Rare Silent Films Accidentally Preserved By Ben Model

LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts/ It's Alive! Media & Management) Accidentally Preserved: Rare & Lost Silent Films from Vintage 16mm Prints, a DVD collection of nine extremely rare silent film shorts, three of which have been lost for decades, return to screens courtesy of a crowd-funded project produced and scored by noted silent film accompanist Ben Model (www.accidentallypreserved.com). It will be released on June 11 and will be available exclusively online at Amazon.com.



Sourced from the private collection of films owned by Ben Model, Accidentally Preserved consists of nine short films, seven of which feature lesser-known comedians Billy Franey, Wallace Lupino, Paul Parrott (brother of Charley Chase), Clyde Cook and Cliff Bowes. The other two subjects include an early Max Fleischer cartoon in a rare and very sharp print, and a lost/unknown industrial film by and about the Elgin Watch Company. Each film has a new musical score and was funded entirely via Kickstarter. The collection will be released via Amazon's "CreateSpace" DVD-on-Demand service. This is the first time that this new business model for the distribution of silent films will be utilized to make these rarities commercially available to the public after decades of obscurity.

"Accidentally Preserved is a project I envisioned purely to ensure that film fans and historians can view these films easily and conveniently on DVD," says Historian and Silent Film Composer Ben Model. "I figured, 'If I have these lost films, and I can't show them to anyone, then they're still lost.' They've survived all these decades, thanks to the 16mm film format, and this seemed the most efficient way for them to be seen again."

Fans of silent film funded the production of this DVD project via Kickstarter to cover costs of film transfers, graphic design, scoring and post-production. This release is the first in a series of volumes. There are another half dozen shorts to release that are personally owned by Ben Model, and other private collectors of 16mm films have offered rare prints from their collections for the Accidentally Preserved series as well.

Accidentally Preserved: Rare & Lost Silent Films from Vintage 16mm Prints sells for $19.95, and will be available June 11, 2013 at Amazon.com. 103 mins, B&W, produced and scored by Ben Model. The films will also be released on Ben Model's YouTube channel (youtube.com/silentfilmmusic) on a bi-weekly basis starting mid-June. Film notes were written by noted silent film historian Steve Massa and are available online at www.accidentallypreserved.com.

The term "accidentally preserved" is a phrase coined by Model, referring to silent films that exist only because copies were made on 16mm safety film in the 1920s, '30s and '40s for the home rental market - essentially the Netflix of the art deco era. When the rental libraries shuttered in the 1940s and '50s, the vintage prints were scattered to collectors and hobbyists, and turn up today on eBay and at flea markets. The 16mm film format celebrates its 90th anniversary this year.

ABOUT BEN MODEL

Ben Model is one of the nation's leading silent film accompanists, and has been a resident film pianist at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) since 1984. He accompanies silent films on piano and theatre organ regularly at MoMA, the Library of Congress, the Silent Clowns Film Series (in NYC), and at many theatres and schools around the country. His recorded scores can be heard on numerous releases from Kino Lorber and on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). He is also co-curator of MoMA's annual "Cruel and Unusual Comedy" silent film series, and this summer will be accompanying films at MoMA's Allan Dwan retrospective and at Bard Summerscape's "Russian Émigré Cinema" series. Model is also the archivist for the Ernie Kovacs/Edie Adams collection and has programmed the two "Ernie Kovacs Collection" DVD box sets for Shout Factory. He is based in New York City. His website is www.silentfilmmusic.com.


THE FILMS of ACCIDENTALLY PRESERVED: VOL. 1

Formerly lost films are indicated with a ** and were transferred from the only known print:

The Lost Laugh** - with Wallace Lupino (1928) - 9 mins
Wallace and his wife have a rough start to their day - waking, showering and breakfasting. Wallace tried to keep a sense of humor about it all, in spite of a visit from a washing-machine salesman and the washing-machine he sells them.

Loose Change - with Jack Duffy and Neal Burns (1928) - 11 mins
Wealthy-but-cheap Scottish uncle Jack Duffy pays a to visit nephew Neal; things get complicated when Neal's wife's friend decides to vamp him as a prank.

Wedding Slips** - with Monte Collins (1928) - 9 mins
Newlyweds Monte and Lucille Hutton are driving to their honeymoon spot when they crash into a gypsy caravan and are then kidnapped by the leaders of the gypsies and a gorilla.

Shoot Straight - with Paul Parrott (1923) - 10 mins
Paul Parrott goes a-hunting, and tangles with rabbits, ducks, a bear and more in this near-solo turn with gags out of a WB cartoon from the '40s.

The House of Wonders** - Elgin National Watch Company (ca. 1931) - 23 mins
Industrial film made by the Elgin Watch Company, showing its factory, its observatory, and the step-by-step assembly of an Elgin watch from start to finish.

The Misfit - with Clyde Cook (1924) - 12 mins
Hen-pecked Clyde Cook must help wifey shop then paint the living room floor. He escapes by joining the Marines, but fares no better in basic training.

The Water Plug - with Billy Franey (1920) - 12 min
Franey hatches a scheme to fleece automobile owners with a portable hydrant from a pawn-shop.

Mechanical Doll - Fleischer "Out of the Inkwell" cartoon (1922) - 7 mins
Koko is dropped into a projector at a movie theater, then falls in love with a life-size wind-up doll that Max Fleischer draws for him.

Cheer Up - with Cliff Bowes (1924) - 10 mins
Cliff and Eddie Boland are rivals for Virginia Vance's hand in marriage, and the rivalry does not end after Cliff and Virginia wed.