films: "Matinee Madcap"

These three stills are from a 16mm film, Matinee Madcap, which was shot during the same month as the Devil Prank, February of 1974. Film professor Trent Nicholas, then one of the theater’s ushers and later an assistant manager, shared the directing credit with yours truly. The rest of the staff and many friends of the Biograph appeared as players.
The plot, calling for a good deal of slapstick chase-scene footage, set the action in the movie theater, itself. A collage of contemporary music was added by Dave DeWitt in post-production.
Later, when our humble homage to the silent comedies of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, etc. played in a DeeCee film festival, it received a semi-favorable review from none other than Tom Shales of the Washington Post. This nine-minute, black and white comedy was surely the most-screened short subject in the Biograph's 15-year history.

Update: Click here to see it at YouTube.