The Patsy

Featuring live musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin on August 9

One of the great comedies of Hollywood’s silent era and based on a 1925 play by Barry Conners, The Patsy stars Marion Davies as Patricia Harrington, an awkward young woman who falls for the boyfriend of her older sister (Jane Winton), ambitious real estate agent Tony (Orville Caldwell), and sets about trying to attract the young man’s interest—to hilarious effect. A charming and engrossing work of physical comedy and featuring an especially memorable turn by pioneering silent-era actress, director, and producer Marie Dressler (as Patricia’s overbearing mother), The Patsy is notable for, among other things, its thematic focus on the performance of social life and its explicit references to some of silent Hollywood’s brightest stars, including Pola Negri, Lillian Gish, and Mae Murray. Preserved by the Library of Congress.