FREE EVENT!

“In the language of screen comedians four of the main grades of laugh are the titter, the yowl, the bellylaugh and the boffo. The titter is just a titter. The yowl is a runaway titter.

Anyone who has ever had the pleasure knows all about a bellylaugh. The boffo is the laugh that kills.” – James Agee, Life Magazine, 1949

As visual curios evolved into dazzling artistry, silent cinema gave us some of the world’s greatest comedians. In a nuit blanche devoted to what James Agee coined “comedy’s greatest era,” silent films featuring Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, and Max Linder will be presented with live piano accompaniment by William O’Meara, Robert Hall and Andrei Streliaev. Both programmes begin with the first ever comedy, les frères Lumière’ L’Arroseur arrosé from 1895, a slice of garden life that elicited the first laughs (and gasps!) from cinema viewers, and paved the way for a rich tradition of burlesque on screen. One of the night’s highlights is the sole feature film by the dapper French silent film star Max Linder, a suave top-hatted lady’s man, whose seminal influence was felt by subsequent generations of comedians, though sadly little of his work survives. Seven Years Bad Luck is a fine example of Linder’s genius and prompts belly laughs and boffos galore. – Andréa Picard

Programme 1:

L’ARROSEUR ARROSÉ

Director: Les frères Lumière 1895 16mm 1 minute silent

NEVER WEAKEN

Director: Fred C. Newmeyer  USA 1921 25 minutes silent. Featuring Harold Lloyd.

GET OUT AND GET UNDER

Director: Hal Roach USA 1920 25 minutes silent. Featuring Harold Lloyd.

NEIGHBORS

Directors: Edward F. Kline & Buster Keaton USA 1920 25 minutes silent

THE GOAT

Directors: Buster Keaton & Malcolm St. Clair USA 1921 25 minutes silent

Total running time: approximately 101 minutes

Programme 2:

L’ARROSEUR ARROSÉ

Directors: Les frères Lumière 1895 1 minute silent

SEVEN YEARS BAD LUCK