Last Updated: 7/2/26

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.

FUTURE SECRET CINEMA EVENTS (more info soon):