Silent frog in The Muppets Go to the Movies
Maria as Chaplin in The Picnic
Silent film footage demonstrating long and short, as narrated by Anne Meara on Sesame Street
Sesamstrasse Muppets engage in silent slapstick
Silent movie intertitle for dialogue from A Brief History of Motion Pictures.
Silent films encompass the era of motion pictures prior to the rise of synchronized sound, and more particularly, dialogue. The films and their stars tended to feature more obvious makeup, broad physical gestures, and distinctive facial movements. Dialogue and narrative exposition was communicated through intertitles. These early movies usually had live musical accompaniment to punctuate the action, as on a piano or organ played by a theater employee.
While silent drama often tended to be overemphatic, silent comedians relied on a blend of broad slapstick and often subtle pantomime (as with Charlie Chaplin). Silent stars included Lillian Gish of D. W. Griffith's dramas, romantic icons Rudolph Valentino and Theda Bara, and comedians Snub Pollard, Ben Turpin, and others.
By the mid 1920s, studios were competing to develop sound methods. Warner Bros. Vitaphone system, debuting in 1926, allowed first for full orchestral score and sound effects (as with Don Juan with John Barrymore) and by 1927's The Jazz Singer (still containing silent scenes) marked the first use of synchronized speech and singing. As sound advanced, silent films were largely abandoned, although Chaplin deliberately made City Lights (1931) silent. The plot of Singin' in the Rain centers on the shift from silent to talkies, and those performers who were unable to adjust. Those who successfully transitioned included Laurel and Hardy, the Little Rascals, Carole Lombard, and Boris Karloff (a minor player in silents but a star in the sound era).
By the mid 1930s, the last remaining silent films were those produced in other countries such as Japan and Russia, or later parodies and pastiches (Mel Brooks's Silent Movie, 2011's The Artist). Muppet Babies, with its extensive use of public domain stock footage, often included silent clips. Some of the clips had previously been used by Jay Ward on his syndicated series Fractured Flickers, with redubbed dialogue.
References[]
Sesame Street[]
- The recurring Maria as Chaplin skits on Sesame Street were all done in silent film mode. In one instance, when Ernie and Bert go to the movies, it was even shot in sepia tone and viewed by the characters as a silent movie.
- Several cast sketches, especially those involving construction of letters, were specifically scripted to be done "silent screen" style in acting and accompanying music.
- Footage from the Hal Roach comedy shorts Don't Park There (1924, starring Will Rogers) and It's a Gift (1923, starring Snub Pollard) were used in a Sesame Street insert about traffic lights, along with other silent comedy clips. (First: Episode 0131)
- Filmed inserts featured new color footage being watched by kids who shout to the characters, guiding them out of "Danger" (First: Episode 0480) or to the "Exit." (First: Episode 0536)
- Don't Park There was used again (without additional clips this time) as the movie in "Dialing for Prizes Movie." (First: Episode 0666)
- During season 4, genuine silent film footage was used to similar effect in a series of sketches listed in scripts as "Old Time Movies," with narration by Anne Meara.
- A Brief History of Motion Pictures shows Grover and Fred the Wonder Horse speaking through an intertitle in the silent era, before a microphone descends and ushers in sound.
The Muppets[]
- The Muppets Go to the Movies uses silent clips (including the Keystone Kops) during "Hey a Movie!" Later, Rowlf provides piano accompaniment to a black and white silent film starring Kermit as the Sheik (Valentino's screen persona) in Eastern Promise. Intertitles are used, but when co-star Mulch abruptly speaks, Rowlf declares "And so, the talkies were born."
- Similarly to Muppet Babies, silent footage was used for Gonzo's segments on Little Muppet Monsters.
Other[]
- Sesamstrasse Folge 2401 features the cast in a black and white silent comedy, complete with a cake in the face fight.
Individual silent movies[]
- A Trip to the Moon (1902)
- Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
- The Lost World (1925)
- The Perils of Pauline (1914)
- The Phantom of the Opera (1925)