As silent movies light up Kansas City Music Hall, this organist crafts a soundtrack in the...

Before sound came to the movies, silent films ruled the silver screen and music from a theater pipe organ enhanced the drama. A Lee's Summit musician is reviving that tradition at the Kansas City Music Hall.
Dr. Marvin Faulwell sits at the console of a tall, wooden Allen GW4 theater organ in the living room of his Lee’s Summit home. The silent film "Peter Pan" plays on a small, flat screen, as Faulwell makes music to match the on-screen movements of a fairy.

"I wanted it to be a happy sort of thing," he says.

With one eye on the screen above him and the other on his sheet music, the retired dentist’s fingers dance across four, tiered keyboards.

“It's just a charming movie,” he says.

The 1924 silent film is the first adaptation of Scottish author J. M. Barrie’s 1904 play.

"I think it really goes back to Betty Bronson, who plays the role of Peter Pan. She just lights up the screen," Faulwell says. As for Ernest Torrence, who plays Captain Hook, "he is so mean you have to laugh at him."