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This program is subject to change.
More details will be added as they are confirmed.
Friday, Feb. 28, 2025
@ White Concert Hall,
Jewell @ 17th St., Washburn University, Topeka, KS
A FREE EVENT
Afternoon: 1:00 - 5:30 PM
Overture by Bill Beningfield, organ
Welcome & Introductions by Denise Morrison, Film Historian
Short Subject:The Curtain Pole (1909)
Mack Sennett: a D.W. Griffith film
Credited with being Mack Sennett's directorial debut (even though he doesn't get any credit) this comedy shows off some future Sennett-inspired comedy as a man on a bicycle is determined to replace a broken curtain pole and ends up making the whole town mad.
—10 min.
Music by Bill Beningfield
 
Introduction by Denise Morrison
Feature: Valley of the Giants (1919)
Wallace Reid; directed by James Cruze
A lost film is found! Repatriated from a Russian archive in 2010, this film is the first of several adaptations of Peter Kyne's popular novel. The story involves a battle between two families for timberland in fictional Sequoia, California.
Special thanks to Ed Lorusso and the Library
of Congress for the restoration of this film.
— 51 min.
Music by Ben Model, organ
Introduction of festival guest by Bill Shaffer
Guest Talk: Scott Eyman, 20 min.
Scott talks about how he chooses subjects for his celebrity biographies and gives examples of the silent film roots of some of them.
Introduction by Denise Morrison
Feature: The Johnstown Flood (1926)
George O’Brien; directed by Irving Cummings
One of Hollywood’s earliest natural disaster movies, the film uses the Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood of 1889 as the backdrop of this drama starring George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor. The special effects were hailed as groundbreaking. Restoration by Robert A. Harris and James T. Mockoski with the George Eastman Museum.
— 65 min.
Music by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
— Break (15 min.)
 Introduction by Denise Morrison
Feature: A Girl in Every Port (1928)
Victor McLaglen & Louise Brooks; directed by Howard Hawks
Oh boy, is this the ultimate bromance? Two sailors start out hating each other before becoming best pals until a woman comes between them. Robert Armstrong (of King Kong fame) is the other sailor. And who could come between them? Only the cool and collected Louise Brooks.
— 78 min.
Music by Marvin Faulwell, organ, & Bob Keckeisen, percussion
— Dinner Break, 5:30-7:20 PM
Evening: 7:30 - 10:00 PM
Overture by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Welcome & Introductions by Denise Morrison, Film Historian
Introduction by Denise Morrison
Short Subject: His New Mamma (1924) — 15 min.
 Harry Langdon; directed by Roy Del Ruth
Harry has a dilemma; Pa has brought home a new wife who takes an instant liking to her new “son.” This is Harry just starting out at Sennett and the combination of the two is just loads of laughs. Add Andy Clyde, Madeline Hurlock and cute as a button Alice Day and you have a great little film.
Music by Jeff Rapsis, piano
Introduction by Denise Morrison
Short: The Second Hundred Years (1927) — 22 min.
 Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy, directed by Fred Guiol
Our dynamic duo find themselves in prison taking every opportunity to  escape. But once they are presented with freedom then what do they do? Go to a fancy party at the governor’s place, of course!
Music by Ben Model, piano
Special introduction by our guest Scott Eyman
Feature: Lady Windermere's Fan (1925) — 89 min.
Ronald Colman; directed by Ernst Lubitsch
The great Ernst Lubitsch interprets Oscar Wilde in the Victorian comedy of manners which involves mistaken intentions among husbands and wives. Co-starring May McAvoy, Bert Lytell and Irene Rich.
Music by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
 
Saturday, Mar. 1, 2025
Morning: 9:00 AM - Noon
@ White Concert Hall,
Jewell @ 17th St., Washburn University, Topeka, KS
FREE EVENT
Welcome & Introduction of Documentary by Bill Shaffer, President of KSFF, Inc.
Special KSFF Documentary — (Sound) — 60 min.
An opportunity to see a documentary on the history of silent film comedy.
— Break (5 min.)
Overture by Ben Model, piano
Introduction by Denise Morrison
Short: Max Linder Compilation (1910-1912) — 20 min. 
 Pioneering French comedian Max Linder is the focus of this compilation with three of his short films from 1907-1912. A huge influence on English and American comedians, Chaplin called him "the Master".
Music by Ben Model, piano
Introduction by Denise Morrison
 Short: Ice Cold Cocos (1926) Billy Bevan, directed by Del Lord — 20 min.
Billy Bevan and Andy Clyde starred in a series of short comedies for Mack Sennett that don’t get enough love today as the great comedies they are. This one is no exception. Billy and Andy impersonate ice delivery men--if you’re a silent film fan you can guess the set of Los Angeles stairs they have to climb to deliver some ice.
Music by Ben Model, piano
Introduction by Denise Morrison
Feature: Something New (1920) Nell Shipman, directed by Bert Van Tuyle — 57 min.
 This little adventure film has a lot going for it: it has little known silent film star Nell Shipman (Canada’s own) doing her best to get away from kidnappers, actor (and the film’s director) Bert Van Tuyle working mightily to save her, and a 1919 Maxwell automobile which does some amazing off-road driving through the deserts and mountains of California (standing in for Mexico).
Music by Jeff Rapsis, piano
— Lunch Break. Noon - 1:30 PM
Afternoon - 1:30 - 5:00 PM
@ White Concert Hall,
Jewell @ 17th St., Washburn University, Topeka, KS
FREE EVENT
Overture by Ben Model, organ
Welcome & Introductions by Denise Morrison, Film Historian
Short: An Eastern Westerner (1920)
Harold Lloyd, directed by Hal Roach — 27 min.
Tired of his carousing ways, Harold’s father ships him off to the Western town of Piute Pass, hoping it will straighten him up. Co-starring Mildred Davis and Noah Young.
Music by Jeff Rapsis, piano
Introduction by Denise Morrison
 Feature: The Enchanted Cottage (1924) Richard Barthelmess; directed by John S. Robertson — 80 min.
A romantic fantasy starring Richard Barthelmess and May McAvoy. He’s an embittered disabled WWI vet; she’s a lonely spinster but somehow living in an enchanted cottage changes them. If you’re familiar with the later version starring Robert Young and Dorothy Maguire, this one might surprise you.
Special thanks to Ed Lorusso and the Library of Congress for the restoration of this film.
Music by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
— Break (15-minutes, with Scott Eyman book-signing in the Lobby)
 Introduction by Denise Morrison
Short: The Balloonatic (1923)
Buster Keaton; directed by Edward F. Cline
— 22 min.
Buster becomes one with nature in this short,
co-starring fellow Kansan Phyllis Haver. Bears and flying canoes make this one of Buster's more unusual films.
Music by Marvin Faulwell, organ
 Introduction by Denise Morrison
Feature: Mantrap (1926) Clara Bow, directed by Victor Fleming — 71 min.
One of Clara’s best as the flirtatious Alverna,  who spontaneously marries a backwoodsman only to be attracted to his friend who’s on a trip to get away from women. Co-starring Ernest Torrence and Percy Marmont. Thanks to the National Film Preservation Foundation and the Library of Congress for this film restoration.
Music by Ben Model, organ
5:30 p.m.: Dinner Break
— Program resuming at 7:30 p.m.
--Dinner Break: Event is by Reservation only.
Contact us & reserve. Special guest is Scott Eyman, Biographer of movie actors and celebrities.
Special Dinner Event—
Our Sixteenth Annual
CINEMA-DINNER
Price is $40/per ticket. Meal is buffet-style. Menu TBA
Those interested in attending can make reservations by mail:
KSFF Cinema-Dinner
P.O. Box 2032
Topeka, Kansas 66601-2032
Special Dinner Event, Our Sixteenth Annual
CINEMA-DINNER,
Seating begins @
5:15 p.m.
Dinner from 5:30 to 7:20 p.m.
Special Guest Scott Eyman will speak about Researching & Writing New Biographies About Silent Film Stars.
— This event is by reservation only. Dinner is $40. —
Tickets to this not-to-be-missed event are available for purchase by mail. The non-refundable price for the Cinema-Dinner is $40 per ticket, payable to Kansas Silent Film Festival. Mail your ticket request to:
KSFF Cinema-Dinner
P.O. Box 2032
Topeka, Kansas 66604-2032.
— Event is by reservation only — |
Evening - 7:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.
@ White Concert Hall,
Jewell @ 17th St., Washburn University, Topeka, KS
FREE EVENT
Overature by Marvin Faulwell, organ, & Bob Keckeisen, percussion
Welcome & Introductions by Denise Morrison, Film Historian
Introduction by Denise Morrison
Short: Ambrose's First Falsehood (1914) Mack Swain, directed by F. Richard Jones — 11 min.
 Although he might seem an unlikely movie star, Mack Swain had a long career with Mack Sennett’s Studio doing just that, often playing a popular character named Ambrose. Here he is getting talked into an afternoon with a pal and a couple of girls instead of attending to an errand for his wife. That was his first mistake. Co-starring a very young Charley Chase and Minta Durfee.
Music by Bill Beningfield, organ
Introduction by Denise Morrison
 Short: A Night in the Show (1915) Charlie Chaplin, directed by Charles Chaplin
— 24 min.
One of Chaplin's Essanay shorts, this has as its source pieces of the characters he played on stage during his years with the Fred Karno Co., an English music hall revue. He has two roles here Mr. Pest and Mr. Rowdy. Many of the people he had gathered around him as an acting troupe are in the audience.
Music by Ben Model, piano
Introduction by Denise Morrison
Feature: Don Q: Son of Zorro (1925) Douglas Fairbanks, directed by Donald Crisp — 111 min.
 Zorro is back! Douglas Fairbanks’ sequel to his 1920 hit Mark of Zorro is every bit as exciting and a great way to end our festival! Co-starring Mary Astor, Warner Oland, Jean Hersholt and Donald Crisp.
(There will be a 10-15 intermission
during the film.)
Music by Marvin Faulwell, organ, &
Bob Keckeisen, percussion
About Scott Eyman:
 Scott Eyman, biographer of movie actors & celebrities, is our Guest of Honor for KSFF 2025.
His latest book was his 17th - Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex and Politics Collided, which was published Oct. 31, 2023. (Simon & Schuster). He just received the 2024 Richard Wall Special Jury Prize from the Theatre Library Association for his Chaplin book.
Amazon.com has a web site that lists/links detailed information about the many books about movie stars that Scott has written: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001H6N7F6
Scott won the 2014 National Board of Review William K. Everson Award for Film History for his body of work. His journalism and criticism work made him a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He’s won multiple writing awards for his feature writing, film, and literary criticism.
He was an adjunct professor of film history for 7 years at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL. Scott has lectured extensively around the world, most frequently at the National Film Theater in London, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Moscow Film Theater. He’s recorded commentary tracks for many DVDs, including Trouble in Paradise, My Darling Clementine, and Stagecoach.
In 2014, he co-hosted with TCM Host Robert Osborne for a week on Turner Classic Movies, when the channel ran 24 hours of John Wayne every day. He’s appeared as a guest on the TCM Classic Cruises, at the TCM Film Festival, at the Lone Pine Classic Western Film Festival, the John Wayne Birthplace Museum, the NYC Film Forum, and the Buster Keaton Celebration, among others.
Scott also writes book reviews for The Wall Street Journal. He has written for Film Comment, The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune, as well as practically every film magazine, extinct or still extant. He’s the former literary and art critic for The Palm Beach Post. He lives in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Scott is the most recent recipient of the Film Heritage Award, honoring his body of work from the National Society of Film Critics 2025 Awards Event. He often travels with his wife, Lynn Kalber, who plans to attend our event with Scott.
About Denise Morrison:
 Denise
Morrison is a film historian from Kansas City, Missouri, with a special focus on silent film. She retired from the Kansas City Museum in 2024, and has been involved with the Kansas Silent Film Festival since the beginning. She was quite active with the Granada Theatre in Kansas City, Kansas, when they were showing a full schedule of silent movies.
About Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra:
 The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, lead by pianist Rodney Sauer, is based in Louisville, Colorado and has appeared at this festival many times since the third event, held in 1999. The orchestra consists of piano (Rodney Sauer), violin (Britt Swenson), cello (David Short), clarinet (Brian Collins), and trumpet, (Dawn Kramer). They are quite active in their hometown and nationally. Mont Alto has acquired one of the largest collections of historic "photoplay music" in current use, and has used it to score over 120 silent films. They have toured across America from California to New York, and have scored all of Buster Keaton's silent features for the Buster Keaton Celebration in Iola, Kansas since first appearing there in 1998. They have produced three CDs of salon music and silent film music, and have recorded scores to over thirty silent films for video release and screenings on Turner Classic Movies, including True Heart Susie (1919), Sherlock Jr. (1924), and The Thief of Bagdad (1924).
About Marvin Faulwell:
 Marvin Faulwell is a very accomplished theatre organist. He has played for all previous Kansas Silent Film Festivals and our "sister project," Silents in the Cathedral, held at Grace Cathedral in Topeka. He has appeared in concert and accompanied silent film programs in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Minnesota. He also accompanied many silent films shown at the Granada Theatre in Kansas City, Kansas.
About Jeff Rapsis:
 Jeff Rapsis is a New Hampshire-based composer and musician who accompanies silent film programs around the nation. He appears regularly at venues including the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Boston, the Cleveland Cinematheque, and the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, Calif. He has attended every Kansas Silent Film Festival since 2000. When not scoring silent films, Jeff is executive director of the Aviation Museum of N.H. and co-owner of HippoPress, New Hampshire's largest newspaper.
Visit: www.jeffrapsis.com.
About Ben Model:
 Ben Model is one of the nation's leading silent film accompanists, performing on both piano and theatre organ. Over the past 40 years, he has created and performed thousands of live scores for silent films at universities, museums, and historic theaters, and is one of the few exponents of this craft who is working at it full-time.
Ben is a resident film accompanist at the Museum of Modern Art (NY) and at the Library of Congress’ Packard Campus Theatre, and he accompanies silents at classic film festivals around the USA and internationally. Ben’s Blu-ray/DVD label Undercrank Productions works with archives and collectors to bring undiscovered gems of silent cinema to fans. Ben is a Visiting Professor of Film at Wesleyan University.
www.silentfilmmusic.com/ @silentfilmmusic
About Bob Keckeisen:
 Bob Keckeisen has been principal percussionist for the Topeka Symphony Orchestra since 1989. He delights audiences at the Kansas Silent Film Festival and Silents at the Cathedral by adding remarkable percussive music and sound effects to films. Bob grew up in Wichita and studied percussion at Wichita State University. He obtained both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from WSU and moved to Topeka in 1982. Bob retired as director of the Kansas Museum of History in 2013 to become Executive Director of the Topeka Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until he retired in 2021.
About Dr. Bill Beningfield:
 Dr. Bill Beningfield is a retired engineering director who spent his working career designing and supporting radio and radar products for commercial aircraft. After engineering during the daytime, he moonlighted as a flight instructor, aviation ground instructor, and professor of economics. He started playing the piano over 70 years ago and has been playing the organ for nearly 50 years. In 2006, he won first place in the American Theater Organ Society's competition for non-professional organists.
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Kansas Silent Film Festival, Inc. is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. This event is funded by generous donations, and welcomes your support. Your tax deductible gift will be gratefully acknowledged.
Kansas Silent Film Festival, Inc.
P.O. Box 2032
Topeka, Kansas 66601-2032
E-mail contact - bill.shaffer@washburn.edu
All donations are appreciated.
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