Speedy (1928) with Live Theatre Organ Accompaniment

After the film, organist Brett Miller will stay for a Q&A.

Special thanks to the Theatre Organ Society of the Delaware Valley (TOSDV) for use of their Wurlitzer Theatre Organ.

THE ORGANIST

Brett Miller was a finalist in the American Theatre Organ Society’s Young Organist Competition and has been performing for the past ten years over the country specializing in the art of Silent film accompaniment.  He has been featured with the New Jersey  Capital Philharmonic at the Trenton War Memorial as well as opened for the sold-out appearance of George R.R. Martin, author of the Game of Thrones.  He was featured on PBS “State of the Arts” as well as in the Philadelphia Inquirer “We The People” for his organ accompaniment and preservation of silent films.  Along with his brother he founded musicalpromise.org , a musical initiative to help fund the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  Brett has received the White House Student Film Festival honorable mention for a film featuring this community service work.  Prior to his present studying as an undergraduate student at the Eastman School of Music, Brett was involved in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra as well as many school-related musical organizations and was awarded for these efforts. He is an active advocate for the education of the presentation of silent films and performing the scores to them “live to picture”.   Brett continues to be involved in various organizations including Empire Film and Media Ensemble, the Garden State Theatre Organ Society, the Rochester Theatre Organ Society, the American Theatre Organ Society, and the Historic Pipe Organs at Boardwalk Hall.

TICKETS

General Admission: $20.00
Seniors/ Veterans/ Children (under 12): $18.00
Members: $16.00

Please note that all Non-Member ticket prices include a processing fee of $2.00.

THE FILM

Speedy, Harold Lloyd’s last silent film, is a superb valedictory to the silent era. “Speedy” was Harold’s real-life nickname (given to him by his father) and the film is appropriately fast-paced. Lloyd plays Harold “Speedy” Swift, a baseball-crazy young man who cannot hold a job. His employment misadventures include work as a soda jerk and a cab driver. Harold’s girlfriend, Jane (Ann Christy), lives with her grandfather, “Pop” Dillon (Bert Woodruff), who owns New York City’s last horse-drawn streetcar. A gang hired by a railroad monopoly steals the horse and streetcar. By stopping Pop’s streetcar from operating more than twenty-four hours, the rail monopoly hopes to steal away his franchise. Speedy ultimately finds the car and manages to get it back on track in time to make the daily run, saving Pop’s franchise. Filmed partly on location in New York, the film features a memorable cameo from baseball legend Babe Ruth and a wild chase scene in downtown Manhattan, where Harold must hurtle the horse-drawn streetcar pell-mell through chaotic city traffic.