Arts Aplenty

THE SOUND OF SILENCE: While Annabelle and I were busy working elsewhere, CJ and Christian had a chance to visit the historic Paramount Theatre and enjoy a midday matinee featuring a silent movie and live organ accompaniment.

CJ will be happy to tell you more about it. ...

Monday morning, I went to the Paramount Theatre in downtown for a Silent Movie Monday event, where multiple silent films (films generally dating from 1904 to 1928, according to the host) were shown. I went as part of a field trip with Cascade Parent Partnership Program students.

The first silent movie we were shown, Alice the Whaler, was actually a Walt Disney project, from his early days in the animation industry. Alice the Whaler was one of many "Alice Comedies", projects Disney made featuring various actresses playing the title character, Alice, with animated visuals as a background. Alice the Whaler was a six-minute long short featuring Alice, accompanied by several other characters, on a boat and dancing instead of, well, whaling (until the very end of the short).

The second silent movie we were shown, Love at First Flight, is an obscure live-action short that came out in 1928, the same year the Paramount Theatre opened. Love at First Flight is mostly dedicated to showing off several attractive women in swimsuits (gee, that sounds familiar), with the plot serving as an excuse.

Both films had live soundtracks played by organist Christian Elliott, who stated that he worked with multiple silent-era film industry people. Elliott often improvises sections of the soundtracks, according to what he said at the event.

In addition to the show being entertaining, the lovely Paramount is always a star in its own right.

IN ADVANCE: Tomorrow night we'll be attending Seattle Opera's producion of "Aida."

In preparation, we checked out some videos today. One was all about the costumes for the production. It turns out that the wardrobe for Verdi’s epic love story includes over 200 costumes for singers, dancers, and the chorus. We watched an interview with designer Anita Yavich. From it, we learned about the color theory and historical influences behind her design choices. https://youtu.be/KwUXuwREl4g


Verdi’s Aida also includes several dance sequences, so we watched a video with show choreographer and contemporary dance leader Jessica Lang, whose work has been presented by Pacific Northwest Ballet. We learned the show will feature nine dancers.
https://youtu.be/1dlQEI9q3Hk