LOS ANGELES — Ladies and gents, put on your monocles and get ready to study coitus quietus — L.A.'s Cinefamily is hosting the special event “The History of Silent Film” at 8 p.m. tonight.
In addition to a “guided tour through the underground playground of vintage silent pornography,” the evening is doubling as a release party for Black Francis (of The Pixies) and his co-collaborator Josh Frank’s new graphic novel “The Good Inn.”
Antiquated jerk off reels will serve as “naughty filmic amuse-bouches” to tantalize the film-goers’ palette for Francis and Franks’ illustrated riff on the history of the first-known narrative porn, “La Bonne Auberge” (1908), which depicts the sexual encounter between a soldier and an innkeeper’s daughter, intercourse and all.
The novel grows out of the veritable 1907 destruction of the French battleship Iéna, that met its demise when munitions it was carrying exploded and killed 120 people. Apparently, a nitrocellulose-based weapon propellant had become unstable with age and self-ignited.
According to Amazon, “'The Good Inn' follows the lone survivor of the Iéna explosion as he makes his way through the French countryside, has a sexual adventure with an innkeeper’s daughter, and even more deeply into a strange counter universe. It is a volatile world where war and art exist side by side.
“It is also the very real story of the people who made the first narrative pornographic film. The novel weaves together real historical facts to recreate this lost piece of history, as seen through the eyes of a shell-shocked soldier who finds himself the subject and star of the world’s first stag film.”
Cinefamily’s event will feature dramatic readings from “The Good Inn,” presented by guest actors.
While the actual events surrounding the creation of the “La Bonne Auberge” remain forever obscured by time and scarce grant money, the advent of cinema in the late 19th century did indeed inspire a great swell of erotic and XXX films for all persuasions. A trailer for tonight’s event shows breast fondling, spanking and exposed stockinged legs (!), all in lovely shades of grey.
For more info or to buy tickets for “The History of Silent Porn,” click here.
Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theatre is located on 611 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles 90036.
