Slapstick comedy. Local history. 1919 New Hampshire back on the screen.

Sunapee Historical Society & Newport Historical Society Present:

Van-ar-chy Comes Home:
Billy B. Van’s Lost Silent Comedies

2PM Sunday November 1
at the 
Newport Opera House
Cash Bar

Tickets: $15 at newportoperahouse.com - 603-863-2412

More than a century after it was filmed in and around Newport and Sunapee, a long-lost silent comedy starring vaudeville entertainer and local filmmaker Billy B. Van is coming home.

“Van-ar-chy,” believed lost for decades, will return to the screen on Sunday, November 1, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. at the historic Newport Opera House. Presented by the Newport Historical Society and the Sunapee Historical Society, the program will offer audiences a rare chance to see the Lake Sunapee region as it appeared more than a century ago—and to rediscover a nearly forgotten chapter in early American filmmaking.

“Van-ar-chy Comes Home: Billy B. Van’s Lost Silent Comedies” will feature digitally restored presentations of “Van-ar-chy” and the role-reversal farce “Where Are Your Husbands?”, two Billy B. Van comedies from 1919 rediscovered more than a century after they were made. A historical introduction will place the films in the story of Van’s unusual New Hampshire filmmaking venture and the rapidly developing motion-picture industry of the 1910s. New piano accompaniment for “Van-ar-chy” composed and performed live by pianist Bob Merrill.