Last Updated: 8/8/26

ALL SECRET CINEMA PRESENTATIONS ARE SHOWN IN 16mm (or larger!) FILM ON A GIANT SCREEN (NOT VIDEO...NOT EVER!)

Since 1992, the Secret Cinema has been the Philadelphia area’s premiere floating repertory cinema series, bringing hundreds of unique programs to nightclubs, bars, coffee houses, museums, open fields, colleges, art galleries, bookstores, and sometimes even theaters and film festivals. Drawing on its own large private film archive (as well as other collections), the Secret Cinema attempts to explore the uncharted territory and the genres that fall between the cracks, with programs devoted to educational and industrial films, cult and exploitation features, cartoons, rare television, local history, home movies, erotic films, politically incorrect material, and the odd Hollywood classic. As long as it exists on real celluloid, that is—Secret Cinema screenings never use video/digital projection. While mainly based in Philadelphia, the Secret Cinema has also brought programming to other cities and countries.

Vintage comedy Two-Reelers

at Bryn Mawr Film Institute

Monday, August 10, 2026
7:30 pm
Admission: $14.50, $12.00 seniors/students, $9.00 BMFI members

Bryn Mawr Film Institute
824 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA
610-527-9898

From the 1920s through the 1950s, audiences expected a full bill of entertainment from movie theaters. Besides a feature (or two) and coming attractions, they would also watch a newsreel, a cartoon, perhaps a travelog, and more often than not, a comedy short, or "two-reeler." Sadly, comedy shorts faded away as television became ubiquitous in American households, and situation comedies took the place of the theatrical format. Today, the Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang are the best-known stars of this vanished film genre -- but there were dozens of other stars and series that were familiar to talkie-era audiences.

Some actors who made comedy shorts became huge stars, like Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and W.C. Fields. But others who were just as famous to moviegoers in the 1930s and 40s -- Leon Errol, Tom Kennedy, Andy Clyde and Billy Gilbert, to name just four once-prominent funnymen -- are, in the 21st century, obscure to all but the most savvy film buffs.

On Monday, August 10, we will return to the Bryn Mawr Film Institute to celebrate this rich and varied corner of film history. Two-Reelers will showcase a variety of rarely-seen comedy series and stars of yesterday.

There will be one complete show at 7:30 pm. Admission is $14.50, $12.00 students/seniors, $10.00 children and $9.00 BMFI members

Here are details on some of what we'll include. And, to fit as much variety into this program as possible, we'll include a few one-reel shorts.

No More West (1934, Dir: Nick Grinde) - Bert Lahr, later famous as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, stars in this wild burlesque of Westerns. He plays "Gunpowder Bert," a henpecked man who dreams of the romantic frontier. He foils a robbery at a carnival shooting gallery, then somehow winds up sheriff of a Wild West town -- giving Lahr ample opportunity to display the trademark comic mannerisms that kept him working from vaudeville through his 1960s Lay's Potato Chips commercials.

100% Service (1931) - George Burns and Gracie Allen made audiences laugh in vaudeville, radio, film and television, and Burns' career lasted into the 1990s (his wife Gracie died in 1964). This early short gives a good example of their unique chemistry and impeccable comic timing.

Boobs in the Woods (1940, Dir: Del Lord) - When exploring the wide world of comedy two-reelers, it becomes obvious that producers would team up seemingly random pairs of the comic players in their stables in the hope of finding a winning combination. This outing showcases two of the greats: flustered, crotchety Andy Clyde, and beloved Third Stooge (and once-named "Ugliest Man in Hollywood"!), Shemp Howard. Here Andy hopes to find relaxation on a camping trip, but the presence of his trouble-making brother-in-law Shemp makes that unlikely. Director Lord helmed many Three Stooges shorts, earning tribute from the 1980s rock band who named themselves after him.

Movie Pests (1944) - One of the most prolific and best-known "stars" of 1930s and '40s comedy shorts was Pete Smith, responsible for 209 episodes of "Pete Smith Specialties," as well as another 80 films for other series. Yet Smith's face was unknown, for his specialty was adding sarcastic, wiseguy (and off-screen) narration to these comic looks at the everyday inconveniences of modern life. In this Academy Award-nominated short, Smith catalogs a litany of annoyances one is liable to encounter on a visit to the neighborhood movie theater.

Should Wives Work? (1937, Dir: Leslie Goodwins) - This short from the prolific Leon Errol was his only Oscar-nominated work. It was not until Errol was in his fifties that he perfected the trademark characterization seen in nearly a hundred two-reelers, and numerous features -- and at his peak, the actor was in his sixties. Errol usually played a balding, somewhat-irascible man with a fondness for drinking and a knack for mix-ups with pretty girls -- leading to inevitable conflicts with his always-suspicious wife.

Plus Our Gang in Mama's Little Pirate and The Three Stooges in Woman Haters.

1921 silent rarity The Blasphemer, live music

at historic Glen Foerd mansion

Glen Foerd on the Delaware
Grant Avenue & Milnor Street, Philadelphia
215-632-5330

Friday, November 21, 2025
7:30 pm (doors open 7:00 pm)
Admission: $25, $20 students and seniors

On Thursday, September 10, The Secret Cinema return to historic Glen Foerd on the Delaware to present the very rare silent film The Blasphemer, an independent production made in 1921 by a religious organization. While presumably intended to deliver a lofty moral message, The Blasphemer is actually a sensational melodrama, complete with adultery, greedy tycoons, and white slavery. Live musical accompaniment will be provided by Don Kinnier, on Glen Foerd's restored pipe organ.

The screening will also include unusual silent short subjects. There will be one complete show at 7:30 pm. Doors will open at 7:00 pm to allow touring of the mansion and grounds.

The film will be shown in the gilded-age mansion's beautiful second floor art gallery (stair access only).

Admission is $25, $20 students and seniors. Seating is limited.

Glen Foerd on the Delaware is a 5-minute walk from the Torresdale station of SEPTA's Trenton Regional Rail Line or the 19 & 84 bus routes. There is ample free parking within the estate.

The Blasphemer (1921 Dir: O.E. Goebel)
An obscure oddity from the midway point of the silent feature era, The Blasphemer was produced by the mysterious Religious Films Organization, and was clearly intended as propaganda promoting spiritual purity and regular church attendance. This message is vividly illustrated in the form of seamy melodrama, depicting the downfall of John Harden, a wealthy business magnate who leaves his loving family to pursue his mistress and his greed. Proclaiming at a dinner party that man answers to no one but himself, he goes so far as to challenge God to strike him dead in the middle of a thunderstorm. Instead, Harden is felled by more earthly forces -- and ultimately finds his salvation and righteousness after hitting rock-bottom as a homeless vagrant.

Modern audiences scared off at the prospects of seeing a "religious film" should find much to enjoy in The Blasphemer, both good and bad. For an early independent production, the film is technically quite competent, with some strong acting and photography. Historically, the whole film itself is a fascinating document, and provides some rare slices of life in its (money-saving) use of newsreel footage (and the gratuitously-inserted, story-stopping scenes of one religious society's parade are reminiscent of Ed Wood's memorably-incongruous insertion of A-bomb explosions in Bride Of The Monster to appease his anti-nuclear financial backer).

To drive home its basic message, The Blasphemer pulled no punches, logic be, uh, damned. As William K. Everson drolly noted, "Its climax packs in more unlikely coincidence than even Griffith would have tried to get away with. And while the church may have been concerned with redemption, it seems to have been remarkably intolerant of the heathen element equally in need of uplifting. A casual visit to a Chinese laundry in the last reel reveals it to be a nest of lecherous white slavers!"

About Glen Foerd on the Delaware: The Glen Foerd mansion was built in 1850 by businessman Charles Macalester, Jr. The estate was later purchased by leather manufacturer Robert Foerderer, who enlarged and added extensive enhancements to the property, including a formal dining room, an impressive art gallery, a pipe organ, parquet floors, a grand staircase and elaborate leaded glass skylights. The Foerderers' daughter Florence lived in the estate until her death in 1971. In 1985 the property was taken over by the Glen Foerd Conservation Corporation and the Fairmount Park Commission, and is today operated as a historic house museum and public park.

About Don Kinnier: The silent film era, from its tentative first steps to its final artistic masterpieces, lasted for about 35 years. Musician Don Kinnier has been accompanying silent film screenings for over 55 years! Pennsylvania's foremost exponent of this very specialized art form, he has studied the techniques and repertoires of the original theater musicians of the silent era. A Philadelphia native (now based in Lititz), Don has toured internationally, and has maintained a long and fruitful relationship with Longwood Gardens and their large Aeolian organ. He also plays at The Strand Capitol Performing Arts Center and the Allen Theatre, and has provided the soundtrack for many past Secret Cinema events.

FUTURE SECRET CINEMA EVENTS (more info soon):