Organist Tom Trenney Returns to the Kimmel Center to Accompany Silent Screen Legends Laurel & Hardy, Harold Lloyd and Lon Chaney Sr. on The Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ
November 30, 2006
This is the ninth concert in the Kimmel Center Presents classical music series. The next concert in this series is the fourth visit by the New York Philharmonic led by Zubin Mehta with cellist Alisa Weilerstein on January 12, 2007 at 8pm.
Tickets for Silent Films with Organ on Friday, December 29, 2006 are priced at $10 for the family show at 1pm; $16 for the 4pm and 7pm shows, and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-893-5883.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning 2.5 hours prior to curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.
Battle of the Century (1927) 1pm
Fight manager (Hardy) takes out an insurance policy on his puny pugilist (Laurel) and then proceeds to try to arrange for an accident so that he can collect. When a pie delivery man slips on a banana peel, meant for the fighter, a classic pie throwing scene results. An entire day's production from the Los Angeles Pie Company—some 3,000 pies—was used in the famous pie fight. Lou Costello makes one of his earliest screen appearances as an extra in the boxing match sequence; he is visible standing close to the ring.
Double Whoopee (1929) 1pm
Stanley and Oliver, in their new jobs as footman and doorman at a ritzy hotel, wreak their usual havoc on the guests, including partially undressing a swanky blonde guest and repeatedly escorting a haughty Prussian nobleman into an empty elevator shaft. Jean Harlow makes a brief appearance in this film as the blonde bombshell who gets partially stripped by Laurel.
Big Business(1929) 1pm
Stan and Ollie are Christmas tree salesmen in California. Business is slow, and a simple argument with one grumpy prospective customer (James Finlayson) escalates from a simple argument into full scale mutual destruction with Stan and Ollie destroying the customer's house and garden, whilst Finlayson reduces their car to scrap metal, all under the disbelieving gaze of a police officer and an assembled crowd.
Speedy (1928) 4pm
Speedy was one of the films to be nominated for the short-lived Academy Award for Best Director of a Comedy. It starred famous comedian Harold Lloyd in the leading role, and it was his last silent film to be released in theaters. A rarity for the time, Speedy was shot on location in New York City. "Speedy" loses his job as a soda-jerk, then spends the day with his girl at Coney Island. He then becomes a cab driver and delivers Babe Ruth to Yankee Stadium, where Speedy stays to see the game. When the railroad tries to run the last horse-drawn trolley out of business, Speedy organizes the neighborhood old timers to thwart their scheme. The streetcar crash in the film was unplanned.
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) 7pm
Directed by Rupert Julian, The Phantom of the Opera is a classic adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s novel The Phantom of the Opera, starring Lon Chaney in the title role as the masked, and facially disfigured "Phantom" who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to force the management to make the woman he loves a star. It is most famous for Lon Chaney's intentionally horrific, self-applied makeup which was kept a studio secret until the film's premier. His unmasking scene was said to be so shocking, audience members fainted at the sight of it.
Tom Trenney is in frequent demand for recitals, silent films, and hymn festivals throughout the United States. Trenney made his Kimmel Center debut in May 2006 at the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ festival. He recently joined the faculty of Oakland University as conductor of the Oakland Chorale. As organist and director of Music Ministries at First Presbyterian Church, he currently oversees a comprehensive choir program and the popular Birmingham-First Chamber Choir, a select ensemble of 20 singers from throughout Southeastern Michigan. Trenney’s first CD recording, Organa Americana, was released in 2005.
A certified colleague of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), Trenney has directed two Pipe Organ Encounters, and has been featured in recitals at the 2004 AGO National Convention in Los Angeles and the National Convention of the Organ Historical Society in Buffalo, the 2003 AGO Region V Convention in Cleveland, among others. In 2006 – 2007, he has been invited to serve as organist for annual conferences of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians. Trenney received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Organ Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and earned two graduate degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., where he studied Organ Performance with David Higgs and Choral Conducting with William Weinert.
Kimmel Center Presents' 2006/2007 season is supported by: Mellon Financial Corporation, University of Pennsylvania Health System, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, ARC Wheeler, National Endowment for the Arts, The William Penn Foundation, The Presser Foundation, Philadelphia Music Project and Dance Advance, Initiatives of The Pew Charitable Trust administered by The University of the Arts. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents Jazz and World Pop programming. NBC-10 is a Media Partner for Kimmel Center Presents. The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com are media sponsors for the Great Orchestras on Tour series.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS
December 29, 2006
Verizon Hall
Silent Film with Organ
Tom Trenney, organ
The Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ
Family Show: Laurel & Hardy Favorites | 1 pm
Battle of the Century (1927)
Double Whoopee (1929)
Big Business (1929)
Harold Lloyd and Special Guest Babe Ruth in Speedy (1928) | 4 pm
Lon Chaney, Sr. in The Phantom of the Opera (1925) | 7 pm
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