A couple of weeks ago we sent out a nice proposal for artworks at a fire station and right away the City of Fremont called Vickie to tell her they would like her to begin immediately. Anyway, this gave us the opportunity to have this excellent experience Saturday night. After a rocky start that involved wandering throughout Fremont, weirdly finding a similar small old theater and nearby fire station at the same 37395 street address on a different boulevard, we arrived at the Edison Theater, home to the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, in Niles, California.
These people are serious. They love their piece of history, and it's a great one--Niles was home to the Essanay Movie Manufacturing company early in the 1900s, is a mecca for silent film enthusiasts, they made a couple hundred films, including Charlie Chaplin's "The Tramp," and numerous features starring the studio's head, Broncho Billy. We learned so much--perfect original posters, tons of still photos all located at the site of one of the west coast's earliest movie theaters.
And they have a great vintage movies series going on. Last night we saw three really good, interesting pieces--the first really a stunner. It was "The Sinking of the Lusitania," an animation by Windsor McKay, who I've been familiar with as the cartoonist of "Little Nemo in Slumberland", tour-de-force drawing style with a cinematic perspective. The 5 minute film follows U-boat and cruise liner to their fateful intersection, the path of the first torpedo, the writhing smoke and explosions, the listing vessel, hopeless figures diving overboard. And concludes: "And they say we should not hate the HUN!"
Here's a video of that movie:
Take a look at this one, a bit of Little Nemo. The first part is a drawn out intro to the actual cartooning--slide over to 7:50 in to see some real visionary animation.
The second show was from Britain, a light comedy beautifully acted, staged, and filmed--even in the very early days of the cinema there was a strong awareness of the medium. The last movie, the feature, was remarkably self-referential, a love triangle and murder, that transpires on the set of a movie being made, with the lead actress the scheming villain. Again, really strong acting, a twisted plot that moved well.
These people are serious. They love their piece of history, and it's a great one--Niles was home to the Essanay Movie Manufacturing company early in the 1900s, is a mecca for silent film enthusiasts, they made a couple hundred films, including Charlie Chaplin's "The Tramp," and numerous features starring the studio's head, Broncho Billy. We learned so much--perfect original posters, tons of still photos all located at the site of one of the west coast's earliest movie theaters.
And they have a great vintage movies series going on. Last night we saw three really good, interesting pieces--the first really a stunner. It was "The Sinking of the Lusitania," an animation by Windsor McKay, who I've been familiar with as the cartoonist of "Little Nemo in Slumberland", tour-de-force drawing style with a cinematic perspective. The 5 minute film follows U-boat and cruise liner to their fateful intersection, the path of the first torpedo, the writhing smoke and explosions, the listing vessel, hopeless figures diving overboard. And concludes: "And they say we should not hate the HUN!"
Here's a video of that movie:
Take a look at this one, a bit of Little Nemo. The first part is a drawn out intro to the actual cartooning--slide over to 7:50 in to see some real visionary animation.
The second show was from Britain, a light comedy beautifully acted, staged, and filmed--even in the very early days of the cinema there was a strong awareness of the medium. The last movie, the feature, was remarkably self-referential, a love triangle and murder, that transpires on the set of a movie being made, with the lead actress the scheming villain. Again, really strong acting, a twisted plot that moved well.
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