March 6 – Biograph Comedies [silent film accompaniment]
When: Friday, March 6th, 2020 at 6:30PM
What: Biograph Comedies
Two early comedies directed by Mack Sennett, The Baron and The Diving Girl, feature performers (Mabel Normand, Fred Mace) and frantic slapstick gags that would soon become identified with Sennett’s own production company, Keystone. After Sennett left the studio, Griffith appointed stock company member Dell Henderson as Biograph’s principal comedy director; this selection of three shorts (all of which lack intertitles) ranges from the unbridled burlesque of Faust and the Lily to the (relatively) restrained situation comedy of Blame the Wife. A Natural Born Gambler is Bert Williams’s own adaption of the poker game pantomime he made famous onstage.
Program approx. 85 min.
The Baron. 1911. USA. Directed by Mack Sennett.
The Diving Girl. 1911. USA. Directed by Mack Sennett.
Faust and the Lily [incomplete]. 1913. USA. Directed by Dell Henderson.
Bertha, the Button-hole Maker. 1914. USA. Directed by Dell Henderson.
Blame the Wife [incomplete]. 1913. USA. Directed by Dell Henderson.
A Natural Born Gambler. 1916. USA. Directed by Bert Williams.
Where: The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1 at the Museum of Modern Art
11 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019
Directions: http://www.moma.org/visit/
Nearest Subway: 5 Ave/53 St on M/V, 57 St on F, 47-50 Sts on B/D/F/M Admission: $12 ($10 for senior citizens, $8 for students / free for children under 16 & Museum members)
Admission to the day’s film program is free for Museum ticket holders, but separate screening tickets are required.
Film admission is partial Museum admission. The price of a film ticket can be applied toward the price of Museum admission or MoMA membership within 30 days of your purchase. For more info, visit https://www.moma.org/visit/film.
