Bernie Anderson Jr. is a silent film music composer, organist and orchestrator. He has presented live accompaniments for silent films, with theatre organ and piano since 1995. He is also active in the preservation and restoration of
Movie Palace
A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 192 ...
A native of New Jersey, Bernie started playing keyboard at the age of five. He earned his Bachelor of Music summa cum laude from Montclair State University in Music Composition and a Master of Fine Arts at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Bernie became interested in silent films after meeting legendary silent movie organist Lee Erwin.Lee Erwin on Internet Movie Database IMDB /ref> Lee became a major influence on Bernie's composition.
Silent film music composition and performance
Bernie began composing and performing his silent film scores for organ and piano in 1995 with a screening of Chaplin's "Gold Rush". From 1990 to 2004, Anderson was house organist for the Union County Arts Center (formerly known as the Rahway Theatre) in Rahway, New Jersey and staff organist at the Lafayette Theatre (Suffern), NY from 1992 to 2005. On April 21, 2002, The New York Times reported that Bernie would accompany the silent film
Go West (1925 film)
''Go West'' is a 1925 American silent Western comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton.
Keaton portrays Friendless, who travels west to try to make his fortune. Once there, he tries his hand at bronco-busting, cattle wrangling and d ...
starring
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
at the restored Lafayette Theater in Suffern, New York, a restored 1921 movie theatre that had installed a restored Wurlitzer pipe organ.New York Times article about Lafayette Theatre Screening of GO WEST 1925 Silent Film with Buster Keaton /ref> A student of legendary silent movie organist Lee Erwin and former Radio City Music Hall house organist Ashley Miller, he has performed extensively in the New York City area in such venues as Radio City Music Hall, the Paramount Theatre (Brooklyn, New York)(now LIU Gym) in Brooklyn, NY, The Donnell Library (New York Public Library) and the Dickinson Theatre Organ Society,.Garden State Theatre Organ Society /ref> In 2003, he was the organist for the Library of Congress American Movie Classics Film Preservation tour. /ref> He made his Capitol Theatre debut at the 2005 Capitolfest film festival and has performed at each of the successive Capitolfests. Bernie has recorded new scores for 4 DVDs over the past 5 years, including American Slapstick, Vol.1 for Image Distribution. Mr. Anderson, recently, played for the grand opening of the Bound Brook Theatre in
Bound Brook, New Jersey
Bound Brook is a borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, located along the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 10,402, In July 2003, Bernie had the pleasure of being the premiere organist for AGO's Pipe Organ Encounter (POE) which was held at
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...
on the Music Hall's 4/58 Wurlitzer. The event's purpose was to expose Classical Organ Students to the world of theatre organ. In Feb 2005, in a concert with Dave Kopp, Bernie played the first public NYTOS concert at Radio City Music Hall since 1979.
Ruth Brown
Ruth Alston Brown (; January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes referred to as the " Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atl ...
and Carol Woods (performer) at Theatrefest in Montclair, NJ. From 1996 to 2000, Bernie worked as an Orchestration Assistant to Doug Bersterman and studied orchestration with of Danny Troob
Commissions
In May 2000, Bernie teamed up with Broadway Composer, William Finn to write 2 new songs based on Ogden Nash poems commissioned by The New Yorker Magazine for their 75 years of New Yorker Humor festival, "I Say It's Spinache!" at the Townhall Theatre in New York City. The show starred
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. In his early career, Baldwin played both leading and supporting roles in a variety of films such as Tim Burton's ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), Mike Nichol ...
Debbie Shapiro
Debbie Shapiro Gravitte is an American actress and singer. She was born in Los Angeles, California.
Career
Gravitte made her Broadway debut in the chorus of ''They're Playing Our Song'' in 1979. She performed on Broadway in '' Blues in the Nigh ...
*1999 recipient of The ASCAP Foundation Frederick Loewe Scholarship presented to him by Kitty Carlise.ASCAP Foundation /ref>
Discography
* American Slapstick Vol. 1 - "
The Bond
''The Bond'' is a propaganda film created by Charlie Chaplin at his own expense for the Liberty Loan Committee for theatrical release to help sell U.S. Liberty Bonds during World War I.
Made in 1918 with Edna Purviance, Albert Austin and Sydn ...
" with
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
- DVD - IMAGE Distribution (2006)"American Slapstick" Image Entertainment
* The Langdon Collection starring Harry Langdon- DVD - (2005)Reelclassicdvd Website /ref>
* The Great War and the Little Tramp - DVD - (2006)
* Made in New Jersey Double Feature - Beloved Blackmailer & A Girl's Folly - DVD - (2006)