Why are they incorrectly called 'silent'? They contain music which helps tell the story so how can they be considered silent? Very silly.
Here's my favourite silent film - it's about Glasgow's less grammatically-solvent and, indeed, solvent inhabitants please log in to view this image
This isn't the case. The early silent movies were truly silent but accompanied by a live pianist in the cinema.
They dished out sheet music with the later ones but I'm sure, in some regional cinemas, the pianist could probably only play one or two tunes. Big death scenes with Knees Up Mother Brown going down in the background.