Catch a silent film at Salt Lake's Edison Street Organ Loft, while you still can.
Small Lake City
By Wes Long
With the unseasonably warm conditions having held forth around town this October (*cough* lifestyle-induced climate change *cough*), my family thought it would be fun to get into the spirit of the Halloween season by seeking the atmospheric cool of a dark London fog. But travel prices being what they are, we supposed our best bet was a screening of Alfred Hitchcock's early mystery tale, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), which recently played at the Organ Loft in the Edison Street Events building at 3331 S. Edison Street in South Salt Lake.
Not having been to the Organ Loft since before the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, it was a delight to return to this unostentatious screening house in the company of loved ones and fellow fans of film. Surrounded by the audial appurtenances of the venue's mighty Wurlitzer organ, it was a treat to be inside once again.
With an accompaniment by veteran organist Blaine Gale and a filmed introduction by series planner E. Hunter Hale, Jr. (1938-2024), we had a delightful experience in viewing a film I had hitherto neglected to check out.
Hitchcock's Lodger was fascinating, in that it contains so many kernels of ideas and techniques that would come into fuller bloom throughout the remainder of his career. I was particularly struck by its position as a thematic bookend with Hitchcock's penultimate—and vastly underrated—thriller Frenzy (1972). The Lodger may not be particularly flashy or impressive to some viewers today, but one gets the impression that a group of creative people were experimenting and having fun with this production nonetheless. And even now, there remains some fun little Hitchcockian touches that can be appreciated nearly 100 years after it was made.
My thanks to all the folks at the Organ Loft for their part in putting these events together, which may become even more of a rarity in the days ahead. This season was the last planned by Hunter Hale, who passed away this September from cancer and—according to owner Larry Bray on the Edison Street Events website—"the rest of the team is aging into the 70-80-90s, two of which have Parkinson's disease."
I encourage Utahns everywhere to check out the Organ Loft's silent film series while they still can. This family business has been around Salt Lake since 1946, so if you have yet to experience an Organ Loft screening, you're truly missing out on a beloved local treat. The Phantom of the Opera (1925) played during October, and both F.W. Murnau's Sunrise (1927) as well as Herbert Brenon's Peter Pan (1924) are slated for November. Calendar dates can be found at edisonstreetevents.com.
"Will we continue with the silent film series?" Bray recently wrote to Organ Loft patrons. "How long before so long—time will tell. In the meantime, let's enjoy and appreciate while the sun shines."
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