Category Archives: Fotoplayer

Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences, Fotoplayer, Mechanical Instruments, Photoplayer, Silent Cinema, Turner Classic Film Festival

April 27: Professor Plays Fotoplayer at Turner Classic Film Festival

April 10, 2018 Gary Gibson Leave a comment

TCM Classic Film Festival 2015: Dream Machine behind the scenes

HAROLD LLOYD: NEW DIMENSIONS IN SIGHT AND SOUND

2018 Turner Classic Film Festival
Friday, April 27, 2018
2:30 pm

Admission: All Pass levels are eligible for this event. No Individual tickets are available for this passholder exclusive event.

Once again Professor Rinaudo will be in grand performance at the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival in Hollywood, but this time he won’t be cranking a projector.

Back in the Spring of 2015 the Professor, in conjunction with The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences cranked through a series of the earliest films showcasing the birth of the art of cinema and the progress made in its early years as can be seen in this very short video.

If you are one of the many who will be attending this year’s festival we implore you to make your way to the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater on Friday April 27th at 2:30pm to see the Professor accompany several Harold Lloyd silent short subjects on the Academy’s American Fotoplayer.

Joe Rinaudo plays Academy's Fotoplayer The Professor happens to be the “King of the Fotoplayers” as you will see when he plays music and sound effects by pulling levers and cords, and pushing buttons and switches with both hands and feet. See it in action here.

The Fotoplayer is a marvel of an invention that was used to provide music for silent films in the theaters that were too small for live orchestras. The Academy’s American Fotoplayer featured at this event was restored by Joe Rinaudo, Dave Hartman, and team.

The Professor’s assistant will be doing the cranking of the 1909 Power’s projector at this year’s event while the professor provides the musical accompaniment.

Do not miss this special event!

Here is the TCM Film Festival’s own website article:

Presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Linwood Dunn Theater, with special guest Suzanne Lloyd, Harold Lloyd’s granddaughter. Join Randy Haberkamp, Managing Director of Preservation and Foundation Programs at the Academy, as Suzanne Lloyd shares the great silent comedian’s stunning 3D photography (including shots of Disneyland in 1955 and Marilyn Monroe poolside), personal home movies, a new 3D conversion of a sequence from Safety Last (1923) and additional Lloyd short subjects: A Jazzed Honeymoon (1919), produced and directed by Hal Roach and co-starring Harold’s frequent leading lady Bebe Daniels and comedian Snub Pollard, and thrill comedy Never Weaken (1921), produced by Roach and co-starring Harold’s real-life leading lady, his future wife (and Suzanne’s grandmother) Mildred Davis. Live accompaniment provided by Joe Rinaudo on the Academy’s newly restored 1917 Fotoplayer, a rare and amazing instrument designed during the era of silent film to provide musical accompaniment and sound effects at movie theaters that could not afford an orchestra. This Fotoplayer is one of only 12 in existence today. (Digital)

For more details on the Linwood Dunn Theater, click here.

Note: All Pass levels are eligible for this event. No Individual tickets are available for this passholder exclusive event.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Fotoplayer, Pickford Center, Silent Cinema, Silent Cinema, The Reel Thing, The Reel Thing

Fotoplayer (and Joe) Applauded at Preservation Event

September 13, 2016 Gary Gibson Leave a comment

Illustration of the Style 40 Fotoplayer. The Academy’s installation is the Style 41, built in 1917.

Following the enthusiastic response at the Fotoplayer’s inaugural program at the Academy of Motion Pictures Linwood Dunn Theater, Joe Rinaudo was asked by Jon Erland of the Academy’s Science and Technology Council to speak at the yearly Los Angeles gathering of The Reel Thing, a group that addresses current thinking and most advanced practical examples of progress in the field of preservation, restoration and media conservation.

On August 20, 2016, Mr. Rinaudo gave the group the “fifty-cent tour” of the restoration process needed to restore the Academy’s 1917 American Fotoplayer.

Afterward, the Fotoplayer was demonstrated by Joe, showing off all its bells and whistles (literally), and then several musical selections were played as the group was exiting. Playing the machine with his back to the audience, Mr. Rinaudo was surprised when he turned around to find that nobody had left—they all stayed to watch him perform and applauded enthusiastically.

Watch The Reel Thing demonstration video, filmed and posted on Joe Rinaudo’s Facebook page by Stan Taffel.

Mr. Erland has discussed the possibility of Joe returning at next year’s meeting for a more extensive discussion of the laborious effort to restore the Fotoplayer to its better-than-original condition.

Learn about The Reel Thing here and Joe Rinaudo’s explanation of the Fotoplayer here.

Beverly Gray has written an enlightening piece about the Academy’s Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study. You’re sure to enjoy the article by “a show biz survivor who believes movies can change lives.”

Ampersand, Fotoplayer, Guns n' Roses, Music, rock n' roll, Sound Effects

Guns n’ Roses n’ Rinaudo on the Fotoplayer

August 30, 2016 Chaz DeSimone 2 Comments

When Joe Rinaudo restored his Model 20 Fotoplayer over three decades ago, he never intended to play classic rock & roll on it. But the people of YouTube made sure he did. Here is one of the cleverist, perfectly timed dubs you’ll ever see and hear and LOL to. (Don’t be fooled—this is not the Huell Howser segment you saw on TV.)

Here’s a poster series for anyone who is in tune with ampersands, brand names with ampersands, or Guns & Roses with an ampersand instead of their official n’ (which should really be ‘n’). AmperArt is created by Chaz DeSimone, who also restores title cards for Joe’s silent films.