Over the past five years, I've taken great pride and pleasure in presenting the best silent comedies with live musical accompaniment at the Colston Hall as part of the Bristol Silents Slapstick Festival.
Every January, I came to Bristol to host the Gala night featuring some of the best films of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy. Every year we attracted a large and enthusiastic audience; over a thousand people every single Gala night. The applause at the end of the evening was always deafening. A lion's share of the credit must go to the Prima Vista Orchestra, a highly talented group of musicians who readily brought the films to life with their sensitive and vital musical settings.
Prima Vista are: Neil Brand – Piano
Gunther Buchwald – Violin
Romano Todesco – Bass
Frank Bockius – Drums
Dennis Biason – Guitar
The continued loyalty of the Bristol audience was very special to me and was matched by my loyalty to them. At the end of every exceptional Gala evening, I've stood on the stage and promised to return with more delights the following year. I'm proud that my name has played such a large part in building up the Slapstick Festival's reputation. I have programmed many events and have been happy to do the lions share of publicity.
So you could have knocked me down with a custard pie last August when Chris Daniels, the self appointed Director of Bristol Silents, emailed my agent to say he was dropping my Gala Night because he believed that we would struggle to sell tickets!!
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He was staging a benefit in September for the Slapstick festival in January and he felt the benefit night clashed with the well established, extremely successful Gala Night. In January. So he was dropping it! This was presented to me as a fait accompli. No discussion, no debate. Your Gala Night isn't happening. I suppose I was 'sacked'.
What on earth possessed Chris Daniels, the self appointed Director of Bristol Silents to behave like this?
Let's give this some context.
Let's look at 2008.
I had been so enthused by the Bristol audience's responses to our Gala Nights at the Colston hall, I commissioned Timothy Brock to produce a score for a 15 piece orchestra, to accompany Charlie Chaplin's feature masterpiece, 'The Gold Rush'. This needed special permission from the Chaplin estate where policy had been that the film could only be shown with a fifty piece orchestra. That makes it hugely expensive.
Timothy Brock came to Bristol to conduct his new score and the evening was a total triumph. Fifteen hundred people in the Colston hall cheered him and the orchestra to the rafters.
It was worth every penny of the twenty thousand pounds it cost me. Yes I know, more money than sense, but such is the nature of passion.
And it was a great coup for Bristol Silents to stage a World Premiere. I mention all of the above because you would not have learnt any of it on the night. The ironically named Master of Ceremonies Chris Searle, good friend of Chris Daniels, didn't feel it necessary to share any of the above knowledge with the audience. He also contrived to start the second half while I was still in the lit auditorium talking to members of the public. At the end Chris Searle rushed forward to be the first to congratulate Tim Brock who was expecting to present the published score to me on the podium in front of the audience. I didn't know anything about this at the time but it would have been a sweet gesture. Later, Tim presented me with the score in a dressing room which was very touching. Our guest of honour was Christopher Chaplin, Charlie's youngest son, and it was a great pleasure to meet him. He shook my hand and said "Thank you for supporting my father's work". That's a moment that I will never forget.
Unfortunately, there were also other moments in 2008 I will never forget. Chris Daniels, the self-appointed Director of Bristol Silents, advertised my name in the Slapstick Programme for a discussion panel, Saturday morning 9:00am, without mentioning it to me beforehand. I didn't find out until the evening of the Gala because, despite repeated requests over the course of two weeks, he couldn't get me a copy of the Programme. No wonder! He had advertised me without consultation.
In the show I did with Nicholas Parsons, Chris provided the wrong film clips despite my clear instructions and in another show I was doing at the festival about European comedy my co-host was listed in the Programme as Serge Bromberg. Serge is an expert in this field and I am not. I told Chris I'd be happy to share a platform with Serge. On the day, Serge wasn't there. He later told me he had never agreed to host the event, he was merely supplying the film clips. More wishful listing from Chris.
I was in a position of hosting an event that I knew very little about with films I had never seen. Any of the above 'errors' taken individually would be mildly frustrating but looked at all together, in a chain, then perhaps they might be considered in another light.
If we also throw in the thousands of leaflets that Chris had printed for 'The Gold Rush' which were useless because they didn't have the date, or indeed time of the event printed on them, the whole business begins to whiff of sabotage.
If you go to the Bristol Silents website and click onto 'previous festivals' you will come to a page that shows you logos for the years 2005 – 2009 but nothing else. No mention of the World Premiere of Timothy Brock's score for 'The Gold Rush' or the presence of Christopher Chaplin, never mind the other triumphant years of 'Safety Last', 'Steamboat Bill Junior' etc. Nothing. Why not boast about them? Hence this lengthy account. History is important.
I'm sorry I won't be in Bristol this year, but my memories of those Colston hall nights will live with me forever. To hear such applause and laughter for the films I love is very special to me. Thank you, the people of Bristol.
However, my association with Bristol and silent films continues in another media; Just before Xmas, I finished editing a film about early European cinema for BBC Bristol and 2010 sees me also directing 'The Birth of Hollywood', a major 3 part series for BBC2, also for BBC Bristol.
I'm sorry that Chris Daniels, the self-appointed Director of Bristol Silents, doesn't share other people's faith in my continued ability to attract audiences. If you see him – ask him why.
Paul Merton
