THE MISSION OF HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE IS
TO PRESERVE, PROTECT AND PROMOTE THE
HISTORY, ARCHITECTURE AND ARTIFACTS
OF HOLLYWOOD
✨ THE SILENT SOCIETY ✨
SILENT SOCIETY RETURNS TO THE BARN WITH PARAMOUNT SILENTS IN 16MM
Monday, February 9, 2026 - 7:30pm - 9:30pm - Paramount Leading Men
WILD AND WOOLLY (Artcraft Pictures/Paramount, 1917) starring Douglas Fairbanks, directed by John Emerson, written by Anita Loos. Fairbanks starts as a rich, young Easterner determined to live the life of a Westerner, and the town he lands in decides to play along with his fantasy. 16mm print. 1 hr. 12 min.
LUCKY DEVIL (Paramount, 1925) starring Richard Dix and Esther Ralston, directed by Frank Tuttle, story by Byron Morgan and scenario by Townsend Martin. When Dix wins a race car and travels west, he doesn't expect the complications that falling in love with Ralston along the way will create. 16mm Kodascope. 1 hr. 3min.
Monday, March 9, 2026 - 7:30pm - 9:30pm - The "Latin Lover" and the "IT" Girl
THE SHEIK (Paramount, 1921) starring Rudolph Valentino and Agnes Ayers, directed by George Melford, adapted by Monte M. Katterjohn from the novel by Edith Maude Hill. Valentino stars in his iconic role as a western educated Sheik who becomes enamored with an independent British woman even as she resists his unfamiliarly overt yet seductive advances. 1 hr. 26 min.
MANTRAP (Paramount, 1925) starring Clara Bow and Ernest Torrence, directed by Victor Fleming, scenario by Adelaide Heilbron and Ethel Doherty from the novel by Sinclair Lewis. Trapped in a small town with a boring husband, Bow unleashes her flirtatious talents on an unsuspecting city slicker.
16mm 1 hr. 11 min.
Monday, April 13, 2026 - 7:30pm - 9:30pm - Early DeMille
(with a Silent Society Birthday Cake!!)
THE CHEAT (Paramount, 1915) starring Fannie Ward and Sessue Hayakawa, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, scenario by Hector Turnbull and Jeannie Macpherson. Hayahawa became a star when a spoiled stockbroker's wife turns to him to replace money she stole, and what he demands in return is more than she bargained for. 16mm. 59 min.
THE GOLDEN CHANCE (Paramount, 1915) starring Cleo Ridgely and Wallace Reid, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, written by Cecil B. DeMille and Jeannie Macpherson. When her husband forces her to find a job to support his drinking habit, Ridgely is talked into serving as an escort to a wealthy young Reid.
16mm 1. hr. 14 min.
All films with live accompaniment by Michael Mortilla. Short intermission between films.
Tickets (per double feature):
General public: $8.00
Members: $6.00
About the Silent Society
Founded on April 1, 1986, at the Hollywood Studio Museum (now the Hollywood Heritage Museum) the Silent Society was created at a time when silent cinema was rarely available outside of archives. Its inaugural program returned Cecil B. DeMille's The Cheat (1915) and Abel Gance's Mater Dolorosa (1917) to Hollywood, reconnecting silent era films with the same barn where the industry was born.
Established by Randy Haberkamp, David Shepard, Kenn Honeychurch, Sean McCord, and Donna Fisk, along with Museum Director Richard Adkins and a dedicated group of collaborators, the Silent Society quickly became a vital part of Hollywood Heritage. In 1989, it formally became a committee of the organization and has since presented nearly 400 silent film programs.
The Silent Society is best known for its annual Silent Under the Stars series at Paramount Ranch, as well as special events as the 1989 Charlie Chaplin Centennial celebration held at Chaplin's former studio. Programs regularly feature live musical accompaniment by distinguished performers and appearances by filmmakers, historians, and family members connect to the silent era.
In addition to screenings at the Hollywood Heritage Museum, the Silent Society has presented programs throughout Southern California, across the United States, and internationally, including appearances at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy.
Through fundraising efforts and key partnerships - most notably with the UCLA Film & Television Archive - the Silent Society has helped preserve more than 20 silent-era works, including rare and previously lost films.
For nearly four decades, the Silent Society has played an essential role in preserving, presenting, and celebrating silent cinema, ensuring that this foundational chapter of film history remains accessible to audiences today