Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge at NY’s Donnell Media Center
December 5th, 2006 by Andre Soares
© Joseph Yranski Collection
February 2007 will be Talmadge month at New York City’s Donnell Library Center Auditorium. As part of the "Meet the Music Makers" series, which explores the artistic symbiosis between the silent screen and live musical accompaniment, three Constance Talmadge vehicles and one Norma Talmadge comedy will be screened on four consecutive Wednesdays, beginning February 7, at 2:30pm. Admission is free.
The musicians accompanying the screenings — and discussing their craft — are Bruce Loeb, Stuart Oderman, Judith Rosenberg, and The Biograph Players: Edward Hupton, Joe Kerr, and John Francis.
The series, made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts, and organized by the Donnell Media Center’s Joseph Yranski, a silent-film connoisseur if there ever was one (I’ve known Joe for years), will screen The Dangerous Maid (1923), Her Night of Romance (1924), and Her Sister from Paris (1925), all starring Constance Talmadge, plus Norma Talmadge’s Kiki (1926).
From the mid-1910s to the late 1920s, Brooklyn-born Norma and Constance Talmadge were two of the most popular film stars in the world. Norma, in particular, was revered among women, who could identify with her suffering through a whole array of tragic marriages and even more tragic love affairs. Among her most famous films are Smilin’ Through (1922), a tear-jerker in which love conquers bad blood between families; Frank Borzage’s The Lady (1925), in which she loses custody of her young son only to meet him again years later; and a modernized version of Camille (1927), making love to Gilbert Roland. The light-hearted Kiki is a departure for the actress, who only dabbled in comedy sporadically. (Photo: © Joseph Yranski Collection.)
Constance, on the other hand, was a popular light comedienne — and would have remained popular if audiences were allowed to see her work. In fact, her timing and looks are as modern today as they were eighty or ninety years ago, as can be attested in the delightful Lubitsch-esque comedy Her Sister from Paris (actually directed by Sidney Franklin). In the film, Constance’s bourgeois wife pretends to be her more exciting and worldly "sister from Paris" in order to win back the affections of husband Ronald Colman — who can also be seen in Her Night of Romance and, playing opposite Norma, in Kiki. (In 1941, Greta Garbo starred for George Cukor in a remake of Her Sister from Paris, the box-office disappointment Two Faced Woman.) (Photo: © Joseph Yranski Collection.)
Unfortunately, neither Norma nor Constance have had their champions among film scholars, who opt to drool over Buster Keaton, Louise Brooks, and one or two other well-known idols rather than attempt to expand their (and their readers’) knowledge and appreciation of the immense pool of talent found in silent films.
That’s why the "Meet the Music Makers" series is such a treat. It is a rare chance to learn more about the art of film scoring — I do hope that TCM’s Young Composers will attend those screenings religiously — and to get acquainted with two of the top film stars Hollywood has ever produced. (Even though a relatively large number of the Talmadges’ films have survived, most lie unseen and unremembered in vaults at the Library of Congress and other institutions.)
As a plus, all four films have been recently restored by the Library of Congress, in cooperation with the Douris Corporation. (The films will be screened from DVDs.)
And it’s all free.
In other words, a great chance not to be missed.
The Donnell Library Center Auditorium is located at the New York Public Library at 20 West 53rd Street. Phone: (212) 621-0609
Note: As per the press release, "programs are subject to last-minute change or cancellation."
The schedule below is from the Donnell Media Center "Meet the Music Makers" press release:
Wednesday, February 7, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Bruce Loeb will play for the film
HER NIGHT OF ROMANCE, DVD, b&w, 70 minutes
Directed by Sidney Franklin, 1924
Starring: Constance Talmadge, Ronald Colman, Jean Hersholt, Albert Gran, Robert Rendel, Sidney Bracey, Joseph Dowling, Emily Fitzroy, Clara Bracey, Templar Saxe, James Barrows, Claire De Lorez
An heiress in HER NIGHT OF ROMANCE disguises her identity while traveling in England with her father. There she falls in love with an impoverished nobleman who is also in disguise. When it is discovered that they spent the night alone at his estate, they are forced to pretend to be married.
Bruce Loeb, a San Franciscan Bay native, studied voice, piano and harpsichord at U.C. Berkley and at conservatories in Holland and Israel. For twenty years he has been accompanying silent films at the Pacific Film Archives, using period music as the basis for his improvisations. In addition he teaches piano in Berkeley.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Stuart Oderman will play for the film
THE DANGEROUS MAID, DVD, b&w, 80 minutes
Directed by Victor Heerman, 1923
Starring: Constance Talmadge, Conway Tearle, Morgan Wallace, Charles Gerrard, Marjorie Daw, Kate Price, Tully Marshall, Lou Morrison, Phillip Dunham, Otto Matiesen, Wilson Hummel, Thomas Ricketts, Ann May, Ray Hallor, Lincoln Plummer
THE DANGEROUS MAID is an historical romance set during the reign of James II. Based upon the book Barbara Winslow – Rebel by Elizabeth Ellis, a daring English noblewoman attempts to save her kinsman just before “The Glorious Revolution” when Catholics and Protestants were warring with one another.
New York City native Stuart Oderman has accompanied silent films for over 48 years appearing regularly at the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Public Library and the Gish Theatre at Bowling Green State University. Besides performing extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Greece he has the added distinction of being a personal friend of Constance Talmadge.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Judith Rosenberg will play for the film
HER SISTER FROM PARIS, DVD, b&w, 70 minutes
Directed by Sidney Franklin, 1925
Starring: Constance Talmadge, Ronald Colman, George K. Arthur, Margaret Mann, Gertrude Claire
Based upon Ludwig Fulda’s play, HER SISTER FROM PARIS in which a celebrated author loses interest in his faithful but frumpy wife. The arrival of her sophisticated twin sister who is a dancer/ “woman of the world,” provides just the right impetus to mend the marriage and reinvigorate both spouses.
Judith Rosenberg, is native to Brooklyn, with both her B.M. and M.M. in Performance from the Eastman School of Music. She is Artist / Lecturer and Music Director of the Dance Department at Mills College in Oakland, California. She had accompanied many of the country’s most prominent Modern Dance performers. Since 2001 she has begun to compose musical accompaniment for silent films.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007 at 2:30 pm
The Biograph Players (Edward Hupton, Joe Kerr, John Francis), will play for the film
KIKI, DVD, b&w, 92 minutes
Directed by Clarence Brown, 1926
Starring: Norma Talmadge, Ronald Colman, Gertrude Astor, George K. Arthur, Marc MacDermott, Frankie Darrow, Edwin Connelly, William Orlamond
One of Norma Talmadge’s rare comedic performances, KIKI is based upon the play by Andre Picard and adapted by David Belasco. A Parisian gamine desires to become a chorus girl and does succeed, but exchanges it for the love of the manager of the Follies.
The Biograph Players is a piano, synthesizer and percussion trio that utilizes film music and popular songs of the silent era, original compositions and improvisation to provide exciting accompaniment for silent films across the United States. Edward Hupton a native of Des Moines, founded the group and is a former member of the Bijou Players, and has composed music for public television. San Antonio native Joe Kerr, studied composition with Nadia Boulanger in France, and is coordinator of the summer music program at Fontainebleau. John Francis from Bellaire, Ohio has worked with the American Ballet Theatre and New York Chamber Symphony as well as teaching in several music schools in New York.
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