Grandma's Boy & Dr. Jack

Monday April 30, 7:00pm, The Paramount Theater
Grandma's Boy (1922)

Of all his films, Harold Lloyd considered Grandma’s Boy (1922) his personal favorite. The second of eleven silent features starring Lloyd, it was the story of a kind-hearted boy, convinced of his own cowardice, but driven by his determination to marry the girl he loves. He suffers humiliation at the hands of his rival, played by long-time Lloyd and Roach regular Charles Stevenson, and a brutish hobo who terrorizes the town. Harold lives with his adorable old Grandma (Anna Townsend), who dotes on the boy and laments his failures, "Poor Sonny – There ought to be some way to help him." In the end, she does find a way, giving Harold the confidence to battle his demons with hilarious and spectacular results.
Never reluctant to be upstaged for the sake of a good picture, even by babies or animals, Harold shares the screen with a colorful cast of local townsfolk, and a generous compliment of cows, chickens, horses, pigs, puppies and kittens, all put to good use in a well developed sequence of sentimental and humorous scenes.

Mildred Davis, in her thirteenth of fifteen films with Lloyd, plays the girl, a bundle of blond curls and lace, sweet on the boy and not afraid to show it. When Harold comes calling she plays the family organ, but its merely an excuse to sing, "I love you – I love you – I love you." This film may best exploit the "candy box prettiness" biographer Tom Dardis described in the future Mrs. Lloyd.

Grandma’s Boy includes the standard Lloyd fare: break-neck chases (by any means), a colossal fight, and wonderfully entertaining intertiles from the always-undervalued H. M. "Beany" Walker. Careful notice of The Rolling Stone character, a malevolent hobo played by Dick Sutherland, reveal the obvious influence on a popular green troll seen in current animated features. Other beautifully added touches to the film include, a kicking mule in a punchbowl, a frightened goose peeking around a corner, mothballs inadvertently placed in a box of candy, a litter of kittens menaced by a china dog, and Grandma’s brief but priceless celebration jig.

Grandma’s Boy began its initial two-week run in Seattle at Jensen and von Herberg’s Liberty Theater on Saturday, September 9, 1922 ("Always the Best for the Liberty Guest"). Advertised as "his first five-act comedy," shows started "…at 11 o’Clock Sharp This Morning," with "Doors Open at 10:30 to Accommodate the Crowds." Admission was a whopping twenty-five cents before six-thirty, and thirty-five cents after. The added attraction was Irving Cummings "in a hair-raising two-act drama of the Northwest," The Valley of The Missing (1922), with Malotte on the Wurlitzer.

Dr. Jack (1922)
A common-sense country doctor exposes a pompous, freeloading quack that is treating the daughter of a wealthy man, by proving the girl is perfectly healthy.
Dr. Jack (1922) (Harold Lloyd) is introduced as he makes his rounds: Reviving a rag-doll that has fallen down a well, reuniting a lonely old woman with her workaholic son, and rescuing a boy from his angry mother when he’s caught playing hooky.
At the home of the Sick-Little-Well-Girl (Mildred Davis) the good doctor observes his unhappy new patient, the drugs, isolation, repressed activity, and treats her with sunlight, fresh air and peppermint sticks. When he sees she is only starved for excitement he disguises himself as an escaped lunatic and goes on a wild nighttime rampage through the house to prove his diagnosis.

Our Gang kids Mickey Daniels and Jackie Condon make a brief, but mischievous appearance (a favor returned when Lloyd appeared in Dogs of War ). Dr. Jack is chased through the house by a dog he chloroforms, who then falls asleep upside-down in a corner (its absolutely hysterical), and replaces himself with a pencil sharpening monkey while the quack’s back is turned. A frantic chase (what did you expect) is included, and the opening titles cleverly appear on the pages of a doctors prescription pad.

Dr. Jack opened in Seattle on Saturday, January 13, 1923 at Jensen and von Herberg’s Liberty Theater, "Starting at 11 Sharp," with "Russell on the Wurlitzer." No bargain matinee for this picture, "Special prices during the run of ‘Dr. Jack,’ enforced by our contract, will be 50 cents in the evenings and 35 cents in the afternoons."
"If you are crying for a laugh, visit Dr. Jack
If you need a new joy thrill, consult Dr. Jack.
If you want to laugh until you’re weak, SEE DR. JACK!"

Seattle Theater Group, The Paramount Theater and Trader Joe’s present,
The Harold Lloyd Retrospective: five nights and nine films from the legend of Silent Era comedy. Featuring live accompaniment performed by Dennis James, on the Paramount’s original 4/20 Publix 1 Wurlitzer. April 30th – May 25th

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