Silent Sundays with Swanson
Durango Arts Center
Sunday, May 12 th , 2:00 PM
MOTHER’S DAY SPECIAL!
Come enjoy a Sunday afternoon with silent film classics accompanied live by professional
pianist Adam Swanson! In May, we will screen both a silent comedy short and a feature length
movie. Join the audience as Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton create laughs galore with the
pitfalls of slapstick comedy… Then we will pay tribute to Mothers everywhere with the
tenderhearted 1927 feature film Little Mickey Grogan. All films will be accompanied with
original period music LIVE on the DAC’s beautiful 9-foot grand piano. These events will be
family friendly, so bring your kids and enjoy this fun and unique opportunity.
The Garage (Paramount Pictures, 1920)
Starring Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton
Another prime example of a classic silent film comedy short, this was the last film Fatty
Arbuckle and Buster Keaton made together. In The Garage, they play auto mechanics who
double as fearless firemen! But a rogue customer makes a play for the owner’s daughter. What
happens in the end? Come to Silent Sundays to find out!
Little Mickey Grogan (FBO Pictures Corp., 1927)
Starring Frankie Darro, Jobyna Ralston, and Lassie Lou Ahern
Newly restored and not-yet-released, Little Mickey Grogan is a treasure of undiscovered silent
cinema. A perfect feature film for Mother’s Day, a single mother falls in love with two orphan
children (played by child stars Frankie Darro and Lassie Lou Ahern). The mother is silent movie
star Jobyna Ralston, who appeared in Wings the same year (the first Academy-Award winner). A
true product of its time, Little Mickey Grogan is tenderhearted but also features Charleston
dances, child stars, drama, and more. Durangoans have a unique opportunity to see this movie
before its official release!
Adam Swanson is one of the world’s foremost performers of vintage American popular music,
including ragtime, early jazz, the Great American Songbook, and more. He holds a bachelor’s in
classical piano and a master’s in musicology from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins
University. Adam has been a featured performer and lecturer at ragtime and jazz festivals across
the United States and abroad, and he is the only four-time winner of the World Championship
Old-Time Piano Playing Contest. He made his New York debut in Carnegie Hall at the age of
nineteen, where he performed with Michael Feinstein. Adam has performed at the Cinecon
Classic Film Festival in Hollywood and the Kennedy Center, as well as in Hungary,
Switzerland, and Australia. He has worked with such musicians as Toronto’s John Arpin, former
rock star Ian Whitcomb, and legendary 1950s recording artist Johnny Maddox, who was one of
Adam’s greatest influences. He lives in Durango, Colorado, where he frequently performs in the

Diamond Belle Saloon at the Historic Strater Hotel. Visit Adam online:
www.adamgswanson.com.