Not silent, and not dark
Good news that The Silent Movie Theatre in the Fairfax district has reopened again, according to the Los Angeles Times. Better news, I think, that in its new incarnation as a revival art house the venue isn’t limited strictly to showing silent movies. I love silent movies, but in the DVD (and, soon, post-DVD) age, I doubt there’s enough of an audience to sustain the theatre. Best news: 96-year-old Gaylord Carter is still the organist. Yes, I said 96. Mr. Carter accompanied Buster Keaton films in their original release; 80 years later he’s still magnificent.
It’s nice to know that LA is going to have another revival house, one that sounds like The Little Art Theatre. I have many fond memories of the long-lost Little Art, deep in the woods of Bargaintown, NJ. In the early 1980’s before the advent of home video, this was the only place anywhere near my home to see art films, foreign releases like “Jean de Florette” and its sequel “Manon of the Spring” (both of which we just Netflixed last month), and assorted strange offerings like the Herve Villechaize / Oingo Boingo vehicle “Forbidden Zone.” The Little Art was also where I had my first date with the woman who would become my wife; we drove over there after a college event to see the midnight showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and wound up being the only two from our crowd who went.
Even with all those charms, though, it had never had a 96-year-old organist.
October 27th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
The Little Art was indeed amazing. I remember back then I was writing for the Burlington County Times. I sent a note to my editor, Lou Gaul, who was also the film critic. I had written it on the back of a flyer from the theater. When he saw all the films they had he couldn’t believe it. He had access to Philadelphia but he was jealous of our small cinema. The most interesting feature I saw there was SALO by Passolini (if memory serves). And didn’t Lee drag me there when I was sick as two dogs to view ERASERHEAD?
November 1st, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Re: SILENT MOVIE, long life to you! God, what a fun place that is. A cultural time-warp that requires no medication nor spacesuits! YAY!
I saw all of that at the Little Art, plus THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. I saw SALO, 102 Days Of Sodom – and thought, that’s a lot of shit. Eraserhead when ill, it’s sort of like guilding the lily or putting instant coffee in your microwave oven, no?
I also saw some hilarious films there like ‘Get Out Your Handkerchiefs’ with that french guy, whatshisname. Even more fun was that my date and I were the only ones in the theater. All that for $5 or so, you can’t buy that kind of fun anymore.
Best greetin’s to fellowblogresponders.
November 1st, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Salo, 120 Days of Sodom
french guy = Gerard Depardieu
movie date in an empty theater…priceless
November 27th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
[…] The revamped Silent Movie is quickly becoming the contemporary LA equivalent of the Little Art Theatre of yore. I wrote about both beloved screening houses here. […]