who’s just at home online. Do sign up, or just keep visiting the YouTube channel regularly.