movie date...

 This afternoon my spouse and I went on a date to the movies.  But these movies came with a twist.  They were silent films from 1923 and 1924 accompanied by an excellent organist playing the magnificent pipe organ at the Embassy theater which was built in 1928.  It was such fun, even with a few little glitches.  The first movie was introduced by the organist, he began playing intro music, the curtains opened to reveal the giant movie screen and then nothing else.  The organist played on and on but no movie.  I thought maybe they didn't have anyone on staff who knew how to run an old time projector, but of course the movies had been digitized.  We knew this because what did show up on the big screen were computer symbols (suitable for a silent film) showing that something wasn't connected correctly.  Finally the title screen came up and the show began.  Both movies starred Buster Keaton who is an amazing visual comedian.  The first was a short film (20 minutes) called "The Ballooniac" and the second was a feature length film (45 minutes) called "Sherlock Jr."  The stories were funny and the music blended beautifully with the action which involved everything from clinging to the top of a hot air balloon to one of the craziest chase scenes I have ever enjoyed.  I was honestly amazed at the special effects they were using in 1924.  These days we are so used to television and movies showing unbelievable things that we take much of what we see for granted, but I was imagining how amazing it must have seemed to someone in the audience in 1924.  It did occur to me that one of those audiences could have included my mother who would have been 14 years old at the time.  All in all, it was a great movie date.  I highly recommend it.