Silent Film at the Strand: Wings (1927) With Live Organ Accompaniment at Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre

Together in partnership with the American Theatre Organ Society, The Strand will screen the 1928 silent film classic Wings on Sunday, July 21, 2024 at 3:00PM. With live accompaniment on The Strand’s Mighty Allen Theatre Organ, seeing one of these classic films is a one-of-a-kind musical and visual experience. Each film also features an organ pops pre-show concert beginning thirty minutes before showtime.

ABOUT WINGS: Director William A. Wellman’s masterpiece is the first film to win the Academy Award® for Best Picture. Featuring a meticulous restoration and a newly recorded soundtrack based on the original score, Wings comes to Blu-ray for the very first time. This timeless story of love and loss follows two men who go to war and the girl they leave behind. Popular Twenties “It” girl Clara Bow stars in this unforgettable World War I epic alongside Richard Arlen, Charles “Buddy” Rogers and the legendary Gary Cooper in a cameo appearance. The aerial battle sequences still rank among the best in motion picture history.

ABOUT THE ORGANIST:  Ron Carter is a sought-after theatre organ concert and silent film accompanist playing in theaters throughout the southeast. He is the theatre organ consultant for Allen Organ Studios of Atlanta, and the House Organist for the Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre in Marietta, Ga. He has been a member of the Strand Theatre Board of Trustees since its inception in 2003 and served as Board Secretary for 13 of those years. He is past Chairman of the Board for Marietta's Pops Orchestra, Symphony on the Square. Ron is also the former President of the Atlanta Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society and a recipient of its 2009 Life Time Achievement Award, the American Theatre Organ Society’s 2009 Honorary Member award, and was recognized by the Cobb County Ga. Cultural Arts Board as Cobb's 2010 Outstanding Instrumentalist. Recently Ron was honored by the Mayor of Marietta as he proclaimed February 12, 2023 as Ron Carter Day in the City of Marietta for his contributions to the Strand Theatre and the Marietta community. Ron has served five churches in a part-time capacity as organist/Choir Director for over 50 years and is currently part of a team of organists who play for worship services at Marietta First Baptist Church. He is a retired Commander of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation after serving 38 years in public law enforcement. Ron and his lovely wife of 55 years, Donna, live in Marietta, Georgia and have one son, John, daughter-in-law Julie and two precious grandchildren, Abby and Jake!

ABOUT THE MIGHTY ALLEN: The Strand’s Mighty Allen Theatre Organ, a four-manual, 33-rank digital replica of a 1920s Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ, was the largest stock theatre organ produced by the Allen Company at the time it was built. The Mighty Allen has been custom voiced to the Strand’s 530-seat auditorium by house organist Ron Carter and Allen technician Alan Buchannan. In addition to the revolutionary technology used in building this instrument, the placement of twenty-four (24) 90-pound speaker cabinets, powered by sixteen (16) 100-watt amplifiers placed in the large pipe organ chambers on each side of the Proscenium arch magnifies the realism of the theatre pipe organ sound. Additionally, the Strand instrument has a digital toy counter that activates “special effect sounds” like car horns, whistles, gun shots, train whistle, thunder and many others that are used in the accompaniment of silent film.