Racing to The Finish

Speedy (1928)
Monday May 21, 7:00pm, The Paramount Theater

In his eleventh and final silent feature Speedy (1928), Harold Lloyd made the most of his often used multi-sketch format, producing a funny and energetic farewell to the silent era. Harold as "The Soda Jerk," is followed by "Harold Takes His Girl to Coney Island," followed by "Harold the Taxi Driver," and finally "Harold Saves the Family Business," or "The Last Horse Car in New York."

Speedy could probably hold down a job, but work interferes with his baseball obsession. His steady girl Jane (Ann Christy) dotes on her granddad, who owns the last horse driven streetcar New York, and worries about the shifty businessmen out to steal the old man’s business. "Speedy, I couldn’t think of getting married – till grand-daddy’s affairs are settled."
Speedy’s turn as a soda jerk, reminiscent Buster Keaton’s College (1927), concludes with the usual outcome. By days end he’s lost his job and shrugs it off. "Aw, Jane – why worry about losing a job on Saturday, when we can go to Coney island on Sunday?" Lloyd beautifully illustrates Nineteen-Twenties New York, the streets, landmarks, and the fragile, twinkling splendor of Luna Park and Coney Island in Speedy, rivaling similar scenes found in King Vidor’s The Crowd, also released in 1928.

After Coney Island, Harold tries driving a taxicab. Unable to attract and keep any customers he gets out of numerous jams, but loses his job when he’s caught sitting behind his boss at Yankee Stadium. "So this is the way you drive my cab!" Of course he’s just driven his idol Babe Ruth to the ballpark, nearly killing them both, and couldn’t turn down an invitation to stay for the game.
Speedy concludes with Harold’s desperate attempts to recover the stolen horse car and race it back to the neighborhood, with the help of his vigilante neighbors.
Lloyd went on to make several sound pictures, but never achieved the visual impact and timelessness found in this and his earlier silent films.

"The Fastest, Funniest Feller in the Films!"

Seattle’s Liberty Theater (re-named United Artists, "The House of Hits"), began flashy announcements for Harold Lloyd’s latest feature Speedy, a full week before the Thursday, April 5, 1928 opening, as the "First showing anywhere in the wide world!" This seems to indicate the film was previewed in Seattle, prior to its general release on Saturday, April 7. With one day to go, the Post Intelligencer’s half page ad lauded "The smile a minute kid!" "Let’s go! Mother, father, sister, brother – off for the big joy-ride with Harold Lloyd in ‘Speedy’. A year in the making, an hour and a half of laugh, laugh, laugh! Get your seats early and watch Harold break all records for fun in ‘Speedy’." Included on the bill, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in Hats Off (1927), with Jan Sofer and the United Artists Orchestra, overture "In the Song Shop".

Is this Ann Christy, or Christina Applegate's grandma?

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