The Silent Cinema Society website has been dark for the past year, as the shuttering of venues during the pandemic led to sparse announcements of shows. We took that as a cue to close the site for renovation and restructure the website so that you, our Silent Cinema Society audience, may enjoy a full-spectrum experience (even if only in black and white) of the silent cinema era,
The new format highlights the art and technology of silent cinema, featured in the new pictorial screens. This will be an evolving compilation of history and entertainment. Of course, we’ll also announce upcoming events such as Joe’s itinerant moving picture shows. (Subscribers to the Newsreel, our email newsletter, are first to receive news of upcoming events. Subscribe here.)
Joe Rinaudo, founder of Silent Cinema Society, is most honored to have you among the society of industry members, an appreciative audience, and exhuberant fans of silent cinema, who are keeping the experience alive for generations to come. This is Joe’s quest, and you are making it happen.
Hurry—the lights are dimming! Enjoy the newly refurbished SilentCinemaSociety.org.
If you’re stuck at home during the global pandemic, Joe invites you into his home for some good old-fashioned entertainment. Right in the middle of his living room stands his Model 20 American Fotoplayer (customized with extra bells and whistles—and horns and glockenspiel and earthquake and sirens and on and on) which he restored a few years out of high school. You can hear this thing for blocks! The neighbors actually enjoy the sound, as many of Joe’s Facebook and YouTube followers do, too. Here are some of the hundreds of comments that were pouring in during the live concert:
Hi Joe! Thank you for performing this for us tonight.
This is unbelievable. I have never seen anything like this. I love it.
I never knew I could 23 skidoo til I heard this snazzy tune!
Thanks for the performances and history lesson!
Smiling from ear to ear! Thank you Joe!
How do you find or make parts for this?
MORE COWBELL!!!!
do you ever get complaints from your neighbors lol
Amazing Joe! Simply amazing!
Joe, where’s your virtual tip jar? 😊
Thank you so so so much! This was so needed and wonderful! We sat huddled around the lap top as if it were an old style radio, as we leaned in as close so as to soak up every moment. !
Thanks Joe! That was so much fun to watch!
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
He just makes my heart happy
💞
If you’ve never seen or heard a Fotoplayer, you are in for a treat.
The fotoplayer (“foto” from photoplay and “player” from player piano) is a wonderful contraption that was built to provide music and sound effects for silent movies. These machines appeared around 1912 and were used in medium sized theaters. Fotoplayers were in expensive to operate because you didn’t have to be a musician to play them as they were also playable by way of player piano rolls.
The fotoplayer used a fascinating combination of piano, organ pipes, drums, and various sound effects designed to narrate the action of any silent film.
Pedals, levers, switches, buttons, and pull cords were all used to turn on the xylophone, beat a drum, ring a bell, create the sound of thunder, or chirp like a bird.
When sound films came into being in the late 1920’s, the fotoplayer became passé. Of the thousands of American fotoplayers made during their heyday, sadly less than 50 survive, and of those only 12 are known to be in playing condition. One of those 12 is in Joe’s living room.
This machine was originally built in 1926 in Van Nuys Calif. and shipped to a theater in Saskatchewan Canada. It was meticulously restored by Joe Rinaudo in 1976…after being shipped back to California.
More About the Fotoplayer
Visit this page to learn more about the Fotoplayer and see close-up photos, right here on SilentCinemaSociety.org
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You’ll also receive news about upcoming events and shows (once we can leave our homes and be safe around our fellow citizens again); history of silent cinema art and technology; and other tidbits of colorful — er, black-and-white — information. Enjoy the Silent Cinema Society Newsreel.
A FEW MORE COMMENTS…
He’s so cute, thanks for doing this Joe!
I’m a filmmaker that is so disappointed they never taught us about these amazing instruments in our film 101 classes. we learned about silent film but they never taught us much about the live music played during the shows
My grandmother played one of these in Tulsa Ok, during the silent movie era. I have never actually seen one live. So cool!
Would love to get a move tracked with this cool machine!
Love the suspenders!
Omg I love his positivity
Fantastic, thanks for the closeup of the rolls. Fascinating how they encoded the musical data in hole punches. So thoughtful of you to do this for us, buddy😃👍
Wish it wasn’t 2:30 AM over here right now. Could watch this for hours. Thanks and good night.
Joe does hand-crank films at Two-Strike Park the last Saturday in July for the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley. He doesn’t bring this, though. The sound is excellent. The bass is real deep!
I just love you so much Joe!!
thanks so much for this concert, this is so fun to learn about and watch. so grateful theres people out there like joe doing this!
This is so amazing!!!!
Why does he twist his left hand when pulling on those chains on the left?
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
What a fantastic format – Q&A between songs. This show is SO WELL DONE. Kudos to Gary and Nina!
Joe your passion for this so palpable, thank you for sharing this with us youngins who may never have found it otherwise.
Thank you! This is a treasure. Amazing talent and instrument.
He’s a treasure
What a spectacular wonderful way to bring joy and love to the world in such craziness. Joe, you’re generosity and kindness is amazing This is unbelievable. I have never seen anything like this. I love it.
Hi Joe! Thank you for performing this for us tonight.
I never knew I could 23 skidoo til I heard this snazzy tune!
Thanks for the performances and history lesson!
Smiling from ear to ear! Thank you Joe!
My grandmother played one of these in Tulsa Ok, during the silent movie era. I have never actually seen one live. So cool!
He’s so cute, thanks for doing this Joe!
I’m a filmmaker that is so disappointed they never taught us about these amazing instruments in our film 101 classes. we learned about silent film but they never taught us much about the live music played during the shows
Would love to get a move tracked with this cool machine!
Love the suspenders!
Omg I love his positivity
Fantastic, thanks for the closeup of the rolls. Fascinating how they encoded the musical data in hole punches.
How do you find or make parts for this?
MORE COWBELL!!!!
thanks so much for this concert, this is so fun to learn about and watch. so grateful theres people out there like joe doing this!
This is so amazing!!!!
The sound is excellent. The bass is real deep!
I just love you so much Joe!!
So thoughtful of you to do this for us, buddy😃👍
Wish it wasn’t 2:30 AM over here right now. Could watch this for hours. Thanks and good night.
any carpenters on here? 😁😁
Joe does hand-crank films at Two-Strike Park the last Saturday in July for the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley. He doesn’t bring this, though.
This is fantastic Joe! Thanks for doing the livestream.
Why does he twist his left hand when pulling on those chains on the left?
do you ever get worried you’ll pull too hard and bust it???
PhotoPlayer is so much more fun than Photoshop when in quarantine…and you get more of a workout!! Thank you, Joe!
do you ever get complaints from your neighbors lol
So much knowledge being shared
Joe, where’s your virtual tip jar? 😊
What a fantastic format – Q&A between songs. This show is SO WELL DONE. Kudos to Gary and Nina!
Joe your passion for this so palpable, thank you for sharing this with us youngins who may never have found it otherwise.
This just keeps getting better!
Do you have any modern songs cut?
Thank you! This is a treasure. Amazing talent and instrument.
this is so wholesome thank you
Joe needs his own PBS show I would totally watch!
So excited to see this!! That original video of Joe playing the fotoplayer is one of my favourites <3
All the more reason to get this documented. No one has more charm or passion for this than Joe, a phenominal font of fun and knowledge
Thanks to the camera and audio crew also! And everyone who organized it and got the word out. Made my day.
Honor our first responders who have to still go to work. Play To the Rescue!
Good job Joe…great performance and talk.
Thank you so much, Joe
What a spectacular wonderful way to bring joy and love to the world in such craziness. Joe, you’re generosity and kindness is amazing
Thanks a lot for this live Joe, this was so wholesome and interesting ♥
this is keeping me sane I do not want it to end
This has been amazing and would love it if there was another one again, since we’re going to be hunkered down for weeks and weeks. —We’re workin’ on it. Glad you had fun.
STAY SAFE ♥ STAY HEALTHY ♥ STAY TOGETHER (SORT OF)
If you’re bored at home during the global pandemic, Joe invites you into his home to entertain you. Right in the middle of his living room stands his Model 20 American Fotoplayer (customized with extra bells and whistles—and horns and glockenspiel and earthquake and sirens and on and on) which he restored a few years out of high school. You can hear this thing for blocks! The neighbors actually enjoy the sound, as many of Joe’s You Tube followers do, too. If you’ve never seen or heard a Fotoplayer, you are in for a treat.
Here, Joe is demonstrating the Fotoplayer on an episode of Huell Howser’s California Gold, when Mr. Howser interviewed Joe in his very same living room in 2006.
What is a Fotoplayer?
The fotoplayer (“foto” from photoplay and “player” from player piano) is a wonderful contraption that was built to provide music and sound effects for silent movies. These machines appeared around 1912 and were used in medium sized theaters. Fotoplayers were in expensive to operate because you didn’t have to be a musician to play them as they were also playable by way of player piano rolls.
The fotoplayer used a fascinating combination of piano, organ pipes, drums, and various sound effects designed to narrate the action of any silent film.
Pedals, levers, switches, buttons, and pull cords were all used to turn on the xylophone, beat a drum, ring a bell, create the sound of thunder, or chirp like a bird.
When sound films came into being in the late 1920’s, the fotoplayer became passé. Of the thousands of American fotoplayers made during their heyday, sadly less than 50 survive, and of those only 12 are known to be in playing condition. One of those 12 is in Joe’s living room.
This machine was originally built in 1926 in Van Nuys Calif. and shipped to a theater in Saskatchewan Canada. It was meticulously restored by Joe Rinaudo in 1976…after being shipped back to California.
Details and Photos
Visit this page to learn more about the Fotoplayer and see close-up photos, right here on SilentCinemaSociety.org
SUBSCRIBE to the News Reel, the Silent Cinema Society newsletter. You’ll receive news about upcoming events and shows (once we can leave our homes and be safe around our fellow citizens again); history of silent cinema art and technology; and other tidbits of colorful — er, black-and-white — information.
