Category Archives: Events

West End Live

June 21, 2007 By in Events, Exhibitions

West End Live

This weekend, why not come to Leicester Square (should you be in London) and see West End Live, billed as “Free for all the family, this spectacular event includes performances from top West End shows alongside a variety of other musical acts. There will be a host of interactive displays and exhibits for a fun-filled action packed day.” Billed among all this fun for the family, which includes a Saturday Morning at the Pictures event organised by the BFI, you will find the Moving Pictures exhibition of film production and exhibition in London before the First World War, hosted by London’s Screen Archives. I was involved in the research for this, so do pop by if you can. You’ll find it in the same marquee as the BFI and Film London. Failing that, the exhibition returns to Westminster Archives Centre thereafter until the end of June.

The Birds and the Bees

June 16, 2007 By in Events, Non-fiction, Wildlife

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Why not pop down to the National Film Theatre on London’s South Bank next Tuesday evening to see a programme of some of the less usual kind of silent films? The Birds and the Bees is a special programme of early natural history films, put together by the BFI’s curator of silent film, Bryony Dixon. Early British film history is rich in naturalist filmmakers who, decades before David Attenborough, were combining science with entertainment to prove that the movies could do more than just distract the masses with slapstick and melodrama. Filmmakers such as Oliver Pike, who specialised in recording birds in their habitat in films such as St Kilda, its People and Birds (1908); or the wonderful Percy Smith, who made stop-frame films of plant growth that could take over a year to produce, as well as meticulous studies of animal life with a touch of showmanship about them. Or what about the extraordinary J.C. ‘Bee’ Mason, war cameraman, adventurer and apiarist, whose films of his life-long hobby, such as The Bee’s Eviction (1909), are mad entertainment.

It’s on at 18.15, Tuesday June 16th in NFT2. More details from the BFI Southbank web pages.

Moving Pictures in Westminster

May 19, 2007 By in Audience, Business, Cinemas, Cities, Events, Exhibitions

The Moving Pictures exhibition on the film and cinema business is London before the First World War will be on show at the City of Westminster Archives Centre 5-30 June. The exhibition, which was previously shown at Hornsey Library and Hampstead Museum, focusses on the highly active film industry and cinema business in London before 1914, with an emphasis on the relationship with local communities. The exhibition is based on The London Project, a research project hosted by Birkbeck College, London, which resulted in The London Project database of film businesses and cinemas in London before the First World War.

There are associated talks taking place at the Centre on 19 and 26 June, at 6.00 pm (admission free). The Archives Centre is located here.

For the weekend of 23-24 June the exhibition will move temporily from the Archives Centre to feature as part of West End Live, in Leicester Square.

Paul Merton on tour

April 26, 2007 By in Events, Music, Performers 2 Comments

Paul Merton

[Note: This is the 2008 tour – for the 2009 tour dates, click here]

These are the dates I’ve traced for Paul Merton’s Silent Clowns show, which will be touring the country later this year when his book Silent Comedy is published. The links are to booking details at each of the venues. I’ll add more if I find them (there are 22 dates in all). Neil Brand will be providing the piano accompaniment.

10 November – Warwick Arts Centre
11 November – The Anvil, Basingstoke
13 November – Cambridge Corn Exchange
14 November – St David’s Hall, Cardiff
16 November – Assembly Hall, Tunbridge Wells
17 November – Cheltenham Town Hall
18 November – Hackney Empire, London
20 November – The Royal Centre, Nottingham
21 November – Bournemouth International Centre
23 November – St George’s Hall, Bradford
24 November – Buxton Opera House
25 November – The Hexagon, Reading
27 November – Plymouth Pavilions
28 November – Royal and Derngate, Northampton
30 November – De Montfort Hall, Loughborough
1 December – The Lowry, Salford
2 December – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
3 December – Villa Marina, Douglas, Isle of Man
5 December – Portsmouth Guidhall
7 December – Perth Theatre and Concert Hall
8 December – Caird Hall, Dundee
9 December – Aberdeen Music Hall

As the blurb says, “The funniest silent comedians of the 1920’s on a big, big screen with live accompaniment from the wonderful Neil Brand. Paul introduces a selection of clips from stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Roscoe Arbuckle and Charley Chase. Finishing fantastically with a complete showing of a silent comedy masterpiece. Guaranteed to rock the house with laughter.”

Update: The list of dates above is now complete. Download the promo leaflet here (PDF).

Silent Shakespeare at the Globe

April 21, 2007 By in Events, Music

A reminder to anyone in London on Monday April 23rd that Shakespeare’s birthday is being marked in unique fashion by having assorted silent Shakespeare films projected onto the side of the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, on the south side of the Thames, with live musical accompaniment from Laura Rossi and the Fourth Dimension String Quartet. Screenings are now scheduled to run 8.00 pm – 10.00 pm.

Paul Merton’s Silent Clowns

April 3, 2007 By in Comedy, Events, People, Performers 1 Comment

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Television comedian and silent cinema champion Paul Merton will be hosting a special programme of silent film comedians, including Chaplin, Keaton, Fatty Arbuckle and Charley Chase, with music by Neil Brand, at Plymouth Pavilions on 27 November 2007 – some time off, but tickets are on sale now. Merton has written a book, Silent Comedy, which will be published in October 2007. Look out for plenty of publicity and events around that time.

Update: See later post, Paul Merton on tour, for a list of his November-December tour dates, with links to the theatres.

Brownlow and the Kelly Gang

March 24, 2007 By in Events, Festivals, General

There’s a fine article by Kevin Brownlow in today’s edition of The Times, on silent films. It’s called ‘Silents Please‘ and it’s a distillation of Brownlow’s thoughts and feelings about the pre-eminent entertainment medium that is silent film. It focuses more on the technical innovations than the stars, and it is a great piece for waving in front of sceptics to show they why silent films matter. It should certainly make a convert or two.

The piece has been written to coincide with the Silent Film and Live Music series running at the Barbican in London, which today is screening the surviving footage (some 20 minutes) of the world’s first fiction feature film, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), made in Australia, with live piano accompaniment by John Sweeney. Also showing is The Life of John Lee: The Man They Could Not Hang (Australia 1921).

Silent Shakespeare

March 19, 2007 By in Events, Literature 2 Comments

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A first of some kind has been announced by the Shakespeare’s Globe theatre on London’s South Bank. On 23 April (Shakespeare’s birthday), the white walls of the Globe will be effectively converted into screens, as a 45-minute programme of silent Shakespeare titles from the BFI National Archive will be projected on the outside of the theatre. The films, already known through the BFI/Milestone Silent Shakespeare DVD, will be accompanied by Laura Rossi and Fourth Dimension string quartet – Rossi composed the score for the DVD. The screenings take place at 7.00 and 8.00 pm.

Australia’s Silent Film Festival

March 14, 2007 By in Events, Festivals

It’s all film festivals at the moment. Australia’s Silent Film Festival has its inaugural programme in Sydney over three days, March 30 to April 1. Screenings at the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace at Cremorne will include Cyrano de Bergerac, Sunrise, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. On 1 April, at the New South Wales Art Gallery, there will be a restored print of the 1927 Australian silent classic, The Kid Stakes.

Rather pleasingly, the festival has as its nominated charity the Deaf Society of New South Wales.

Kansas Silent Film Festival

February 19, 2007 By in Events, Festivals

The 2007 Kansas Silent Film Festival takes place 23-24 February 2007 at the White Concert Hall on the campus of Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas. The event features Denise Morrison, film commentator; Dr Marvin Faulwell and Greg Foreman, organ accompanists, with Bob Keckeisen, percussion, and the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. Films featured include Harry Langdon’s The Strong Man (1926), Mary Pickford in Rosita (1923), Richard Barthelmess in Tol’able David (1921), and Chicago (1927), with Phyllis Haver.