Black History Month / Anything But Silent
BERT WILLIAMS: LIME KILN CLUB FIELD DAY
Guest speakers: Museum of Modern Art project leaders - Ron Magliozzi, Associate
Curator, and Peter Williamson, Preservation Officer
Tuesday, February 9 at 7:30pm
Silent Classics with Live Organ Accomaniment by Ben Model
$10 Members | $15 Public
Headlined by Bert Williams, the first great black star on
Broadway, this never-released romantic comedy is thought to be the oldest
surviving feature film with an African-American cast.
Headlined by Bert Williams, the first great black star
on Broadway, the never-released Lime Kiln Club Field Day is thought
to be the oldest surviving feature film with an African-American cast.
Discovered in MoMA’s Biograph Studio collection and finally restored 100 years
after their production, the seven untitled reels of film presented here were
intended for a romantic comedy that was never completed. In it, man about town and resident schemer (Bert
Williams) is on the lookout for the next opportunity to advance his
interests. As a member of the fraternal Lime Kiln Club headed by Brother
Gardner, he becomes involved in a contest with rival suitors to win the hand of
the local beauty (Odessa Warren Grey). Particularly compelling is the fact that the footage shows
“offscreen” interactions between the actors and directors, as well as Williams
having blackface applied, which he also wore in his live performances. The film
was added to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry in December. MoMA
Associate Curator of Film Ron Magliozzi, and Peter Williamson,
Preservation Officer, who
oversaw the film’s restoration, will discuss the project and its historical
importance at the screening. (USA, 1913, 100 min., 35mm | Dir. T.
Hayes Hunter, Edwin Middleton)
Ben Model is one of America’s leading silent film accompanists, and has been playing piano and organ for silent films at the New York MoMA since 1984, and the CAC since 2006.
