The past comes to life again with the screening of a classic silent movie at Union's Old Town House on Town House Road, on Founders Day, Saturday, July 16, at 7 p.m. Union Historical Society will present a Harold Lloyd classic, Safety Last!

Doug Protsik, director of the Maine Fiddle Camp and of The Old Grey Goose band, will play the non-stop piano accompaniment from an original score.

Silent movies at the Old Town House is a re-creation of 1920s America, with an audience of all ages eagerly watching the silver screen from the antique deacon's bench seating. The Old Town House, built in 1840, adds a special ambiance with its rounded ceiling, antique quilts, raked stage and bead board wainscot. There are vintage movie posters hidden away behind the screen. Protsik's showmanship completes the atmosphere as he plays music themed to the on-screen action on the building's honky-tonk piano. A modern audience is often surprised to realize that they did not notice the lack of spoken dialogue.

In Safety Last!, actor and lead character Harold Lloyd enlarges the range of romantic comedy with his trademark stunts, which he performed lacking the thumb and forefinger that he lost in an earlier film-making accident. The 1923 movie includes an instantly recognizable silent film image, of Lloyd precariously dangling from a skyscraper above the city traffic, while holding on to the hands of a giant clock. The story of how he got into that situation – and out of it – continues to entertain viewers 93 years after its first success with critics and audiences. In Safety Last!, Lloyd established himself as a major figure in the early motion picture industry. "The Girl" in the film is Mildred Davis, who appeared in many silent movies with Lloyd, and married him on Feb. 10, 1923, in a union that lasted 46 years. Safety Last! is still regarded as one of the great film comedies.

Protsik is a silent movie fan for whom playing mood pieces to suit each scene of the movie is a little bit of heaven. With a varied background in classical, folk, old-time and dance music, Protsik fell naturally into his role as the "heir" of the late Danny Patt, who at the age of 11 and for years thereafter accompanied silent movies at the Old Town House in the 1920s. Patt took up his role as silent movie accompanist again in later life, playing for Safety Last! when it was last screened by Union Historical Society in 1993. Using Patt's techniques, and aided by research into 1920s standard works like Erno Rapee's Motion Picture Moods for Pianists and Organists and J.S. Zamecnik's Sam Fox Moving Picture Music, Protsik creates his own scores. Other research resources were internet silent film sites and the music collection of the Bagaduce Music Lending Library in Blue Hill.

Protsik has composed and recorded original scores for silent film restorations for Turner Classic Movies cable network, and performed for silent movies at international film festivals. A resident of Woolwich, he joined with other musicians to form The Old Grey Goose in 1978 and their energetic blend of traditional and folk music has become a staple of the Maine music scene. As Old Grey Goose International, the group has toured and played folk music in Europe, Africa and Central Asia.

Union Historical Society is proud to present this old-time entertainment for all ages and gratefully acknowledges the sponsorship of Susan Fay, whose generosity underwrites this event. Doors open at the Old Town House at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free but donations to help with maintenance of the historic building will be gratefully accepted.