Masters of Silent Comedy
A 1919 Movie Night featuring Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Laurel & Hardy
Join us as we open the annual Colony Short Film Festival with a nod to our historic theatre’s 100th birthday! The Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra, hailed by The Washington Post as “the premier American ragtime ensemble” will take you back in time to experience the movie going experience of the 1910s and 1920s. Laugh out loud to three hilarious silent comedy shorts, Charlie Chaplin’s “The Pawnshop” (1917), Buster Keaton’s “Cops” (1922) and Laurel & Hardy’s “Big Business” (1929), all accompanied live with their historic orchestral scores, as they would have been in the days of Marietta’s New Hippodrome Theatre! Between the films, hear Peacherine and Director Andrew Greene play the rollicking rhythms of the early 20th century, featuring favorites by Scott Joplin, Irving Berlin, and the creators of America’s first popular music: Ragtime. Fun for the whole family!
“The premier American ragtime ensemble.” – The Washington Post
“They are, quite simply, one of the finest ragtime orchestras in the world.” – Rivermont Records
“Plenty of variety played in a sparkling fashion which positively exudes good spirits… evocative of the sound that once would have been heard emanating from a park bandstand on a balmy summer’s afternoon.” – Barry McCanna, Sounds of Yesteryear
“The finest group of its kind… impeccably performed.” – The Syncopated Times
About the Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra
The Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra is “the premier American ragtime ensemble” as hailed by the Washington Post, and is rapidly becoming the leading professional ragtime orchestra in the United States. Formed by young virtuoso Andrew Greene at the University of Maryland in 2010, the Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra recreates the syncopated stylings of a bygone era – Ragtime, Theater, and Dance music, along with underscoring classic silent movies using an immense archive of over 12,000 original orchestral scores.
The PRSO has repeatedly appeared at leading venues including The Kennedy Center, The Library of Congress, The American Film Institute, historic theaters, state-of-the-art performing arts centers, colleges, universities, and concert associations across the United States. The PRSO’s work has been featured in documentaries, online video, and is frequently heard on radio and podcast programs, including Hot Jazz Saturday Night (WAMU 88.5, Washington, DC), Ragtime America (KGNU 88.5, Boulder, CO), and Rapidly Rotating Records (KISL 88.7, Catalina Island, CA).
PRSO’s concert programs highlight the music of the late 1800s and early 1900s, with selections by composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, W.C. Handy, Victor Herbert, George M. Cohan, and of course, the King of Ragtime, Scott Joplin. Marches, two steps, waltzes, one steps, theatre selections, classical parodies, popular songs, and of course, rags, are just some of the many selections you’ll hear in their concerts.
In addition to their concert programs, Mr. Greene and the PRSO underscore classic silent movies featuring the biggest names of the day: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Laurel & Hardy, Douglas Fairbanks, and others. Mr. Greene also has the distinction of rebuilding the original compiled scores for Buster Keaton’s THE GENERAL (1927), COLLEGE (1927), and Charlie Chaplin’s SHOULDER ARMS (1918), and others from the PRSO’s collection of over 500 original film scores.
The PRSO records for Rivermont Records, whose three albums, Elite Syncopations, Step With Pep and That Teasin’ Rag have been called “first class”, “wonderful, toe tapping fun”, and “the most satisfying ragtime orchestra collections available.”
PRSO’s Founder and Conductor, Andrew Greene
Conductor Andrew Greene is the leading young authority on orchestral ragtime and silent film accompaniment in the United States. Mr. Greene founded the PRSO while a freshman at the University of Maryland, hoping to draw attention to this neglected but historically important music.
He is the curator of the Johnny Maddox, Arthur C. Ziegler, E.J. McBride, Katherine Lingham, Louis H. Burns, Palm Leaf Ragtime Orchestra, and Silver Cornet Ragtime Orchestra collections, along with his own personal collection of of orchestrated ragtime, silent movie music, theater and dance selections, piano solos, and records. The collection totals over 12,000 selections of music from 1862 to 1930.
Mr. Greene has appeared at leading venues including The Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian Institution, The Library of Congress, and The American Film Institute, among others. His lecturing and performance activities have taken him across the United States, including engagements with the South Dakota Symphony Chamber Orchestra, The Fremont Symphony Orchestra, the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival, The West Coast Ragtime Festival, the Central Pennsylvania Ragtime Festival, and many others.
