'An Evening of Silent Film' set for April 6

The USC School of Music and the USC Film Studies Department will present "An Evening of Silent Film with organist Dennis James" at 8 p.m. April 6 in the School of Music Recital Hall. The evening will feature two comedies by silent screen star Charlie Chaplin: Easy Street (1917) and The Kid (1921). Theatre organist James, a research fellow in film studies at USC, will provide live accompaniment to the films.

The event is free and open to the public.

In February 1916, only two years after entering the movie industry, Chaplin signed a contract with the Hollywood-based Mutual Film Corporation to produce a series of twelve short movies. This huge contract made Chaplin the highest-paid entertainer of his time and allowed him to exercise complete control and artistic freedom over the comedies, inspiring the twenty-seven-year-old Chaplin to be as funny and daring as he could. During the next 16 months, Chaplin made twelve comedies at the breakneck speed of almost one a month. Easy Street, one of these short comedies, opens with Chaplin (as the Little Tramp) wandering into a mission where he is smitten by a lovely girl while listening to a minister's sermon. Now reformed, Chaplin becomes a policeman and is assigned to the inner city ghetto of Easy Street where he helps the poor, rescues the kidnapped girl, and defeats the local bully becoming a hero to the people of Easy Street. Not your typical sanitized view of the inner city, the film walks a fine line between humor and pathos and stands as one of Chaplin's finest short films.

The Kid was the first two-reeler Chaplin was contracted to make for First National Studio, but when the project grew to six reels, it became the comedian's first feature film as writer, director, and star. Edna Purviance, Chaplin's long-time leading lady, plays a desperate unwed mother who leaves her baby in a limousine with a note pleading whoever finds him to take care of him. She changes her mind, but the baby (Baby Hathaway), is gone and ends up in the tender care of Chaplin's Tramp. Fate has brought the two together and the impoverished Tramp raises the Kid (Jackie Coogan) as best he can. When the authorities later try to take the Kid to an orphanage, the Tramp resorts to violence and rescues the Kid, only to have him stolen again and returned to his mother who, now prosperous, is offering a handsome reward. After a heavenly dream, the Tramp is awakened by a kindly policeman who reunites him with the Kid and his mother. Co-starring six-year-old stage sensation Jackie Coogan, The Kid was a tremendous box office hit, grossing over $2.5 million, making it one of the biggest money-making movies of its day.

James is internationally known for his colorful playing and his historically authentic silent film score recreations. He has "played for the silents" on every continent and at major silent film festivals, including the renowned Pordenone Silent Film Festival and festivals hosted by the British Film Institute, and the American Film Institute. He has played films as a guest artist with major U.S. symphony orchestras including Chicago, Boston, San Diego, Dallas, and the Ft. Wayne Philharmonic. James also plays frequently at distinguished venues such as the Washington National Gallery, The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Chicago Art Institute, the Library of Congress, and the Konzert Haus in Vienna. He has regular engagements at several silent film houses in North America including the Castro Theater in San Francisco, the Stanford Theater in Palo Alto, the El Capitan in Los Angeles, Uptown Theater in Calgary, Alberta, and the Paramount Theater in Seattle, where he makes his home in nearby Tacoma, Washington. In 2004, James joined the USC faculty as a research fellow in film studies.

For more information, contact Julie Hubbert, music, at 7-3214 or Susan Courtney, film studies, at 7-3261.

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