"Harold Lloyd was not a comedian.  But he was the best actor to act the part  of a comedian of any person I ever saw." - Hal Roach

     Before Hal Roach brought us Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang,  he was instrumental in launching the career of another screen immortal: Harold Lloyd, one of the greatest of all silent film comedians.

     Lloyd and Roach met around 1912, while both were looking for work as extras in the movies. When Roach decided to become a film producer a few years later, Lloyd signed on as his first comedian. The original Lloyd character, "Willie Work", appeared in half a dozen released films before Lloyd and Roach parted ways. After a brief stint at Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios, Lloyd came back to Roach with a new character, "Lonesome Luke". "Luke" was not much more than a third rate Chaplin imitation, but the films were popular enough for Harold and Roach to continue making them.  Lloyd was often teamed with fellow comedian Snub Pollard and leading lady Bebe Daniels.

     Unlike Chaplin, who created The Little Tramp in just his second film and spent the rest of his life refining the character, or Buster Keaton, who apprenticed with Fatty Arbuckle for a few shorts and then emerged whole as the Buster we know in his own series of films, Lloyd went through scores of one reelers looking for a character. Finally he stumbled upon the idea of discarding the funny costumes and using a pair of horn rim glasses as his trademark. With this one simple act, Harold Lloyd's screen character was no longer an outsider like Chaplin or Keaton but rather a respectable member of society. Though the early "glasses" films were not much more than Lonesome Luke with Spectacles, eventually Lloyd humanized the character until he became the energetic go-getter that rivaled Chaplin in popularity in the mid 20s.

     Under Roach's guidance Lloyd made dozens and dozens of enjoyable and popular journeyman short comedies. However, over time, as Lloyd gained more confidence in his "glasses" character, his films improved. A wonderfully dextrous athlete, Lloyd soon discovered that in addition to doing gags, he could also use his athleticism to make his audience gasp. His "thrill" comedies, characterized by dangerous escapades on skyscrapers, amazing stunts and wild but realistic chases, were, in reality, only a small part of his output, but so effective were such shorts as High and Dizzy (1920) and Never Weaken (1921) that "stunting" became an instant Lloyd trademark.

     Thanks to the hilly topography of California, realistic "skyscraper" sets could be built on top of hills, so that, with the camera placed in the proper position, it looked like Harold was cavorting high up above the streets of Los Angeles.  In reality, he was never more than a few feet from a safety platform.  But the effect on screen is remarkably heart-pounding.

     Unbeknownst to audiences of the day, Harold Lloyd had lost two of his fingers in a freak accident on the set of the short Haunted Spooks (1920) when a prop bomb he was holding turned out to be real. Lloyd kept the news of his missing digits a secret, and covered them up with a specially tailored white glove. Knowing this today, it only makes Lloyd's stunts all the more impressive.

     It is hard to say whether the four-reel A SAILOR MADE MAN (1921) or the five-reel GRANDMA'S BOY (1922) should be counted as Harold Lloyd's first feature film, but in any event, Lloyd stepped into features before Chaplin or Keaton.  If the gaggy but uneven A SAILOR MADE MAN was his first feature, GRANDMA'S BOY was certainly his first artistic triumph in the feature-length format. It was built like most subsequent Lloyd films, with a solid story acting as the foundation for dozens upon dozens of gags and comic sequences. DOCTOR JACK (also 1922) finds Lloyd playing a country doctor who falls for a beautiful young patient (Mildred Davis, later to be Mrs. Harold Lloyd) .

     One of the most memorable images in Hollywood history come from the next Lloyd-Roach film, SAFETY LAST (1923), a comedy classic on every level.  The shot of Harold hanging from the hands of a clock, high above a city street, is evocative on so many levels that today its fame as a cultural icon has outlived Lloyd's own fame as a comedian. However, should one revisit the film the image comes from, they will find that SAFETY LAST is a hilarious romp from begining to end, filled with clever sight gags, breathtaking stunts and excellent camera work.  Lloyd's lampoons on the trials of working in a department store are sharp and fast-paced, and the interlude where he pretends to be the store's General Manager is another of the films highlights.  And then comes the films climax, in which Harold acts as a "human fly" (street stunt people who were in vogue in the 20s) and scales a 12-story building as a publicity gimmick.  Shot in a similar way as the sequences in High and Dizzy and Never Weaken, it was his most successful foray into "thrill comedy" yet, and one he would never top.

     Roach produced one more classic Lloyd film, WHY WORRY?, in 1923, in which Lloyd, playing a wealthy tourist on a tropical island in political turmoil, fights a revolution himself with the aid of a local giant.  After WHY WORRY?,  Lloyd and Roach parted ways amicably and Lloyd struck out on his own.  While Roach remained a highly successful comedy producer, it took him several years before he found a comedy star - rather, two stars - who could hold a candle to the success of Lloyd. Although Laurel and Hardy were nothing like Lloyd either physically or in comic style, Lloyd's lingering influence at the studio can be seen in the classic Laurel and Hardy short Liberty (1927), in which The Boys, like Harold Lloyd in Never Weaken, find themselves precariously perched on the girders of a building under construction.

     GIRL SHY (1924) was Lloyd's first independent film. The film ends with one of the most exciting chases in movie history, as Lloyd races to save the girl he loves from marrying a bigamist.  HOT WATER (also 1924) is an atypical Lloyd film, in which he mines the kind of extended-family comedy (mothers-in-law, lazy relatives, bratty kids) that would be the basis of some of W.C. Fields' best films.

     Aside from SAFETY LAST, Lloyd's most famous film is THE FRESHMAN (1925), a spoof of the the in-vogue "College" pictures.  The films' highlight is a classic slapstick football game that may have inspired a similar scene in The Marx Brothers' HORSE FEATHERS (1932).  FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE (1926) is a sweet comedy with a supporting cast of some of the toughest mugs in Hollywood, including Lloyd and Roach favorites Leo Willis and Noah Young.  The film features some elaborate gags (as Harold steps out of his auto to crank up the engine, a locomotive plows through it) and a funny and thrilling runaway doubledecker bus finale.

     In the opinion of many latter-day critics, Lloyd's greatest achievement was THE KID BROTHER (1927), a beautifully photographed silent classic. A warm story with outstanding gags, and a brilliant and funny finale featuring Lloyd and the story's villain chasing each other around an abandoned ship, THE KID BROTHER is a wonderfully charming film that is consistently funny and touching, and deserves to be as well known as Chaplin's THE GOLD RUSH or Keaton's THE NAVIGATOR. Then again, this could be said for almost any of Lloyd's silent features.

     A good portion of the wandering but enjoyable SPEEDY (1928) was filmed in New York City and features a cameo appearance by baseball hero Babe Ruth.  The last of his silent movies, it was another critical and box-office success for Lloyd.  His next film, WELCOME DANGER (1929), was just about finished when Lloyd, refusing to agonize over the coming of sound pictures, decided to reshoot the film as a talkie.  While a box office smash, WELCOME DANGER is mostly an overlong curiousity.

     Lloyd's voice, at least on film, was high-pitched, boyish and full of enthusiasm, much like Lloyd himself.  But Lloyd's best work would always be in silent films, and his sound features are rarely mentioned in the same breath as SAFETY LAST or THE FRESHMAN.  Nevertheless, films like FEET FIRST (1930) and MOVIE CRAZY (1932) hold up today as pure 30s razzle dazzle, full of wisecracks and sight gags.  FEET FIRST even offers a pleasant if not quite as exciting remake of his building-climbing scene from SAFETY LAST.  The distinctly atypical political satire THE CAT'S PAW (1934) should at least be seen as a valiant attempt at doing something new. And the minor classic THE MILKY WAY (1936) was good enough to be remade into an enjoyable Danny Kaye vehicle, THE KID FROM BROOKLYN (1946).

     But by PROFESSOR BEWARE (1938), Lloyd and his comedy had finally gone out of style.  The inevitable comeback film,  THE SIN OF HAROLD DIDDLEBOCK (1947), a sequel to THE FRESHMAN directed by the great Preston Sturges, is no classic but it is a great deal better than it has any right to be.  The film was later re-edited and released as MAD WEDNESDAY.

     While his movie career was winding down, Lloyd remained as active as ever, indulging in several hobbies including color theory, abstract painting and three-dimensional photography, once using the beautiful Marilyn Monroe for a series of stunning 3D portraits.  He also loved attending to his large and ornately furnished estate, and participating in masonic and local civic activities. In the 1940s, he produced several films at RKO and hosted the Old Gold Comedy Hour on the radio.  In the 1950s, he was featured on the popular television program This Is Your Life, in which Groucho Marx made an unexpected accidental cameo.

      Harold Lloyd, the man, died on March 8, 1971 (on the same day this author turned 8 years old), at age 77. Harold Lloyd, the filmmaker and comedy craftsman, lives on forever.

LLOYD'S LEGACY

     Lloyd films were filled to the brim with gags and set-pieces, and so they were always funny and always will be. However, if there was one underlying problem that kept Lloyd from achieving the same kind of latterday status as Keaton and Chaplin, it is that Lloyd's basic character was never quite as otherworldy or compelling as his talented contemporaries. There is no over-arching philosophy in a Lloyd film, beyond perhaps "Keep trying and you will eventually succeed."  - a fine message to be sure, but not what most college professors and film critics who fueled the re-interest in classic comedy wanted to hear. 

     Hal Roach may have been right when he said Lloyd was not a comedian. Chaplin, Keaton and Laurel wrote their own gags and stories, Fields wrote gags, treatments and screenplays, and Groucho Marx was known to tinker constantly with his dialogue onstage and while filming, always looking for the funniest way of saying something.  But Lloyd did not seem to possess the kind of constantly-active comic mind and distinctly personal point of view that is the basis for a mythic comic character.   Legend has it that Lloyd often prodded his writers with the plaintive plea "What do I do to be funny?".  Lloyd had the look and the talent in front of the camera, but it was his gagmen who did most of the work behind it.

     But while critics overlooked Lloyd because he lacked that certain something, they missed the fact that Harold Lloyd was one of the most talented filmmakers of the '20s.  If he was not a natural born comedian, he applied himself at comedy with the same determination that he applied himself at any other task that interested him, and he became the best he could be.  His films are better paced than Keaton's and  more cinematic than Chaplin's, and his films contain more gags per minute than Chaplin or Keaton ever attempted. The best of Lloyd's films are masterpieces of gagging, storytelling, pacing, editing and camera work.  When watching a Lloyd film, you simply forget you are seeing a silent movie from decades ago.  They remain fresh, vital and, above all, funny.  The best of Lloyd also represents some of the best of comedy itself.  Film fans may befuddle themselves silly trying to find the deepest of meanings in Chaplin and Keaton, but with a Lloyd film, you don't have to think - you just laugh.

     And there is nothing wrong with that.