There’s no mistaking the black bowler hat, neatly trimmed
moustache and mischievous glance of silent film icon Charlie
Chaplin. But perhaps less known to audiences is Chaplin’s
astute musical ear.
“Chaplin is an amazing talent,” said Los Angeles
Chamber Orchestra board member and Silent Film Gala co-chair Hanna
Kennedy. “Few people realize that he composed the music for
all of his films.”
For the 16th year in a row, the Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra’s Silent Film Gala Fund-raiser has focused on
bringing back the silent film tradition to audiences by showing
restored silent films accompanied by live musicians with the
original scores. This year, the orchestra plans to showcase
Chaplin’s many talents with screenings of his films
“The Circus” and “How to Make Movies” at
Royce Hall on June 4.
Initially, Kennedy never dreamed of the event’s long-term
success. She simply was interested in hearing the orchestra perform
Dmitri Shostakovich’s beautiful musical score from a
little-seen Russian silent film, which the orchestra eventually
obtained permission to show alongside the performance.
Although the original event was sparsely attended, Kennedy
recognized that it filled a unique niche in the L.A. community and
decided to boost the event’s profile.
“We knew we were after something wonderful,” Kennedy
said. “I said, “˜Let’s make it bigger and
better,’ so I consulted with some people who are involved
with old films in the industry, right here in Los Angeles. They
told me, “˜If you want to be big, you must do a Chaplin
movie.’ That’s how it started.”
Kennedy soon realized that to reach larger audiences, the silent
film gala needed the combined support of the music and film
industries.
She enlisted the help of Turner Entertainment Co. President and
National Film Preservation Foundation Chairman Roger Mayer to help
forge connections to the film industry.
“It made sense to me to help them with this fund-raising
event because it honors the orchestra, classical music and silent
film ““ all things which I’ve always supported,”
Mayer said.
With his assistance, the Silent Film Gala garnered substantial
celebrity support, especially from Dustin Hoffman, who has been
appointed as an honorary chair of the event and has also hosted the
gala five times.
“People like the concept of supporting both a musical
organization and the restoration of silent film,” said
Mayer.
“Most of the celebrities who support us are film buffs who
love silent film, and therefore they want to support the
restoration of it.”
Each year, L.A. Chamber Orchestra has performed the restored
scores alongside silent films that celebrate the comedic talents of
Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Mary Pickford, among
others.
Chaplin’s “The Circus” and “How to Make
Movies” are particularly notable selections because they only
recently have been restored and preserved.
“In many cases, we choose a film that’s very popular
and very famous, and then it’s a matter of people saying,
“˜Well, I’ve never seen it with a live orchestra or on a
big screen,'” Mayer said. “But in this case, we
have films that most people haven’t seen at all. It’s
pretty special.”
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s support of silent film
may seem like an unusual move for an orchestra, but originally,
silent film was shown typically in theaters where their scores were
performed live by organists, pianists or even small orchestras.
The Silent Film Gala simply presents silent films to audiences
the way they were originally conceived.
“In the silent era, music had even more importance than it
does today because then, you had to overact just to make a
point,” Kennedy said. “Music at that point was crucial,
even more than today, because how else could you imply a mood or
event without music?”
The quality and tone of film scores are hugely important, often
underestimated aspects of filmmaking.
“We have found that audiences are not much interested in
watching a silent film alone, but they do become greatly interested
when there’s a score with it,” Mayer said. “It
just greatly enhances both the commercial value and the artistic
value when a score is added to a silent film.”