Orpheum Theatre (Los Angeles, CA)
As part of the the Los Angeles Theatre Organ Society's Wurlitzer Weekend, Fritz Lang's silent film Metropolis will be screened at the historic Orpheum Theatre, with live accompaniment by Clark Wilson on the original installation Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ. Metropolis is one of the most influential silent films ever made, and the first science fiction movie ever. This is a rare opportunity to see it on the big screen with a live organ, the way it was meant to be seen.
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The last event was Friday January 13, 2006 / 8:00pm. (view all dates)
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When planning began in 1923 for the Orpheum Theatre as the fourth and final house operated by the Orpheum vaudeville circuit in Los Angeles, who could have foretold the memories this magnificent venue would harbor over the years.
Since its February 15, 1926 opening, the Orpheum has played host to some of the most venerable names in show business - from burlesque queen Sally Rand, ... More
Metropolis, the first science fiction film is one of the masterpieces of Fritz Lang, an Austrian-American film director. The story takes place in 2026, one-hundred years from when the movie was made. The film was actually released in 1927. The world Von Harbou and Lang created was a cold, mechanical, industrial one. The city of Metropolis is a crowded one where people are either of the privileged elite, or of the repressed, impoverished masses. Vast numbers of the lower class live underground to run the machines that keep the above ground Metropolis in working order. In contrast, the other portion of this futuristic world plays and delights in the gardens and stadiums.
The tense balance of these two societies is realized through images that are among the most famous of the 20th century, many of which presage such sci-fi landmarks as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner. Lavish and spectacular, with elaborate sets and modern science fiction style, Metropolis stands today as the crowning achievement of the German silent cinema.
Perhaps the most famous and influential of all silent films, Metropolis had for 75 years been seen only in shortened or truncated versions. Now, restored in Germany with state-of-the-art digital technology, under the supervision of the Murnau Foundation, it is, as A. O. Scott of The New York Times declared, "A fever dream of the future. At last we have the movie every would-be cinematic visionary has been trying to make since 1927."
A native of Ohio, Clark Wilson began his musical training at the age of nine. He accompanied numerous stage musicals and was organist at several churches. He holds Life Member status in the International Tri-M Music Honor Society.
Following several years with the Schantz Organ Company as a reed voicer and tonal finisher, Clark’s professional theatre organ career began with his appointment to the featured organist position at Milwaukee’s now defunct Pipe Organ Pizza. He has been on the playing staffs at the several pizza parlors across the US. and is currently associated with Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa, Arizona.
Clark has numerous recordings to his credit and has given all-transcription recitals for the American Guild of Organists, played for the 1990 Organ Historical Society convention, and performed at countless national and regional conventions for the American Theatre Organ Society. He has concertized throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and England and done extensive silent film accompaniment, including for the Chautauqua Institution of New York and recently accompanied Nosferatu at Walt Disney Concert Hall. In addition, he is the featured organist for the Summer Movie Series at the famed Ohio Theatre in Columbus, Ohio.
Clark also heads his own pipe organ business and is in demand as a tonal consultant and finisher of both classical and Theatre pipe organs. He has received both the Technician of the Year and Organist of the Year awards from the ATOS, the only person to have done so.
LATOS presents Metropolis with Pipe Organ Accompaniment as part of the Wurlitzer Weekend. Other event over the weekend include Bob Mitchell in concert at Founder's Church and Chris Gorsuch performing a Big Band Organ Recital at the Bay Theatre in Seal Beach. Both are available through Goldstar.
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