Thu, Aug 13
|Arthouse at Blue Star
8/13: The Matinee Idol (1928)
Directed by legendary, Frank Capra, The Matinee Idol is a 1928 silent comedy starring Bessie Love, Johnnie Walker, Lionel Belmore, and David Mir. The screening will feature live piano and organ accompaniment by Jacinto Guevara. Please read the important note in the additional description.
Time & Location
Aug 13, 2026, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Arthouse at Blue Star, 134 Blue Star, San Antonio, TX 78204, USA
About the Event
AN IMPORTANT NOTE ON THIS SCREENING:
The Matinee Idol (1928), directed by Frank Capra, is presented tonight as part of our exploration of early American cinema.
The film centers on a Broadway star known for blackface minstrel performances — a tradition rooted in the mockery and degradation of Black Americans — who disguises his identity to join a traveling theater troupe. When the film was restored and rereleased in 1997, Washington Post critic Rita Kempley noted that beyond its blackface content, the film's humor also draws on demeaning stereotypes involving women, gay people, and people with disabilities — a reflection, as she put it, of a less politically conscious era in American entertainment.
We're screening this film for its historical and cinematic value — including its place in Frank Capra's early career and its roots in the gag-writing tradition of Mack Sennett and Hal Roach — not as an endorsement of…
Tickets
General Admissions
$10.00
+$0.82 Sales Tax
Total
$0.00