Caldwell Fine Arts 2010-2011 Season

with Theatre Organist Ben Model
Conductor: Robert Franz

September 18
Saturday, 7:30 pm

$13 - $16 adult; $9 - $12 student
Upper level seats are listed first.
Includes all fees. Group rates $2 off for 10 and $3 for 20. Handling fee is $2 per order.

Caldwell Fine Arts opening event in the 50th Season is on Saturday, September 18, 7:30 p.m,.in Jewett Auditorium. It features silent movie organist and composer, Ben Model, with the Boise Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. They provide the music for “Grandma’s Boy” with Harold Lloyd, “The Scarecrow” with Buster Keaton, and “Dog Shy” with Charley Chase. The silent movies with “live” music will provide a totally new experience for the audience. The large permanent screen in Jewett will be put to good use. This production is the concluding event for the Indian Creek Festival. Season tickets are also available which may include 5, 8 or all events which include the Brad Richter and Victor Uzur Guitar & Cello Duo, Big Bang Jazz Band, “Amahl and the Night Visitors” by Opera Idaho, Eugene Ballet “Nutcracker,” The Perfect Gentlemen (an a cappella quartet), Missoula Children’s Theatre “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” Golden Dragon Acrobats from China, the Cleveland International 2009 Piano Competition Winner, and Boise Baroque Orchestra. www.caldwellfinearts.org

The movies remind us of a bygone era when life was simpler. Model is able to help set the mood of the action with a large repertoire of musical effects. Ben is the staff musician at the New York City Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) where he plays for the “Silent Clowns Film Series.” The audience will hear music as it was played in movie theatres from 1893-1928.

Model’s career was fostered by important figures in classic cinema. As a youth, he watched silent movies at the home of Walter Kerr, the drama critic for the N.Y. Times and author of “The Silent Clowns” (Knopf, 1975). He attended school at New York University and learned the craft and technic of silent film scoring from Lee Erwin, a legendary silent film organist. Model says, “ I want to take the silent film experience to any place I can. The early comedies are a lot funnier than some of the films being released now. In a silent film, the audiences have to use their imagination and become active participants. Kids jump right in, so it is very family friendly.”

The Boise Philharmonic Music Director and Conductor Robert Franz will direct the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra performing as the “Pit Orchestra.” The Chamber Orchestra was well received in a November performance last season. Many people enjoyed the intimacy of the smaller ensemble. Franz looks forward to returning to the Jewett Auditorium because of its exciting, natural acoustics. This program will be repeated on Sunday, September 19, at the Egyptian Theatre at 7:30 p.m. www.boisephilharmonic.com.

Audiences will appreciate the remodeled, enlarged restrooms. Improvements also include a new handicap ramp and associated seating spaces inside Jewett Auditorium.

Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd are the most highly respected comics of the “Silent Era.” The evening includes two of the Big Three and Charley Chase. Charley starred in nearly a hundred two-reelers. His comedy was a little more sophisticated. He often plays a gentle, charming man who turns out to be a loser. On a personal level, he suffered with alcoholism which precipitated a heart attack at age 47.

Dog Shy with Charley Chase
Charley is afraid of dogs. One chases him into a phone box, which a stuffy aristocrat has just left to get more change to continue the phone call with his fiancée, who is being forced by her parents to marry him. Charley agrees to help the girl, and is mistakenly hired as a butler at the same house. That evening, there's a big party at the house, and he has to find out which of the 20 girls there is the right one. The moment, he finds her, he gets an order to bathe the Duke, her dog, but he thinks she's talking about the future son-in-law. Meanwhile, the father, fed up with the aggressive dog, gives another domestic the order to get rid of the dog at midnight. When he hears him howling like a dog, the dog will be thrown out of the window. The aristocratic fiancée is in reality a crook, who is going to throw the safe out of the window. His partner in crime will be prepared when he hears him howling like a dog at midnight. Charley tells the girl that he wants to marry that he will be ready for her eloping at midnight when he howls like a dog.

The Scarecrow with Buster Keaton
Farmhands, Keaton and Roberts, share a cottage full of mechanical devices for making life easy. Both the men vie for the affection of the farmer’s daughter. Keaton, disguised as a scarecrow, causes trouble for the rival and the farmer. When Keaton stoops to tie his shoe, the girl accepts what she thinks is his kneeling proposal.

Grandma’s Boy with Harold Lloyd
This was Harold Lloyd’s first full-length feature. It took over 6 months to shoot and cost over $100,000, a huge sum in 1922. Oddly, the audience cannot see the money in elaborate sets, costumes, remote locations, or hordes of extra actors. It was spent on meticulous trial and error filmmaking, polished and polished to perfection. Harold Lloyd said it was his favorite and best film, although critics preferred two others "Speedy" and "Safety Last."

"Grandma’s Boy," an amusing, yet poignant movie, is a character study of a weakling. Lloyd as the boy is very accident prone, yet thoroughly believable. He is superb and has great support from other actors, Mildred Davis and Mark Jones. Anna Townsend is wonderful as Grandma providing insight and vitality in what could have been a humdrum characterization. The movie is funny, smoothly directed, and agreeably paced with some thrilling climactic stunts. Harold Lloyd considered it his favorite and best film.

Boise Philharmonic Pit Orchestra