Edward Lorusso restored a digitized version of the 1921 silent movie “Enchantment,” starring Marion Davies. Lorusso is shown in the screening room at his home in Belgrade in February 2021. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel file

GARDINER – On a typical Friday night in the 1920s, Augusta’s Colonial Theater was likely filled with excited moviegoers ready to watch the newest silent movie. 

An ad for Colonial Theater which the Kennebec Journal published on Dec. 19, 1929. Kennebec Journal file

On Saturday, at the 2nd Annual Silent Film Fest: The Show Must Go On!, at Johnson Hall Opera House, 180 Water St., movie fans will have the chance to watch three silent films produced in Maine the way the filmmakers intended: on a big screen, with live music. 

Though many people now — 100 years later — are familiar with silent films, many Mainers are unaware of the role the state played in the history of silent films, an era that ran from the late 1800s to the early 1930s.

Host Edward Lorusso hopes the festival will have Maine film fans walking away with more knowledge of their state and of the lost art form of silent movies — 80% of which are thought to be lost forever.

“I think it’s a fascinating era that came to a screeching halt when talkies came in,” said Lorusso. “There is so much in the silent-film era that will never be seen again.”

Lorusso, who lives in Belgrade, was a literature professor before he got an interest in silent films.

Now, with more time on his hands, he attempts to locate movies that were lost from the silent-film era, with a focus on those filmed in Maine.

An ad for the Opera House which the Kennebec Journal published on Jan. 5, 1923. Kennebec Journal file

Maine served as a backdrop for dozens of movies during that time period, Lorusso said, and was home to two production studios, one in Portland and the other in Augusta. Filmmakers back then enjoyed filming in Maine because of the ease in taking the train to get to an area with the ocean, mountains and forests. Most movies produced now are filmed in locations like Hollywood, Vancouver, or even close by in Massachusetts, where there is a tax break for production expenses.

Edward Lorusso is shown in the screening room at his home in Belgrade in February 2021.

Lorusso researches online and reads archived newspaper articles from the period to help him get the names of the movies made in Maine. He then attempts to locate the film at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., where there is a large archive, or at the Northeast Historic Film archive in Bucksport.

If he can locate it, Lorusso will restore the film to the best of his ability, though sometimes the film will be in pieces or has parts missing.

“They didn’t understand the value of what they had — it was disposable entertainment,” said Lorusso. When these things were stored, they weren’t stored correctly and the nitrate film they used is highly flammable and it decomposes quickly.” 

Lifelong silent-film fan and musician, Jeff Rapsis, agrees, and calls silent films a timeless value. 

The New Hampshire resident performs music on a keyboard during silent-film showings and will perform at Saturday’s event. He started playing music to accompany silent films around 15 years ago and never stopped, calling it his therapy, or his escape to a world other than his own. 

An ad for Colonial Theater which the Kennebec Journal published on Oct. 30, 1924. Kennebec Journal file

Rapsis enjoys seeing people come together to see the films in the way they were intended to be seen by filmmakers — on a big screen and with music that is different each time.

“I mostly work in improvising where I create the music on the fly, and I don’t compose as much as I make it up as I go. It’s a specialized skill to analyze the movie in real time, and that’s what I do. I accompany the film, but also the audience guides what I do with the music,” said Rapsis.  

All three movies Lorusso picked to show Saturday take place in Maine and are short in length.

The first film, “A Tin-Type Romance” was filmed in 1918 around Portland and at the then-newly opened Palace Playland in Old Orchard Beach. It features what is thought to be the first dog actor: Jean, the Vitagraph Dog, who was from Eastport.

“The Seventh Day,” was filmed in New Harbor in 1922 and deals with a feud created when a boat carrying New Yorkers crashes and they are brought ashore to small-town Maine. It stars Richard Barthelmess, who Lorusso described as a silent-film superstar.

The third film, “The Awakening of Ruth,” from 1927, takes place on the Maine coast and is a classic drama about a wild child who grows up on a Maine island, starring Shirley Mason.

“Maine was an important location in the history of silent films before the production went west,” said Lorusso, referring to the onset of Hollywood’s prominence in the 1930s with “talkies.” 

The event is sponsored by the Augusta Colonial Theater and took place there last year, but with the theater’s renovation underway, the movies will be shown at Johnson Hall’s first-floor theater that has a capacity of around 75, according to officials at Johnson Hall. 

Tickets for the event cost $25 and can be purchased online or at the door on Saturday. The event starts at 11:30 a.m. Saturday and runs through 3:15 p.m., with several intermissions and discussions after each film.

People with ticket questions can call Cathy Milojevic-Kaey at 562-881-9330.