A native of the West Coast and blind since birth, Candi Carley-Roth began picking out melodies on the piano at the age of five. She would listen for hours as her brother practiced his piano lessons and then work on duplicating the music. At age seven she began experimenting at a neighbor’s Hammond spinet organ. A circle of friends developed into a home organ club which raised the money for her first organ. As a youngster Candi studied piano with Sylvia Green and Alice Cormier. At age 15 she was a classical piano student of Nella Betinger. She won a scholarship for classical piano from the Braille Institute’s Women’s Auxiliary, and by age 17 was studying classical organ with Richard Purvis, the staff organist at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. In 1973 she appeared on the “Stars of Tomorrow” program at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, and in 1975 began her first job as house organist at Theatre Organ Pizza. For the next seven years she was organist at the Great American Wind Machine Pizza in Receda, California where she made her first recording “Candi”. Subsequent recordings followed: “Just for you”, “Sweet City Woman”, and “Joy”. In 1985 she performed at the national convention of the Theatre Organ Society of Australia, in Sydney. Following her marriage to Mark Roth in 1986, Candi branched out to playing keyboards, and sang for the White Horse Band, a Country and Western group.

Since moving to Pennsylvania in 1990, Candi has concertized at the Magnificent Möller at the Trenton War Memorial and performed at the 1992 ATOS Convention in York, PA. Along with her concert work, she is an accomplished church organist. With the above background, it is no wonder that Candi describes her concerts as being “different”. Her vast repertoire includes Dixieland, Gospel, Pop, Rock, Hymns, Country & Western, Classical, Broadway Hits, and Old Standards.

The Garden State Theatre Organ Society proudly presents the 1919 feature film, “When The Clouds Roll By” starring Douglas Fairbanks.

Doug Fairbanks stars as Daniel Boone Brown, a superstitious but ambitious young New Yorker who is the victim of a demented psychiatrist named Dr. Ulrich Metz, played by Herbert Grimwood.  Dr Metz, with the aid of numberless associates serving him in the interests of science, arranges circumstances intended to drive Daniel to suicide.  “When The Clouds Roll By” is the last of the romantic comedies that Fairbanks starred in before moving on to the bigger productions like Zorro and The Black Pirate for which he known for. At the time of filming When the Clouds Roll By, Fairbanks had just formed United Artists with Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and D.W. Griffith. This was the first time that a group of major stars broke their ties to the studios to make and distribute their own movies.

As an added feature, we are also presenting “Edison’s Frankenstein” (1910). The film is considered a loose adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein told in 16 minutes! The film was released towards the end of production for Edison’s Studios which would halt film production by 1918. The cast stars Mary Fuller as Elizabeth, Augustus Phillips as Frankenstein and Charles Stanton Ogle as The Monster and directed by Edison Studio regular, James Searle Dawley. Dawley direct over 300 short films and 56 full length pictures in his career. All his films were silent films with the exception of two experimental films made for Lee DeForrest.  Edison’s Frankenstein was filmed in 3 days in January 1910 at Edison’s Studio in the Bronx, New York City. The film is one of the earlier films to be associated with music cue sheets (published in Edison’s Kinetogram) and included pieces like “You’ll Remember Me” from the 1843 opera The Bohemian Girl, the 1852 “Melody in F”, “dramatic music” (presumably the “Wolf’s Glen” scene) from the 1821 opera Der Freischutz, the 1835 song “Annie Laurie”, and the Bridal Chorus from the 1850 opera Lohengrin.

 Tickets may be purchased at the door or by visiting the website https://www.brookarts.org/  

Our accompanist for the screening is no stranger to GSTOS. A Philadelphia area native, Don Kinnier began his organ studies at age 9. His teachers were David Ulrich and Harry Greer. He accompanied his first silent film, The Phantom of the Opera, while a student at Drexel Institute. Though trained in classical music, Don became enamored with the theatre organ, and ultimately decided not to go for Baroque. During the 1960’s he served as house organist at the Lansdowne Theatre in suburban Philadelphia. During the 1970’s he toured the US, Canada, Argentina, and Taiwan performing concerts. Concurrently he was a technical representative for the Baldwin Organ Company. From 1979 to 1995 Don served as house organist at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA, and as musical director for the Chester County Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to his work with the Betzwood Film Festival, Don accompanies classic silent films at the Philadelphia Film Festival, the Secret Cinema’s showings at Moore College of Art and the University of Pennsylvania. He has maintained a long and fruitful relationship with Longwood Gardens, playing recently at the Fanfare Weekend rededication of the large Aeolian organ there. He also plays at The Strand Capitol Performing Arts Center, and the Allen Theatre. Most recently, Don was named musical director of the New Reading Theatre Orchestra. He has completed a DVD , accompanying the 1925 Rudolph Valentino silent film “The Eagle”.

Luke Staisiunas earned his Master’s Degree in Organ Performance under Dr. Adam Pajan and Dr. Damin Spritzer. He also earned his Bachelor’s from OU under Dr. John Schwandt and Dr. Pajan. During his time at OU, he performed with the Symphony Band, OU Chorale, OU Percussion Ensemble, as well as playing continuo for the Vitam Musica Foundation’s orchestra. In addition, he is active as a transcriber of orchestral works for organ, as well as compiling scores for silent film accompaniment. He is active as both a classical recitalist, theatre organist, and church musician. Highlighted concert appointments include the ATOS national convention (2019), Spreckels Rising Stars concert (2019), Guthrie Oklahoma Scottish Rite Cathedral Christmas Concert (2019), and numerous other performances both in the Midwest and East Coast since then.

As a technician, he has most recently worked for the Red River Pipe Organ Company and the former American Organ Institute shop, in Norman Oklahoma. During his time at the Red River firm, he was active as both a shop and field technician. During his time at the AOI, he oversaw the design and installation of a control system for the Schlicker studio organ as part of his Organ Technology coursework.