Date: Wed, 01 May 96 18:11:27 0500

 Turner Classic Moviess SILENT SUNDAY NIGHTS Brings Acclaimed Presenter Bill
Irwin to Host Four-Week Salute To Silent Stars, Including Centennial Tribute
                              To Buster Keaton



 Turner Classic Movies pays tribute to three of the silent screens greatest
  comics, the movies original Latin lover and his greatest rival when Bill
 Irwin, one of the most acclaimed and innovative professional clowns working
 today hosts SILENT SUNDAY NIGHTS this October. The four-week festival will
 be seen Sunday evenings in October premiering October 1, with a double-bill
salute to Buster Keaton commemorating his 100th birthday on October 4. Irwin
follows with special double feature devoted to Harold Lloyd (Sunday, October
     8), Charles Chaplin (Sunday, October 15) and romantic stars Rudolph
Valentino and Ramon Novarro (Sunday, October 22). The silent comedy evenings
 open with special performance pieces in which Irwin captures the essence of
                       each of the three great comics.

    Among the films on display are Keaton's last two silent comedies, THE
CAMERAMAN (1928, October 1, 9 p.m., ET) and SPITE MARRIAGE (1929, October 1,
  10:30 p.m.); Lloyds most famous slapstick cliffhanger, SAFETY LAST (1923,
   October 8, 9 p.m.); Chaplins classic THE GOLD RUSH (1925, October 15, 9
p.m.), usually ranked among the greatest movies of all time; the first comic
 feature ever produced in America, TILLIES PUNCTURED ROMANCE (1914, October
 15, 10:30 p.m.), which teams Chaplin with Marie Dressler and Mable Normand;
 Valentinos first starring vehicle THE CONQUERING POWER (1921, October 22, 9
p.m.); and the villainous performance that helped make Novarro a star in the
1922 version of THE PRISONER OF ZENDA (October 22, 11 p.m.). SAFETY LAST and
  the other Lloyd classic, GIRL SHY (1924, October 8, 10:30 p.m.), will be
  presented in specially restored versions prepared by the Lloyd estate and
      never before seen on television. Also newly restored and with new
          instrumental scores are the Valentino and Novarro films.

      Irwin has won a reputation as one of the worlds great clowns with
   appearances on Broadway and television in The Regard of Flight and the
 two-man show Fool Moon, performed with David Shiner on Broadway and in Los
 Angeles. He also has performed as a dramatic actor in the all-star Lincoln
   Center revival of Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot, co-starring Steve
  Martin and Robin Williams, and the feature film Eight Men Out. Television
 audiences will recognize him as the circus performer who courted Marilyn on
 Northern Exposure and Robin Williamss comic companion in the video of Bobby
                     McFerrins hit Dont Worry, Be Happy.

Each Sunday at 9:00 PM, TCMs SILENT SUNDAY NIGHTS weekly series brings movie
  lovers the best of early Hollywood, from slapstick comedies with Keaton,
  Chaplin and Lloyd to such great epics as GREED and the silent version of
                                  BEN-HUR.

   Turner Classic Movies, a 24-hour cable network from Turner Broadcasting
  System, Inc., presents the greatest motion pictures of all time, from the
      1920s through the 1980s, commercial-free, uncolorized and without
                                interruption.