Reginald Denny was the most popular of the “light comedians” of the silent screen. In a series of expertly-made farces for Universal Pictures, the British-born Denny starred as an All-American everyman always embroiled in a myriad of problems and complications. Funny features such as California Straight Ahead (1925), Skinner’s Dress Suit (1926), and this program’s What Happened to Jones? (1926), made Denny one of Universal’s biggest moneymakers of the 1920s. Edward Everett Horton warms up the house for Mr. Denny with his 1927 two-reeler No Publicity.

The Silent Clowns film series is New York’s longest-running regularly scheduled silent film showcase, by MoMA’s Ben Model, with an introduction and Q&A by film historians Model and Steve Massa.

Photo Caption: “Reginald Denny and Otis harlan in trouble in WHAT HAPPENED TO JONES? (1925).” Photo credit: The Billy Rose Theatre Collection.