"I'll Show You the Town"
Christopher Snowden
years ago with Universal's college comedy "I'll Show You the Town." This
Friday, the Stanford will present the film again, with Dennis James at
the organ.
"I'll Show You the Town" stars Reginald Denny and Marion Nixon, and
was directed by Harry Pollard.
Last weekend, incidentally, was the annual Essanay/Broncho Billy
Festival in nearby Niles. I knew I was going to love the films, and I
did, but what was even better was the chance to talk film with the
a.m.s. All-Star team of Bob Birchard, David Shepard, Greta de Groat, and
David Totheroh. Also on hand were Sam Gill, David Kiehn, Abe Hoffman,
Bonnie McCourt, a pair of Chaplin Chicks, a 1904 Powers Cameragraph
projector, a nitrate fireball and more. Those of you who missed it...
missed out!
Chris Snowden
Unknown Video
Derek Boothroyd
Christopher Snowden <unk...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> The Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto (California) opened seventy-five
>years ago with Universal's college comedy "I'll Show You the Town." This
>Friday, the Stanford will present the film again, with Dennis James at
>the organ.
This show was one of the best times I have had at the movies. First,
Bill Taylor performed for about 45 minutes on the organ, mainly songs from
Fred Astaire musicals. Then came _I'll Show You the Town_, accompanied by
Dennis James. This was followed by an appearance by Joan Leslie and then
a showing of _The Sky's the Limit_ (1943) in which she costarred with Fred
Astaire which is the one film which I always think of first as a film that
doesn't have the reputation it deserves.
_I'll Show You the Town_ was wonderful fun, made possible through a
print from a Belgian archive with English language titles remade from
the original text and inserted at the UCLA film archive. Mr. Packard
had several people of the people who worked on the film at UCLA up for
the occasion and I was glad they were able to see how well it went over.
The accompaniment by Dennis James was excellent, based on popular songs
of the period.
I had been wanting to see some of Reginald Denny's silent comedy work
since reading the chapter about him in _The Parade's Gone By_ but this
was the first I have seen (although I have seen a number of his sound
films). Having seen this one, I am eager to see others and would
appreciate any recommendations. Marian Nixon didn't have too much to
do but I enjoyed her performance. It was also nice seeing Margaret
Livingston pre-_Sunrise_, Martha Mattox from _The Cat and the Canary_
and Lilyan Tashman.
Derek B.
mthfllofur
town" went over very VERY well with the audience. i have NEVER
heard an audience laugh like this at any movie i have attended.
from the "hanging gardens" scene (with a very funny dance with
an ice cube) to the "chase through the hotel corridors" scene
there seemed to be non-stop laughter.
i was a bit dissapointed at the turnout, however. i expected
there to be people showing up early to stand in line...as is
usualy when there are "guests" at the stanford theater. so i
showed up early and there were exactly two people in line (both
of whom were delightful and intelligent to talk to,
btw...refreshing refreshing!!!) and no one else showed up until
and hour before the doors "theoretically" opened (i
say "theoretically" because the doors were supposed to open at
6:00 but ended up not opening until around 6:25)and while we
stood outside david packard came outside and handed out
reproductions of "the new stanford theatre section"---a
reproduction of a newspaper that was printed on the day that the
stanford theater opened..June 8, 1925...which tells of Reginald
Denny's appearance.
"Declared to be one of the cleverest comedies in wheich Denny
has appeared, the play deals with the startling adventures of
a "dry-as-dust" professor who finds himself pbliged to show
three young ladies the sights of the city. The task is further
complicated by the necessity of keeping each of the ladies
ignorant of the others' existence. short subjects, including a
news reel and a cartoon, will complete the program of the
opening night. 'I'll Show You the Town' will play at the New
Stanford for three days, to be followed on Friday and Saturday
by Richard Dix in 'The Shock Punch.' " reads one of the articles.
i hope some of you out there were able to make it. the night
truely was memorable.
dennis james did a fantastic job with the accompaniment (sp?).
he started off by saying that he was given the video of the
movie the tuesday before the showing..and that there seemed to
be no trace of any score on record that he could find. so he
took cues from the title cards, several of which apparently had
the names of songs that were popular in 1924. at one point when
the words "red hot momma" are typed out, you could here that
very tune playing. i was also impressed by how interactive mr
james was with the movie...when the phone ring there was a ring
from the organ...when the doorbell was rung there was a doorbell
from the organ...dance music for the dancing...and the final
chase music was stunning (i am drawing a blank on what the
precise music is...damn feeble mind! but i believe it was music
found in disney's fantasia..the crocs and hippos scene?)
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Christopher Snowden
> i also would like to add that the showing of "ill show you the
> town" went over very VERY well with the audience. i have NEVER
> heard an audience laugh like this at any movie i have attended.
> from the "hanging gardens" scene (with a very funny dance with
> an ice cube) to the "chase through the hotel corridors" scene
> there seemed to be non-stop laughter.
>
I really enjoyed the movie. It's not a five-star classic, but I found it
superior to "Skinner's Dress Suit," the Denny film that gets all the attention.
He has one brief but marvelous moment in the restaurant sequence, where
he's rushing through as quickly as he can and nearly runs into a man who's just
as flustered (and tipsy) as he is. They're too polite not to stop and offer each
other the right-of-way, but no matter what, they keep bumping into each other
until Denny realizes what's happening. He's run up against a wall covered with a
floor-to-ceiling mirror! It's a wonderful bit, worthy of Harold Lloyd.
The film is loaded with silent-era character actors, like Hayden Stevenson,
who hung on at Universal long enough to be cast as the coach in the "Collegians"
series, and Lilyan Tashman, who steals every scene she appears in. Neeley
Edwards is on hand too, looking enough like Monty Banks to be his brother, and
delivering a good slapstick touch.
>
> i was a bit dissapointed at the turnout, however. i expected
> there to be people showing up early to stand in line...as is
> usual when there are "guests" at the stanford theater.
I always hate to see empty seats at a silent film screening. This
presentation hadn't been announced in any of the Stanford's mailings, though,
and there was still a pretty good-sized crowd. I thought the place was at least
half-full, but I was down in front and couldn't really tell.
Chris Snowden
Unknown Video