5th Annual SILENT SALON Featuring the Villa Aurora Pipe Organ

Our popular summer program SILENT SALON is back!

Once again, Villa Aurora is opening their newly landscaped gardens for patrons to come early and picnic, watch the sun set over the Pacific, and then move into the Salon for a program of comedies by Hollywood’s leading comedians. This year’s program was curated by Michael Mortilla, who is also the accompanist for the two nights of Silent Salon.

Bring family and friends, make it a surprise date, or entertain guests from out of town with a true L.A. experience.

Michael Mortilla is a composer and musician who for two decades has improvised scores to all manner of silent films for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, among other organizations. (He has also worked with a pair of legendary choreographers: Alvin Ailey and Martha Graham.)

Saturday, August 19 @ 7:00 p.m.

Part 1: ON THE HOOF

Mighty Like A Moose 

Regie: Leo McCarey , 1926, 22 min. digital, starring Charley Chase and Vivien Oakland, digital

After a homely married couple separately undergoes plastic surgery, they unwittingly plan an extramarital affair with each other.

Mighty Like A Moose was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, which recognizes American films deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."(imdb)

The Goat

Regie: Buster Keaton, 1921, 27 min.starring Buster Keaton and Malcom St. Clair, digital

A series of adventures begins when an accident during photographing causes Buster to be mistaken for Dead Shot Dan, the evil bad guy. (imdb)

Part 2: ON THE WING

Call of the Cuckoos 

Regie: Clyde Bruckman, 1927, 17 min. starring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, and Max Davidson |

Max Davidson and his family are annoyed by the loony antics of their next-door neighbors (Laurel, Hardy, Finlayson and Chase). They move to a new house, which immediately starts self-destructing, and find the same neighbors have once again moved next door. (Laurel and Hardy Central)

Voice of the Nightingale 

Regie: Wladyslaw Starewicz, 1925, 15, starring Nina Star, digital

This fairy-tale like telling of why nightingales only sing at night, is a

beautifully colorized live action with stop action animation.