The Kid (1921)
Featuring live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating music for silent films.
Chaplin was already the world's most popular comedian and filmmaker when he produced The Kid, his first feature-length project. The movie, with its daring mix of intense drama and slapstick comedy, proved an instant sensation and marked one of the high points of Chaplin's long career. The Kid follows the story of a tramp (Chaplin) who attempts to raise an orphaned boy on his own. It includes several classic scenes, and is highlighted by a sequence in which Chaplin battles authorities attempting to return the child to an orphanage.
Co-starring with Chaplin in The Kid is five-year-old Jackie Coogan, who turned in what many critics rank as the best child performance of the entire silent film era. Chaplin himself worked closely with the young Coogan for more than a year to develop the youngster's acting abilities. Coogan went on to a long career that much later included the role of "Uncle Fester" in the popular 1960s Addams Family television show.
The screening of The Kid provides local audiences the opportunity to experience silent film as it was intended to be shown: on the big screen, in restored prints, with live music, and with an audience.
"If you can put pieces of the experience back together again, it's surprising how these films snap back to life," said Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who creates music for silent film screenings at venues around the country. "By showing the films under the right conditions, you can really get a sense of why people first fell in love with the movies." - Jeff Rapsis
ABOUT JEFF RAPSIS
Jeff Rapsis is a writer/editor, educator, and also a composer and performer who specializes in creating live musical scores for silent film screenings. He does other things, too. Specific talents include an ability to place coins on either elbow and then catch them in the same hand before they hit the floor, though sometimes he misses and the coins go flying just everywhere. He's also an award-winning journalist, newspaper publisher, and owner of multiple dogs. Visit his website here.
