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.
Taxi! Taxi! (1927)
Saturday January 11, 2025
2:30pm
NYPL Library for the Performing Arts
FREE
Remembered today for his fussy persona in sound films, Edward Everett Horton had a substantial career in silent comedy and starred in numerous features and shorts. We are proud to present the re-premiere of a Horton feature that was lost and recently rediscovered. Taxi! Taxi! (1927) was produced by Universal, and is perfectly tailored to Eddie’s well-known screen character. Opening the bill is the also rediscovered cartoon The Battle (1922) with Koko the Clown.
16mm prints presented courtesy of Mark Heller.
Forgotten Clowns:
35mm Rarities
Saturday February 8, 2025
2:30pm
NYPL Library for the Performing Arts
FREE
This salute to some very funny comics who have gotten lost in the shuffle with the passage of time is from the collection of the Library of Congress. Our headliners are Neal Burns in Inoculating Hubby (1916) and Charles Arling in Too Much Parcel Post (1913). The team of Pokes & Jabs star in Deviled Crabs (1917), as well as Marcel Perez in You’re Next (1919) and Wanda Wiley in Queen of Aces (1925).
35mm prints courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Oh! What a Nurse (1926)
Saturday, March 8, 2025
2:30pm
NYPL Library for the Performing Arts
FREE
Although Sydney Chaplin’s solo work has always been overshadowed by that of his younger half brother, the “other” Chaplin was a talented comic and behind the scenes comedy creator. Oh What A Nurse! (1926) is a rare example of the late 1920’s features that Syd starred in for Warner Brothers, which showcased his own sizable talents and mastery of English music hall comedy. A selected short subject opens the bill.
New digital restoration courtesy of FPA Classics Guest accompanist: Makia Matsumura.
The Kid (1921) &
The Kid Reporter (1923)
Saturday, April 5, 2025
2:30pm
NYPL Library for the Performing Arts
FREE
When Charlie Chaplin became famous as “The Little Tramp,” he wasn’t content to just have his character be a figure of fun, so he turned Charlie into a comic underdog with real emotions. A big step in this development was his first feature The Kid (1921), a film made “with a smile – and, perhaps a tear,” which made a huge star out of little Jackie Coogan. Our extra added attraction, The Kid Reporter (1923), stars Baby Peggy, one of the child stars that followed in Jackie Coogan’s huge success.
35mm print of The Kid provided by Janus Films. New restoration of The Kid Reporter courtesy of the San Francisco Film Preserve.
