Villa Aurora Events Archive

July 2013

SILENT SALON - silent films and the villa organ

July 13, 2013 8:30 pm

Los Angeles

T H E

A C A D E M Y O F M O T I O N P I C T U R E A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S

A N D V I L L A A U R O R A P R E S E N T

Max Davidson – Guenter Buchwald on Organ

Max Davidson (1875-1950) is one of the numerous forgotten Hollywood supporting actors who acted in innumerable movies. His heyday was in the late 1920s when he was engaged at the Hal Roach Studios for a series of Jewish comedies which belong to the best and funniest shorts the studio ever produced. All films focus on Davidson as the henpecked Jewish family father who has to struggle with his good-for-nothing son(s) and a daughter who falls in love with a non-Jewish boy.

Conductor, pianist, violinist and composer Guenter A. Buchwald is one of the founders of the international renaissance of Silent Film. Unanimously acclaimed as as "world class improviser" he belongs to the elite international group of leading film accompanists.

Since his beginning in 1978 he has accompanied more than 2,100 silent films in more than 2,500 film concerts. He is regularly invited as musician in residence to international film festivals and is Musical Director of the annual Bristol Silents Slapstic Festival and resident conductor of the Freiburg Philharmonic Orchstra for "film in concert".

Buchwald is a great stylistic virtuoso playing anything from baroque to contemporary music, and from folk to jazz. He is in great demand as a composer as well being a solo film accompanist.

For the first time, the Villa gardens will be open for patrons to come early and picnic, watch the sunset and then settle into the salon for a program of comedies, by Hollywood's leading comedians. Bring a picnic and enjoy the Villa garden, followed by a sceening of silent shorts with live organ accompaniment. Grounds open and shuttle starts at 6 pm.

Program:
JEWISH PRUDENCE, 1927 - 21’
THE BOY FRIEND, 1928 – 20’
PASS THE GRAVY, 1928 - 25´

Tickets are $15
Friends of Villa Aurora $5
For tickets go to: www.brownpapertickets.com

For the other Silent Salons visit our event calender.

SILENT SALON - silent films and the villa organ

July 27, 2013 8:30 pm

Los Angeles

T H E

A C A D E M Y O F M O T I O N P I C T U R E A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S

A N D V I L L A A U R O R A P R E S E N T

French Comedian Max Linder – Dean Mora on Organ
Dedicated to Katharina and Thierry Leduc

Max Linder predated and influenced Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd by several years, and was largely responsible for the creation of the classic style of silent slapstick comedy. He debuted in French theater in 1905, but quickly became an enormously famous and successful film comedian on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to his character "Max," a top-hatted dandy. By 1912, he was the highest-paid film star in the world.

He successfully began to direct films in 1911, but his career suffered a huge blow, when he was injured in WWI. He made an attempt to revive his career by making films for the recently-formed United Artists (one of whose founders, being Chaplin) in the early 1920s came to little, although these later films are now regarded as classics. He returned to France and killed himself in a suicide pact with his wife in 1925. (Source: Michael Brooke )

Dean Mora was born and raised in Los Angeles; his interest in pre-WWII America was forged early on as a child. After he received his Bachelor of Music, at CSU Northridge, Dean was offered the job of accompanying silent films at the Silent Movie Theatre in Hollywood, where he worked for 6 years accompanying over 200 movies. He studied theatre organ with the legendary Gaylord Carter, learning all the tricks and techniques needed to effectively accompany a silent film.

Dean has performed in venues such as the Orpheum Theatre (Los Angeles), Copley Hall (San Diego), Fox Theatre (Hanford, CA). In addition, he has also performed at film festivals in various locales, including The Roger Ebert Film Festival in Champaign, IL, the UCLA Film Archives Series, The Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Academy in Beverly Hills, CA, and the Silent Movie Film Festival in Osaka, Japan. He leads a big band (Dean Mora & His Orchestra), playing dance music of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.

Program:

MAX TAKES A PICTURE – 13:06
LOVE’S SURPRISES – 6:15
TROUBLES OF A GRASS WIDOWER – 9:51
MAX SETS THE STYLE – 13:11
EXCERPT FROM “BE MY WIFE” (1921 Feature) 13:11

Tickets are $15
Friends of Villa Aurora $5
For tickets go to: www.brownpapertickets.com

Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service starts at 6 pm from Los Liones Drive, off Sunset Boulevard two blocks North-East of Pacific Coast Highway.

Please do not park on the Topanga State Park Lot!

For the other Silent Salons visit our event calender.