Short Silent Melodrama
The UC San Diego Library is once again proud to partner with the La Jolla Historical Society to showcase a collection of short silent melodrama films made in the 1920s by La Jolla Cinema League.
The screening features live music and lively sound effects from the Library’s Scott Paulson and the Teeny-Tiny Pit Orchestra.
The La Jolla Cinema League was an amateur film club of 1920’s La Jolla locals whose melodramatic silent-era works have stood the test of time. League members wrote their own screenplays, acted in the films, and ran the cameras adeptly, experimenting with shooting angles and lighting. They developed the films themselves with their own lab equipment and utilized some sophisticated editing techniques.
The “Adams sisters” (the daughters of the gentleman photographer and lady director who were the core of La Jolla Cinema League) will be in attendance at the screening. The siblings donated copies of the La Jolla Cinema League films to the San Diego History Center and to La Jolla Historical Society in 2000. The sisters recently made the films available to the UC San Diego Library, as well.
Among the short films to be shown:
A Midsummer’s Day (1926). A lady-in-love dreams of being shipwrecked on an island with the inattentive gentleman she fancies.
Avarice (1927). An evil miser gets his come-uppance in this dark tale of greed.
Virtue’s Reward or Blood for Bonds (1927). This glamorous tale of intrigue and elegance features everything that one imagines in La Jolla of-the-day: beautiful clothes, opulent jewels, handsome cars, and a breathtaking home above the beach.
Also featured: footage of Balboa Park, taken by La Jolla Cinema League (a nod to the Balboa Park Centennial celebration). Info: 858-822-5758 or [email protected].