Horror classics to bring spooky thrills to silent film series
Kick off the Halloween season with the screening of the 1925 horror classic "The Phantom of the Opera," starring Lon Chaney Sr., Mary Philbin and Norman Kerry.
The Arcada Theatre, 105 E. Main St. in St. Charles, is continuing its "Silent Film Night" series with the horror classic at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9.
During a vacation in Paris in 1922, Carl Laemmle, president and founder of Universal Studios, met French author Gaston Leroux. He gave Laemmle a copy of his 1910 novel, "Le Fantome de l'Opera" to read. Laemmle immediately bought the rights to the novel for his star Lon Chaney Sr. Chaney, who had recently starred in the successful "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," again created his own makeup for the part, pulling his nose up with a piece of wire and painting his part of nostrils black to create the skull-like features of the "Phantom." The deformed Phantom haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he "loves" a star.
Tickets are $10 or $8 for members of the Chicago Area Theatre Organ Enthusiasts or the Silent Film Society of Chicago. Visit www.arcadalive.com.
Enjoy fresh popcorn while watching a silent film in a 1920s vaudeville theater. In addition to popcorn, there are food and drink specials, including beer, wine, mixed drinks, soda, bottled water, popcorn, boxed candy and beef sliders on pretzel rolls.
The movie will be accompanied live by Jay Warren, Chicago's foremost pipe organ expert, on the classically restored 3/16 Marr Colton/Geneva Arcada organ.
On Thursday, Oct. 18, Warren will accompany the screening of the 1922 horror film "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror" on a digital Mighty Wurlitzer at 7 p.m. at Wheaton Public Library, 225 N. Cross St. Admission is free. The film by German Expressionist director F.W. Murnau features Max Schreck, Gustav von Wagenheim, and Greta Schroder.
On Tuesday, Oct. 30, see the 1927 film "The Unknown" at 7 p.m. in the Crimi Auditorium at Aurora University, 407 S. Calumet Ave., Aurora. The horror film stars Lon Chaney Sr. as Alonzo the Armless, a carnival knife thrower who fakes being a circus freak who can only use his feet to toss knives, and Joan Crawford as the carnival girl he loves from afar. The film is directed by Tod Browning, who is best known as the director of 1931's "Dracula," and the 1932 cult classic "Freaks."
The evening also will feature Buster Keaton's short comedy film "One Week."
As a regular photoplay organist for the Silent Film Society of Chicago, Warren has accompanied most of the great silent films throughout his 40-year career. He has been featured annually for the society's highly regarded Silent Summer Film Festival since its beginning in 2000.
For a dozen years, he played the huge E.M. Skinner pipe organ for silent films at the University of Chicago's famed Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. He also performs film accompaniment on the beautiful Letourneau pipe organ in the Crimi Auditorium of Aurora University. He also has made several silent film photoplay appearances on the incredible five-manual Wurlitzer located at the Sanfilippo Foundation's Place de la Musique in Barrington.
The Arcada Theatre opened in 1926 as a silent film and vaudeville theater. In later years, the theater owners had the Geneva Organ Co. put in a larger console and add more pipes.
The Chicago Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society helps maintain the organ which has about 1,000 pipes, plus real drums, cymbals and the usual noisemakers used in the days of the silent movies to make the background sound.
To learn more about the Chicago Area Theatre Organ Enthusiasts and other upcoming events, visit www.facebook.com/CATOE61/. For more on the Silent Film Society of Chicago, visit www.facebook.com/SilentFilmChicago/.