Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All
from Joe Rinaudo and Crew at
Silent Cinema Society
Merry Christmas
THE SKELETON DANCE, 1929
THE SKELETON DANCE, 1929
Walt Disney Silly Symphony
Warning: This film is not silent…that’s scary, isn’t it?
From Wikipedia:
The origins for The Skeleton Dance can be traced to mid-1928, when Walt Disney was on his way to New York to arrange a distribution deal for his new Mickey Mouse cartoons and to record the soundtrack for his first sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie. During a stopover in Kansas City, Disney paid a visit to his old acquaintance Carl Stalling, then an organist at the Isis Theatre, to compose scores for his first two Mickey shorts, Plane Crazy and The Gallopin’ Gaucho. While there, Stalling proposed to Disney a series of “musical novelty” cartoons combining music and animation, which would become the genesis for the Silly Symphony series, and pitched an idea about skeletons dancing in a graveyard. Stalling would eventually join Disney’s studio as staff composer.
Animation on The Skeleton Dance began in January 1929, with Ub Iwerks animating the majority of the film in almost six weeks. The soundtrack was recorded at Pat Powers‘ Cinephone studio in New York in February 1929, along with that of the Mickey Mouse short The Opry House. The final negative cost $5,485.40.
In order to attract a national distributor for the Silly Symphony series, Walt and Roy Disney arranged for The Skeleton Dance to run at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles and at the Fox Theatre in San Francisco in June 1929, while Pat Powers arranged for it to play at New York’s Roxy Theatre from July. In early August, Columbia Pictures agreed to distribute the Silly Symphonies, and The Skeleton Dance played as a Columbia release in September at the Roxy, making it the first picture in the theater’s history have a return engagement.
In February 1931, The New York Times reported that the film had been banned in Denmark for being “too macabre”.
In 1994, The Skeleton Dance was voted #18 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.
MEET SUZANNE LLOYD IN PERSON AT THE NETHERCUTT
CALL FOR TICKETS
Wednesday, September 26, between 4-6 pm
for a very special Silent Cinema event at the Nethercutt
Phone: 818 364-6464
More information about tickets and venue here.
MEET SUZANNE LLOYD
Not only will you be entertained watching Harold Lloyd on the silver screen, you will have the opportunity to meet his granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd, producer and president of Harold Lloyd Entertainment, who will speak about her grandfather and his career.
An enlightening biography of Suzanne Lloyd is to be enjoyed at the TCM Film Festival site.
WATCH HAROLD LLOYD IN “HOT WATER”
A rare film, Hot Water, from the collection of the Harold Lloyd estate will be hand-cranked by Joe Rinaudo, assisted by Gary Gibson. Dean Mora will narrate the film on the Mighty Wurlitzer.
Harold Lloyd’s films were not shown on television for decades (concensus was editing and commercials would not be appropriate), so the actor and his films are not as well-known as many other silent film stars.
During the 1920’s Harold Lloyd was the most successful film star in the world. When he died, his entire film library was bestowed upon his granddaughter. Suzanne Lloyd considers it an honor to preserve and promote Harold Lloyd’s legacy for future generations.
Joe Rinaudo and the Nethercutt consider it an honor to have Ms. Lloyd enlighten their attentive and appreciative audience as Joe cranks her grandfather’s films.
This event will be presented at the
Nethercutt Collection
Friday, October 26 at 8pm
Saturday, October 27 at 2pm and 8pm
You must CALL IN FOR TICKETS on this day only!
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Call between 4-6pm (the earlier the better)
Phone: 818 364-6464
If it’s busy just keep trying.
Detailed call-in instructions and event info here.
NOTE: The Nethercutt website is dark while it is being redesigned. Thus, fewer people will know about this special event, so this is your chance to get your friends together, call in Wednesday, September 26 2018, and enjoy the show which is Friday, October 26 at 8pm and Saturday, October 27 at 2pm and 8pm.