Silent Comedy 'Grandma's Boy' Presented in Exeter on March 25

EXETER, NH - The silent film era returns to the big screen at Exeter Town Hall with the showing of "Grandma's Boy" (1922), a classic silent comedy accompanied by live music.

Admission is free and the screening is open to the public. A donation of $5 per person is suggested, with all proceeds to support the Penn Program, a local homeschool co-op for students of high school age.

Music for "Grandma's Boy" will be performed live by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer and silent film accompanist who performs at venues around the nation.

"Grandma's Boy" tells the story a cowardly young man (Harold Lloyd) who seeks the courage to battle a menacing tramp who terrorizes his small hometown.

Audiences loved "Grandma's Boy" when it was first released, and the picture helped establish Harold Lloyd as a major star for the rest of the silent film era.

In revival, "Grandma's Boy" continues to delight movie-goers and serves as a great introduction to the magic of silent film. It also provides a marvelous window into small town American life as it was lived a century ago.

Despite his mega-star status in the 1920s, Lloyd is largely unknown to today's audiences, mostly because he retained control of his films in later life and refused to let them be shown on television.

"People today remember Charlie Chaplin, but the silent era had many popular stars," Rapsis said. "Harold Lloyd's 'average American' character was immensely popular in the 1920s, not just in the U.S. but around the globe."

With the release of Lloyd's films on DVD, audiences are rediscovering his timeless genius. The reissue sparked a demand for screenings in theaters, where the Lloyd films continue to cast their spell on audiences.

Shown in a theater with live music, Lloyd's features maintain their power to delight movie-goers.

"Times have changed, but people haven't," Rapsis said. "The Lloyd films were designed to be shown in a theater with an audience, and to appeal to a worldwide audience, and their universal themes haven't lost any relevance," said Rapsis, who has performed scores for silent films in venues ranging from the Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge, Mass. to the Kansas Silent Film Festival at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas.

Using original themes created beforehand, Rapsis improvises the music live as the films are shown.

"When the score gets made up on the spot, it creates a special energy that's an important part of the silent film experience," said Rapsis, who uses a digital synthesizer to recreate the texture of a full orchestra for the accompaniment.

In reviving "Grandma's Boy" and other great films of cinema's early years, organizers of the Exeter Town Hall film series aim to show silent movies as they were meant to be seen—in high quality prints, on a large screen, with live music, and with an audience.

"Grandma's Boy" is the latest in a series of silent film screenings to benefit the Penn Program, a homeschool co-op based in Exeter designed to challenge and engage creative students of high school age.

The program, launched by educator and writer Andrew Lapham Fersch in 2012, seeks to explore new methods of education. The Penn Program emphasizes active involvement in a wide range of artistic and creative activities ranging from video production to stand-up comedy.

Under Fersch's direction, the program operates in downtown Exeter, enrolling students from several area towns.

The Penn Program seeks to create a new model for integrating the arts into education, with the goal of fostering creativity, originality, hard work, dedication, kindness, and a spirit of giving.

"We felt presenting a silent film series was a great way to reach out and introduce ourselves to the community while bringing people together," Fersch said. "We're all eager to celebrate the creativity of early Hollywood in Exeter Town Hall, which is a great space, and we're doubly excited to be able to bring the community together to enjoy such a talented musician and wonderful movie."

"Grandma's Boy" will be shown on Friday, March 25 at 7 p.m. at Exeter Town Hall, 9 Front St., Exeter. Admission is free and the screening is open to the public. A donation of $5 per person is suggested, with all proceeds to support the Penn Program.

For more information on the music, visit jeffrapsis.com.

Submitted by Jeff Rapsis.