The Town Hall Theatre will showcase two surviving films of forgotten silent-era comedian Raymond Griffith on Sunday, Nov. 30, at 2 p.m. The double feature, accompanied by live music, highlights the work of a onetime major Hollywood star who attended St. Anselm Preparatory School in Goffstown.
Griffith, known as the “Silk Hat” comedian, was a top box office draw in the 1920s, rivaling Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. A childhood vocal injury left him unable to speak above a whisper, a limitation that effectively ended his on-screen career when sound films arrived in 1929. Most of his feature films are now lost.
The program includes “Paths to Paradise” (1925), featuring Griffith as a polished con man competing with a jewel thief, and “Hands Up!” (1926), a Civil War–era comedy regarded as his best work. “Paths to Paradise” survives incomplete, but “Hands Up!” is intact.
Silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis will improvise live scores. Rapsis said Griffith’s suave, quick-thinking persona set him apart from better-known contemporaries and still resonates with audiences.
Griffith later worked behind the camera at Paramount and appeared in a non-speaking role in “All Quiet on the Western Front” (1930). He died in 1957.
The screening is free; a suggested $10 donation supports the theatre’s silent film series. Town Hall Theatre is located at 40 Main St., Wilton. For information, visit wiltontownhalltheatre.com or call 603-654-3456.