Mid-Winter Comedy Film Festival February 20, 2009

Midwinter Comedy Festival returns to
Niles Silent Film Museum

The weekend after President's Day, Friday through Sunday, February 20- 22 will be filled with lotsa laughs when the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum once again presents the MID-WINTER COMEDY FILM FESTIVAL. Hosted and curated by noted film collector/historian Richard M Roberts, the Mid-Winter Comedy Film Festival continues in its fourth year, showcasing the Great Kings of Silent Comedy such as Buster Keaton, and Laurel and Hardy, as well as giving a look at some of the many other comedy greats less-well-remembered but also terrific like Charley Chase, Harry Langdon, Raymond Griffith, Lloyd Hamilton, Lupino Lane, and Larry Semon.

Friday evening kicks off with a talkie comedy program that will give
audiences a rare opportunity to hear the voices as well as see the comedy of comics like Roscoe Arbuckle and Raymond Griffith, both of whom made very few talkies. Also on hand will be Buster Keaton, appearing with his entire family, including, Father Joe and Mother Myra Keaton, who raised Buster in the vaudeville circuit. Clan Keaton play hillbilly moonshiners in the 1935 short comedy PALOOKA FROM PADUCAH. Harry Langdon will be playing a mad attorney in COUNSEL ON DE FENCE (1934), as well as Laurel and Hardy in COME CLEAN.

Saturday afternoon features Madcap Mack Sennett rarities, and Charlie Chaplin's brother Syd Chaplin will appear in the 1925 feature THE MAN ON THE BOX , in which he does his famous female impersonation. In the evening, more great Hal Roach silent comedies including Our Gang in THE CHAMPEEN (1923), Charley Chase discovering he has TOO MANY MAMMAS (1924), and Laurel and Hardy playing cavemen as they watch the FLYING ELEPHANTS (1928).

Supplying the music for the silent comedies will be a couple of fine
accompanists: top silent film composer and arranger Dr Phillip C. Carli from Rochester, New York, and Dr. Frederick Hodges, brilliant ragtime pianist and film accompanist who lives locally.

A complete program schedule can be found at
www.nilesfilmmuseum.org. A festival pass for the entire weekend is $50.00, and includes a free copy of the events program book. Individual program sessions are $7-$10 donation. For advance registration (which is recommended as we may sell out), you can get tickets through PayPal at www.nilesfilmmuseum.org or send a check or money order for advance registrations to:
Edison Theater - Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
37417 Niles Blvd.,
Fremont, CA 94536

Do you have questions? (510) 494-1411 (leave a message) or email
[email protected]

RICHARD M. ROBERTS is an internationally-known Film Historian, Collector, Writer, Lecturer, and Filmmaker who has contributed articles to such periodicals as CLASSIC IMAGES, GRIFFITHIANA, PAST TIMES, PRIVATE SCREENINGS, MOVIE COLLECTORS WORLD, and NEW TIMES WEEKLY. A Specialist on Film Comedy, he has been a guiding hand in the rescue and preservation of a number of rare films, and has been involved in two television series on Silent Comedy: as Host and Writer of the syndicated Just for Laughs show, and as Writer and Historical Consultant of the American Public Television's Slaphappy, supplying both programs with film footage from his sizeable personal collection. He also recently appeared on an episode of PBS's HISTORY DETECTIVES where he identified an unknown Jack Hoxie film. He is a Consultant to the UCLA Film and Television Archive, the British Film Institute, The Library of Congress, the National Association of Cinephiles, and The George Eastman House. His commentary tracks appear on Laughsmith Entertainment's THE FORGOTTEN FILMS OF ROSCOE "FATTY " ARBUCKLE, and INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH KEATON (both projects also utilized prints from his collection) The HAMMER NOIR and FORGOTTEN NOIR collections from VCI/Kit Parker Films as well as WEISS-O-RAMA, from VCI which he co-produced withKit Parker, and the HARRY LANGDON-LOST AND FOUND collection and the upcoming BECOMING CHARLEY CHASE collection from AllDay Entertainment/Facets Video.
His Book, PAST HUMOR, PRESENT LAUGHTER: THE COMEDY FILM INDUSTRY 1910-1945, VOLUME ONE (of a projected three) will be available from Bearmanor Media this year. He is also the annual Film Programmer/event coordinator and ringmaster of the Slapsticon Film Festival in Washington DC.

Official Website: http://www.nilesfilmmuseum.org