#scoring

New York Times’ film critic Mordaunt Hall was beyond effusive in his review of Ernst Lubitsch’s 1926 comedy souffle SO THIS IS PARIS (’26) describing it as a “gay picture” which “hails from the workshop of that master director Ernst Lubitsch” and is doing its share to “uphold the screen art…’” He added that the “farce comedy is titivated with satire. It is a farcical yarn that keeps one amused from the start. The publication named the romantic roundelay starring Monte Blue, Patsy Ruth Miller, Lilyan Tashman and Andre Beranger, as one of the top ten films of the year.

Though several of Lubitsch’s silent Hollywood films have been released on DVD or aired on TCM, that hasn’t been the case with SO THIS IS PARIS, because the comedy didn’t have a score until now. The virtual TCM Classic Film Festival has the “Lubitsch Touch” Sunday evening with the world premiere of the new restoration of SO THIS IS PARIS, presented in a 2K scan off the Warner Bros. nitrate complete with a lively original organ score by and performed by Ben Model.

Over the years, TCM had licensed Model’s scores for silent films in the public domain he had initially done for home video including Baby Peggy’s THE FAMILY SECRET (‘24) and Marion Davies’ WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER(‘22). One of the top accompanists and composers of silent film scores, Model had long wanted to work with TCM to commission new scores for their scoreless silent films in their library. After discussions with Charles Tabesh, TCM’s SVP for programming and content strategy, Model was able to score SO THIS IS PARIS.

“I knew SO THIS IS PARIS had been shown at the TCM Film Festival a few years prior,” said Model. “I knew this is a film that Warners’ controls. It’s a film I don’t have to convince anybody about… It’s already on everyone’s radar. I also knew that the Library of Congress had material on it.” And, it turned out TCM had scanned its print of the film. “They sent me a file and I scored the film.”

Surprisingly, Model doesn’t compose or play on an actual mighty Wurlitzer, he utilizes a virtual one using a computer program that “behaves like an actual organ console would.” Model watched the film once and took a lot of notes for himself: “story notes where I’m writing down what happens in the scene, what mood I think it would be. Sometimes I’ll write down this should be a minor waltz or something like that. I will also notate for myself in boldface visual cues. Not in a Mickey Mouse coconut sounds when somebody gets hit on the head kind of thing, but just so I can see it at a dramatic moment. “

There’s a scene in the beginning of the film where the one couple is rehearsing this Arabian dance and there is a man playing the piano. “We get a glimpse of the sheet music,” Model noted. “I thought just in case there are any musicians who are reading [the sheet music], I actually transcribed the first eight or nine ears of the ‘Dance of the Despair’ and it kind of works. “

He doesn’t write all the music out when he’s composing. “I improvise, although when I’m recording, it’s more like I improvise until it’s right. It’s a form of composition where I’m not physically writing notes on a piece of paper. But I still think of it as composition and not just making music until the scene is over. Improvisation was a technique that organists knew.”

He learned as a young man from the legendary silent film accompanist Lee Erwin that silent film music “should be interesting enough to hold you, but not pretty enough to distract you. The idea is because silent film is its own universe. I think the idea it to support the film and help the audience. Boost then up into the world and keep them in that world.” The biggest challenge scoring the film is the three minutes and 13 second Charleston party sequence “where nothing happens,” noted Model. “The film is forward motion and dramatic action then the movie stops. It’s just shots of a lot of people dancing. I didn’t just want to play until the scene was over. I wanted to try and map something out.”

So, Model watched the sequence, took down the timing and even created a spreadsheet “so I could figure out not only how many seconds each the segments are. I was able to break it down and discover the internal logical of the editing. I came up with a tempo which is a Charleston tempo or a tempo that the Charleston would be played it.” He chose not to include the famous Charleston music in the sequence because he thought it would be a distraction. “I chose to play music that was at the Charleston tempo so you could concentrate on what was being done on screen.”

“Cup of Russia is really proving how real the Eteri bonus is.”

“From the ISU Program Components marking chart, available on their website - COMPOSITION: Purpose (idea, concept, vision, mood); pattern/ice coverage; multidimensional use of space and design of movements; phrase and form (movements & parts of the program to match the musical phrasing); ORIGINALITY OF THE COMPOSITION. So now, tell me again how a program recycled four times should be getting 10s in this category?”

“If the Chinese and the Russians starts politicking in Beijing by guaranteeing Chinese pairs the gold and Russian ice dance teams the gold and screw P/C (politics started in euros already), I want P/C to pull a Savchenko.”

“If Russia is always scheming/politicking in figure skating, they should just be banned from being a member of the ISU, banned from judging, and then they can play politics within their own country instead. But ¾ of ISU is literally funded by Russia, and Russia is the puppeteer of ISU. What a shame, because they have some of the most amazing skaters and their federation acting like that is so toxic to the athletes.”

“What sucks for Evgenia is that due to 3A being so strong, Kamila Valieva being the next star, and Alina coming back from her break, Evgenia has almost no chance at the Olympics because Eteri’s students get the ‘Eteri political bonus’ from the judges and the benefit of winning the slots from RusFed. I think she is screwed and that sucks.”

“I always feel so bad for Stepanova/Bukin, in 6 years of seniors (including nationals), they have only won 5 times, 3 of which were just the challenger series wins. They are way more interesting than Sinitsina/Katsalapov imo. Anyways, mad props to them for continuing to skate. They have been wronged for so long.”

“How Sinitsina/Katsalapov won Euros is still beyond me, while Papadakis/Cizeron weren’t perfect at all there, they still should have won, but not by that large margin that they usually do, obviously. If this happens in Beijing, and they make S/K somehow win, that is the end of watching ice dance for me, forever.”

“What Chock/Bates have achieved since Pyeongchang is amazing. They came back from a difficult position (FD disaster, serious injuries, stagnating results, etc.), when so many people were rooting against them, and they’ve made it back to the top, defying the rules of ice dance. They proved the whole world wrong, and I hope they keep it going and get some type of medal in 2022, to show the ones that are still doubting them, even after the season they just had.”

“I’ve always been a casual fan, knowing near to nothing about the technicalities, scores and so on. Then I found a group of people who were more into it, and I tried to have more of a thorough approach, but each time it was a constant lamenting over underscoring vs. overscoring and it felt heavy. I decided to go back to my ignorant ways of watching skating, where I cheer for all skaters and am/be less bitter.”

“I know that good PCS/musicality/artistry is something you can’t just wave a wand around and instantly have, but I wish I had a wand for Trusova. Sometimes watching her inbetween elements and during her SS is a chore. Which is a shame because I love her so much.”

Who were the top five fantasy players at each position when the 2018 season was all said and done?

Quarterbacks

Running Backs

Wide Receivers

Tight Ends

(all stats derived through Week 17 using Yahoo’s default half-point-PPR scoring)