The Silent Comedy Watch Party 1st Anniversary!
One of the few highlights of the past year of self-quarantine and social distancing has been the live stream of The Silent Comedy Watch Party every Sunday afternoon at 3pm ET. Near the beginning of the pandemic, silent film composer Ben Model experimented with streaming live-accompanied silent film on YouTube from his apartment, accompanying a couple of rare, silent comedy shorts, with film historian Steve Massa helping with the film intros. The experiment was a tremendous success, and it became a weekly ritual.
The show continues to this day (check out the Silent Comedy Watch Party webpage for this week’s schedule and archived past episodes); and on March 21st, Ben, Steve, and the crew (their wives) will celebrate their one-year anniversary with the show’s 50th episode. While the technology behind the show has improved a bit since the first episode, and it now features a beautiful logo and graphics by Marlene Weisman, the basic format of the show remains unchanged. It provides a reliable, weekly dose of laughter and film history.
By the way, while the show is provided for free on YouTube, if you appreciate what Ben, Steve, and the gang are doing, you can make a one-time donation securely online on Square or PayPal, and a recurring contribution can be made on Patreon.
Here’s the official press release on the anniversary episode:
‘THE SILENT COMEDY WATCH PARTY’ WEEKLY LIVE-STREAM WITH LIVE MUSIC CELEBRATES ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF SPREADING MUCH-NEEDED LAUGHS DURING COVID-ERA
Silent movie pianist, Ben Model, and film historian, Steve Massa, use D.I.Y. virtual cinema to bring laughter and relief to fans of all ages throughout the USA and worldwide during COVID-19 shutdowns
NEW YORK, N.Y. (February 25, 2021) – Silent-film presenter and accompanist Ben Model (http://silentfilmmusic.com) announced today that the weekly live-stream “THE SILENT COMEDY WATCH PARTY,” which he co-hosts with film historian Steve Massa, will celebrate its one-year anniversary on March 21, 2021, the show’s 50th episode. The 90-minute program, presented for free, has been a presence on YouTube since mid-March, 2020, each Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET. The show brings slapstick films of the 1910s and 1920s live from Model’s and Massa’s living rooms to several hundred loyal viewers worldwide, all presented with live improvised piano scores complete with film discussions. More than a classic film show in the virtual realm, it’s become a panacea of sorts for its viewers.
THE GENESIS
“THE SILENT COMEDY WATCH PARTY” was launched at the dawn of the pandemic last March, after Model returned from performing a weekend of shows in Nebraska and watched all his upcoming gigs for 2020 get canceled. More than an alternative to in-person cinema shows, it was a way to spread laughter to help everyone cope with the stress of being suddenly stuck in their homes. Model quickly came up with the concept, tech, show name and a snappy theme song.
“Although I’d had the idea and tech to pull this off for some time,” says Model, “I hadn’t had a strong motivation to make a silent film show happen as a live-stream…but now there was a humanitarian need for this. I thought of all the people who could use a really good laugh to deal with the shutdown, the fear and stress of the pandemic, and not knowing when it would end. I called up Steve [Massa] about my idea for The Silent Comedy Watch Party, and we agreed this would be a great way to help people out.”
Model set up the necessary tech gear around his acoustic piano and figured out how to add his friend, film historian Steve Massa, remotely from his NYC apartment. Model’s wife, Mana Allen, volunteered to operate the camera; Massa’s wife, Susan Selig, was on board to help with tech; and the two stage-managed the live-stream via text. Longtime collaborator, graphic designer Marlene Weisman offered to create a logo, and associate producer on Model’s DVD releases, Crystal Kui offered to do the same for the streams.
Model’s idea for “THE SILENT COMEDY WATCH PARTY” turned out to be much more than moving a silent film show from a theater into the online realm.
THE RECEPTION
Messages, which came in over email and social media after the first live-stream, were full of gratitude for providing relief from the pandemic stress and for bringing viewers much-needed laughter. This has continued to be the case every week, with stories of families gathering to watch, spouses who’d never given the silents the time of day becoming fans, while other viewers told of how the show had helped them get through personal dark times and recovery from illnesses. “This is what gets me through the week” is a frequent comment Model sees about the show. During a period when days all run together, it’s become a weekly anchor of appointment TV for the 400-600 people who watch together, virtually, during the live-stream and the 1,500-3,000 people who watch the archived shows during the days after the stream.
A GLOBAL GATHERING
In addition to people who watch nationwide, there are people who tune in weekly throughout the U.K. and Europe, Australia and Japan who comment on the YouTube links and on Twitter. There is a group of younger folks who watch together on a Discord server.
SHOWCASING LESSER-KNOWN COMEDIANS AMONG STARS
The films screened are a cross-section of the silent film era’s comedians, from big names like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin to lesser-knowns like Alice Howell and Marcel Perez, as well as a very young Carole Lombard, the silent movie version of “Our Gang,” and Gloria DeHaven’s parents billed as Mr. and Mrs. Carter DeHaven.
GUEST HOSTS
Model is not only able to bring in Steve Massa from across town with TV-switcher-type streaming software, but also notable guests like Suzanne Lloyd, grand-daughter of Harold Lloyd; Library of Congress curators, Rob Stone and Rachel Del Gaudio; Elif Rongen-Kaynakci from the EYE Filmmuseum in the Netherlands; and filmmaker and artist, Ina Archer who is also a media conservator for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
CELEBRATING FIRST ANNIVERSARY
The first-anniversary show of “THE SILENT COMEDY WATCH PARTY” will live-stream on March 21, 2021, and will include the films: AN EYE FOR FIGURES (1920) with Hank Mann, shown on the very first episode; THE FADE-AWAY (1925), a Fleischer cartoon with Ko-Ko the clown, shown on episode 2, and QUEEN OF ACES (1925) starring Wanda Wiley, one of the forgotten funny ladies of silent films who’s become an SCWP fan favorite.
About THE SILENT COMEDY WATCH PARTY
Every Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, watch classic comedy shorts from the 1910s and 1920s on YouTube with new live musical scores by renowned silent film accompanist Ben Model, and with live introductions by film historian, Steve Massa. The show’s logo and graphic design are by Marlene Weisman; associate producer is Crystal Kui; Mana Allen and Susan Selig (Model’s and Massa’s wives) handle the camera, lights and stage management at the couples’ respective Manhattan apartments. The films programmed feature well-known stars like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin as well as lesser-knowns such as Marcel Perez, Snub Pollard, Alice Howell, Gale Henry and more.
About Ben Model
BEN MODEL is one of the nation’s leading silent film accompanists and performs on both piano and theatre organ. Ben works full-time presenting and accompanying silent films in a wide variety of venues around the USA and internationally – doing so virtually, now – carrying on a tradition he learned from silent film organist Lee Erwin (1909-2000).
Over the past 39 years Model has created and performed live scores for several hundred silent films. He is a resident film accompanist at the Museum of Modern Art (NY) and at the Library of Congress’ Packard Campus Theatre, and performs at theatres, museums, schools and other venues around the US and internationally. His recorded scores have been heard on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and on numerous home-video releases from Kino Lorber, Milestone Films and Model’s own label Undercrank Productions. Ben Model is also a Visiting Professor at Wesleyan University (Connecticut), where he teaches a course on silent film.
About Steve Massa
STEVE MASSA is the author of Slapstick Divas: The Women of Silent Comedy and Lame Brains and Lunatics: The Good, The Bad, and The Forgotten of Silent Comedy. He has organized and curated comedy film programs for the Museum of Modern Art, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, the Pordenone Silent Film Festival and Bristol Slapstick Festival, as well as provided essays for the National Film Registry, the National Film Preservation Foundation, and the Criterion Collection. Steve has provided notes and commentaries for many comedy DVD and Blu-ray releases, as well as co-curated Undercrank Productions’ The Mishaps of Musty Suffer, Volumes 1 & 2, the award-winning Marcel Perez Collection, Volumes 1 & 2, The Alice Howell Collection, and the forthcoming Edward Everett Horton Collection. His most recent book is Rediscovering Roscoe: The Films of “Fatty” Arbuckle.
