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“Peter Mintun’s Fox Movietone Follies of 2007,” a one-night tribute to the music of Fox Studios (before and after its merger into Twentieth Century-Fox), hosted and performed by society pianist Peter Mintun, will take place Monday, December 11 at Film Forum at 8:00 PM. Mr. Mintun will draw on his vast knowledge of American popular music of the early 20th century to tell the story of the studio’s music, which began even before the advent of talkies, when its silent films began featuring “theme songs.” Fox’s patented sound process, “Movietone,” introduced in 1926, would add full orchestral scores to silent movies, and then music, dialogue, and song to its early All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing! musicals. Produced by Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum’s Director of Repertory Programming, “Fox Movietone Follies of 2007” will pay tribute to the studio’s musical stars like Alice Faye, Jack Haley, and Shirley Temple (who saved the studio from bankruptcy); its songwriters (DeSylva, Brown & Henderson, Gordon & Revel, et al.); and longtime Fox musical director Alfred Newman, who composed the scores for many Fox films himself, as well as the famous opening fanfare that to this day opens every Twentieth Century Fox film. “The living incarnation of the fabulous keyboard wizards of the jazz age” (Will Friedwald, The New York Sun), Peter Mintun began a career in music when he taught himself to play the piano by ear at the age of three. He grew up playing for parties, musical shows, ballroom dancing schools, and silent films at museums and colleges. Early on his leanings to the music of the 1920s and 30s caused him to reject the fashion of his contemporary time and to develop into one of today's leading interpreters of popular music written between the two World Wars -- those vintage melodies with such classic style that they, in Mintun's words, "transcend time." Peter Mintun’s piano playing has graced such rooms as L’Etoile in the Huntington Hotel, Masons in The Fairmont, the Madison Room of The New York Palace Hotel, and Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle. He has played everywhere, been photographed with everyone, and has become one of today's most sought after and respected society pianists. Perhaps the most telling tribute to Mr. Mintun was paid by his friend and colleague Michael Feinstein, who once remarked, “When I grow up, I want to be Peter Mintun.” Mr. Mintun returns to Film Forum for this one-night only performance. Mr. Mintun’s performed his two previous Film Forum concerts, Lost Chords and Sing, You Sinners!, to completely sold-out audiences. He has also accompanied several silent films for the theater. Mr. Mintun’s website is www.mintun.com. This special event is part of Film Forum's "Fox Before the Code" series, a festival of racy gems from the Hollywood studio known for its glamour and sophistication, which continues through December 21. The festival features films by directors Raoul Walsh, Frank Borzage, Fritz Lang, Rowland Brown, Erich von Stroheim, William Wellman, among others, and a roster of stars including Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Clara Bow, Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and Jean Harlow. Disklavier Mark IV Grand Piano courtesy Frank & Camille’s and Yamaha Corp. of America. |
