Tweet Who are you? (Formal introductions)

Thanks so much for the welcome, and wow, you're right, I didn't realize there were a good number of Jerseans here on the board! I live in Madison, in Morris County, but I was born in Newark.

I have never been to National Park-this is the first I've heard of it, I am ashamed to say.
Best,
Laura

Don't be ashamed. neither has anyone else. It's outside of Cherry Hill/Woodbury. The Park is to Philly what Hoboken is to NYC.

Thanks so much for the welcome, and wow, you're right, I didn't realize there were a good number of Jerseans here on the board! I live in Madison, in Morris County, but I was born in Newark.

And I was born in Newark (Beth Israel -- just like Philip Roth, Connie Francis, Paul Simon and Gloria Gaynor except I can't write or sing), grew up in Springfield and live now in Bergen County. (Harrington Park -- a tiny little town)

I think there's so much enthusiasm for culture in Jersey because there wasn't any growing up. (Springfield was a golf course and farms back then.)

Hi All, javascript:emoticon(':D')

Sorry for the looooooong delay between posts. I'll try to be more diligent. Speaking of New Jersey, I'm from Union City originally (the great burlesque capital, once LaGuardia closed down NYC!). I'm now living in Jefferson Twp (near Lake Hopatcong in Morris County). I always say the surest tests of whether someone's from North Jersey are if they can pronounce "Hopatcong", or pronounce "Secaucus" as SEE-cau-cus (which means you're from Hudson County specifically!) In my youth, I lived within walking distance of One Congress Street in Jersey City, which was (I think) one of the locations of Pathe Studios back in the Pearl White days.

Hello Nitrateville!
This is a great site and I've been checking in for months without introducing myself . I've been a classic film fan for years and would like to start traveling the globe in search of silent film screenings with live accompaniment and you provide the definitive lists (Thank you Bruce Calvert!) Digital black and white photography is also a brand new hobby of mine and the 1920's &'30's masters of still photography are an inspiration. I'm not sure I have much to contribute but it's good to find a community with similar interests. Thanks everyone!

[silentfilm]

I'm not sure I have much to contribute but it's good to find a community with similar interests. Thanks everyone!

You don't have to be an expert to join in. If you enjoy watching classic films, reading about them, or collecting memorabilia about them -- then you've got something to contribute. Most of us have day jobs that don't have anything to do with films.

Not knowing anything never stopped me, Charlie.

Bob

Hahaha...well, then, I may have a whole lot to say! Thanks for the welcome Bruce & Bob!

Not knowing anything never stopped me, Charlie.

Bob

We've noticed that, Bob!


Jim

Hi all, my name is Christoph Michel and I live in Munich, Germany. I used to work for a publishing house before going freelance in '95, and I've never looked back. The dough that I need to feed my habits (for cinema tickets, books, dvds) comes from translating (mostly) and writing (too little).

A confirmed movie nut since the late '60s, I spend a sizable chunk of my time at the local film museum (or Filmmuseum, as they say), usually accompanied by Kenji le ciné-chien. @Chris (Harlett O'Dowd): Kenji is a chow-mix too.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31478324@N04/2963759231/

I'm also a member of the Friends of the Filmmuseum; in fact, it was a fellow member who brought Nitrateville to my attention (Hi Thomas!). In recent years, the Friends produced (or reworked) subtitles for several dozen Soviet Silents in the Filmmuseum archive and provided introductions at bi-weekly screenings. The subtitles we devise are not burnt into the prints but projected separately onto the screen with a digital projector. (For the time being, we have to switch the subtitles manually.)

Looking forward to discussion on this forum. Take more dogs to the cinema!

I used to have a post on page two of this thread, but somehow that disappeared and I was not able to re-instate it there. So here is a new one:

I'm Arndt Pawelczik. I live in the west of Germany, near Cologne. I've been into films for a long time and have become fairly obsessed with silents in recent years.
I am very happy to have found NITRATEVILLE. I am in awe of the extremely high standard of expertise here and I greatly enjoy the very friendly atmosphere on this forum.
I am also a regular visitor of André Stratmann's German silent film website http://www.stummfilm-fan.de, as are Thomas and Hofmeister.

A confirmed movie nut since the late '60s, I spend a sizable chunk of my time at the local film museum (or Filmmuseum, as they say), usually accompanied by Kenji le ciné-chien. @Chris (Harlett O'Dowd): Kenji is a chow-mix too.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31478324@N04/2963759231/

Looking forward to discussion on this forum. Take more dogs to the cinema!

Now there's a slogan I can get behind! I'd take my cat, but...yikes. Oooh, could we have a "NitrateVille Animals" thread?

Fred

Now there's a slogan I can get behind! I'd take my cat, but...yikes. Oooh, could we have a "NitrateVille Animals" thread?

Fred

These are puppy pictures - need to upload some more recent shots of little Siegfried:





And these are my favorites of Mooda.



Mooda of the opera!

I have been a member of this forum for a while but never got around to introducing myself.
I have been a silent film fan since I was a teenager (I am in my 40s now) and first got into silents when one of the local TV stations showed them on Friday night and have loved them ever since. I even bought a few 8mm films from Blackhawk but they cost a lot for a teenager going to school at the time so I never had a big collection back then.
Besides silent films, I like all kinds of nostaligia. I also collect old phonographs, 78 rpm records and Edison cylinders. I work in the city (Mississauga) and am in the security business where I am also the unit chairperson for our union but spend a lot of my spare time in Northern Ontario where I own a farm. I have done some volunteer work for a local archive as well but have not been very active there lately since I have so little free time now.
Although I was born in Canada I am a fluent speaker of the Estonian language and am the program director of the Eesti Pop Radio Show which is a 1 hour program that features Estonian pop and rock music which is now on 3 radio stations, all located in the Yukon Territory.
I decided to use my real name since I am already known to archives and collectors, usually as the guy who keeps bothering them about lost Theda Bara films. These films are my personal "holy grail" and I have done much research into trying to find them.
Why do I love Theda Bara, Lillian Gish, Mary Miles Minter, Betty Blythe and the other silent ladies so much? Simply because they were so hot!
As far as My personal life is concerned, I am single and looking at this time

Thanks so much for the welcome, and wow, you're right, I didn't realize there were a good number of Jerseans here on the board! I live in Madison, in Morris County, but I was born in Newark.

And I was born in Newark (Beth Israel -- just like Philip Roth, Connie Francis, Paul Simon and Gloria Gaynor except I can't write or sing), grew up in Springfield and live now in Bergen County. (Harrington Park -- a tiny little town)

I think there's so much enthusiasm for culture in Jersey because there wasn't any growing up. (Springfield was a golf course and farms back then.)

New Jersey was the Athens of the North Americas in the 1930s. Look what happened during that historic decade: the Lindbergh baby was kidnapped followed by the Hauptmann trial; Einstein moved to Princeton in 1933; the first drive-in movie theater opened in Camden in 1933; the explosion of the Hindenburg in Lakehurst in 1937; all topped by the Martian invasion of Grover's Mills on Oct. 30 1938. Camden was the center of the jazz and pop music world due to RCA Brunswick records and RCA was instrumental in the commercialization of television. Princeton's McCarter Theater was doing cutting-edge off-Broadway theater. Add Camden's Campbell's Soup (hmmm hmm good) to this frenzy of activity and you can only conclude that New Jersey was poised to be the Milan of the 20th-Century Renaissance, only to be cruelly cut short by WWII.

Hello everybody. My name is Tom and I’m a retired engineer who lives in the small southeastern Ontario city where I was born and raised. I’ve never been associated with the film industry, nor am I a member of the cognoscenti. I just like old films, particularly silents.

While I do not recall the exact circumstances, my earliest recollections of silent film are of Harold Lloyd, most likely a rare cinema visit with my father to see one of Lloyd’s early 1960’s compilation films. Thereafter, a research trip to my local library unearthed Joe Franklin’s Classics of the Silent Screen which exposed me to dozens of fascinating stars and movies. Back in those days, I had little hope of seeing the films, but it turned out that the library had a sizable book collection pertaining to silent cinema and I was at least able to read about them.

Soon after, high school beckoned and silent film faded into the recesses of my mind until the early 1990s, when a chance encounter with a bargain bin copy of Neil Sinyard’s Silent Movies brought the memories flooding back. Fortuitously, a business trip took me to Chicago where I discovered a wide selection of laserdiscs and, despite not having a laserdisc player, I bought copies of Nosferatu, The General, The Crowd and The Wind. Since that time, I have been slowly expanding my library, almost exclusively via mail order.

It is quite frustrating living in a small city, where it seems I am the only silent film enthusiast. I was quite excited to find this site and look forward to the musings of what is obviously a very knowledgeable and friendly forum.

[silentfilm]

It is quite frustrating living in a small city, where it seems I am the only silent film enthusiast. I was quite excited to find this site and look forward to the musings of what is obviously a very knowledgeable and friendly forum.

Tom, I know how you feel, as I live in a town with a population of only 5500 people. Try to attend one of the classic cinema conventions if you can. Besides enjoying rare cinema treats, you can interact with other people who have your same interests.

Also, watch the "Silent Screenings" forum here. Although New York, Toronto, and Los Angeles have the most screenings, there are quite a few in small towns that might be a reasonable drive from where you live.

It is quite frustrating living in a small city, where it seems I am the only silent film enthusiast. I was quite excited to find this site and look forward to the musings of what is obviously a very knowledgeable and friendly forum.

Tom, I know how you feel, as I live in a town with a population of only 5500 people. Try to attend one of the classic cinema conventions if you can. Besides enjoying rare cinema treats, you can interact with other people who have your same interests.

Also, watch the "Silent Screenings" forum here. Although New York, Toronto, and Los Angeles have the most screenings, there are quite a few in small towns that might be a reasonable drive from where you live.

Travelling is a problem, given that I do not have a driver's license. The cost of travelling by train to the nearest metropolis is prohibitve. It would have to be a very special screening.

I have attended one screening and met my old History teacher, who happens to reside only about one kilometer from my house. I had high hopes that I had found a silent film buddy, but even he has declined my offers to get together to view films from my collection.

I even put on a few local screenings of public domain films for the local museum. After the first few showings the museum lost interest. When you only get one person attending a Halloween screening of Nosferatu...

Hi all,

My name is Rick Spector and I live just north of Orlando, FL.

I have been lurking here for a few weeks, not knowing if I bring anything to this erudite table, but decided that I would risk it.

I was introduced to silent film classics decades ago at FSU, and even with the condition that most films were in then, I was mesmerized by them. One night our Professor had us watch "INTOLERANCE" and "FOOLISH WIVES" as a double feature. I think surviving that marathon made me hungry to learn more of the craftsmen who made them. These were not the small scratchy flickers of Chaplin and Keystone I had seen before - these were full sized dramas and epics.

Growing up, with weekly Saturday viewings of obscure and Universal horror cycle films, made me curious about those few names that I started to see over and over again in the ending credits. I felt a need to learn about them, but beyond directors and stars, there was little in the library to feed my cravings.

As, with many of you, that ended with Brownlow's THE PARADES GONE BY.

I wish I could say that I can call him "friend", but, we have had numerous contact and he has helped me with some of my projects.

For me, it became a desire to locate and preserve the artifacts of film history. I call it 20th Century archeology. Does anyone here share that passion and seek costumes, props, set pieces of the films and studios? Another thread here mentions the AB logo placed on Biograph set flats or walls. If, one survived, it would be a desired addition and is indicative of type of item I seek.

I look forward to being here.

Thanks.

rick

I was introduced to silent film classics decades ago at FSU, and even with the condition that most films were in then, I was mesmerized by them. One night our Professor had us watch "INTOLERANCE" and "FOOLISH WIVES" as a double feature. I think surviving that marathon made me hungry to learn more of the craftsmen who made them.

How many viewers besides yourself managed to survive that 5-hour marathon? I'm really interested to know.

It's easy to see that anyone who could sit through back-to-back screenings of such long films would have a better than even chance of emerging as a silent film fanatic. Sitting through 5 hours of Keaton, Chaplin, Lloyd, and Laurel and Hardy shorts would convert a lot of people, but Intolerance and Foolish Wives require a real readiness to make a commitment.

Jim

Rick,


while you may not bring much in the way of erudition to this group -- and if you've been paying attention to some of the attempts at identification of clips here, with their discussions of German uniforms and print codes, you know what I mean -- you do bring something to this group: enthusiasm. Plus you give some of the old monsters a chance to show off. They'll never admit to it, so I'll thank you on their behalf.

Bob

Jim,

Judging by the discussion classes we had after these showings, many shared my enthusiasm.

Most of us, were of the mistaken notion that this period in film making was akin to the Stone Age and were quite surprised to see the sophistication of the productions, massive sets, costumes and themes. Of course, we were instructed to observe the multiple story lines, cross cut editing that would advance in speed as the film neared its climax, and the dramatic devices. So, it was a real eye opener that made our numb butts seem a worthwhile price. I think, I was also struck by the difference between the two films and how much had improved in style and texture in just a few short years. Up to that time, my only exposure to von Stroheim was as 'Max' in SUNSET BLVD., an early favorite film of mine. Seeing him 30 years younger, and at his evil best, was wonderful.

I was also blessed that my Professor was Dr. Donald Ungurait in his prime, who made it seem important as well as historic.

Bob,

Thanks, for your kind words of welcome.

It appears most of the posters here are kindred spirits.

rick

Sorry--I meant to sign my post over on the Talking about Talkies board but didn't. I'm Donna C. and have been a longtime lurker and sometime poster over at a.m.s for about the past ten years.

I've been interested in silent and Pre-Code films for years and incorporate film into my American lit courses whenever I can.

Donna C.

I am David; composer and writer. I live in Ann Arbor and work for Macrovision as an author/editor, but I was born and raised in Cincinnati. Saw my first silent on TV in the 60s when I was very little on "The Toy That Grew Up" -- it was first episode of "The Perils of Pauline" -- and was instantly hooked. My first "live" silent was "Teddy at the Throttle" as shown at the Cincinnati Public Library, which used to screen its 16mm films every Friday for free. I began to collect silents in 8mm and to write scores for them, also made a bunch of experimental silent shorts in my teens and managed to lose all of them. Read everything I could about silent films in those days, and that includes the bound volumes of Moving Picture World that CPL once had, cover to cover. Although I am a classical music writer, I have covered some silents, and silent film biographies, on All Movie Guide. Last summer I made a demo reel of some pd silent films with my original scores which I hope to show around a bit in 2009.

So, this is me:
Stefanie Tieste, a 25 year old student of German literature living in the south of Germany, who has been in love with silent movies for about seven years now. But since my first "Giornate del cinema muto" in October 2008 I'm absolutely, truly and forever addicted to the silents. For me, this week opened a new dimension of watching those wonderful films in a great community and I'm really hoping that I will get the chance to make a profession out of my passion.
If this doesn't work, I am at least going to support my boyfriend (which of course I'm already doing!), who is collecting silents at 8 and 16mm and currently rebuilding a cinema organ...
After my stay at Pordenone I joined the team of the "Karlsruher Stummfilmtage", a little silent film festival presented at my university each year. And from February to April I will be an assistant at the GoEast-Festival in Wiesbaden. No silents, but I'm really excited about going to hold 35mm-films in my hands and being part of a professional festival team!
Enough about me for the moment - I now really should continue with my work on a presentation about the "Lulu"-Films in less than two weeks!

Hello, I'm George Kincaid. I've been posting on alt.movies.silent for a few years, and I've been reading the posts on this site for a while. I've been a silent movie fan since a college course I took in the 1980s. I've been watching a lot of the old silent westerns primarily, though I'm a fan of the other genres, too. I'm glad to see this is such a lively bunch! I'm lucky enough to live in a college town with some active film groups and a few good video stores which stock silent pictures. I have a circle of friends who like silent movie dinner nights--Wings was the last picture we saw. Now, I just need a good cowboy avatar! Maybe a Bill Hart still frame or something...

Well, it's one year since I joined Nitrateville, so it's about time that I introduced myself a bit more formally -- although I expect that any of you who really care have figured out who I am from my postings. I was born in 1954, I'm a native New Yorker and after a mispent adulthood, now manage my own stock portfolio and a couple for some trusts. I was married once, but it didn't work out.

I saw a fair number of silent films when a kid, and quite a few more when the Museum of Modern Art had its year-long comedy festival in 1977 -- I think it was 1977. But I really got into silent films about eight years ago when I began going regularly to MOMA again, met Ben Model and started attending the Silent Clowns shows. I went up to Syracuse once, but Syracuse in February was depressing. I have attended Slapsticon for the past four years and enjoyed it greatly.

Although it takes a lot to get me to leave Manhattan these days, there is a lot of opportunity to see silent films in New York, so I don't suffer. I take a more academic viewpoint than most people here, I expect, and will look at anything. I do reviews for the Internet Movie Database and try to correct errors in their database -- it's a never-ending struggle. I will look at anything -- although I walk out on movies in theaters about three or four times a year. I am fascinated by really old movies from before the regularization of film grammar in the early 1910s. And I really do love Nitrateville, with its knowledgeable and enthusiastic contributors. Thanks, everyone!


Bob

Hey guys and guyettes, my 'real' name is Joe and you can blame rollot24 (Tim) for my being here. He told me about the site at the Damfinos convention this past October and I truly appriecate the knowledge and fellowship that goes on here.
I have been into silents since reading 'The Shattered Helmet' (a Hardy Boys book) back in the 70's.
For years my only outlet for watching silent movies was catching them every odd Saturday, usually comidies, mostly Chaplin on my 12 inch black and white.
Libraries books held the mute and static images and kept me enthralled until laserdisc came around in the very early 90's and I started collecting. They are gone now but I have replaced one format for another, dvd.
You purists have made me want to look into collecting projectable silents. I can still hear the sound of my dad's 8mm ticking away behind me as the images of me and my sister and mother were playing out on the silver pull down screen he would set up.
I search out every used book store and buy just about any book on silents. I love the rare ones.

See you guys on the boards,
Joe Physician

Hello! My name is Samantha, but everyone online seems to call me Malie. I'm a college student at Ohio State studying journalism with a minor in film. I've been fanatical about old movies since I was 15, but I grew up watching the Three Stooges and The Little Rascals. (Wheezer is my favorite.) Right now I'm trying to get things together to write a book about Dick Powell; I think he's really underappreciated.

What I would really like to do is work for a film archive. Kevin Brownlow has my dream job; I'd love to write books and do documentaries as quality as his are. As it is, I will probably be doing film stuff as a side project.

I live in Columbus so I attend Cinevent every year, beginning with Cinevent 39. I'm absolutely hooked; the people are so friendly and the memorabilia there is knockout. It is impossible not to be impressed with the stuff you can see there. Not only are the posters great, but they have such rare things there. My first year I saw a Lon Chaney autograph and my second year I saw a first edition of Leo Gorcey's book Dead End Yells, Wedding Bells, Cockle Shells and Dizzy Spells.

I am very excited to post here and meet some new people. (I recognize some of you from other message boards and some of you from amazon.)

Greetings, all. My name is Susann Disbro Gilbert, born and raised in New England, now a South Carolina Charlestonian by choice.

I just discovered this fantastic site a few weeks ago - and then stayed in the background, reading postings whenever I had a chance. I have to say that I am very impressed with the knowledge that so many you have on this topic, almost to the point of intimidation!

I've been a silent film fan since I took a class called "The Short Film." At the time, I was taking a lot of tough courses and thought that one just sounded like an easy credit. It turned out to be one of the best classes I ever had, because I discovered Fatty Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Lillian Gish, etc., and I've been hooked ever since.

I've worked variously as a copy editor, book reviewer and in public relations. About ten years ago, I was helping to research a two-volume set of my own family's genealogy and discovered that silent screen actress Alice Calhoun was my cousin. The more I delved into finding out a little bit about her, the more I uncovered, and one thing lead to another...until it turned into a large file cabinet chock full of material. Besides the Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Studies, Stanford University, and the usual suspect resources, I've also been able to track down and interview a number of other relatives, who knew her. I've also received assistance from some other silent film researchers and authors who came across information and generously passed it on. Discovering what a fascinating life Alice led has been both professionally and personally a great experience. She may have been almost forgotten, but I hope to change that. The past two years I've been writing a biography about her, and it's nearly complete at this point. I hope to finish in the next few months.

Great to know you - I started back in the 60's with both 8mm and 16mm, lean times afforded me the former and have stayed with it to the present. Had many books which I long ago sold, kept a few of the better-referenced ones, like Kalton LaHue's tomes on the silents - Still looking for 31 Blackhawk shorts, where are they...Damfino