Our thanks to all the folks at St. John's Lutheran who made this year's Silent Movie Night a great success.
I hope that no one person will be overlooked, but at the risk of failing to thank someone, I'd like to name all those who helped make the program thrive. In no particular order:
Pastor Carl Johnson, who has been an unfailing supporter and guide for the program since its inception, and who leads St. John's congregation so ably.
Rebecca Veith who kindly turns the organ over to Eric for rehearsals and an evening's performance, as well as allowing the orchestra to invade her choir loft!
St. John's Church Secretary
Tricia Howard who produced our programs and offered logistical support.
Church Sexton
Carl Shumaker who ensures that St. John's is always ship-shape and Bristol fashion for guests and members alike.
The St. John's Sr. & Jr. Bell Choirs, and
Dan Minnich for the use of their rehearsal space and music stands.
The Armstrong County Community Foundation who funded our orchestra for the evening, our thanks to all of their staff, volunteers, and donors who support the arts in our community; but most especially, a thank you to
Mindy Knappenberger who helped with the grant application and writing process.
Val Wilson, and the Music Department of West Shamokin Highschool for providing us with music stand lights and electrical supplies for the orchestra.
Jeff Boarts, who handles all of the business affairs of the program, runs our projector, and takes care of all the big and little details, organization, and clean up. Jeff has made the program a possibility since it began as a post-movie chat in the fall of 2006.
Paul's Auto Parts of Kittanning who helped fund the film licensing costs of our films and provided other financial support for the program.
The rest of the Boart's family, especially
Carol and Helen who assisted in many ways, especially with planning, cleaning up, and supporting Jeff.
Emily Boarts for her fine photography and promotional work.
Adam Morgan who assisted Emily and provided additional help with the performance.
Zach Morgan who recorded the musical portion of the performance.
Stephen Lipnichan who so professionally and cheerfully conducted our orchestra.
Eric Cook who prepared and arranged our music and played the organ for the short films.
The players of the
Kittanning Ivy Leaf Orchestra:
| Flute |
Rebecca Cook |
| Clarinet I |
Sam Schreiber |
| Clarinet II |
Megan Maggiore |
| Bassoon |
Mary Gibbons |
| Cornet |
Lawrence Conway |
| Trombone |
Dennis F. Cramer |
| Violin I |
Carrie Semanco |
| Violin II |
Christie Kecskemethy |
| Viola |
Stephanie Marhag |
| Cello |
Elizabeth Cramer |
| Bass |
Roger Whisler |
| Piano |
Eric Cook |
|
| Percussion |
Rob Reams |
|
|
|
|
Rex Rutkoski of the Trib Media Group and the Valley News Dispatch who provided a magnificent article and visual spread in the Trib weekend arts and entertainment section. This is the second year in a row that Rex has written a great article and helped to draw a good crowd to our event.
David Lindemann, who helped usher and host the event.
Gene Hughes who narrated
A Voyage to the Moon.
Keith Livengood who assisted with the PA system and operated the camera that allows the monitor at the organ to keep focused on the films during the organ accompaniment.
Julie Smith and the members of the Youth groups of St. John's who helped Usher, make and serve our popcorn, and handed out the bottled water:
Frances Kirby, Allison Hall, Robert Gamble, Ian Crytzer, Ryan Crytzer, Matthew Bowser, Andrew Bowser, and Derek Kirby.
David Shepard, who has provided unfailing aid
and support for our programs since we planned the first movie night in the fall
of 2006. Mr. Shepard is a film
preservationist, producer, and promoter of silent film. Formerly an employee and now the head of Film Preservation
Associates, he continues to work with his own and other companies, as well as public and private collections, to help preserve, restore,and produce modern editions of these classic films. Among those firms are Lobster Films and Flicker
Alley, LLC they were the source for two of this evening’s selections: A Trip to the Moon and A Modern Musketeer.
Also our thanks to the Danish Filmmuseum for their support and the permission to screen A Modern Musketeer.
Out
thanks is also due to the fine people of Kino
International, and Tim Lanza,
who have allowed us to license and show the film One Week.
We
are also thankful for the support of the University of Pittsburgh Theodore M. Finney Music Library
Staff, especially Dr. James Cassaro, and Dr. Carlos E. Pena who provided hours of
support and information during score preparation. They oversee the Nek Mirskey collection of silent film, salon, and dance music, the collection served as the source for approximately half of the music used during the orchestral score for A Modern Musketeer.
We are very grateful for Dennis Cramer of East Franklin, and former Band director at Ford City Highschool, who coordinated the musicians for this evening’s orchestral performance.
Also thanks to Rodney Sauer of the Mont Alto Orchestra, one of the leading
ensembles in silent film accompaniment, who graciously shared his ideas about
scoring A Modern Musketeer; the DVD
version of this film features his ensemble's superb work.
Dr. Kenneth Sarch of Mansfield University shared
his approaching to writing film scores for silent comedy with Eric.
Additional thanks to Jack Theaston, Andrew Greene, Ben Model,
and Robert Israel all of whom shared
some thoughts on silent film scoring with Eric via Nitrateville.com; their
advice was invaluable.
And our sincere thanks to Gladys Bertha Schulze Crees and Carol Palmer, daughter and granddaughter of Walter Schulze, who shared original period music and
biographical information about their father and grandfather, and made the creation of our musical score possible.
But finally, and most of all...
Many, many thanks to all of the community members and guests from afar who attended our performance and made it all worthwhile. It was great to host you and I hope we will see you again!
Watch for updates about the planning for our 2013 program, as well as new posts about silent film preservation, history and presentations; as well as information on Kittanning history, and St. John's along the way...
See you next year!
