Film Screening: The Kid

Silent film screening with live piano accompaniment

Join us for the unveiling of LOH’s new Steinway B! The purchase of this remarkable grand piano was made possible by dozens of generous donors who contributed to last spring’s 88 Keys campaign.

Tickling the ivories is Vermont-based composer Bob Merrill—a noted silent film accompanist—who shares the spotlight with iconic actor Charlie Chaplin.

Chaplin was already an international star when he decided to break out of the short-film format and make his first full-length feature in 1921. The Kid doesn’t merely show Chaplin at a turning point, when he proved that he was a serious film director—it remains an expressive masterwork of silent cinema.

Chaplin stars as his lovable Tramp character, this time raising an orphan (a remarkable young Jackie Coogan) he has rescued from the streets. Chaplin and Coogan make a miraculous pair in this nimble marriage of sentiment and slapstick, a film that is, as its opening title card states, “a picture with a smile—and perhaps, a tear.”