LINDFIELD Uniting Church SCREENINGS Cnr Tryon and Nelson Roads

Saturdays @ 3pm March 22 Silent Comedies……..priceless!

April 26 Laughter is the best medicine… May 17 The Comic Genius of Harold Lloyd

With live music Dr. Paul Paviour OAM

Tickets through festival website and call t 0419 267318

$25/$20 concession Gold Pass to these 3 sessions $55/ $40 concession

Charlie Chaplin- Buster Keaton – Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle- Hairbreadth Harry- Rowdy Ann- Australia’s Billy Bevan –

Harold Lloyd- Australia’s Alf Goulding

Credit card bookings and info www.ozsilentfilmfestival.com.au Telephone 0419267318

This year the Festival salutes Charlie Chaplin’s start in film 100 years ago

1914-2014.

Thank you Charlie!

1914-2014

Australia’s Silent Film Festival is proud to present three wondrous sessions of restored

silent classic films with accompaniment by Paul Paviour OAM.

In the sessions the Lindfield Jackson heritage organ at times will be played. This organ

has an “important amount of pre- 1870 pipeworks…and has significant historical

associations” to the first half of the nineteenth century. To find out more, visit

jacksonorgan.8m.com and http://jacksonorgan.8m.com/index.htm

and

http://www.sydneyorgan.com/LindfieldUC.html

March 22 @ 3pm Paul shall accompany a set of classic short comedies. These

treasures shall include works by Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Fatty Arbuckle.

Hairbreadth Harry, Beautiful Belinda and the fiendish Relentless Rudolph!

Charlie Chaplin shines in this story of migrating to the US, combining a sad-sweet story

with humour in The Immigrant. Then Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and Buster Keaton are

at their best in The Cook, showing off their many amazing skills, expertly wielding

kitchen utensils and food! Finally, Hairbreadth Harry in the great slapstick comedy,

Danger Ahead.

SILENT COMEDIES? PRICELESS 90 minutes

A trifecta of laughs! The Immigrant. On the migrant boat heading for the USA, where rough seas make for some amusing scenes, Charlie wins money in a card game and meets a young woman. When they are robbed of all their money, Charlie slips his winnings into her pocket. Later, broke and hungry in the city, they meet again in a restaurant where Charlie is having trouble with the ill-tempered waiter.

The Cook. A classic example of the wild and crazy style perfected by Roscoe Arbuckle, nick-named Fatty for his large size. Arbuckle’s skills are evident in the many hilariously impossible sequences in the kitchen of the Bull Pup Café, where Buster Keaton is the waiter calling out ridiculous code names for food orders to Arbuckle, the unbelievably competent cook in the kitchen. Food is flung, dishes are thrown and large knives are twirled in the air in carefree precision until the inevitable disaster that is the punch line of all slapstick comedies.

Danger Ahead. Our not-so-perfect hero, Harry Hairbreadth, has to rescue Beautiful Belinda, even though she helps herself quite often, and all the trouble is due to the antics of the villain, Relentless Rudolph. In this episode, Rudolph reads about Belinda’s large stash of money, and attempts to steal it – leading to breathtaking action scenes on the roof of a fast-moving steam train, jumping from a moving car onto the train, and several stunning moments involving a tall drawbridge.

April 26 @ 3 pm Laughter is the best medicine….

with Paul Paviour OAM

A selection of the Kings of Comedy at their funniest and at full

throttle!

Charlie Chaplin in THE PAWNSHOP (1916) 25 minutes; Buster

Keaton in THE HIGH SIGN (1921) 21 minutes; Fay Tincher, one

tough cowgirl, as “Rowdy Ann" (1919) 21 minutes; and Max Sennett's

LIZZIES OF THE FIELD (1924) 16 minutes. See the Australian born

star Billy Bevan in Lizzies of the Field driving his snoozenburg!

Most people are familiar with the Great Clowns of silent comedy, even if by name only

– which is in itself the best testimony to their skills and talents. Names like Charlie

Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Mack Sennett and Laurel and Hardy are universally

synonymous with laughter and an enjoyable short escape from reality, and these

timeless treasures are enjoyed as much in our day as they were when they were made.

Innocent and cartoon-like in nature, these short comedies which average twenty minutes

in length are comical masterpieces, full of unpredictable, ridiculous and outrageous

antics and stunts. They were a constant feature in cinemas along with feature films or a

variety of other shorter films at the beginning of the previous century until 1929 when

the sound era began.

The style of comedy varied from comedian and studio, with some creating a comic

character such as Chaplin’s tramp in baggy pants and ill-fitting coat, or Buster Keaton’s

deadpan expression. Some films were expertly choreographed with complex stunts

involving cars or buildings, while others relied more on the spontaneity of the

comedians and the popularity of favourite gags and skits.

Among the first and most famous of the short comedies were those of the Keystone

Kops - a name almost everyone is still familiar with a century later, and it was the

Keystone Film Company owned by comedy master, Mack Sennett, that also introduced

Charlie Chaplin to the world.

Chaplin first appeared on screen in 1914 wearing his ‘Little Tramp’ outfit, which has

become his trademark around the world. Intending to be contradictory, the baggy pants,

tight coat, giant clown shoes and ill-fitting derby hat immediately hit the right chord

with audiences, and Chaplin quickly became Keystone’s most popular character and

comedian.

By 1916, when the Mutual Film Corporation offered Chaplin virtually complete artistic

freedom, he was already writing and directing his own short films, and was churning

them out rapidly with ever-increasing success and popularity. The following years at

Mutual were some of Chaplin’s best, and resulted in many of his most popular and best

remembered films, such as:

The Pawnshop (1916) – Charles Chaplin

Comedy shorts like The Pawnshop, which is full of physical action and gags, are

deceptive and effectively fool the audience into believing that the comedians are simply

stumbling through a comedy routine when in fact each step has been painstakingly

planned and executed. This is especially the case with Chaplin, who was known to be a

perfectionist to a fault.

Scenes that pass in a few seconds, such as the gag with the ladder, were obviously well

rehearsed to create the effect that everything happened spontaneously. Even when there

is not much of a story in a short comedy such as this one, Chaplin always came up with

brilliant little tricks and gags to keep the audience entertained and amused.

A master comedian can make a humorous situation with any everyday item or event,

and Chaplin demonstrates this in The Pawnshop with a customer’s clock, and then

makes use of the clothes wringer to clean the dishes!

The successful formula for most comedy shorts was that of an awkward and unlikely

hero (such as Chaplin’s Little Tramp and Buster Keaton’s deadpan expression) a pretty

girl he tries to win, and a bully or villain who interferes in some way. The girl in

Chaplin’s Mutual films was played by Edna Purviance, who was Chaplin's real-life

romantic interest and onscreen leading lady in more than 20 films over a 7 year period

beginning in 1915.

Joining the pair in all many popular films is Eric Campbell - playing the burglar in this

film -whose large bulk and menacing looks made him the perfect bully or villain in

most of Chaplin’s comedy shorts. This formula of the Little Tramp, the girl and the

bully became a popular standard, not just for Chaplin but also for his contemporaries.

The High Sign (1921) – Buster Keaton

No doubt the most recognized name and face of silent comedy next to Charlie Chaplin

is Buster Keaton, whose films are still cherished and admired by fans and film critics

alike down to this day. Affectionately nicknamed ‘The Great Stone Face’ because of

his world-famous trademark deadpan expression, many modern-day scholars of film

history believe Keaton was the greatest comedy master of them all.

Raised in a family of vaudeville performers, Buster quickly rose to fame when he

entered the world of moving pictures in 1917 doing slapstick comedies with other

established stars like Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle. Before long, Buster’s deadpan facial

expression became known and loved the world over, and his breathtaking stunt work is

still highly respected to this day.

Keaton always carefully calculated and choreographed his stunts and physical gags, and

much of his comedy skill lies in surprising the audience; from the simple scene of

opening a newspaper only to find that it opens up to an unmanageable size bigger than a

bed sheet, to trap doors and revolving panels in walls through which Buster and his

pursuers seem to effortlessly glide and tumble.

Keaton’s short comedies often had a story and general plot to follow, and in The High

Sign, he tries his hand at a job in a shooting gallery. Using tricks and gadgets was

another favourite feature of early silent comedies, and here Buster uses a dog and a

string to fake his skill as an expert shooter. Of course, these gadgets and tricks always

backfire on poor old Buster!

Rowdy Ann (1919) - Fay Tincher

This fast-moving Western is so packed with dynamic acting, stunts and action that

viewers barely have a moment to catch their breath during the entire twenty minute

running time! Fay Tincher, as Rowdy Ann, exudes raw energy and is a dynamic force

in this short film that doesn’t miss a beat, and tells a nice short story that is certain to

put a smile on everyone’s face.

A cattleman’s daughter, Ann is a crack shot, beats men at boxing, and lassoes her father

out of the saloon to drag him away from trouble. Petite and pretty, she surprises

everyone with her manly behaviour. Any man who offends her in some way pays the

price, but she has ideals and principles, as well as the strength of character to succeed in

a man’s world.

All the more outrage – and laughs! – when Ann’s father sends her to college to become

a lady. For example, when learning to dance, ballet style and wearing a fairy costume,

she dons her cowboy boots and gun belt. Ridiculous as it may look, her fighting spirit

ends up rescuing a college friend from disaster.

Fay Tincher gives a very energetic performance, often with pantomime gestures, to

convey the spirit of Rowdy Ann, and while it is not the funniest comedy ever made, it

stands out as a quality short film, especially for its time in 1919. It contains some

standard comedy and Western action of the period, such as a saloon brawl and running

along the top of a moving train. There is also a short comedy scene involving an Afro-

American couple on the train, reflecting their speech and general public image – long

before political correctness!

Tincher had a successful film career in the silent era after several years on the stage,

beginning in 1913 under the direction of D.W. Griffith. She was soon doing slapstick

comedy, and then a variety of more dramatic roles, eventually amassing over 150

significant parts to her credit by the end of the silent era. In 1918 she founded her own

company, Fay Tincher Productions, acting in various movies like Rowdy Ann in the

following years.

In the 1920s she enjoyed further success, mainly as Min in the comedy serial Andy

Gump, whose adventures lasted over forty movies. Although she was very popular in

her time, her name has sadly been forgotten over the decades, but her reputation as one

of early cinema’s finest comediennes stands firm to this day.

Lizzies of the Field (1924)

Perhaps the foremost torchbearer of the two-reel silent slapstick comedy, however, was

Mack Sennett, founder of Keystone Studios in 1912 and producer of the world’s best

known silent comedies, the Keystone Kops. Many successful stars such as Chaplin,

Mabel Normand and even Gloria Swanson began their careers with Mack Sennett who

produced a mind-boggling total of seven hundred films from 1911 to 1949, and directed

and acted in over three hundred of them.

Lizzies of the Field counts as one of the classics even though it was made in 1924, long

after the Keystone Kops era in the mid-1910s. It features one of the greatest and most

astounding car chase scenes ever filmed, with impressive stunt and camera techniques.

In the lead role is Australia’s very own Billy Bevan as Nick Pliers, a mechanic in one of

two rivaling garages, determined to beat his opponent in the thrilling cross-country car

race.

Billy Bevan was born in Orange, NSW in 1887 and began his career here in Australia,

touring with the Pollard theatre troupe which went to the US, where Mack Sennett later

discovered him. Bevan appeared in over a hundred one and two-reelers (short comedies

of ten to twenty minutes in length) for Mack Sennett in the decade 1919 to 1929.

Bevan amassed a moderately impressive Hollywood career after the advent of sound in

1929, accepting small to medium size roles in talking pictures until his retirement from

the screen in 1950. In fact, the acknowledgments to some of the most prestigious

pictures of the sound era bear his name alongside those of Tyrone Power, Joan Fontaine,

Cary Grant, and Ronald Colman. These credits include the role of the innkeeper in the

1936 Fox film, Lloyds of London; Jerry Cruncher in the 1935 classic, A Tale of Two

Cities; the policeman in Hitchcock's fondly remembered 1940 film, Rebecca; and the

ticket-taker in another Hitchcock classic, Suspicion, from 1941.

May 17 @ 3 pm The Comic Genius of Harold Lloyd with Paul Paviour OAM

At the time Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton were rising to fame – and immortality as

legendary silent screen comedians – there was another very popular comedian also

making his mark in early Hollywood.

Harold Lloyd ranks alongside Chaplin and Keaton as one of the most influential

comedy actors in the developing years of motion pictures, making nearly two hundred

films in two decades from 1914 onwards.

Unlike Chaplin and Keaton, however, Lloyd did not play a clown-type character

wearing ill-fitting clothes or a deadpan expression. In fact, the only thing he wore as a

trademark of his comic character was a pair of round, thick-rimmed glasses. Lloyd

endeared himself to a vast audience by simply being a normal, everyday guy who finds

himself in ridiculous and hilarious situations.

Having acted on stage since boyhood, Lloyd moved to California in the early days of

motion pictures, finding work for one of the great pioneers of the industry, Thomas

Edison. When a fellow struggling actor and director, namely the legendary Hal Roach,

set up his own studio in 1913, Lloyd joined him and became his most successful comic

actor in the following years.

Hal Roach was one of the most influential film producers during the silent era, rivalling

Mack Sennett who produced Keystone Kops and brought Charlie Chaplin to the world’s

attention. Roach brought other great talents to the screen, such as Will Rogers,

comedians Harry Langdon and Charley Chase, and most famously, Laurel & Hardy.

Grandma’s Boy (1922) 60 minutes

In the years 1915 to 1917, Roach produced more than 60 one-reel short comedies with

Harold Lloyd, laying a firm foundation for Lloyd’s future success in the 1920s when he

began starring in feature-length comedies such as Grandma’s Boy. Along with

Chaplin’s feature film, The Kid, the acclaimed Grandma’s Boy pioneered the new

successful formula combining the usual comical stunts and gags with more realistic and

complex character development.

This is evident in the first few scenes of Grandma’s Boy when the audience is

introduced to a young man whose boyhood was already marked by shyness and

apparent cowardice. Soon the viewer is anxious to see whether he will manage to win

the girl he loves, especially when an intimidating rival begins to woo her.

As the story progresses and reveals the young man’s awkwardness and embarrassments,

we become better acquainted with his grandma, especially when she tells him about her

late husband whose acts of bravery in the Civil War were apparently due to a magic

charm which she now bestows upon the boy!

Harold Lloyd’s comedies involve a lot of exciting action scenes, thrills and stunts, many

of which he did himself. One of the most famous scenes of such a daredevil feat is of

Lloyd hanging from the hands of a clock high above the street in the 1923 production of

Safety Last.

Haunted Spooks (1920) 25 minutes

Haunted Spooks is one of Lloyd’s many popular and very successful shorter films from

around this time, and it features the same co-star as in Grandma’s Boy, namely Mildred

Davis whom he married in 1923. The unrealistic story moves much faster than

Grandma’s Boy but makes up for it with many moments of clever comedy, unexpected

gags and great indoor action.

Motivated by greed over a large inheritance, the schemers try to make the pretty young

heir to the fortune believe that the house she now has to live in is haunted, resulting in

her departure and making her grandfather’s will void. Lloyd stumbles into this plot

after being jilted and clumsily attempting suicide, and finds happiness when he and the

heiress uncover the fake spooks. Sophisticated fun and nonsense, Haunted Spooks is a

fine example of the successful formula of comedy Lloyd used in his prolific and also

very profitable career.

A point of interest is that during the filming of Haunted Spooks, Lloyd was injured

while doing publicity pictures for the Roach studio. An accident with a bomb mistaken

as a prop resulted in the loss of the thumb and index finger of his right hand. The injury

was disguised in future films with the use of a special prosthetic glove, which he tried to

hide from the camera. Fortunately, the injury did no harm to his career, which only

really began to take off in the early 1920s, shortly after this incident.

This wonderful short was co-directed by the prolific Melbourne director, Alf Goulding.

Other special shows are being planned for Lindfield for June 21, July

26 and August 23. Further details soon. Please stay in touch!

AUSTRALIA'S SILENT FILM FESTIVAL www.ozsilentfilmfestival.com.au

Phone 0419 267318 info@ozsilentfilmfestival.com.au

We acknowledge the invaluable and generous support from the renowned David Shepard, Film Preservation and Associates and Blackhawk Films, Lobster Films, Jeff Masino, Flicker Alley, Leslie

Eric May, Robert Gamlen and the sublime flair and talents of Stephanie Khoo.

We appreciate and value the assistance and efforts of Geoff Stacy, Heather Gorrell and Heather Moen Boyd. The Festival is greatly

enhanced by the superb skills of the celebrated Paul Paviour OAM.

Please visit and read about your favourite silent film with the superb reviews at Amazon by the Festival’s tireless supporter,

Barbara Underwood, whose notes grace many of these pages.