Another Love Letter to the CAPA Summer Movie Series

So much for the break... Sometimes inspiration just comes when it comes...

Went to see Wings at the Ohio last night. It was magical and important on many levels.

First of all, Wings was the first Best Picture Academy Award winner. Anyone who knows me knows my life-long immersion into all things Oscar and how important this ritual was/is to my family.

It was also the only silent film ever to win an Oscar. While I don't have a huge personal knowledge of silent film, I have been increasingly smitten with the silent-film-score, and the concept that there used to be people who worked in movie houses whose job it was to accompany the film on a piano or organ. For the past ten years, on and off, I've attended a trade show of sorts, the Cinevent, held at the Ramada in north Columbus. While I initially just wandered around the memorabilia room, occasionally I'd slip into showings of silent films. Once I discovered there would be a person playing the score live, I made it a point to see a couple every year. I've come to learn that sometimes there is specific sheet music for a specific film, but very often it has been lost and the accompanist is left to improvise according to the action.

Not an easy feat.

That was the case last night. The Ohio's "house" organist, Clark Wilson, who always plays for a half-hour before every show, played for the entire two-and-a-half hour epic. He played it all from memory. Talk about smitten. I didn't even notice this until my date leaned over and said, "How can he possibly remember all of that."

Speaking of which, while I'm not inclined to go into the direct details of my personal life in this medium, I will say, having a date at the Ohio with someone you really like doesn't get much better.

There's really no reason not to try to go. There are nine more movies. Perhaps I'll see you at Evil Dead II, Steel Magnolias or South Pacific.