a silent movie

last night, mr. h-s and i went to see a silent movie. about once a month, they play one downtown. it’s preceded by a “vaudeville” show (basically short sample acts from several of the local entertainment companies). i think my favorite part was watching the woman who was doing sign language interpreting while she was signing “poor wandering one” from the pirates of penzance. she was great!

the music during the movie is played live on an organ. i didn’t realize before i went that the music that they play isn’t scripted by the movie makers. the organist plans (and extemporizes) his own sound track to the whole movie! we saw an old harold lloyd movie–one where he hangs off of a giant clock face on the side of a building. perhaps the original “hanging off the hands of a clock” movie! it was definitely not your average movie-going experience. the audience laughed together, i heard audible responses to the actor as he wavered about on the edge of the roof and when it was all over, people stood to applaud the organist. definitely unique. i truly enjoyed it.