The Silent Film Society of Chicago is set to return to Portage Park with a screening of the 1928 classic "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" at 8 p.m. Friday. View Full Caption Silent Film Society of Chicago

PORTAGE PARK — The Silent Film Society of Chicago is set to return to Portage Park with a screening of the 1928 classic "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" at 8 p.m. Friday.

The society was forced to find new venues to show its silver screen gems after the temporary closure of the Portage Theater in 2013. It held screenings of movies from Hollywood's silent era in Des Plaines, Park Ridge and smaller theaters throughout Chicago.

Dennis Wolkowicz, the head of the society, said he was thrilled to return to Portage Park and show "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" at the Patio Theater, 6008 W. Irving Park Road, which is now being run by the same team operating the Portage Theater, which reopened in June after being closed for a year.

Heather Cherone discusses the organization's many moves:

Portage Theater owner Eddie Carranza is under contract to buy the Patio Theater.

Wolkowicz, who once ran the Portage Theater, will accompany the film under his nom de cinema Jay Warren on a theater organ with an original score.

The film stars Lon Chaney, the legendary "man of a thousand faces" in one of his last screen roles, playing an aging circus clown who adopts an orphaned girl played by 15-year-old Loretta Young in her first starring role.

Chris Lewis, Young's son, will introduce the film along with his wife, Linda, and present a film short with highlights from his mother's Hollywood career. A question-and-answer session will follow the film's conclusion.

Tickets are $10. For more information, go to silentfilmchicago.com.

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