information from Kenyon Hall

Kenyon Hall is pleased to re-open the doors to live performance with the return of Dennis James, the renowned Master of the WurliTzer theater organ! We welcome Maestro James as he and our mighty WurliTzer give voice to the three silent movie classics created by the kings of silent movie comedy: Buster Keaton (The High Sign), Harold Lloyd (Never Weaken), and Charlie Chaplin (The Kid)!  September 25, 2021 at 7:30 PM .

We truly can’t think of a better way to invite you back to our venue than to feature the WurliTzer, played in the historic but timeless style of 1921 enhancing the magic on the screen. That’s right! It’s been 100 years since these three movies were released, so join us in a celebration of their centennial at Kenyon Hall! 

For tickets ($15 for adults, $10 for children and seniors):  Email kenyon@kenyonhall.org  to request seats! You will receive an email response with confirmation details.

*For this performance, for the protection of all our patrons, artists, staff members and volunteers, masks will be required and patrons must show proof of vaccination for COVID 19 in order to purchase tickets.  

“THE SILENT CLOWNS”: Three classic films from 1921!

The High Sign, starring Buster Keaton / 21 min. / this two-reeler, from 1921, is among the summits of Buster Keaton’s inventiveness. The story, of a drifter who takes a job as an amusement-park sharpshooter, gets recruited into a band of killers, and is hired as a bodyguard for the rich man he’s been ordered to execute, features a gag in every shot. Even the most trivial action—reading a newspaper, approaching an employer, hanging up a hat—provides a spark of comic and cinematic inspiration (including a strangely modernistic gaze into a cup of coffee). When the rich man protects himself by rigging his house with an array of escape hatches, Keaton makes use of them in astonishingly acrobatic leaps, dives, crawls, and tumbles, which multiply in a cutaway dollhouse-like set of paired and quadrupled rooms.

Never Weaken, starring Harold Lloyd / 28 min. /  a 1921 American three-reel silent comedy film starring Harold Lloyd and directed by Fred Newmeyer. It was Lloyd's last short film, running to three reels in length as he headed into feature-length comedy films production. It was also one of his early trademark-like 'thrill' comedy specialties, each featuring him dangling from a tall building. Lloyd and his crew honed and perfected their "thrill" filming techniques in this film, and put them to use in the followup famous1923 thrill-feature “Safety Last!”

The Kid, directed by & starring Charlie Chaplin with Jackie Coogan / 52 min. / a silent comedy feature film written, produced, directed and starring Charlie Chaplin, and features Jackie Coogan as his foundling baby, adopted son and sidekick. This was Chaplin's first full-length film as a director and was a huge success, becoming the second-highest-grossing film in 1921. Still considered one of the greatest films of the silent era, the film is a perfect blend of comedy and drama and is arguably Chaplin’s most personal and autobiographical work.