Post by Terry Harbin on Jun 20, 2005 11:50:00 GMT -5
Beatrice Fairfax
with live piano accompaniment
by Philip Carli
Wednesday, July 13, 8:00 WSH
with live piano accompaniment
by Philip Carli
Wednesday, July 13, 8:00 WSH
Directed by: Theodore & Leopold Wharton
With Grace Darling, Harry Fox
With Grace Darling, Harry Fox
Beatrice Fairfax was a serial made in Ithaca in 1916 by the Wharton Brothers for the William Randolph Hearst-owned International Film Service. The Wharton Brothers, whose studio was located at Stewart Park, also lensed the serials The Exploits of Elaine and The Mysteries of Myra.
Beatrice, played by Grace Darling, is the original advice-to-the-lovelorn reporter, who with her friend and not-so-secret admirer, Jimmy Barton, played by Harry Fox, investigate calls for help to escape exotic perils and dangers.
A DVD has recently been released which includes four episodes from the serial, all of which have been digitally restored and color tinted according to instructions written on the film negative.
Beatrice Fairfax, Vol 1 was restored by Eric Stedman of Newtown, Pennsylvania. He runs The Serial Squadron web site, devoted to the "cliffhanger arts & sciences." Visit it at www.serialsquadron.com.
Working with local film historian Terry Harbin, Stedman plans to restore and release two more volumes of Beatrice Fairfax, so that eventually all fourteen episodes will be available on DVD. Copies of Vol. 1, with musical scores by Eric Stedman, will be available for sale at the July 13th screening, and can also be purchased from the History Center in downtown Ithaca.
Tonight we'll use our high quality video projection system to view these episodes (see descriptions below), which will be accompanied by one of the best silent film accompanists in the world, Dr. Philip Carli.
He has toured extensively as a film accompanist throughout North America and Europe, performing on keyboard and with orchestra at such venues as Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery in Washington, DC, the Cinematheque Quebecoise in Montreal, the National Film Theatre in London, and the Berlin International Film Festival.
He is the staff accompanist for the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, and performs annually at several film festivals in the United States as well as at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in Italy.
Dr. Carli has accompanied hundreds of films over the years on piano and organ, and recorded accompaniments to over seventy films for video released by the Library of Congress, a number of film and video companies, and for broadcast on the American Movie Classics and the Turner Classic Movies cable channels.
The Jealous Wife (27:31)
Jimmy adopts a disguise to infiltrate the dangerous Black Hand syndicate, currently blackmailing a famous violinist and threatening New York with homemade bombs.
Billy's Romance (28:44)
Involves the romantic dreams of a 14 year old telegraph boy and the revenge of an escaped convict intersect.
The Stone God (30:26)
Concerns a forbidden marriage, a murderous revenge plot by an Indian prince, and an English explorer who dared to defile a temple and steal a sacred idol.
Mimosa San (29:21)
Beatrice and Jimmy visit the Nipponese Tea Garden and investigate the theft of the formula for a secret weapon by foreign spies.
1916, b&w, 1 hour 54 minutes, USA