Royce Hall to show live music with silent movie

By Howard Ho
Daily Bruin Contributor

Today films are complete packages of sounds and sights, created
to play homogeneously in every theater. However, in the silent film
era, live musicians supplied the crescendos that make a film an
aural pleasure, changing the meaning of a film from theater to
theater. Since 1981, Robert Israel, organist and composer, has been
going around the world trying to recreate that experience for
others.

“In the 1920s they weren’t called silent films.
It’s not that they didn’t have the technology, they
did. But they just were not referred to as silent because they were
perfect in their presentation. They always were intended to be
screened with music live,” Israel said.

Israel will be accompanying the 1924 Buster Keaton film,
“Sherlock Jr.,” in Royce Hall this Sunday. Using his
original organ arrangement, Israel hopes to share his enthusiasm
about silent films.

When asked what silent films have that sound films don’t,
Israel replies tersely, “Quality.” He adds, “Many
of the people involved in film had backgrounds in theater.
Certainly they were people who were better read. Today you’re
talking about a generation of people who grew up with television.
That’s a whole different medium.”

In earlier films, most of the actors came from the stage. People
like Max Reinhart and Adolph Zukor linked stage performers and mass
audiences, who, for the first time, could see great performances
for affordable ticket prices.

“A real test for any actor is how well they do on stage.
Film is a lot different. You can do take after take after take and
have some director right there to watch you and tell you what to
do. But once you’re on stage, you’re on your own. You
have a director during rehearsals, but boom, when it’s live
it’s live,” Israel said.

In his own performance, Israel combines improvisation with
careful planning. As an arranger, he picks and chooses different
pieces of music and uses them to create a mood.

“There is an occupational hazard. Sometimes I have to
accompany a film without ever having seen it. So it is complete
improvisation. Generally I do like to score things out rather
meticulously. It’s not that I don’t believe in
spontaneity, because things should sound as spontaneous as
possible,” Israel said.

Israel uses songs that came out of the 1920s, citing “Love
Stars” and “Potato Bug Parade” as two themes in
his arrangement. Using existing music doesn’t indicate lack
of originality; rather it is part of a tradition that goes back to
when every theater had musicians for their films.

“If you went to a large movie theater back then, large
being anywhere from two to four thousand seats, you’d have
anywhere from a 20- to 80-piece orchestra playing one or two shows
everyday of the week. In the largest theaters you had a music
director. A film would come in and they would preview it and they
would score the film,” Israel said.

As a result of the demands of playing up to 90 minutes of
continuous music, many orchestra leaders opted for popular songs
and classical music favorites. Because there was no radio or
television then, many people went to films to hear music. Early on,
composers tended not to write new music for the medium.

“Serious composers had very little interest in writing a
score for a film because films in those days had a limited shelf
life. Composers wanted to write concert music, music that would
have an indefinite life. If you’re going to toil and put all
that work into a score, what would be the point? Wouldn’t you
rather create something like a “˜Rhapsody in Blue’ or a
musical theater piece that would at least have the potential for
revival,” Israel said.

Yet composers were churning out generic themes and musical
shorts that could accompany any number of films.

“There were plenty of composers writing incidental music
of all different kinds, mysterious pieces, chase pieces, love
themes, caprices, intermezzos, neutral themes, dramatic music
specifically and expressly for the purpose of highlighting or
underscoring a silent film sequence,” Israel said.

Part of Israel’s job requires him to sift through the
music to find something that really suits the film.

“It depends on taste. If you have a choice of 5,000
different mysterious pieces, you’d be amazed at the variety
and how some will accompany a sequence better than other
pieces,” Israel said.

After being mesmerized with silent films and ragtime at an early
age, Israel began teaching himself piano and organ when he was 16.
A year later, he took up formal training and continued that at Cal
State Northridge.

Though not having any one favorite film, Israel easily lists his
favorite silent film stars (Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Charlie
Chaplin, Lon Chaney, Douglas Fairbanks and John Barrymore). While
these may not be household names anymore, it is difficult to
imagine Jackie Chan’s stunts without the influence of Keaton
or film monsters without the influence of Chaney. Indeed, Barrymore
was the Tom Cruise of his day.

Today, Los Angeles native Israel continues his 20-year career of
accompanying silent films, expanding also to write original scores
for documentaries and independent films. Investing his life into
the film world, Israel continues to find fulfillment, even amid a
healthy pessimism.

“Even in those days filmmaking was an industry and a
business,” Israel said. “If they turned out something
artistic, then great. But the producers were not necessarily
interested in art as much as turning out a product the public would
buy a ticket to see. Nothing has changed.”