travsd

Some Silent Movie News

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A few silent movie news items have come our way over the past several days. They seemed worth bundling and reporting here:

  • We are sad to report of the passing of Marilyn Slater, long a principal champion of Mabel Normand. Her website Looking for Mabel Normand can be found here. A resident of Beverly Hills, Marilyn was widely loved in the silent movie preservation community. There are no details about her sudden passing at this writing.
  • In the good news column, however, we are delighted to report that friend Ben Model, the silent film accompanist, preservationist and scholar got some great attention in The New Yorker this week! Read it here. 
  • For New Yorkers: On November 15, there will be an event at the National Arts Club called Women and the Silent Film Era, led by Tom Meyers of the Fort Lee Film Commission. Information and reservations here. 

Published by travsd

Writer and performer Trav S.D. (www.travsd.com) is best known for his books "No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous" (2005) and "Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube" (2013). He has written for the NY Times, the Village Voice, American Theatre, Time Out NY, Reason, the Villager and numerous other publications. Trav has been in the vanguard of New York’s vaudeville and burlesque scenes since 1995 when he launched his company Mountebanks, presenting hundreds of acts ranging from Todd Robbins to Dirty Martini to Tammy Faye Starlite to the Flying Karamazov Brothers. He has directed his own plays, revues and solo pieces at such venues as Joe’s Pub, La Mama, HERE, Dixon Place, Theater for the New City, the Ohio Theatre, the Brick, and 6 separate shows in the NY International Fringe Festival. In 2014 he produced and directed the smash-hit "I’ll Say She Is", the first ever revival of the Marx Brothers hit 1924 Broadway show in the NY International Fringe Festival.