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PAST EVENTS
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Vintage Halloween show - Burbank Historical Society
A review from their newsletter:
"GHOST & GOBLINS

What a fantastic program for Halloween.  We had over 100 people in attendance along with ghouls and ghosts as you can see from the photos.  The Cunningham Room was transformed into the Ghoul Time theatre where you were entertained by vintage silent horror films along with the original music of the time.  Our own Mari Pattito, Craig Bullock, and Carey Briggs decorated to the hilt.  We had so many requests for Galen to return next year, we might just have to ask him back.  Please enjoy the photos." 
(Photos below are Galen's, not from the article)

The audience packed the room, decked out for Halloween.
Halloween decor set the mood for the holiday program.
Galen's historic exhibit displayed music, recordings, and film memorabilia for Halloween.



THE MOVIES BEFORE HOLLYWOOD - Little Landers Historical Society
Bolton Hall, est. 1913.
Galen explains the first publicly shown motion pictures in 1894.
A hit Edison film from 1906, The Dream of A Rarebit Fiend.
Movies from 1894 to 1910 and their fascinating history.  The hall was standing room only, spilling into adjacent rooms and the entry.



BEFORE THE MUSIC VIDEO - Los Feliz Public Library
The Edison Talking Machine provided the singing to song slides in Galen's program.
Slides were shot for popular songs and sung in vaudeville and movie theaters.
Songs were used for early sound movies, this one from 1905 and also shot in color.
Musical acts continued on short films with Vitaphones becoming a major source.
The history of "talking pictures" and musical shorts is traced from the Kinetophone in 1895 to Soundies of the 1940s.



FROM VAUDEVILLE TO THE NICKELODEON - Hollywood Heritage Museum
The former office and studio of DeMille and Lasky, now the Hollywood Heritage Museum.
The crowd filling the museum.
Andre Stojka, former dean of Columbia College who presented me my masters degree as a student.
Our wonderful song illustrator from 1911, Mikal Sandoval.
The history of one of the most popular - and now forgotten - aspects of early cinema, the Illustrated Song.



THE MOVIES BEFORE HOLLYWOOD - Pasadena Museum of History

D.W. Griffith shoots When Kings Were The Law at the Fenyes estate, 1912, Pasadena.
The view today.
Galen poses by the fountain used in the 1912 film.
Galen performs his score for the film, on the site where it was shot.
A program on cinema-going at the turn of the century.  D. W. Griffith's When Kings Were The Law (1912) was presented, on the actual site were it was shot.



BEFORE THE MUSIC VIDEO - Mayme Clayton Museum
Another version of this popular program showing the history of musical shorts from song slides to early talkies.  The room filled up and people sat out in the hall.



FROM VAUDEVILLE TO THE NICKELODEON - Mark Taper Theater
Galen starts the program, retelling the history of the Illustrated Song.
Mikal Sandoval sings to a rare set of May Aufderheide slides.
Actress Carla Laemmle, 102, makes an appearance at the show.
The after-show dinner party.
Leading film historians attended this show, where Galen gave the unknown history of song slides, from vaudeville to early cinema.


The Gamble House Centennial - Pasadena

The Gamble House, 1908.
Hundreds attended the gala celebration.
Music and memorabilia by Galen. The architects also designed the piano!
My Edison phonograph - also 1908 - played period recordings in the parlor.



Children's program - Pasadena Museum of History

Teaching youngsters about the early history of recorded sound. 



FENYES MANSION - Christmas show
The Fenyes mansion, built 1905.
The entry hall.
The Christmas program, featuring Galen.
Galen playing for Christmas silent movies.
A phonograph concert of Christmas recordings from the turn of the century.



VAUDEVILLE NIGHT - Alex Theater

Vaudeville lives once again at the annual stage show at the Alex Theater.
The beautiful Alex Theater in Glendale, built 1925.
Playing original recordings of vaudevillians for the sold-out crowd.


EARLY RECORDED SOUND - UCLA

Presenting the Edison phonograph to UCLA students, class of Professor Erkki Huhtamo.
Students are enthralled to see 19th century technology, which they record with their 21st century technology.
Professor Huhtamo making a recording in wax.

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIE FESTIVAL, NICKELODEON SHOW, HOLLYWOOD
Galen operates his Edison phonograph to open the show.
The audience arriving for the early silent film program.
Galen with Leonard Maltin, showman Joe Rinaudo, and former Paramount CEO Sherry Lansing.

 
FLICKERS FROM THE SILVER SCREAM - Halloween Show
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, 1912.
Galen plays his Halloween rag, Mephistopheles' Two Step.
Carla Laemmle tells her story of watching Lon Chaney film the Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923.

Los Angeles in the Ragtime Era - Sutter Creek

My 1912 linen suit was a challenge in Sutter Creek, where temps soared towards 100º.
Tom Brier rips up the keys with Chewin' The Rag, an early Los Angeles piano rag.
Attendance was Standing Room Only. Not bad for an event first thing in the morning!

Syncopating Celluloid - Sacramento

Galen introduces his program of ragtime music & history on film since 1894.
One of the first films to use records to add sound, marching band, 1895.
Rare footage of composer Joe Lamb, captured in home movies.

Ragtime as living history.

At an 1870s Steinway square grand; the type of piano popular in Joplin's youth.
Demonstrating the Edison phonograph and a new era of recorded sound.
Explaining some history behind ragtime music.
The Magic Lantern (19th century home projection)
A Christmas scene with my 1870s lantern.
1870s magic lantern and slides.
Perusing some slide images.