Harold Lloyd

by Katrina Bertz

          Harold Lloyd was a film comedian of the silent era. Known as the "third genius," he is remembered as one of the three great comedians of the early 20th century, Buster Keaton and Charles Chaplin being considered the second and first, respectively. Largely overlooked for decades, it was around the resurgence of appreciation for silent film by the young filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s that his career began to be respected. His work, like Keaton and Chaplin, serves as an example of how and why film is created and produced to this day.

          Born in Burchard, Nebraska in 1893, Lloyd was raised in a poor environment. His father struggled for most of Lloyd's childhood in terms of finding employment. In 1910, Lloyd's father and mother separated and Lloyd, along with his older brother, moved with their father to San Diego. It was there that Lloyd became interested in theatre, enrolling in a drama school. Film, however would eventually take the place of theatre, as it was easy to make money as an extra, which was what Lloyd did at the Edison company, Universal and Keystone. It was during this time (around 1912, at Universal) that he met, and would eventually work with, fellow extra and aspiring filmmaker Hal Roach. The two would go onto to produce their own films around 1916-17, (Lloyd, p.13). According to Simon Louvish, Lloyd "spent no more than a few weeks playing an extra at Keystone before finding a niche with producer Hal Roach," (Louvish, p.166).

          There are three, distinct characters or personas Lloyd would create onscreen. The first, named Willie Work, was a direct rip-off of Chaplin's Tramp character, whose image was widely copied by many comedians at the time, (Lloyd, p.13). He created this character simply as a way of getting more screen time while working for Universal. His next character, named Lonesome Luke (created around 1915), was somewhat different than Chaplin's Tramp, as he began to wear tighter clothes and bowties, (Lloyd, p.14).

          It was around the year 1917 that Harold Lloyd donned a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and he became known as "The Glass Character," this would be his onscreen persona for the rest of his career, (Lloyd, p.14). This was a character comepletly different from the Great Stone Face of Keaton or the Tramp of Chaplin. This character was an everyman, an average do-gooder who always manages to get himself in and out of sticky situations while hilairty ensues. As Geoff King states, "the Lloyd persona has been established on the basis of his ability always to come out on top," (King, p.39).

          Also around this time, Lloyd and his producer beagn looking for a leading lady to star as his love interest in his future films. Although he originally hired and worked with actress Bebe Daniels (who was also a personal love interest of Lloyd at the time), it was Mildred Davis who would become his first, permanent star in 1919. The two hit it off imediately and began a long courtship which eventually turned into a marriage in 1923, (Lloyd, p.18). The two would go on to have three children: Gloria, Peggy and Harold Jr. While Davis would be his leading lady in the beginning, it would be Jobyna Ralston who would become his final star in the majority of his work in the mid-to-late 1920s.

          On August 24th, 1919, Lloyd's personal and professional life would change drastically in the form of a freak acciddent. On this day, Harold Lloyd was posing for publicity stills for one of his upcoming films. In one of the stills, the photographer asked Lloyd to light a cigarette from the wick of a prop bomb. Unfortunately, a real bomb was mistaken for a prop bomb and given to Lloyd. As he lit the wick, it began to make large puffs of smoke, which obscured the view of the camera. As Lloyd began asking for a new wick, the bomb exploded, (Lloyd p.15). This explosion caused Lloyd to suffer temporary blindness, as well as his right thumb and forefinger being severed from his hand. After recovering from his injuries he went back to work, wearing a prosthetic hand which covered his missing digits for the rest of his career. "At no time did Lloyd ever publicly discuss the loss of the fingers," (Lloyd, p.15).

          While he had been making films for years before, it wasn't until the 1920s that his star began to really shine. "The mid-1920s were the aknowledged heyday of silent comedy's major masterpieces," (Louvish, p.227). This is when Lloyd, as well as the other famous comedians of the age, began making feature-length films. By making the films longer it allowed for the comedian's personas to become much more fleshed-out characters. Feature-length comedies helped establish Lloyd's character through a blend of comedy and pathos.

          It is during this time that the Glass Character can be viewed through a critical lens. In A Short History of Film, the authors describe him as "a mild-mannered, bespectacled man, unwittingly caught in situations of dire peril," (Dixon, p.37). This is what distinguishes him from Keaton and Chaplin; he is a boy-next-door who tries his best while also mastering elaborate stunt work, which is something audiences identified with and were thrilled by. "His fresh-faced persona seemed at odds with the danger his character incessantly courted on the screen," (Dixon, p.37).

          His dangerous stunts became the very thing that made him so famous, specifically in Safety Last! (1923). This would be his most popular and remembered film, as it features Lloyd climbing and hanging from a clock atop a high building. While many are under the impression that he really was in danger of falling, the shot "was performed only a short distance above the security of a protective ledge," (King, p.47).

          While the film maybe his most famous, it does not necessarlily portray the range of depth Harold Lloyd was capable of, as is evidenced by his feature-length films. This might, however be the very reason it is so popular, as it shows a likeable, yet one-dimensional persona. Geoff King believes this is the very essence of why slapstick comedy has such a broad appeal. "The enjoyment of knockabout farce or slapstick often depends on the establishment of distance from comic figures who are not represented as 'rounded' characters," (King, p.9).

          In 1924, Harold Lloyd decided to part with Hal Roach and started the Harold Lloyd Film Corporation, a production company established so Lloyd would have complete creative control over his films. The next four films he personally produced would become his most famous feature-lengths, as well as his most profitable: Girl Shy (1924), The Freshman (1925), The Kid Brother (1927) and Speedy (1928). Each of these films are a great example of the comedic timing and sensitivity Harold Lloyd was known for.

          In Girl Shy, Harold plays an excrutiatingly shy tailor who secretly writes a book describing the art of sleeping with women, something his character knows nothing about. The joke is on him, however when he anonymously gives it to a local publisher. The man begins to laugh when reading it and invites all the female typists in the office to laugh along with him. One of the women even asks if the unknown author has ever even talked to a woman. What makes this scene so different is how the idea of a book written by a self-proclaimed Cassanova should be viewed as ridiculous and offensive.

          The same could be said for one of Harold Lloyd's talkies, The Milky Way (1936). This was Lloyd's attempt to make a screwball comedy, a genre that was very popular at that time. While the film never really recieved any critical aknowledgement, nor did it do well at the box office, it is another example of Lloyd's use of women as the comedian and not the butt of the joke. The character of Ann Westley is a tough-as-nails boxer's gal, who slings bitting one-liners throughout the whole movie. She is the real funnyman in the film, yet is never overshadowed or put in her place.

          These scenarios and characters are important because this was an era of Hollywood where women tended to be just a pretty face for the camera. King describes actresses of that time as "little more than as a rather abstract and often idealised figure, strictly secondary to the performance of the male comic star," (King, p.50). While his work may not be the feminist standard, it is important to note that the majority of Lloyd's films were always respectful to his female leads and never offensive or condescending; which is just another aspect of his career that makes him different. 

          Unfortunately, Lloyd's comedy was not well-recieved during the transition to sound. Much of this had to do with the political and economical climate of the 1930s. "Depression-era audiences lost their association with the optimism of his character," (Lloyd, p.15). Not many wanted to see an ever-cheerful persona such as Lloyd's Glass Character. Nevertheless, he continued to produce and make films until he retired in 1947.

          Interestingly enough, it was his post-film career in photography that seemed to be a real passion for Lloyd. While he took pictures of many different actors and other Hollywood elite, he is best known for his pictures of Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s, specifically her nude pictures. Lloyd was a believer in the beauty of the female form and his photos of her and other nude women are tastefully and beautifully done. Many of them were made into a coffee table book, while others are on display in Californian photo galleries to this day.

          On March 8th, 1971, at the age of 77, Harold Lloyd died of complications due to prostate cancer. His entire filmography was willed to his daughter, Gloria who took care of it and made sure that none of his work would be subjected to copyright infringement. This is why it is still somewhat difficult to find all of Lloyd's work online. It incidentally adds to his legacy of unattainable comedy.

          Harold Lloyd was an actor and comedian who deserves to be remembered just as fondly as Keaton or Chaplin simply because of his contribution to film comedy, if not film itself. His movies have a disticnt, stunt-filled, emotion-driven premise which sets him apart from others of his day. If film students should learn anything from analyzing his work, it is that Lloyd was a pioneer of American cinema and contributed to the powerhouse it is today.

                                                                                             Works Cited:

Dixon, Wheeler Winston and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. A Short History of Film. Rutgers University Press. New Brunswick, New Jersey. 2013. Print.
King, Geoff. Film Comedy. Wallflower Press. London and New York. 2002. Print.
LLoyd, Annette D.Agostino. Harold Lloyd: Magic in a Pair of Horn-Rimmed Glasses and Other Turning Points in the Life and Career of a Comedy Legend. Bear Manor Media. Albany, GA. 2009. Print.
Louvish, Simon. Keystone: The Life and Clowns of Mack Sennett. Faber and Faber, Inc. New York. 2003. Print.