"Louis the Movie" Satchmo is the Subject of a New 'Silent' Film!

This fascinates me no end.  As many of you know I am a silent film buff and enjoyed the honor of meeting surviving stars of the silents while attending NYU Film School in the early 70s. Yes, this is one of those stories that blow me away. And the same director has another film in the works about jazz legend, Buddy Bolden.  Everything old, is new again.

I've had this for some time and simply forgot to post it - what with the busy summer and all. Enjoy.  From the Newark Star-Ledger:

Inspired by the work of early movie star Charlie Chaplin, director Dan Pritzker’s new silent film — yes, you read correctly — “Louis” offers a surprisingly fresh take on the long-obsolete tradition. Pritzker uses the unusual medium to imagine the childhood years of jazz legend Louis Armstrong.

A 21st-century silent film on early jazz might seem anachronistic — but “Louis” is not bogged down by the genre’s fuzzy black-and-white history. Vibrant, energetic and colorful, the film brings the flavor and flair of turn-of-the-century New Orleans to a new audience.

Currently on a multi-city theater tour, the film is being shown with live musical accompaniment by pianist Cecile Licad and a jazz ensemble led by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

On Monday, “Louis” will make its stop in New York City at the Apollo Theater. It’s an especially fitting venue for the film, which bridges past and present entertainment traditions — just as the Harlem landmark has for nearly a century.

Pritzker — heir to the Hyatt hotels fortune — produced and directed the film. “Louis” is a companion piece to another, regular feature-length film he is directing, with the same cast, about Buddy Bolden, one of Armstrong’s most legendary predecessors. As a counterpart to the more conventional “Bolden!,” this film basks in the quirks of the silent film medium.

Read the rest HERE.
And so it goes.
*