Ben and Kerr talk about Ben's shows at MoMA's "Silent Movie Week" of "Saxophon Susi" and "Berlin: Symphony of a Great City", and at the Rubinstein Atrium at Lincoln Center for an early Louise Brooks Paramount feature. Ben discusses adjusting his approach to laying down a recorded score when scoring "Poisoned Paradise" (1924) with Clara Bow for the National Film Preservation Foundation, and for Keystone shorts for the "Rediscovering Roscoe" Blu-ray set due out in 2026. Ben and Kerr discuss their both noticing a growing and a younger audience for silent film in recent years, with Ben observing this at Capitolfest this past August. Performance excerpts include "Saxophon Susi" (piano, at MoMA), "Love 'em and Leave 'em" (1924) (piano, at the Atrium), and "Finders Keepers"(1928) starrring Laura LaPlante (theatre organ, at Capitolfest). The latter is also included as an example of a live score being affected by the film's introduction, in this case by historian/author Laura Jerrolds.
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Ben and Kerr talk about Ben's shows at MoMA's "Silent Movie Week" of "Saxophon Susi" and "Berlin: Symphony of a Great City", and at the Rubinstein Atrium at Lincoln Center for an early Louise Brooks Paramount feature. Ben discusses adjusting his approach to laying down a recorded score when scoring "Poisoned Paradise" (1924) with Clara Bow for the National Film Preservation Foundation, and for Keystone shorts for the "Rediscovering Roscoe" Blu-ray set due out in 2026. Ben and Kerr discuss their both noticing a growing and a younger audience for silent film in recent years, with Ben observing this at Capitolfest this past August. Performance excerpts include "Saxophon Susi" (piano, at MoMA), "Love 'em and Leave 'em" (1924) (piano, at the Atrium), and "Finders Keepers"(1928) starrring Laura LaPlante (theatre organ, at Capitolfest). The latter is also included as an example of a live score being affected by the film's introduction, in this case by historian/author Laura Jerrolds.
ep. 52: William Perry interview (part 2) – MoMA, Lillian Gish, composing orchestrally for piano, and more.
The Silent Film Music Podcast with Ben Model
59 minutes 22 seconds
3 years ago
ep. 52: William Perry interview (part 2) – MoMA, Lillian Gish, composing orchestrally for piano, and more.
In this episode: Ben interviews composer, silent film pianist and television producer William Perry. Perry is probably best-remembered for his scores for the now-legendary television series "The Silent Years", produced by Paul Killiam, that ran for two seasons on public television, in 1971 and 1975. For twelve years Perry was the music director and composer-in-residence at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In the second part of this interview, Perry talks about his work as MoMA's full-time silent film accompanist, his friendship with Lillian Gish, how he approached composing his "Silent Years" scores, how he orchestrated them for symphonic performances and recordings in later years, his decision to leave MoMA and film accompaniment, his serving as producer and composer for series of Mark Twain films for PBS, and more. The 1st half of the interview was posted in September 2022.
Show notes for episode 52 can be found here.
The Silent Film Music Podcast with Ben Model
Ben and Kerr talk about Ben's shows at MoMA's "Silent Movie Week" of "Saxophon Susi" and "Berlin: Symphony of a Great City", and at the Rubinstein Atrium at Lincoln Center for an early Louise Brooks Paramount feature. Ben discusses adjusting his approach to laying down a recorded score when scoring "Poisoned Paradise" (1924) with Clara Bow for the National Film Preservation Foundation, and for Keystone shorts for the "Rediscovering Roscoe" Blu-ray set due out in 2026. Ben and Kerr discuss their both noticing a growing and a younger audience for silent film in recent years, with Ben observing this at Capitolfest this past August. Performance excerpts include "Saxophon Susi" (piano, at MoMA), "Love 'em and Leave 'em" (1924) (piano, at the Atrium), and "Finders Keepers"(1928) starrring Laura LaPlante (theatre organ, at Capitolfest). The latter is also included as an example of a live score being affected by the film's introduction, in this case by historian/author Laura Jerrolds.
