The Silent Film Music Podcast with Ben Model

In this episode: Ben recaps his month's activities in March 2024, talks about the subtleties of underscoring dramatic moments when a main character thinks through an important decision, a creative way to invent main themes for a program of 7 animated shorts, accompanying a 1914 "Italian Diva" melodrama, and picking up on something about the film from its spoken introduction that affected the score created during the show; plus live-performance excerpts from scores for "Shoes" (1916) by Lois Weber at NYU, a restored Koko the Clowns cartoon at MoMA, and "Sangue Bleu" (1914) at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò; and more. Show notes for episode 63 can be found here.

In this episode: Ben accompanies Tom Mix in "Sky High" at the Library of Congress, adapting for organ some themes he originally composed for piano; Ben and Kerr discuss the importance of seeing silents with live music, and how a film may play one way when watched alone and completely differently at a show; Ben and Kerr discuss the hilarious and gifted silent film comedian Marcel Perez; Ben covers an upcoming Blu-ray/DVD release from Undercrank Productions; discussion of the newly restored "Man, Woman and Sin" screened at MoMA in January; news about upcoming shows, and more. Show notes for episode 62 can be found here.

In this episode: Ben shares his experiences accompanying the silent era blockbuster "The Big Parade", the rare Italian film "A' Santanotte", Laurel & Hardy shorts, and others; he and Kerr discuss the practices of creating leitmotifs on the fly during a show, and then repeating them later in the film's score; there's some deep info and history on the different pianos at MoMA, and how the feel of playing these pianos – and the many others Ben encounters in his work – affect his playing and live-scoring; Ben's New Year's resolution for his silent film accompaniments (with a nod to Akira Kurosawa); and more. Show notes for episode 61 can be found here.

In this episode: accompanying several films at MoMA in August of new restorations and a series of early color process silents; audience response difference between San Francisco Silent Film Festival and MoMA screening, and how this affected Ben's score in NYC; Ben talks about pivoting when presented before a show with a change of running time or of musical instrument; audience laughs during the climax of Harold Lloyd's "Safety Last"; accompanying a film where only way to preview was by reading trade reviews; live recording excerpts from "Loves of Casanova" at MoMA, "Safety Last" in Schroon Lake, "Second Fiddle" at Capitolfest, and "The Mark of Zorro" at the Williams Center in NJ; and more. Show notes for episode 60 can be found here.

In this episode: Ben talks about preparing for his performance at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, his first time at the fest; his Undercrank Productions home video label celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2023; Ben talks about the two newly restored Tom Mix silent films that were released by Undercrank on Blu-ray in July; he shares some tips and insights on having music light on the piano at different venues, some thoughts about scoring a few different scenes from Harold Lloyd's "Safety Last"; and…don't click away during the wrap-up, or you'll miss a nice surprise at the end of the episode. Show notes for episode 59 can be found here.

In this episode: Ben talks about doing double-duty as both silent film accompanist and Blu-ray producer-distributor; Ben talks about accompanying "Clash of the Wolves" starring Rin-Tin-Tin at the TCM Classic Film Festival and the differences between this performance and the one of recording a score for this film, along; Kerr and Ben talk about the upcoming Ernie Kovacs book "Ernie in Kovacsland", and Kerr takes a real deep dive into the history and recordings of "Die Moritat", known to Kovacs fans as the music heard during the comedian's "oscilloscope" gag sequences; Ben talks about the 10th anniversary of his first DVD release, about starting what became his homevideo label Undercrank Productions, and about he's celebrating; musical performance excerpts are heard from a show for Kindergarteners, and from a recent performance on piano accompanying "Wings". Show notes for episode 58 can be found here.

In this episode: Ben and Kerr discyss about Ben's process for creating and recording silent film scores for home-video releases, and how it differs from scoring a silent in performance. Ben talks about composing by using the start-stop possibilities of recording in place of traditional notation, as well as using underscoring to help audiences register certain kinds of transitions or to grasp subtleties in the mood or intent of certain kinds of scenes. Recording examples includes segments from Tom Mix in "The Best Bad Man", recently restored by the Museum of Modern Art,; Tom Mix in "Sky High"; newly restored by Undercrank Productions; and "Clash of the Wolves" starring Rin Tin Tin, newly restored by Kino Lorber, aired on TCM and also presented at the TCM Classic Film Festival. Show notes for episode 57 can be found here.

In this episode: Ben and Kerr talk about the current theme music for the podcast and its impending replacement; Ben talks about playing for a recent screening of the newly restored Chaney film "The Unknown" and how he musically meets the issues of possible inadvertent laughter in this and other silent dramas; Ben and Kerr discuss Ernie Kovacs' use of music in Kovacs' commercials for Dutch Masters cigars; Ben talks about a scoring films with extensive WWI battle sequences, how these utilize a 1910s form of silent film's visual language and how this can affect scoring these scenes; plus news about other recent and upcoming shows, and live performance clips from "The Unknown" (at MoMA) and "Wings" (at the Library of Congress). Show notes for episode 56 can be found here.

In this episode: Ben talks about scoring silent films that lack a traditional narrative – films made for educational purposes – and creating music that is more "visual" than what is usually done for silents; films discussed are the 1922 "Making of a Bronze Statue" and the 1970 "Spirals" produced by the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Ben has been hired to score these and others for the Met's online "From the Vaults" series; also covered are the live-scoring of polar exploration silent films shown at the Stumfilmdager (Silent Film Days) festival in Tromsø, Norway, and the accompanying of college graduates receiving their diplomas at Radio City Music Hall; Ben talks about creating and recording musical motifs, transitions and underscore for the streaming children's program "Danny Joe's Tree House". Show notes for episode 55 can be found here.

In this episode: Ben talks about the fun and challenges of playing a number of different organs at silent film shows during October and November in Ocean Grove NJ, Ursinus College in PA, and at the historic Everett Theatre in Delaware; Ben and Kerr discuss how often to use leitmotivs and some techniques Ben uses to create themes before or during a show; Ben talks about the sixth sense silent film accompanists develop and use to sense an audience's engagement with a silent film during a screening; plus some thoughts on Lois Weber's direction of "Shoes" (1916), meeting a Silent Comedy Watch Party fan at a show, using a Zoom digital recorder for show recordings, and more. Show notes for episode 54 can be found here.

In this episode: Ben reflects on his conversation with William Perry heard in the previous two episodes of the podcast; discusses how considering a show's intended audience is part of his programming process; covers the different film options for Halloween shows; talks at length about his recent live-underscoring of the 1931 "Frankenstein" at the Library of Congress, incl. multiple examples recorded during the show; shares a few minutes of his pipe organ accompaniment for Harold Lloyd's "The Freshman" at South Dakota State University; answers listener questions, and more. Show notes for episode 53 can be found here.

In this episode: Ben interviews composer, silent film pianist and television producer William Perry. Perry is probably best-remembered for his scores for the now-legendary television series "The Silent Years", produced by Paul Killiam, that ran for two seasons on public television, in 1971 and 1975. For twelve years Perry was the music director and composer-in-residence at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In the second part of this interview, Perry talks about his work as MoMA's full-time silent film accompanist, his friendship with Lillian Gish, how he approached composing his "Silent Years" scores, how he orchestrated them for symphonic performances and recordings in later years, his decision to leave MoMA and film accompaniment, his serving as producer and composer for series of Mark Twain films for PBS, and more. The 1st half of the interview was posted in September 2022. Show notes for episode 52 can be found here.

In this episode: Ben interviews composer, silent film pianist and television producer William Perry. Perry is probably best-remembered for his scores for the now-legendary television series "The Silent Years", produced by Paul Killiam, that ran for two seasons on public television, in 1971 and 1975. For twelve years Perry was the music director and composer-in-residence at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In the first part of this interview, Perry talks about his impressive musical background, how he became MoMA's full-time silent film accompanist, the origins of the "Silent Years" shows, and more. The 2nd half of the interview will be posted in October 2022. Show notes for episode 51 can be found here.

In this episode: Ben accompanies a bunch of shows of silent serials during June, and talks about the musical challenges of accompanying serials and in scoring an entire program of them; Kerr and Ben continue their conversation about Ernie Kovacs's use of music, and discuss Kovacs' "Street Scene" video of Bartok's "Concerto For Orchestra", and for music by Stravinsky, Karajev and Esquivel; Ben gives a progress update on his new book "The Silent Film Universe"; Kerr and Ben talk about silent film comedian Raymond Griffith, and Ben discusses the nuances of accompanying a comedian whose humor is more personality-based than others. Show notes for episode 50 can be found here.

In this episode: Ben plays with holding back musically to help an audience of art deco fans connect with Valentino and Nazimova during a show of "Camille" (1921); he and Kerr Lockhart dig in to details about "Oriental Blues", the theme song Ernie Kovacs used for all of his shows from 1951-1962; and Ben discusses the various intricacies of live-scoring Keaton's "The General" in order to help one gag, get out of the way of another, and to create a musical arc for a feature-length comedy that's essentially one very long chase. Show notes for this episode can be found here.

In this bonus episode, podcast co-host Kerr Lockhart talks with Rick Benjamin, musical director of The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, about mood cues and photoplay music from the silent era.

In this episode: Ben trusts his instincts and has a little magic happen during a show of "The Patsy"; makes a decision and tries something new when it comes to using a "characteristic" musical mode in scoring Keaton's "The Cameraman" and "The General"; pays tribute to Gilbert Gottfried and talks about getting to do a comedy bit with him when Ben was a guest on Gilbert's Amazing Colossal Podcast in 2021; pulls back to help the audience zoom in for a tender moment in "The Cameraman"; plus performance clips from shows at St. Francis College and the Oxford Community Center; and a teaser for a bonus episode (no. 48), in which podcast co-host Kerr Lockhart interviews the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra's Rick Benjamin Show notes for episode 47 can be found here.

Ben talks about: being a guest accompanist at the 25th annual Kansas Silent Film Festival; playing for Edward Everett Horton in a Cathedral, and the use of a "Bowery waltz"; introducing Marcel Perez to fans at the KSFF; playing for William S. Hart in Brooklyn; being able to turn on a dime in underscoring and have it make sense musically; live-scoring "The Goose Woman" on piano; new Marion Davies Blu-ray and DVD releases from his Undercrank Productions label and the new Kickstarter for Raymond Griffith films; and more. Episode 46 show notes are available here.

Ben talks about: the process of scoring "Zander the Great" and "Beverly of Graustark" for home video release; a recent Kickstarter that funded super-quick; Marion Davies's talents as a silent film actor; teaching in-person and on-campus again after two years; accompanying Edward Everett Horton shorts and "The Fire Brigade" at the Museum of Modern Art; various silent film accompaniment techniques; upcoming streams and shows, and more. Episode 45 show notes are available here.

This is a re-posting "flashback" of episode 8, which originally posted on February 4, 2015. Welcome – News from January: composing and performing music for Parallel Exit's "Everybody Gets Cake", running off-Bway thru Feb 8, 2015 – Recording: instrumental from "Cake" show: "A Shakespearean Smoke Break" – the restoration of Georges Melies' "A Trip to the Moon" with narration – recording: live performance piano and narration for "A Trip to the Moon" in Tromsø, Norway – funeral organists workshop in Oslo, Norway – Recording: live accompaniment to DeMille's "King of Kings" on the pipe organ at the Holmen Church in Oslo – Upcoming performances, Egyptian Theatre in Boise, with Boise Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble, release of Marcel Perez DVD, Hal Roach at Silent Clowns, Zorro in Bklyn, Keaton at Wesleyan, and more – Closing. Somewhere back in 2017 when I absorbed my blog and podcast into my website, episodes 1-8 of the podcast became unexplainably unavailable. Some listeners have inquired about getting to hear these early shows from 2012-2015 and the easiest thing for me to do (tech-wise) was to re-post them. Here's episode 8!