Harkening back to a time when Buster Keaton dominated the box office and sound in film was on the horizon, Ragtag Cinema will host a 1920s-themed fundraising event called The Ragtag Ball on April 18 at the Tiger Hotel.

“The 1920s are very significant to the film industry,” Ragtag Cinema’s Membership Coordinator Lindsay Yungbluth says. “Hollywood was establishing itself as a center for the motion picture industry, sound was becoming widely used in ‘talkies,’ the first Academy Awards took place in 1929.”

The Tiger Hotel was built in 1928, making it the perfect venue for The Ragtag Ball.

“(The proceeds) will go toward providing more comfortable seating and improved sight lines in our beloved Willy Wilson Theater,” Yungbluth says.

Willy Wilson Theater is the smaller of Ragtag Cinema’s two theaters.

Fundraisers like this are essential to the Ragtag Film Society, the nonprofit organization that runs Ragtag Cinema.

The Ragtag Ball begins at 8:00 p.m. and admission is $40.

“The ball will include dancing to authentic ’20s music, an elegantly decorated ballroom (provided by Anne Tuckley Interior Design), cocktails that made the 1920s roar, and appetizers on silver trays,” Yungbluth says. “There will also be both live and silent auctions for rooms at the Tiger Hotel, so the winners of those auctions can stay there overnight after the ball. The rooms will feature gifts donated from great local business.”

These local businesses include Yoga Sol, Makes Scents, Good Company, Alley A Realty, Brent Gardner Realty, Mid Missouri Electric, Roots N Blues N BBQ and DeSpain Cayce Dermatology Center and Medical Spa.

The silent auction will last from the beginning of the event until 9:45 p.m. There will be eight king rooms available to bid on. At 9:45, the live auction will begin, featuring only two “glamorous suites,” Yungbluth says.

Tickets to the event are available on their [website](ragtagcinema.org).