Silent Movie Monday Matinee

Step back in time to the 1920s at the historic Paramount Theatre! Hear The Paramount's Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, view a short silent film, and learn about the music, history, and theatre of the silent film era.

During the matinee we will learn about French filmmaker/magician Georges Méliès' imaginative Sci-Fi world. A unique education event led by one of the Paramount's talented Organists, foley artists, and a film historian, this one-hour lecture/demonstration will give students and the young at heart, insight into the magic of film in its beginnings!

Voyage Dance La Lune (1902)
This pioneering science fiction film was inspired by the novels by Jules Verne (From the Earth to the Moon) and H.G. Wells (First Men in the Moon). Using innovative, illusion cinematic techniques Méliès depicted many memorable, whimsical old-fashioned images.

The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903)
Over the course of the movie's 17-minute running time, Méliès' employs an elaborate and layered nature of staging. It is perhaps all the more striking because Méliès has positioned the camera square in the middle of the set and left it stationary, and all of the scenes are filmed in one shot. The shots brim with movement and activity created not merely by human actors but also by the physical and non-human elements that make up the mise-en-scène.