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Dedicated to preserving the experience of seeing silent comedy film

*updated: February 12, 2010*

The Silent Clowns Film Series, New York City's longest-running regularly-scheduled showcase for classic silent film comedy, screens the movies of Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, Lloyd and more.  Every show features live musical accompaniment by Ben Model and introduction and Q&A with film historians Bruce Lawton and Steve Massa.  Programs are presented on alternating Sunday afternoons from September through April every year, and are geared to the classic film fan as well as to families. 
 
Our shows have been presented in NYC's Upper West Side since we began in 1997, at the 78th Street Theatre Lab, the New-York Historical Society, The West Side YMCA's Little Theater, Makor, and are currently held at the Arclight Theatre on West 71st Street between Broadway and Columbus.  Click on Theater/Tkts for directions and ticket pricing.

 

We are happy to announce our winter/spring 2010 season of programs, entitled Jewels & Gems: Rare Prints from Private Collections.  The image at right is the cover of our brand new printed brochure, designed (as always) by Marlene Weisman-Abadi.  Our show dates are Feb 21, Mar 14, Mar 21, Apr 10, and Apr 25...five great programs of classic, rare and hilarious silent comedies starring Stan Laurel, Snub Pollard, Johnny Hines, Billy Bevan, Ben Turpin and many more! Click on our Now Showing link to see what's on tap.

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We encourage those of you who attend our shows or who want to support us financially to make a donation and become a Friend of the Silent Clowns Film Series. We are a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization and your contribution is 100% tax-deductible.  Click on Join Us! (at the left) to make a contribution securely online with a credit card or PayPal or to print out a donation form that you can mail in with a check.

The Silent Clowns Film Series is dedicated to the memory of Walter Kerr, whose landmark book, "The Silent Clowns," was the inspiration for our series (and its name), as well as to the memory of William K. Everson, Lee Erwin, David Gill, Herb Graff, Eric James, Eleanor Keaton, Paul Killiam, Don Malkames, Warren Rothenberger and John Rogers...and dreams that survive.

 

This film series is a production of Silent Cinema Presentations, Inc., a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.  Silent Cinema Presentations is supported by a generous grant from the Ira M. Resnick Foundation, and by funding from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), the James A. Macdonald Foundation, the Edward Handelman Fund, and by support from Elmo USA.