Silent Movie at the Capitol Theater
One of my favorite activities in Madison is watching a silent movie at the Capitol Theater in a series called Duck Soup Cinema. Built in the late 1920s, the theater still has the original Grand Barton organ system designed for silent movies. Before the movie, some local variety acts perform for about 45 minutes, and after intermission, the hosts pull a few raffle tickets to award local prizes. The acts this past Saturday were a folk music duo, the UW ballroom dance group, and a juggler who used the diabolo, derived from what is sometimes called a Chinese yo-yo. [In Beijing the rapidly moving Chinese yo-yo (響簧 xiǎng huáng or 抖空竹 dǒukōngzhú ) makes a whistling sound that can add to the atmosphere of old Beijing hutongs. See also http://hua.umf.maine.edu/China/ModernBeijing/pages/286_ChineseYoyo.html.] For a few years, three movies were scheduled during a season, but now they're back to two, and a ticket costs $7. At the start of this decade, the price was $1. The hosts mix in silly jokes--some so stupid that they're often funny--that are based on changing light bulbs and people going into bars.

The movie was Buster Keaton's Our Hospitality, which has a lot of funny scenes as well as some good stunts by Keaton. An usher told me during intermission, though, that only about 400 showed up for the matinee and about 700 were at the evening show. Because I now teach also on Saturday mornings and I bought some vegetables at the last farmers' market of the season at the Square, I couldn't make the matinee as I had hoped. After the show, I had the chance to talk to the person in charge to suggest an act for the next Duck Soup Cinema, another Keaton movie, Three Ages, to be shown on February 26.

I wish that more people would take advantage of Duck Soup Cinema because it's a great opportunity to enjoy good laughs in a large, original silent movie theater, see skillful stunts, and listen to the live organ. Over the years, I've taken advantage of the wide-ranging video/DVD collection at the local libraries, and one type I've sometimes tried are silent movies. Here's a list that gives me some good ideas: http://www.silentera.com/info/top100.html I'd rank Safety Last, by Harold Lloyd, much higher than #19 for the laughs.