Alice Guy Blache

Arner at the Whitney – Part 3

Posted by David Arner

Alice Guy Blache – Part 3

Sunday January 24, 2010

2:00pm

10 Classic Short Films of Alice Guy Blache – Cinema Pioneer

Live Music by DAVID ARNER

Dance of the Seville Gypsies (1905) 2:16

Dog Playing Ball (1905) 1:24

The Charity of the Magician (1905) 3:25

The High Cost of Living (1912) 13:00

First Class Nun (1902) 4:00

A Man’s a Man (1912) 9:02

The Sewer (1912) 23:18

The Child of the Barricade (1907) 4:39

The Gamekeeper’s Son (1906) 5:07

Goodnight – The Flower Fairy (1905) 00:46

 The Whitney Museum of Art

Madison Avenue and 75th St.

New York City

(212) 570-3600

 Why you should come to this performance:

1. These are films about gypsy dancing, dogs, a magician, the working class, labor battles, antisemitism, the sewers, the Paris Commune, humanity in the midst of strife, and/or existentialism.   This broad palette of visual and dramatic expression is perfect for Arner’s equally diverse and eclectic musical palette.

2. Just as Alice Guy Blache was exploring the possibilities of the camera, so has David Arner been exploring the possibilities of live film music as an active part of the story at hand.

3. These films are hilarious, thoughtful, poignant, riveting, irreverent, and/or compassionate.   All in the course of one hour!

4. This is the very last day of the Alice Guy Blache exhibition at the Whitney– a show not to be missed.

 

For more info about the exhibition go to

http://www.whitney.org/file_columns/0001/0459/aliceguyblache_press_release.pdf

Arner at the Whitney – Part 2

Posted by David Arner

5 Classic Short Films of Alice Guy Blache – Cinema Pioneer

Sunday December 27, 2009

2:00pm

Live Music by DAVID ARNER

The Floor Polisher (1907) 3:32

The Volunteer’s Fiancee (1907) 7:00

The Recalcitrant Donkey (1906) 5:00

The Beasts of the Jungle (1913) 31:36

The Life of Christ (1906) 33:23

 

The Whitney Museum
Madison Avenue and 75th St.
New York City
(212) 570-3600

Why you should come to this performance:

1.  If you missed Arner at the Whitney last month, here is your second chance.  There will be only one more in this series, on Sunday January 24.
2.  Alice Guy’s The Life of Christ features 25 elaborate sets and 300 extras, packed into a 33-minute epic (a long film for 1906).
3. The whole show will be about an hour.
4.  It’s at the Whitney.  Always worth a visit.

Arner at the Whitney – Part 1

Posted by David Arner

Alice Guy Blache – Part 1

Sunday November 15, 2009

2:00pm
8 Classic Short Films of Alice Guy Blanche – Cinema Pioneer
Live Music by DAVID ARNER

The Stepmother (1906) 6:38

The Sticky Woman (1906) 2:22

The Results of Feminism (1906) 7:00

A Four-year-old Heroine (1907) 8:18

The Making of an American Citizen (1912) 15:53

For Love of the Flag (1912) 13:40

The Thief (1913) 16:37

New Love and the Old (1912) 4:50

The Whitney Museum of Art

Madison Avenue and 75th St.
New York City
(212) 570-3600
For more info about the exhibition go to

Why you should come to this performance:

1.  Arner is a pioneer in the re-vitalization of silent film music.  Alice Guy Blanche is a pioneer in making films, period.  Some of these films are from 1906.
2.   Arner’s favorite short being screened, The Sticky Woman (a kind of Dadaist-slapstick piece), is only 2 minutes and 20 seconds.  The longest one is only 17 minutes.
3.  For the 1st time in more than 20 years, Arner will be performing on an electronic keyboard!!  (Actually it’s the second time.  A month ago Arner covered a restaurant gig for the great pianist Nina Sheldon, which was on a  keyboard, and it suddenly became strangely interesting to him.)
4.  If you live in the city, it’s easier than going Upstate Films.
5.  It’s at the Whitney.  Always worth a visit.  Check out the other exhibitions before or after the films.
“His [Arner’s] process will transfix and awe”  (Cadence Magazine)
“Emphatic yet empathetic”  (Signal To Noise)