The Oregon Historical Society presents an evening of silent film from their permanent collection. This screening will look to celebrate recent preservation efforts as well as highlight some entertaining silent era films. All titles will be shown on film. Live piano accompaniment for select films.
Titles in the program include:
-
The Boy Mayor
(1914) Hollywood’s examination of the trials and tribulations of Portland’s underage shadow government.
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Sick of Life/Mephisto’s Son
(1900) The Devil’s son becomes disillusioned with life in Hell and looks upwards for meaning and a wife; hand colored early Pathé film.
-
Gold
(1922) After a long journey from St. Louis, a gold hungry family must come to grips with the harsh realities of life in an Oregon prospecting camp. Poor decisions are made and children are put at risk but, in the end, the love of one’s family perseveres.
-
Calumet Baking Powder Advertisement
(date unknown) An advertisement for a better baking product as told through an appreciation of the five senses.
-
Raymond Roger’s Home Movies
(ca. 1935-1950) 35mm footage of Portland, including the 23rd street car, Ringling Brother's Circus, Blue Mouse Theater, Vanport Flood, etc. and beautiful black and white footage of Portland circa WWII.
Also on the program will be Act 1 of
The Scourge of Positivism
, a musical slide-show-drama presented by the Portland art collective Zenith Tea House, using images and text from the collections of the Oregon Historical Society library.
The Boy Mayor
and
Raymond Roger Home Movies
were preserved in 2013 by Film Technology (Los Angeles, CA) from a 2012 National Film Preservation Foundation grant. Many thanks to Michele Kribs for her work on this project.