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One of my favorite things about Poughkeepsie is the Bardavon Theatre, which houses one of the few operational Wurlitzer theatre organs. We are regulars at the Bardavon film series, which typically would have organ music played before the event. For the 2001 screening it was a medley of sci fi themes, which was just incredible.

A couple of years ago they stepped up their game, when they did Nosferatu (1922) for halloween, with live organ accompaniment. This has apparently become a halloween tradition. Last year we had Jekyll and Hyde (1920), and this year (last night), the Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923).

I really enjoy the silent films of this era, as they are a whole other form of art that we really don’t have any more. And sitting there, in a theatre that was rebuilt to have that organ in the 1920s, you get glimpses of a time long past. Of the people that would have gone there nearly a hundred years ago to watch these movies when they first came out.

Here’s looking forward to next year’s silent film, whatever that might be.