By PAM HARBAUGH

This sounds like total fun, and it’s free — Florida Tech’s screening of the silent Charlie Chaplin film, “A Burlesque on Carmen,” with music performed by the Florida Tech Concert Band and Panther Jazz Big Band.

The show, which begins 7 p.m. Wednesday (Dec. 2), is headed up by Dr. Jamie Younkin, Music Program Chair.

The 1915 silent film stars Chaplin as “Darn Hosiery,” a hapless military officer seduced by the exotic “Carmen,” played by Edna Purviance. Hugo Riesenfeld composed the score which was based on the Bizet opera.

According to Wikipedia: “The film is a parody of the overacted Cecil B. DeMille Carmen of 1915 which was itself an interpretation of the popular novella Carmen by Prosper Mérimée.”

SIDE O’ GRITS: “Charlie Chaplin in A Burlesque on Carmen” begins 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Gleason Performing Arts Center, on the campus of Florida Tech, 150 W University Blvd, Melbourne, FL. Admission is FREE and open to the public. Call 321-674-8082 or visit fit.edu/music.