Show q r Y ij i t j fi i f r t j i 1 f F t rE eing C y 1 j Ls Serious ous' ous V r k 1 to o 1 i 4 S 'S yF JI 1 Y S H HAROLD OLD L LI L Om i ra J IJ g r Laughs Dont on t Just Happen Screen Comedian j h f t J I IH H 1 Situations Says Says Situations Are re Carefully Studied and J f- f t t t I t. t R Rehearsed Rimmed Rehearsed e h e d Rimmed Horn R d S Spectacles pe t ac I es LYLar Marked 7 are k d l h t fl lt s t t lG A t Pr I Turning b Point in Actors Actor's s Career x JIt Ir 4 w 11 l p J y k W ro S jr n A t i 4 1 4 4 t a Y K 6 L y y f P I r i iE i y v r i E t. t v 4 y tf W A 2 3 a 4 t ls S w r ry d S 4 AY Y Z r i j S t r k 4 J b a 2 SR v Je 1 y L JuA f The famous fa m 0 U s h rimmed horn r P. P u t r. r Y spectacles are specially made 1 1 x t W r R con containing no glass lass and nd they ther r i ix I stop below the br brows ws Scene 1 J from The Freshman IS is' l 1 V i shown above at right f t. t A 3 i i iI iIi f t 7 r By ay Alice L. L Tildesley i es a Z Ji SING funny is s a a serious serious' serio business a comedian could Time was When a put on a false falsen mustache n mustache a childs child's ids id's hat c or s some me outsize trousers fall down chased and in hithe inthe in- in throw a be a pie r gather the laughs But not now Audiences s are are getti getting g wiser wiser- and wiser day by day observed the slim young man who sat beside me on the doorstep The doo doorstep was very real but but the thedoor thedoor thedoor door behind us masked a canvas wall the young young man was an unassuming quiet-mannered quiet youth whose face fac and name are known t to the ends of the earth Keeping one jump ahead of the youngsters who see my pictures pictures' is a sized man-sized job job went on Harold Lloyd Since th the child attendance at theatres is constantly increasing we have to take children into consideration Nobody needs to protect adults the adults the wor worst t or the best has already happened to them But we must protect boys boys' and girls who get geta a fair share of their education consciously consciously consciously con con- or unconsciously from the ther r screen Children are minded eye-minded today in instead instead in- in stead dead of ear minded They learn through pictures They are tremendously quick to catch your idea and their minds run ahead and figure out what you have in ins s store If you dan can n fool the chiI children ren you youcan youcan youcan can fool anybody so we the try to play to tor r them and in that way usually manage to amuse the older folks r HIS IS gray eyes held a twinkle nice twinkle twinkle- nice ice gray eyes unfamiliar because they they- r lacked their customary barricade barricade of horn rimmed horn ed glasses Its possible to use an old gag only if you have a new twist he explained In The Kid Brother for instance we used an old gag a gag is the funny business of a comedy in this way A Arake Arake Arake rake with a straw hat on it leans against the house pause the kid playing Sheriff pretends pretends pretends pre pre- tends the rake is a bandit and threatens it with his fath fathers father's e eis rs r's revolver When he heis heis is startled by the villain he steps on the tines of the rake which comes over and hits him the gun goes off and frightens the villain who thinks the boy oy is shoots shooting shooting shoot shoot- s ing at t him Comedians have stepped on r rakes before but this time tim the action led to something definite in the tory story T The Tye e surprise gag is a great favorite This gag may outwit the audience or it may may let the audience in on the joke and In The Freshman outwit a character you r remember member where the boy after the fo football rush looks down and sees his leg apparently bent out the wrong way It turns out to be the leg of the dummy but for the m moment ment this gag outwits both character and audience there ther good examples examples' examples examples ex ex- In Kid Brother are amples amples' of both the mentioned surprise surprise sur sur- p prise rise gags In one scene the kid is is knocked down the deck of the boat and hits the villain seizes a belaying pin him over the head hea The kid winces and p presently the belaying pin is bent You think Mack Sennett early days days' stuff until the kid dodges out and you see his head was protected by a projection on r 9 fi A t. t f 1 11 J the boat Surprise to the audience you you see In the same picture the two two brothers have been led to believe that believe that the girl is sleeping behind a curtain The kid is is' actually there and each one brings the supposed maiden her breakfast handing it around the curtain The kid has put on a couple of portiere rings as bracelets bracelets bracelets bracelets' brace brace- lets lets' and tries to make his fingers look graceful as he receives s. s their offerings Here the audience knows what what its it's all abo about t but they laugh because the broth broth- brothers brothers ers are being fooled Audiences enjoy being superior to the character I think THERE THERE are no sure-fire sure gags The best are spontaneous fun for good comedy cant can't be forced Yet we have found it necessary to eliminate the things we thought funniest funnie t and to elaborate elaborate orate gags that seemed only slightly amusing in the making We try tryout out the pictures in preview before they are released released re- re leased Then we can cut or add as seems necessary My last picture was previewed previewed previewed pre pre- viewed in eleven cleven reels and released in eight so yo you you can see how impossible it itis itis itis is to judge about gags in the making The young man on the doorstep says we but the men on the lot say Harold Lloyd There is no doubt in the minds of his workers co-workers as to the individual re responsible responsible responsible re- re for or his tremendous success He deserves the credit for story direction direction direction tion gags acting and characterization according to the loyal band who call themselves Harolds Gang Sincerity is absolutely necessary I will not do anything simply because it will bring a laugh unless I feel that it itis itis itis is properly motivated and belongs in the story In the o old d days people thought it entertaining if a man sat down on a ahot a ahot ahot hot stove whet whether er or not there was any reason for his doing so sop Those days are gone by In spite of all we know about audience audience audience audi audi- ence ence psychology however we find some gags that dont don't go over In my last picture picture pic pic- ture we had in the original form ne nearly two more reels 0 of the medicine sh show w. w During this sequence nce the kid got into a great deal of trouble most ost of f which seemed side side But in preview the audience instead ad of la laughing g ing was indig indig- nant They had worked up so much sympathy sympathy- for the kid during the first part of the picture that they had cometo come cometo come to think t ink that th t anything he did to the theother th theother other fellow was was funny but anything ipg done to the kid was an outrage We had to cut the scenes scenes' out cc THERE THERE is always so something ething ne new t. t to learn about comedy Sometimes you carry a gag up to a certain point and drop it and s suddenly the picture goes flat fiat This happened to us in the he first showing of The Freshman The tailor has sewed the college boy into h his s suit during the dance pieces of the sleeve the back of the coat the collar etc keep coming off When we first first made the sequence I I wanted to leave it at that and not go on with the trousers But in preview we found that the audience audience audi audio ence wasn't willing to let the gag g go gow go- go J JS w S' S rr rJ 1 J J. J 1 11 F they t ey defrauded u d s 1 soave so we yve went back back- vr m made a a additional a scenes s showing the destruction of t-h t the lower loYer half of the y suit and the biggest L Gra Grandmas dma's r i house laugh in the picture the y t B Boy y was a t t. was re re- y s Stilt sult lt s y combination tion W J t y The m man mn L 5 of the r 4 young yung manon n story i j. j l on the doorstep was x r y y t Lf y 0 of f a b boy oy besieged by four four of s' s P P ae knew y Harold arold his studio henchmen 9 4 std L Land and became for in Nebraska the ff 11 Ji moment an Inte intent P t L and t some young oun g business bus 1 n e s s s I of the things 5 i chief He stepped y J I il j m into t 0 the character that t 1 J ito i naturally y f for or h he e is isto IS s 1 4 x h happened d t to 0 s b r I t j to to look at just at-just just justan s L r 7 the master i 2 v an average American Amer Amer- I ican icon Which makes make laugh laugh getter getter 1 f his phenomenal himself when T suc sue success success' P cess cess' a all the more r r very young r- r i i i oj amazing 9 x i Harold Lloyd had 1 j no ready-made ready appeal ap ap- r. r y d uy x I peal to lovers of J l c comedy om e d y unlike y W. W Charles Chaplin C aplin and r r iN Har Harry y Langdon who vho e r Y s 1 yr jf rl t t are pathetic ch characters charac charac- to begin with r c- c The lh effective use of the surprise gag is iss de demonstrated dem dem- s 11 He e is merely a ab hn boy hov boy on i il h in n i 1 this s scene ene from Why Worry t fJ He e is merely a ab hn boy hov boy on i il h in n ilin hIn in In rimmed horn no r i m m ed edI I glasses who relies upon a a good good story and characterization characterization to o see s see e n Some years ago he broke into comedy comedy- lo lot fame with his his' creation of I Lonesome Luke a tramp in a tight suit a as a small nall hat and nd mere dots of f moustache he He was wasa was wasa a su success cess but his his' ambition on was was not not satisfied Im m only a varia variation on of other othe mens men's hits he used sed to say One night he y went nt down doWIl t to s see e a l local local- cal stock company in a new neo play glay A character character character char- char acter in the dr drama ma wore wore VOre rimmed horn-rimmed spectacles While Har Harold ld v watched something sang within him I Z have it he t told ld himself Hee is is a character who could be ren remembered emb r d and nd yet who need not not always alway be the same He cou could d be be-a be a band bandit bandit or i or a bootblack bootblack bootblack boot boot- boot boot- black a minister or or ora a. a a l rich farmhand nd ri rich richman h han man an poor oo m man n Jh the Harold l could hardly wait wait- waitto to get b back ck to the s studio to br break ak the toe good news evs Nothing N cried d' d the members of the Pathe Exchange through which he lelea released ed and Hal gal Ro Roach ch on m whose lot Lonesome Luke had been working echoed the the words Here Her you you are making mak mak- m making king k- k ing good money money got got a name name getting gett getting ng up to the top of the thet ladder Why should you start over over aga again n at th the Io foot t BUT DUT UT the dream dream 1 would not die die At who wanted length the youth who to wear h rimmed horn glasses decreed that he would either wear wear them or r leave the screen H He wore wore them They are ar not the sort sort of horn r rimmed horn rimmed glasses you or I m might gM wear w ar If the comedian wore the regulation on style and size lens fitted by the optician to the e eyes es of the average ave man nia his i e eyebrows vs I i 1 this s scene ene from Why Worry would be concealed and he would w would uld have to mug to o get his his' expression expressio i over over tot to t the the audience e audience T The e rims are therefore specially made and stop below the brows Only once once since he he d donned nned the identifying fyi g rims f for r they co contain no glass has has' the shape varied That was was in Harold roid Grandmas Boy when H played the part art or of of his his' own grandfather in the Civil l. l War episode an and th then n the rims were square square qu re as as rims were in those days It takes seven months to make la a Lloyd picture re but the idea is of slower growth As a rule the comedian an carries the germ of the tile story about for years adding to it here and there as as the months pass The Kid Brother was in his mind for four years year before the c cameras began to grind About six years years years' ago on one of Harolds Harold's t transcontinental ent i trips a num- num ber er of of students came down to meet the train at Albuquerque He watched them jazzing around the station kidding g e each ch other the porters and the public p One of the these e days daY Ill I'll do do doa a college story he told his companion and then and there The Freshman was Born combination Grandmas Boy was a of f the story of a boy Harold knew in Nebraska and some of the things things' that happened to the he master laugh getter himself when he was very young young all all modified of course coure Doctor Jack grew out of th the character character character char char- acter of a real physician known as Doctor Sunshine who used t to cure children with candy and kindness A A character should be sympathetic decreed the young man who had haa resumed resumed re re- the doorstep If you like a fellow fellow fel fel- low you care what happens to him and that's the secret secret secret-or or one ohe one of them them them-of of f W L i i y y t ei I i. i j f rI Hc tr r B ir r success I I do dont don't t believe people care about a a ama aman ma man who has too much money I dont don't think Ui they y are interested h in irk one one who is selfish I know Im I'm not But a sympathetic character just dut naturally at rally lends himself to gags Grandmas Grandma's Boy was was that that sort In that picture we had what I consider r. r one of the funniest fade outs fade outs ever made A out fade-out is the last scene in a picture picture pic pic- ture The rhe boy carried the girl across the stones stepping of the b brook ook He stepped on the last fast stone and it slipped from under him so that boy and nd girl fell ell into nto the water That was wag a laugh But then you saw that what he had taken for fox a stone was a sleeping pig which now rose and waddled out put to safety George Cohan's motto Leave em em with a laugh is a good one Laughter is is' associated with good health Its It's a relief from strain and tension and it does people worlds of good There are what we call thrill laughs which are hysterical half-hysterical bursts of merriment mer mer- dment because the character is in indan danger danger dan dan- ger er or has barely escaped J TN IN SAFETY TN SAFETY LAST this type of laughter laughter predominated Here Her we we had a story of a a boy who must make money and who has backed a human fly to climb a building in order to get g t the amount necessary The human fly fails to appear and th the hero must make the climb himself The audience knows he he- doesn't know how and they are on tenterhooks tenterhooks tenterhooks ten ten- all the time for fear h he will fall Something happens happens' at each floor As an instance once the face of the clock to which the boy is clinging falls forward and he dangles from the hands Patience is one one of the comedians comedian's I. I i f t i i p t t fi U J fJ 8 l t l 1 F t fJ 3 cardinal virtues It is this his quality t that at r f enables him to work with with the ammal am- am animal ani- ani t mal actors actors' that figure so often in his pictures For weeks during the he making li i I of Doctor Jack action was held up 1 d dwhite while white a small monkey was taught to sharpen a pencil Again and and again again a tt l pencil and nd a knife were put into the t creatures creature's paws and nd the required require motions mo mo- If r were made for him and again agam and f v again the monkey threw the I stuck it in his mouth or did something else foreign to to th the good of the picture J but at t le length he mastered ast rc th the connection connection tion |