The Silent Clowns Film Series is New York City’s longest-running regularly-scheduled showcase for classic silent film comedy. Our screenings are presented at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the NYPL Library for the Performing Arts in Manhattan’s Upper West Side and at the Cobble Hill Cinemas in Brooklyn, NY.
The Silent Clowns Film Series is a production of Silent Cinema Productions, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to presenting silent movies with live musical accompaniment to audiences of all ages, in order to preserve the experience of silent cinema. We produce silent film shows at a variety of venues, and we restore silent films for use at our shows.
Get Your Man (1927)
Saturday May 11, 2024
2:30pm
NYPL Library for the Performing Arts
FREE
The magnetic Clara Bow is remembered by her nickname, “The It Girl,” but burned brightly on the screen for only 10 years. Get Your Man (1927) teams her with Charles “Buddy” Rogers, and her other hits include Mantrap (1926), It (1927), Red Hair (1928), as well as the blockbuster aviation drama Wings (1927). Unhappy in sound films, she retired at age 28 in 1933. We open this program with the recently rediscovered Charlie Murray two-reeler The Pill Pounder (’23) with Bow in an early appearance.
Get Your Man courtesy of Library of Congress,
The Pill Pounder restored by San Francisco Silent Film Festival
It (1927)
Wednesday June 5, 2024
7:30pm
Cobble Hill Cinemas
$10 adults, $5 seniors & kids under 12
Born in Brooklyn, Clara Bow was known as “The ‘It’ Girl,” so we’re happy to show the film in her home borough. The peak of Clara’s popularity was from 1927 to 1929 during which she starred in numerous comedies, as well as the blockbuster aviation drama Wings (1927). Unhappy in sound films, she retired at age 28 in 1933. Our extra attraction is the overlooked Wanda Wiley in the two-reel A Thrilling Romance (1926).
New 4K restoration by Paramount Pictures
Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
7:30pm
Cobble Hill Cinemas
$10 adults, $5 seniors & kids under 12
While The General (1926) and The Navigator (1924) are possibly Buster Keaton’s best-know films, Sherlock, Jr. (1924) may be his most groundbreaking and original comedy, where he plays with the very grammar of filmmaking A nominal spoof of detective films, it features hilarious gags, breathtaking stunts, and many “how did he do that?” moments. The two-reel Keaton favorite, The Goat (1921), kicks off the
program.
Courtesy of Cohen Film Collection
Laurel and Hardy: Year One
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
7:30pm
Cobble Hill Cinemas
$10 adults, $5 seniors & kids under 12
1927 was the seminal year for Laurel & Hardy – that’s when they came together, and their characters, relationship, and cinematic style were developed and cemented. To commemorate this momentous occasion Lobster Films and Flicker Alley embarked on a major restoration project of this first year of their teaming. Scouring the world’s film archives and collectors, they’ve created the most complete and best-looking versions. On tap for this show are the restorations of The Second Hundred Years, Do Detectives Think?, and The Battle of the Century.
New restorations by Lobster Films; courtesy of Flicker Alley
