It was an honor to provide live accompaniment for the UCLA Festival of Preservation once again! The newly preserved Silent Films included:
Tramp Strategy (1911)
A mischievous vagabond infiltrates a bourgeois household in this newly discovered one-reel comedy by the pioneering female director Alice Guy.
Peggy, Behave! (1922)
Baby Peggy, one of the biggest child stars in movie history, does not disappoint in this charming silent comedy, even though it only exists in fragmentary form.
Good References (1920)
Starring Constance Talmadge – While often overlooked by the lens of contemporary cinema, Constance Talmadge was one of the silent era’s most popular and brightest comedic stars, making nearly 50 feature films before retiring as an independently wealthy woman in 1929. She became, as F. Scott Fitzgerald once called her, “the epitome of young sophistication—the deft princess of lingerie and love…the flapper de luxe.”
The Poor Nut (1927)
A common scenario finds the bespectacled, shy bookworm with more talent for learning than athletics, dreaming hopelessly of dating the campus beauty. She, of course, is only interested in the big man on campus, often also the school’s star quarterback. The Poor Nut follows this pattern closely. Jack Mulhall plays Jack, a botany student in love with Julie Winters (Jane Winton), the beauty queen of the rival college. He writes (but never sends) love letters addressed to her, lying about his fraternity membership and athletic skills. As a prank, one of Jack’s letters is mailed to Julie, who responds and wants to meet. Knowing his dream girl will be looking for him when the two colleges compete in a track meet, Jack has to find a way to measure up to her expectations—and fast!
Los Angeles Times Film Critic Kenneth Turan wrote a wonderful article about the festival and the historic films they brought to audiences this year. I hope you’ll check it out!