In the trifecta of male silent comedy stars (Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd) Lloyd typically gets the bronze, but he's my favorite. Lloyd's films are sweet, funny and charming and for silent comedies they hold up well. His glasses character exemplified a be-spectaled go-getter embodied the can do attitude of the 1920s. Lloyd first played the glasses character in a 1919 short comedy Bumping Into Broadway.
In the film Lloyd plays a character known simply as the boy a would be musical comedy writer in dire financial straits:
He lives in a Boarding house populated by theatrical types, including of course, the girl, a chorus dancer, played by Bebe Daniels.
The boarding house is run by a stern land lady and her beefy tough guy The guys job is to toss out any boarders who have gotten their third notice to to pay the rent. Both the boy and the girl have just received theirs.
The heroes troubles continue. The boy continues to fail to find a producer for his play
and the girl gets fired from her chorus dancing job.
After a number of adventures the boy and the girl north wind up at a club where the girl is on a date with a wealthy play boy and the boy is gambling in an attempt to win the money to produce his play.
a few more antics the boy wins big at gambling and love!
The entire film is less then a half hour long and can be seen on you tube (here is the link). It's essential viewing for all Harold Lloyd fans.
When it comes to sikent films three best known slapstick comedians Harold Lloyd usually comes in third, behind Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, but there's a lot to be said for Harold Lloyd
His be-speckled, ambitious characters captured the can do spirit of the optimistic 20s and his movies remain funny and charming. (Plus he's the only silent era comedienne to have a character on the sci fi comedy cartoon Futurama named after him, Dr. Zoidberg's uncle Harold Zoid)
Prolific even by early cinema standards Lloyd made nearly 200 films. The best of the ones I've seen is Speedy, 1928
In the film Lloyd plays Harold "Speedy" Swift. An ambitious, baseball obsessed young man with a sweet steady girl friend, Jane, played by charming flapper actress Ann Christy. She really looks good in a cloche.
Jane lives with her grand daddy a curmudgeonly charmer who drives one of the last horse drawn trolleys in New York and who doesn't look to kindly on Speedy's tendency to loose jobs.
Which happens early in the film after his love of baseball gets in the way of his job as a soda jerk at the world's chicest soda fountain.
Not to be discouraged by his job loss Speedy does what any love struck young man in 1920s New York would do.
To get to Coney Island Jane and Speedy have to take the subway, and thus follows the best mass transit scene in cinema history
Coney Island's hey day was the 1920s and I've never seen film capture its former glory better then Speedy.
The adventure ends with Speedy and Jane having lost all their money, but gained a mischievous stray dog. The two hitch a ride home in the back of a furniture wagon, which Speedy arranges to look like the apartment they hope to share one day. Note the dog at their feet!
Eager to earn the money to make his fortune come true:
Speedy takes a job as a taxi driver
With predictably disastrous results:
Though the bright spot is he gets to drive his idol Babe Ruth to yankee stadium. Its a lot of fun for the modern viewer to see this early example of a celebrity cameo and Babe does a great job.
After the Babe Ruth incident leads to using yet another job, Speedy takes over Jane's grand-daddy's horse drawn trolley.
Eventually with the help of his dog he manages to save the trolley from thieves, becoming the hero of the day, and finally getting engaged to Jane.
Speedy is a delightful film perfect for established fans of silent slapstick comedy or those new to silent film. Its available to stream on hulu and amazon prime.
Ill be going on blogger break for the rest of the summer until after labor day so I can enjoy my vacation. Enjoy these last summer days.
