POST 43 AND RETROFORMAT SILENT FILMS TO PRESENT A ONE-TIME-ONLY SCREENING OF CHARLIE CHAPLIN’S 1925 VERSION OF ‘THE GOLD RUSH’
The Chaplin Office Has Granted Rare Permission to Screen The Gold Rush with Live, Improvised Piano Accompaniment by Cliff Retallick This January
Los Angeles, CA (December 5, 2019) – Post 43 and Retroformat Silent Films, in cooperation with the Chaplin Office (which represents the Charles Chaplin family), will present a special, one-time-only 35mm screening of the original 1925 version of Charles Chaplin’s masterpiece The Gold Rush at the newly renovated Hollywood Legion Theater at Post 43 on January 18, 2020. The screening will be open to the public and will be introduced by world renowned independent filmmaker and Retroformat Silent Films board member Allison Anders, whose films include Gas Food Lodging, Mi Vida Loca and Grace of My Heart.
For this unique screening in LA’s newest and most prestigious venue, the Chaplin Office has waived their usual requirement that the film must be accompanied by their recorded score. Live piano accompaniment will be provided during the screening by Cliff Retallick, who is well known to Los Angeles audiences for improvising scores on-the-spot during silent films at venues like UCLA Film Archive, Retroformat Silent Films, and the American Cinematheque. This event will kick off a series of tributes by Retroformat Silent Films to the founders of United Artists, with subsequent screenings of films by Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., Mary Pickford and D.W. Griffith to take place at the historic Woman’s Club of Hollywood early in 2020.
The Gold Rush originally premiered in 1925, but in 1942, Chaplin recut and re-released the film, adding a score that he recorded and composed himself, and dubbing it the "official version." In 1993, internationally renowned film restorationists, historians and documentarians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill restored the original 1925 version, and it is this version that will screen on January 18 in the beautiful Legion Theater.
“We are highly honored that the Chaplin Office has granted us rare permission to show this amazing and important film in its original release format with live accompaniment by our Musical Director, Cliff Retallick,” said Tom Barnes, founder of Retroformat Silent Films, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit devoted to silent film exhibition that is co-sponsoring the screening with the American Legion Post 43. “We are also thrilled to be working with the veterans of the American Legion to bring this event to their beautiful new theater.”
In The Gold Rush, Chaplin's immortal Tramp is a lone prospector in the Alaskan Gold Rush, where he meets the beautiful dance hall girl Georgia Hale and becomes trapped in a snowbound cabin, hilariously boiling, carving and eating his own shoe in the famous dinner roll dance - one of the greatest scenes in movie history.
“The miracle of Chaplin is the miracle of cinema itself — for the first time in history, people of all races, ages, classes and ethnicities laughed at the same things and without words, and we owe each successive generation an introduction to Charlie,” says film director, screenwriter and Retroformat Silent Films board member Alexander Payne. “‘The Gold Rush’ is a great place to start, and this is a wonderful chance to see the movie projected. It’s a movie that sticks with you for the rest of your life.”
The Hollywood Legion Theater at Post 43 is located at 2035 N. Highland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90068, just south of the Hollywood Bowl. The special screening will take place at 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices will start at $25.00 for general admission, with discounted tickets for veterans at $15.00. A limited number of special VIP tickets will be available for $40.00, and will include free parking, one free drink from the Legion’s bar and a free walking tour of the historic American Legion Post 43, plus a special tour of the Legion Theatre projection booth after the film. Parking will be available in the Post's lot for $10 per car (limited number of spaces). Free parking is available across the street in the lot adjacent to the Hollywood Heritage Museum.
For more information on Post 43, follow us on social media at @post43events or visit the website, post43events.com
ABOUT POST 43
POST 43 is a freshly renovated and restored event space that sits in the heart of Hollywood, CA. The three-story, 30,000 square-foot landmark features a state-of-the-art 6,000 sq.-ft. theater with seating for 482 guests, a variety of private event spaces, a full commercial kitchen, full liquor and cabaret licenses, and onsite parking. Designed by award-winning architects and event designers, the newly redesigned social space celebrates the rich history of the clubhouse while offering an unparalleled experience enhanced by modern amenities.
Post 43’s historic American Legion memorial clubhouse building was completed in 1929. Hollywood luminaries—veterans and nonveteran supporters—like Cecil B. DeMille, Adolph Menjou, and Mary Pickford were all instrumental in getting the post on its feet. Post 43 members have included the likes of Clark Gable, Gene Autry, Red Buttons, Mickey Rooney, Ronald Reagan, Charlton Heston, Stan Lee, and many more show business figures.
ABOUT RETROFORMAT SILENT FILMS
Retroformat Silent Films was granted nonprofit status in April 2019 with the sole mission of educating and inspiring enthusiasm about the art and history of the silent film era. They fulfill this by recreating the original moviegoing experience of in-person screenings with live musical accompaniment, introducing new generations to the joy and power of silent cinema. Their board includes internationally renowned writer/directors Alexander Payne and Allison Anders and the curator of the University of Southern California Hugh M. Hefner Archive, Dino Everett. The Gold Rush represents Retroformat's first screening in 35mm, and their first screening in the beautiful new Legion Theater.
Retroformat has two ongoing silent film series in other locations. The Music Box Cinema screens monthly at the historic Woman’s Club of Hollywood, featuring silent classics on 16mm film courtesy of the USC Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive, plus live vintage musical acts produced by Musical Director Cliff Retallick. The long-running series Retroformat: Rare Silent Gems on 8mm and 16mm Film is now celebrating its tenth anniversary in the Spielberg Screening Room of the American Cinematheque’s (formerly Grauman’s) Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Live musical accompaniment is provided at all screening by Cliff Retallick.
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