Harold Shines

The nonsense of hierarchy …
The contemporary label defining Harold Lloyd as "The Third Genius" is both demeaning and incorrect. He was certainly a tremendous talent and popular film star throughout the silent era. If ticket sales are used as the determining factor, he was a greater draw than Buster Keaton. If categorizing the prominent contributors of the era is essential; a far better approach would be simply offering two groups, Charles Chaplin, and everyone else. Lloyd’s rediscovery by a modern audience was preceded by Chaplin (who never entirely left the cultural consciousness) and Keaton. This inappropriate label was an unfortunate result. Most deserving of consideration after Chaplin, the brilliant Roscoe "Fatty " Arbuckle is still not fully recognized or appreciated by a modern audience.

The Keystone Kops with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (far right)

Harold Lloyd made a choice, in much the same way as Mary Pickford, to withhold presentation of his films for many years. With the advent of synchronized sound, the motion picture industry convinced moviegoers that silent film was hokey and old-fashioned, when in fact they had obliterated the most exquisite form of visual expression ever created for public consumption, in the name of progress. Much of Lloyd’s work, unseen for years, was eventually meted out at his discretion, truncated in anthologies. Due to the efforts of The Harold Lloyd Trust, and the Lloyd family, his long unseen films, including Lloyd’s finest work from the twilight of the silent era have finally emerged from obscurity.

The Kid Brother (1927)
Monday May 21, 7:00pm, The Paramount Theater

Produced in what collectively became the greatest year of the silent era, Harold Lloyd considered The Kid Brother (1927) to be lacking sufficient action and humor. In reality, his tenth of eleven silent features was the synthesis of all his acquired talents. It was Lloyd’s greatest success in blending his trademark gags with well-developed characters, and a thoughtful, engaging story.
The story of an introspective and bullied younger son who surprises everyone with his true strength, suggests numerous popular sources, including, Hal Roach produced The White Sheep (1924), Henry King’s Tol’able David (1921), and to some degree even Cinderella.
Young Harold Hickory lives in a motherless home with his father, the town sheriff, and two terrorizing older brothers. The bucolic country setting recalls Grandma’s Boy (1922), but is far more beautifully realized. To survive the dominance of his larger and stronger brothers, a multitude of gags cleverly demonstrate Harold’s mental superiority over them as the films greatest source of humor. When a travelling medicine show rolls into town, Harold and Mary (Jobyna Ralston in her final appearance with Lloyd), the pretty daughter of the deceased owner, share an instant attraction, and a fear of the two thugs who have taken over the show. Constantine Romanoff as the murderous strong man is nearly as frightening in this comedy as the villain of Tolerable David, Ernest Torrance. Harold’s hometown rival Hank Hooper (Ralph Yearsley, who also starred in Tol’able David) is larger, stronger, appropriately oafish, and the perfect foil for several amusing confrontations. Hiding aboard an abandoned ship in the final reel, Harold puts a pair of shoes on the medicine show monkey to draw the strong man away. The monkey waddles up the stairs and on deck, with the strong man in pursuit.

The Kid Brother is a seamless, well-balanced combination of humor, romance and peril. It is atypically coordinated Lloyd. The pleasantly sentimental story is complimented by excellent casting and production design. What Lloyd saw as insufficient humor was actually a lighter treatment, increasingly reliant and more fully demonstrating his acting abilities (something many comics lacked) in what is without question his best work.

"By all means – TAKE THE KID BROTHER"

The Kid Brother opened at Seattle’s Liberty Theater (re-named United Artists), Friday, February 11, 1927. Elaborate newspaper advertisements proclaimed "It’s funnier than the street car situation," a reference to Lloyd’s previous film For Heaven’s Sake (1926).
"You’ll laugh long and Lloydly.
All the breathless thrills of ‘Safety Last’
All the heart appeal of ‘Grandma’s Boy’
All the glorious fun of ‘The Freshman’
Bye, Bye gloombird!"
Also billed, "On the stage, ‘Red’ Corcoran, ‘The Blues Wrecker’" with an Our Gang comedy Telling Whoppers (1926), Pathe International News, featuring "Ernst Gill and his Orchestra," featuring Ernest Russell at the organ.
Ticket prices were 25¢ for bargain matinees (before one-thirty), 35¢ for regular matinees, 50¢ for evenings and children always 10¢.
A "Kiddies matinee Saturday" at 10:00AM offered "1,000 Lloyd false faces given away FREE." The ad also included a "Lloyd Laughometer," showing a thermometer with eighteen levels, from "four smiles" and "one titter" to "two hysterics" and "knock ‘em dead."

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