As I suspected, one of my must-see events at the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival, "Return of the Dream Machine," turned into a festival highlight for me.

The presentation was very TCM-esque and highlighted what the network does best at their annual festival: bringing together experts to create an atmospheric, memorable evening that brought film history to life. Randy Haberkamp, Joe Rinaudo, Gary Gibson, Galen Wilkes and Michael Mortilla all contributed in their own unique ways to transform an ordinary Saturday night into an evening out at the movies, early 20th century style. This screening made me particularly grateful for my pass this year, because without it, I would have been shut out; once again, the Chinese Multiplex House 6 reached capacity before the standby line even had a shot.

The lineup for the evening was partly filled with the ordinary suspects, several of the most famous shorts from cinema's early history, such as The Great Train Robbery (1902), A Trip to the Moon (1903), A Corner in Wheat (1909), and Suspense (1913). Lesser known titles included Those Awful Hats (1909), Four Troublesome Heads (1898), Winsor McCay, The Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics (1911), and the bizarrely frightening The Dancing Pig (1907). 

I also really admired the team in the theater and all of those behind the scenes for working so hard to make the evening as authentic as possible. As we walked in, Galen Wilkes stood by the screen, manning his 1908 Edison Phonograph, which played period music. Joe Rinaudo and Gary Gibson, dressed in what they said was turn of the century projector garb (complete with top hat), took their spot in the back of the theater beside the 1909 hand-crank power’s Model 6 cameragraph motion picture machine, switching off the hand cranking duties as Michael Mortilla supplied live musical accompaniment in the front. As Rinaudo and Gibson changed film reels between the shorts, a Magic Lantern, which was attached to the projector, shuffled through humorous glass slides to keep the audience amused. In between the shorts, Haberkamp also provided insightful commentary on each selection, complete with a mini rundown of the history of the medium as it applied to the topic at hand.

To make things even more exciting, before the show began, Rinaudo gave a brief clarification as to how he and Gibson would crank the films. He explained that there really was no customary frame rate back then; though 24fps is standard today, some of the shorts he would project that evening were shot at 12 or 18fps, and sometimes the speed even changed within the movie itself, like A Corner in Wheat. Both Rinaudo and Gibson were trained to know exactly when to slow down or speed up, which was an adjustment we could hear and see (by the shadow on the screen) as well. It was not uncommon to watch audience member's heads turn from the front of the theater to the back during the shorts. Both ends of the room provided immense entertainment that evening, and I saw many people (myself included) splitting their focus between the picture and Rinaudo and Gibson on the projector.

Joe Rinaudo working the projector. This was just as fun to watch as the movies themselves! (Photo credit TCM)

It's kind of difficult to see, but the Star Film logo is on the bottom of the rocket.

The tongue was the most disturbing part, and it's even worse when you watch it move. Did the French really enjoy this in 1907?

Early Animation

My artistic talent begins and ends with crude stick figures, so the fact that animation exists blows my mind - not to mention how the art form found its way into the movies so quickly. One of first companies to regularly feature animation in their pictures was Vitagraph. Unfortunately, Vitagraph's contributions to film history, including high quality comedies, contemporary dramas, adaptations, and the aforementioned animations, are sadly largely forgotten due to deterioration and a devastating July 1910 fire that destroyed their Brooklyn studio.

Several Vitagraph films combined a documentary style with hand drawn animation, which was evident in the Winsor McCay short, in which the artist is hired to create loads of comics to turn in to animations. The process is laid out quite simply for the audience to follow - seriously,  even I understood it - and I can only wonder what 1911 audiences thought of animation considering moving images themselves were still so new! 

That's a lot of paper and ink, Winsor McCay.

Women in Charge

Though sadly forgotten by the masses today, a few female writers, directors, and producers toiled and experimented alongside the men during cinema's infancy, including Alice Guy Blaché and Lois Weber. The one female-helmed short of the evening was 1913's Suspense, written, co-directed, and starring Lois Weber, who started off as an actress working under Blaché and moved on to directing in 1911, frequently working with her husband Philip Smalley.

Though D. W. Griffith still reigned as the most famous director in America and excelled in experimenting with novel editing techniques, Weber stood out for her focus on women's issues, many times throwing her unique social perspective in the mix. With Suspense, Weber also challenged audiences with a technical rarity for the time: a triangle screen to keep the spectator in the know (at times) while all three stories unfold. Even at 100 years old, the film still packs an element of surprise and tension when viewed today.