GRASS VALLEY, Calif. January 22, 2019 – Three great comedy shorts from the 1920s screen for free with live musical accompaniment at 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, at Peace Lutheran Church in Grass Valley.
Enjoy an evening of laughs! Silent Movies with Walt Strony presents Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton and the great Charley Chase, entertaining you with their antics in three silent comedy classics. The nationally renowned Strony provides live musical accompaniment at his Signature Walt Strony Series, four-keyboard organ.
In addition to accompanying the movies, Strony will play great popular tunes from the years in which the films were released. Selections include “Fascinatin’ Rhythm” from 1926 and “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” from 1929.
A free reception follows the musical event. This entertainment is a production of Arts @ PEACE. Any donations received will benefit the Peace Organ Fund – the church’s effort to purchase an instrument with real pipes.
Silent Movies with Walt Strony presents the concert-like excitement of silent film, as Strony evokes musically the action and emotion portrayed on screen.
Strony presents “Liberty,” 1929, with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as two escaped convicts. They get their laughs by inadvertently exchanging their pants, then get chased onto a skyscraper under construction. (Watch for the crab!)
Keaton filmed “One Week” in 1920. It features the woes of two newlyweds who receive a build-it-yourself house – buildable in one week – as a wedding gift. The humor comes when a jilted suitor sabotages the instructions. “One Week” was preserved by the United States Film Registry for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant,” according to Cynthia Littleton.
Though little-known today, Charley Chase was one of the great comedic actors of the 1920s. He filmed “Mighty Like a Moose” in 1926, produced by the great Hal Roach, who also produced Laurel and Hardy films and the “Our Gang” series. “Mighty Like a Moose” features a homely husband and wife who each uses plastic surgery to improve their looks.
Some critics consider this Chase’s greatest film. “Mighty” also was preserved by the U.S. Film Registry, and it’s considered among the great silent shorts, according to film historian Leonard Maltin.
“My favorite scene in ‘Mighty’ is the fight Chase has with himself – for the benefit of his wife!” Strony said. “It’s brilliant and very clever. He was definitely a genius.”
Peace is at 828 W. Main St., near downtown Grass Valley, and has ample parking. For more information, visit www.PeaceLutheranGV.org or call (530) 273-9631.
Trina Kleist is youth and outreach coordinator for Peace Lutheran Church in Grass Valley. She can be reached at tkleistwrites@gmail.com.