The Toy That Grew Up
The Toy That Grew Up was an American television series produced by WTTW, the Chicago affiliate of the National Educational Television (NET) network that showed complete and uninterrupted silent films. It was the first introduction to silent films to many Americans. It lasted from 1962 to 1972.
History
Beginning in August 1960 a keen cinephile named Robert C. Seipp (1930-2008) acquired the rights to show over a hundred mostly American made silent films; 90% came from private collections.[1]
Seipp researched each film he presented with a pipe organ score provided by former cinema organist Hal Pearl (1908-2000)l[2]. As opposed to the usual American television of the timeshowing silent films that provided narration over clips from various films such as The Funny Manns or Hollywood and the Stars, or series that ridiculed the films through comedy dubbing such as Fractured Flickers, The Toy That Grew Up showed complete original silent films with the original subtitles.
The series premiered in August 1962 and was eventually syndicated and shown on over 30 NET and later, Public Broadcasting Service television stations.
References
- ^ p. 185 Rubin, Samuel K. Moving Pictures and Classic Images: Memories of Forty Years in the Vintage Film Hobby McFarland, 2004
- ^ http://www.catoe.org/HalPearl.html