“The Hoodlum” Brings Live Musical Accompaniment To Screening Next Week
September 11, 2014
On Tuesday, September 23, the professors of FS-244, History of Film, will be presenting students with an unique experience. They will be screening
The Hoodlum
, directed by Sidney Franklin in 1919, on 35mm with live, musical accompaniment.
The screening will also feature guest speakers Elaina Archer of the
Mary Pickford Foundation
and Mike Pogorzelski of the Academy Film Archive to introduce the film.
Professor
Emily Carman
, who helped to bring this screening experience to Dodge College again this year, feels that this an important opportunity for the students; not just to experience how film screenings used to be, but also to learn a bit about Mary Pickford.
Elaina Archer, from the Mary Pickford Foundation, talking to students at last year’s screening.
“Pickford was just as important as the other big names associated with Hollywood history, but unfortunately, she has been somewhat forgotten over time,” Carman said. “She had a huge influence on the industry. She was the only woman on the founding board of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, she was the only female founder of United Artists, and she was most prominent female producers of her time.”
Carman knew of Mary Pickford before, but did not understand her legacy until she sought it out. Once she learned, she felt it was important to help bring her name back into the history of Hollywood. Carman teamed up with the Pickford Foundation to help Dodge College students learn more about it, and present the screening to them.
“Last year, we screened
The Little American
with live music, and it was a huge success. That’s why we decided to do it again this year, with another Pickford film,
The Hoodlum
,” said Carman.
The film was restored by the Academy a few years ago, and tells the story of a spoiled rich girl who is forced to fight for survival in the slums.
Live music makes everything better!
Elaina Archer, of the Pickford Foundation, likes to screen films that resonate with the students of today and still seem relevant. To help recreate the experience of how the film was originally viewed, they bring in a musician who composes a new score for the screening.
Last year, the Pickford Foundation brought a film preservation and archiving workshop to Dodge College to learn how the process works, and even wound up hiring two students to work for them afterward.
“It’s definitely an unique opportunity for Dodge students to not only learn a bit about the history behind the film, but to see a great movie the way it was meant to be seen.”
The screening will take place September 23 at 1PM in the Folino Theater. Please join us for this amazing screening!
