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Show You can still hear silent movies by Rick Brough The tradition of the silent movie, and the huge theater organ thundering beside it, is still practiced. In Salt Lake, it lives in a three-part movie series being hosted by the Organ Loft (1331 Edison 140 East). This Thursday, Charlie Chaplin's "The Gold Rush" will be shown at 7:30 p.m. accompanied by Salt Lake musician Blaine Gale on the mighty Wurlitzer. In an interview, Gale told the Record the music will be Chaplin's original score which he wrote for the film in a 1940s re-release. The music only existed in recorded form by an orchestra, so Gale has transcribed it to paper and adapted it for the organ. Also, the Chaplin short "Easy Street" will be shown, with a score written by Gale himself. "I tried to recreate the Chaplin sound," he said. In the days of silent movies, movies weren't really silent. A theater's status, said Gale, could be measured by the musical accompani ment it had. Starting at the bottom with a plain piano, one went upward in prestige to an organ and best of all an organ with a full orchestra. For each movie, he said, the musician would receive cue sheets with suggested themes written down for certain portipns. Or a note would say "Use 'Waltz of the flowers' here." In several cases, pictures had complete scores written for them. Thus far, the Organ Loft series has used the original scores, retrieved from the Library of Congress, for the films. The first film, "Seventh Heaven" in March, brought in a capacity crowd for a show accompanied by organist Mike Ohman, said Gale. The third and final film in the series, Mary Pickford's "Pollyanna," will be shown on May 16 with organ music by Joanne Harman. Admission Admis-sion to each film is $3. Gale said, "I find it satisfying to amplify or emphasize what is represented in the movie. It's like being a collaborator with the producer." |