Welcome to our world

Sometimes you need a respite from the world we share today. Here we have created a place where it all happened long ago, where you can spend an hour with a great film, a good book, an engaging record, and recharge your batteries before returning to build your part of the present. Welcome!

What brought you here?

Maybe you know Dr. Carli from attending his live performances at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, or the Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy, or Capitolfest in Rome, NY. Or maybe you are a colleague, and have talked over dinner, chimed in at the Library of Congress Mostly Lost conference, or consulted about esoterica of historical film, or music editing, or car repair. Or maybe you have played rag time or theatrical music under his baton in the Flower City Society Orchestra, or helped support our projects. Hail and well met! We hope this site will provide both impetus and resources to rescue our latest project from its Covid hiatus, and to make new music together. Or maybe you have never before heard of Dr. Carli, and came across this site because you are curious about silent film and the time when it was made. A special welcome to you!

Philip Carli

discovered silent film at Disneyland at the age of five and began his accompaniment career at thirteen, with a performance for Lon Chaney’s 1923 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. When he was seven he spent a year with his family in Durham, in the north of England, acquiring an accent his mother described as "not the best one to have," and a love of quirky plumbing arrangements. His fascination with railway and ship disasters seems to have come naturally.

Alice Carli

Site Creator
Alice Carli grew up in the forest of central Pennsylvania, recognized genius when she saw it, and brings her own blend of uncommon sense and desperate tech savvy to their unlikely partnership. Everything you find on this site was put there by her.

We are your portal to the silent film era

And who is this “we”? Many a great artist has a partner, the one who launders the tuxes, pays the bills, and tries to keep up with correspondence. That’s me, Alice Carli, and I am the one writing this stuff and putting it out here. The rest of the content we will be making together. Dr. Carli has already evolved from “Put a gun to my head and I’ll play the piano” to “How can I help with this thing?” I have every hope that soon he will be adding posts and videos himself, about all the fascinating details of life in the early 20th century.

So please, make yourself at home. Enjoy the monthly live-stream, either as it happens or in recording, and in between times drop by to immerse yourself in a book, video or record. Welcome to our world!

We're here.

If you have questions about the Silent Cinema Salon, please email us any time at salon@philipcarli.com. You can also call Alice at (585) 729-3873, or use this form.

Silent Cinema Salon

Your portal to the silent film era.