Sunday, May 6, 2018
492 - Grandma's Boy, United States, 1922. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.
Blossom Bend is a sleepy town that moves so slowly the Tuesday morning express arrives Wednesday afternoon.
The Boy at age 11 months and 4 teeth is already afraid.
As he grows up he rubs his knees together and rubs holes in his pants.
The kids at school challenge him to fight, but he will not fight.
At age 19 the boldest thing he has ever done is to sing out loud in church.
At every age he wears Harold Lloyd signature glasses.
The Boy, Grandma's Boy, loves The Girl, Harold's Girl, also known as Mildred. In this film she gets a name! But then, she is played by Mildred Davis, so it is not too much of a stretch.
Mildred is as innocent as Harold, so he should not half to try too hard to win her. In fact, she already likes him.
He makes homemade ice cream for her.
Too bad The Rival comes along.
He goes after Mildred himself. He mocks Harold, Rips his accessories off his clothes. Throws him down the well. Walks off with The Girl.
Somehow Harold finds a way out of the well. He walks down the street. Goes home to his Grandma. With whom he lives.
All the girls laugh at him. Look at silly Harold. He is too afraid to stand up for himself. He lets The Rival take his girl. He is stripped and wet with well water. Is he not a sight?
The Rolling Stone is a vagabond. He has gathered no moss but has picked up lots of soil. Harold's grandmother calls him "that nasty old tramp," and demands that Harold remove him from the premises.
Good luck with that.
Grandma is braver with her broomstick than Harold is with his fists. She runs him off herself.
Later the town will discover that The Rolling Stone is more than just a tramp. He is a criminal. With a gun. And he is up to no good. Who will stop him?
Harold's suit is ruined from the well. So Grandma loans him her husband's old suit. From 1861. Still in great shape, she says. Well . . . not exactly.
Harold courts Mildred before the party. But then The Rival comes again. And sweeps her off her feet.
What will Harold do?
Grandma knows. She has a magic charm. The secret formula. Just the thing that will give Harold the courage he needs to beat his rival, stop The Rolling Stone, and win The Girl.
Grandma gives Harold the magic charm. And everything changes.
Grandma's Boy played a role in moving comedies from shorts to features.
It is 5 reels. One hour long.
Of course features already existed. D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, at 3 hours, 15 minutes, came out seven years before, in 1915. But it was a historical epic. Comedies up to now were still largely shorts, composed of a series of gags loosely strung together on the thinnest of plots. As we have seen in several of the Harold Lloyd shorts we have been watching.
This one has a plot. Along with Dr. Jack (1922), which we also just saw.
His next film after those two would be his masterpiece. Safety Last! (1923).
Monday, May 7, 2018
Sunday, May 6, 2018
491 - Harold Lloyd in Dr. Jack, United States, 1922. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.
Sunday, May 6, 2018
491 - Harold Lloyd in Dr. Jack, United States, 1922. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.
Hal Roach Prescribes Harold Lloyd.
So say the opening credits. Written on the prescription pad.
In Consultation . . .
with the other players.
Dr. Jack Jackson is a doctor. In a small town. And his patients love him.
His patients can be a bit psychosomatic. And he can cure them with a bit of psychology.
I am too sick to go to school today.
No worries. The schoolhouse has burned down to the ground.
Hey, suddenly I feel better.
He is so busy that his employees chase him to feed him.
He gets plenty of work. He makes plenty of money. He is beloved by all.
A good gig if you can get it.
Four men are playing poker. He stacks the deck by giving four aces each to all four men.
Let them sort it out.
Sneaky Jackson.
Enter the The Sick-Little-Well-Girl.
Yesterday we mentioned the Mary Pickford 1917 comedy The Poor Little Rich Girl and suggested it as having similarities to Now or Never (1921).
The Poor Little Rich Girl was a big hit. It was a popular phrase. In 1934 the press would attribute the phrase to Gloria Vanderbilt, born in 1924, in that year's Trial of the Century. Shirley Temple would star in a version of Poor Little Rich Girl in 1936. Andy Warhol would use it in his film of Edie Sedgwick in 1965.
So The Sick-Little-Well-Girl would have been a clear reference.
This Sick-Little-Well-Girl, played by Mildred Davis, the soon-to-be Mrs. Harold Lloyd, is being used by the cunning Dr. Ludwig von Saulsbourg as a siphon for her father's money. Dr. von S. has her father convinced that she must stay locked in dark rooms and drink lots of liquid medicine, very expensive medicine of course, and that Mr. SLWG, The Girl's Father, must steadily pay Dr. von S. lots of money.
Until one day when the father-daughter team arrive in Dr. Jack Jackson's town and The Girl's Father takes her to see Dr. Jackson.
Dr. Jackson, being the genius that he is, opens the curtains. Lets in the light. Opens the windows. Lets in the fresh air. Opens his heart. Falls in love with The Girl.
And dreams of a day to be.
And stumbles.
And bumps into her by accident.
And kisses her by mistake.
And creates a scandal.
Because that can happen in the movies in 1922.
And the Father and the bad Dr. von Saulsbourg attempt to run him off. So Dr. Jack Jackson hides by disguising himself as an escaped Lunatic. The real one is being chased by two police officers who arrive at the residence.
So Harold Lloyd moves back and forth breathlessly between his disguises. As different personas are chased by different people.
And madcap mayhem ensues.
But we are not worried.
With Harold Lloyd as the good doctor, we expect a full recovery. And that all will be well.
Yesterday we also mentioned Jackie Condon and Mickey Daniels from Our Gang. Both of those little rascals appear here as a patient and his pal.
491 - Harold Lloyd in Dr. Jack, United States, 1922. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.
Hal Roach Prescribes Harold Lloyd.
So say the opening credits. Written on the prescription pad.
In Consultation . . .
with the other players.
Dr. Jack Jackson is a doctor. In a small town. And his patients love him.
His patients can be a bit psychosomatic. And he can cure them with a bit of psychology.
I am too sick to go to school today.
No worries. The schoolhouse has burned down to the ground.
Hey, suddenly I feel better.
He is so busy that his employees chase him to feed him.
He gets plenty of work. He makes plenty of money. He is beloved by all.
A good gig if you can get it.
Four men are playing poker. He stacks the deck by giving four aces each to all four men.
Let them sort it out.
Sneaky Jackson.
Enter the The Sick-Little-Well-Girl.
Yesterday we mentioned the Mary Pickford 1917 comedy The Poor Little Rich Girl and suggested it as having similarities to Now or Never (1921).
The Poor Little Rich Girl was a big hit. It was a popular phrase. In 1934 the press would attribute the phrase to Gloria Vanderbilt, born in 1924, in that year's Trial of the Century. Shirley Temple would star in a version of Poor Little Rich Girl in 1936. Andy Warhol would use it in his film of Edie Sedgwick in 1965.
So The Sick-Little-Well-Girl would have been a clear reference.
This Sick-Little-Well-Girl, played by Mildred Davis, the soon-to-be Mrs. Harold Lloyd, is being used by the cunning Dr. Ludwig von Saulsbourg as a siphon for her father's money. Dr. von S. has her father convinced that she must stay locked in dark rooms and drink lots of liquid medicine, very expensive medicine of course, and that Mr. SLWG, The Girl's Father, must steadily pay Dr. von S. lots of money.
Until one day when the father-daughter team arrive in Dr. Jack Jackson's town and The Girl's Father takes her to see Dr. Jackson.
Dr. Jackson, being the genius that he is, opens the curtains. Lets in the light. Opens the windows. Lets in the fresh air. Opens his heart. Falls in love with The Girl.
And dreams of a day to be.
And stumbles.
And bumps into her by accident.
And kisses her by mistake.
And creates a scandal.
Because that can happen in the movies in 1922.
And the Father and the bad Dr. von Saulsbourg attempt to run him off. So Dr. Jack Jackson hides by disguising himself as an escaped Lunatic. The real one is being chased by two police officers who arrive at the residence.
So Harold Lloyd moves back and forth breathlessly between his disguises. As different personas are chased by different people.
And madcap mayhem ensues.
But we are not worried.
With Harold Lloyd as the good doctor, we expect a full recovery. And that all will be well.
Yesterday we also mentioned Jackie Condon and Mickey Daniels from Our Gang. Both of those little rascals appear here as a patient and his pal.
Saturday, May 5, 2018
490 - Harold Lloyd in Now or Never, United States, 1921. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Hal Roach.
Saturday, May 5, 2018
490 - Harold Lloyd in Now or Never, United States, 1921. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Hal Roach.
Silent films and trains.
This is the birth of the movies.
In the berth of the movies.
But first, the set up.
The Lonesome Little Child, Dolly, sits at home. Her father travels with work. Her mother lives the good life. The Lonesome Little Child sits and listens to stories told by her maid, The Girl.
Mary Pickford played the neglected rich girl, named Gwendolyn, four years earlier in Maurice Tourneur's The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917).
Shirley Temple played the neglected rich girl, named Barbara Barry, fifteen years later in Irving Cumming's Poor Little Rich Girl (1936).
This lonesome little child is played by Anna Mae Bilson. She also played Mary Jane in Hal Roach's Rascals in 1922, one of the early Our Gang or Little Rascals shorts, featuring Jackie Condon and Mickey Daniels. The Little Rascals ran so long that Mickey Daniels, appearing here as a boy, would continue playing in them as an adult. You may remember him as the goofy boyfriend of the schoolteacher, who himself becomes the truant officer, such as in Fish Hooky (1933) and chases the kids in the amusement park.
Here, in Now or Never, The Girl tells The Lonesome Little Girl about her boyfriend, who is coming home to help her celebrate her birthday. She is turning eighteen.
Dolly begs to go. Her parents are gone anyway.
Meanwhile, Harold Lloyd, The Boy, races his roadster down the road, and crashes through a barn. He comes out the other side full of hay and carrying a duck. A classic movie moment.
He pays the farmer for the damage, but the farmer is not the farmer. The farmer is a vagrant who has taken his money and run. The real farmer now shoots at The Boy with his shotgun.
The Boy races his roadster down the road, looking for the vagabond. He finds him. On the train. The Boy jumps the train to confront the hobo. But he winds up under the train. Holding on for dear life.
The Girl and Dolly end up on the train. The Girl's Boss ends up on the train.
The Boy ends up trying to take care of Dolly while The Girl goes in search of her Boss.
And madcap mayhem ensues.
All aboard.
490 - Harold Lloyd in Now or Never, United States, 1921. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer and Hal Roach.
Silent films and trains.
This is the birth of the movies.
In the berth of the movies.
But first, the set up.
The Lonesome Little Child, Dolly, sits at home. Her father travels with work. Her mother lives the good life. The Lonesome Little Child sits and listens to stories told by her maid, The Girl.
Mary Pickford played the neglected rich girl, named Gwendolyn, four years earlier in Maurice Tourneur's The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917).
Shirley Temple played the neglected rich girl, named Barbara Barry, fifteen years later in Irving Cumming's Poor Little Rich Girl (1936).
This lonesome little child is played by Anna Mae Bilson. She also played Mary Jane in Hal Roach's Rascals in 1922, one of the early Our Gang or Little Rascals shorts, featuring Jackie Condon and Mickey Daniels. The Little Rascals ran so long that Mickey Daniels, appearing here as a boy, would continue playing in them as an adult. You may remember him as the goofy boyfriend of the schoolteacher, who himself becomes the truant officer, such as in Fish Hooky (1933) and chases the kids in the amusement park.
Here, in Now or Never, The Girl tells The Lonesome Little Girl about her boyfriend, who is coming home to help her celebrate her birthday. She is turning eighteen.
Dolly begs to go. Her parents are gone anyway.
Meanwhile, Harold Lloyd, The Boy, races his roadster down the road, and crashes through a barn. He comes out the other side full of hay and carrying a duck. A classic movie moment.
He pays the farmer for the damage, but the farmer is not the farmer. The farmer is a vagrant who has taken his money and run. The real farmer now shoots at The Boy with his shotgun.
The Boy races his roadster down the road, looking for the vagabond. He finds him. On the train. The Boy jumps the train to confront the hobo. But he winds up under the train. Holding on for dear life.
The Girl and Dolly end up on the train. The Girl's Boss ends up on the train.
The Boy ends up trying to take care of Dolly while The Girl goes in search of her Boss.
And madcap mayhem ensues.
All aboard.
Friday, May 4, 2018
489 - Harold Lloyd in High and Dizzy, United States, 1920. Dir. Hal Roach.
Friday, May 4, 2018
489 - Harold Lloyd in High and Dizzy, United States, 1920. Dir. Hal Roach.
The Boy is now a Doctor. Just starting.
Now if he can just get some patients.
Wait. Here comes a father and daughter. The Boy needs to show them that he has an active practice.
What to do?
He knows. Dress up as different people and enter in and out of the lobby. Then the father and daughter will see that he has patients and will have confidence in him.
Problem solved.
Now for the doctor. What seems to be the problem, Sir?
My daughter walks in her sleep.
Hmm.
What to do?
The Boy gives them some kind of answer. Take this and call me.
Then he gets drunk with his friend.
Wait. What?
He stumbles through town with typical Harold Lloyd mayhem, with police involved, and winds up in a hotel.
The Girl and her father just happen to be staying in the hotel.
The Girl falls asleep. And sleepwalks.
And winds up out on the ledge.
The Boy follows her out on the ledge.
Drunk.
And winds up looking like this:
Here we go.
489 - Harold Lloyd in High and Dizzy, United States, 1920. Dir. Hal Roach.
The Boy is now a Doctor. Just starting.
Now if he can just get some patients.
Wait. Here comes a father and daughter. The Boy needs to show them that he has an active practice.
What to do?
He knows. Dress up as different people and enter in and out of the lobby. Then the father and daughter will see that he has patients and will have confidence in him.
Problem solved.
Now for the doctor. What seems to be the problem, Sir?
My daughter walks in her sleep.
Hmm.
What to do?
The Boy gives them some kind of answer. Take this and call me.
Then he gets drunk with his friend.
Wait. What?
He stumbles through town with typical Harold Lloyd mayhem, with police involved, and winds up in a hotel.
The Girl and her father just happen to be staying in the hotel.
The Girl falls asleep. And sleepwalks.
And winds up out on the ledge.
The Boy follows her out on the ledge.
Drunk.
And winds up looking like this:
Here we go.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
488 - Bumping Into Broadway, United States, 1919. Dir. Hal Roach.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
488 - Bumping Into Broadway, United States, 1919. Dir. Hal Roach.
This classic Harold Lloyd short film is high-energy, fast-paced, creatively witty, and hilarious.
It features four locations: the apartment building, the theater, the street, and the speakeasy.
Broadway.
Avenue of lights.
In the city that never sleeps.
Where the stars live the good life. Eat the big steaks. Drink the big booze. Where the Flappers expect the royal treatment from the hosts and the maitre d'. Where money flows like champagne.
But also
Where the undiscovered struggle in flophouses, betting on dreams, looking for a morsel to eat.
Bearcat the Landlady is on the prowl. Handing out third notices. Pay the $3.75 you owe or be evicted. And she has a Bearcat Bouncer man ready to bounce you. And he does. He takes the first victim and tosses him up and down like a rag doll, with such ferocity that a WWE performer could not take the punishment.
$3.75 in 1919 is worth $56.72 in 2018. We suspect you would still take that deal today. But that is more than these people have. Or have ever had. At one time.
Well, The Boy can scrounge up just enough change.
But when he sees his next-door neighbor, The Girl, about to be out on the street, he steps in chivalrously, always the gentleman, and gives his rent money to her.
Now the Bearcat and the Bearcat Bouncer are after him. Up and down the stairs. In and out of rooms. In and out of windows. Hiding and being discovered. Farce at its highest.
The Boy is an aspiring writer. The Girl is a dancer at the theater.
The Boy makes it to the theater to show his script to the Director. The Director who sits in an office with headshots papering the walls.
If only he could get in.
And if we know Harold Lloyd, then we know The Boy will find a way.
It all comes to a head when The Boy finds himself inside the speakeasy, not understanding where is he. Not knowing what putting money on Number 13 on the Roulette Wheel even means. But breaking the house. And walking away with all the cash just as the police raid the joint.
Here we go.
Up and down the stairs. In and out the doors. Hiding and being discovered.
With many a whack on the head.
Here Harold Lloyd hones his madcap mayhem skills for the features he would later make, and this one stands among his finest and funniest.
Now if he could just get that rug to block our view so he can kiss The Girl.
488 - Bumping Into Broadway, United States, 1919. Dir. Hal Roach.
This classic Harold Lloyd short film is high-energy, fast-paced, creatively witty, and hilarious.
It features four locations: the apartment building, the theater, the street, and the speakeasy.
Broadway.
Avenue of lights.
In the city that never sleeps.
Where the stars live the good life. Eat the big steaks. Drink the big booze. Where the Flappers expect the royal treatment from the hosts and the maitre d'. Where money flows like champagne.
But also
Where the undiscovered struggle in flophouses, betting on dreams, looking for a morsel to eat.
Bearcat the Landlady is on the prowl. Handing out third notices. Pay the $3.75 you owe or be evicted. And she has a Bearcat Bouncer man ready to bounce you. And he does. He takes the first victim and tosses him up and down like a rag doll, with such ferocity that a WWE performer could not take the punishment.
$3.75 in 1919 is worth $56.72 in 2018. We suspect you would still take that deal today. But that is more than these people have. Or have ever had. At one time.
Well, The Boy can scrounge up just enough change.
But when he sees his next-door neighbor, The Girl, about to be out on the street, he steps in chivalrously, always the gentleman, and gives his rent money to her.
Now the Bearcat and the Bearcat Bouncer are after him. Up and down the stairs. In and out of rooms. In and out of windows. Hiding and being discovered. Farce at its highest.
The Boy is an aspiring writer. The Girl is a dancer at the theater.
The Boy makes it to the theater to show his script to the Director. The Director who sits in an office with headshots papering the walls.
If only he could get in.
And if we know Harold Lloyd, then we know The Boy will find a way.
It all comes to a head when The Boy finds himself inside the speakeasy, not understanding where is he. Not knowing what putting money on Number 13 on the Roulette Wheel even means. But breaking the house. And walking away with all the cash just as the police raid the joint.
Here we go.
Up and down the stairs. In and out the doors. Hiding and being discovered.
With many a whack on the head.
Here Harold Lloyd hones his madcap mayhem skills for the features he would later make, and this one stands among his finest and funniest.
Now if he could just get that rug to block our view so he can kiss The Girl.
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
487 - Harold Lloyd in Billy Blazes, Esq., United States, 1919. Dir. Hal Roach.
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
487 - Harold Lloyd in Billy Blazes, Esq., United States, 1919. Dir. Hal Roach.
Harold Lloyd is Billy Blazes, a cowboy in a cowboy Western.
And in this one, he is good at what he does. Not incompetent.
He works with Hal Roach, the silent film director famous for the Our Gang / The Little Rascals series.
Snub Pollard plays Gun Shy Gallagher.
Bebe Daniels plays Nell.
Saddle up.
Guns are a-blazin' with Billy Blazes.
Although how he is an Esq. we are not sure.
487 - Harold Lloyd in Billy Blazes, Esq., United States, 1919. Dir. Hal Roach.
Harold Lloyd is Billy Blazes, a cowboy in a cowboy Western.
And in this one, he is good at what he does. Not incompetent.
He works with Hal Roach, the silent film director famous for the Our Gang / The Little Rascals series.
Snub Pollard plays Gun Shy Gallagher.
Bebe Daniels plays Nell.
Saddle up.
Guns are a-blazin' with Billy Blazes.
Although how he is an Esq. we are not sure.
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
486 - Harold Lloyd in The Cat's Paw, United States, 1934. Dir. Sam Taylor.
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
486 - Harold Lloyd in The Cat's Paw, United States, 1934. Dir. Sam Taylor.
Harold talks!
Holy Cats.
Mr. Cobb Goes to Stockport.
Ezekiel Cobb, that is. Born in Stockport. But moved to China as a little boy. Moved with his beloved father, a missionary, and raised on the writings of Ling Po.
There is a real Chinese poet named Li Po, but this is a fictional poet.
Twenty years later, Ezekiel goes home to find a wife. A wife back in Stockport to bring back to China. But because he has lived his entire remembered life in China, he feels out of place in his own hometown. And because he is played by Harold Lloyd, he is innocent and vulnerable.
So just as Mr. Jefferson Smith--as played by James Stewart in Frank Capra's film five years later--is put up as U.S. Senator to be a patsy for the crime boss Jim Taylor--played by Edward Arnold--under the mentorship of the shady senior senator Joseph Paine--played by Claude Rains--so also Ezekiel Cobb--as played by Harold Lloyd--is put up as the Stockport mayor to be a patsy, or Cat's Paw, for the crime boss Jake Mayo--played by George Barbier.
But what Jake Mayo does not anticipate from Ezekiel Cobb, just as Jim Taylor did not expect it from Jefferson Smith, is that Ezekiel Cobb will take his job seriously and take real action to bring about real reform.
Ezekiel Cobb leans on the writings of Ling Po to guide him in his decision making.
As Cobb attempts to date, in order to find a wife, his naivete generates humorous misadventures with the ladies. And in particular, with Miss Pet Pratt, as played by Una Merkel.
And as Cobb attempts to clean up the town, his naivete, or simplistic genius, upsets the standard order until things come to a breaking point.
It just so happens that Ezekiel Cobb knows just what to do.
And does it.
And wins.
In a decade where innocent men won against corruption.
And won the girl.
And won the hearts of Americans.
486 - Harold Lloyd in The Cat's Paw, United States, 1934. Dir. Sam Taylor.
Harold talks!
Holy Cats.
Mr. Cobb Goes to Stockport.
Ezekiel Cobb, that is. Born in Stockport. But moved to China as a little boy. Moved with his beloved father, a missionary, and raised on the writings of Ling Po.
There is a real Chinese poet named Li Po, but this is a fictional poet.
Twenty years later, Ezekiel goes home to find a wife. A wife back in Stockport to bring back to China. But because he has lived his entire remembered life in China, he feels out of place in his own hometown. And because he is played by Harold Lloyd, he is innocent and vulnerable.
So just as Mr. Jefferson Smith--as played by James Stewart in Frank Capra's film five years later--is put up as U.S. Senator to be a patsy for the crime boss Jim Taylor--played by Edward Arnold--under the mentorship of the shady senior senator Joseph Paine--played by Claude Rains--so also Ezekiel Cobb--as played by Harold Lloyd--is put up as the Stockport mayor to be a patsy, or Cat's Paw, for the crime boss Jake Mayo--played by George Barbier.
But what Jake Mayo does not anticipate from Ezekiel Cobb, just as Jim Taylor did not expect it from Jefferson Smith, is that Ezekiel Cobb will take his job seriously and take real action to bring about real reform.
Ezekiel Cobb leans on the writings of Ling Po to guide him in his decision making.
As Cobb attempts to date, in order to find a wife, his naivete generates humorous misadventures with the ladies. And in particular, with Miss Pet Pratt, as played by Una Merkel.
And as Cobb attempts to clean up the town, his naivete, or simplistic genius, upsets the standard order until things come to a breaking point.
It just so happens that Ezekiel Cobb knows just what to do.
And does it.
And wins.
In a decade where innocent men won against corruption.
And won the girl.
And won the hearts of Americans.
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