"..I just took life and poked fun at it..."-Harold Lloyd

I love to laugh and I love watching comedies. I especially harbor a love of silent comedic films which are usually comedies of errors or rather unfortunate circumstances. Whether I am watching Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, or the subject of today's post, it always amazes me as I watch how they can truly portray comedy from tip to toes without speaking a single word. And while I love many of the comedians from the silent era, today I just wanted to share with you one of my personal favorites, who also happened to star in the first silent film that I ever watched...

Harold Lloyd

Born April 20, 1893

Died March 8, 1971

Named for his paternal grandfather who hailed from Wales, Harold Clayton Lloyd was born Burchard, Nebraska at the end of the 19th century. Given the bright spotlight that centered on Harold, many people do not know that he had an older brother named Gaylord who was also moderately successful in the film industry, having acted at the beginning of his career, but later settling for jobs behind the camera. It is perhaps because of his older brothers involvement in motion pictures that young Harold took an interest from an early age in theater. He took it upon himself to get involved in vaudeville and exercise/develop his talents even before his family moved to California when he was in high school. After he graduated from San Diego High School, he went on to study at the San Diego School of Dramatic Arts.

Lloyd quickly tapped into the industry after his move to California. He soon made an affiliation with Thomas Edison's film company and was creating one-reel comedic films. When the then not-so-famous Hal Roach formed his own company in 1913, he took on Lloyd and the two of them collaborated together on many projects. One of the first things that Lloyd undertook was hiring a co-star. He eventually chose Bebe Daniels. The two worked together on many projects for the next 6 years and were as much of a hit off screen as on, since it was common knowledge that the two were a couple. Audiences affectionately referred to them as "The Boy & The Girl." In 1919, Daniels felt like she was being confined to the studio and wanted to branch out on her own, so she left the company and Lloyd to build her own career.  Lloyd only suffered from the heartache for a short period of time until Mildred Davis was hired as his new co-star that same year. The two married in 1923.

During those beginning years, Lloyd formed a comedic persona all his own. His friends and co-workers frequently joked to him that he was far too handsome to star in screwball comedies, so he created his own look. Along with the customary heavy stage makeup, his character developed the trademarks of a straw boater hat and thick-framed round glasses. Lloyd also created a reputation during this time as a creative yet sometimes reckless stuntman. He was very athletic by nature, and whenever his character was caught in a sometimes physically trying predicament, Lloyd would insist on doing the work himself. He sustained many various smaller injuries over the course of his career, but seriously hurt himself in 1919. Ironically, Lloyd was merely posing for a promotional photograph when the accident occurred. He was holding a small bomb that was thought to just be a prop, yet it promptly went off in his hand causing him to lose two fingers. For the rest of his career he wore a prosthetic glove while acting in his films. Due to the pictures being in black and white, most people never knew the difference.

By 1921, Lloyd and Roach were still working together and decided to make a move into feature length films. They produced several successful films such as Grandma's Boy (1922), Why Worry? (1923), and one of his most memorable films, Safety Last! (1923). After the success of these films, Lloyd decided to expand and begin producing his own films beginning in 1924, so as to have more room for his creativity. It was once he branched out on his own that Lloyd then starred in his most accomplished films such as Girl Shy (1924), The Kid Brother (1927), Speedy (1928), and his highest-grossing film The Freshman (1925).

Speedy proved to be his final silent film. The film industry was taking a turn that promised growth and expansion with the development of sound equipment. Talkies were rolling into production. As with many silent film stars, there was some concern in the film industry as to whether or not Lloyd's career would transfer successfully when he could be heard. Lloyd did not ruffle his own feathers about it and just went on with business as usual. Since he was one of the highest paid stars during the silent film era, audiences everywhere were excited to see how Lloyd would do, and what he would sound like, in these new films. Welcome Danger (1929) was one of the last films released before the chaos of the Great Depression ensued. It was enormously successful. Once the stock market crash occurred and the Great Depression took hold of the nation, Lloyd's career slowed down a bit for the next 10 years, but he still continued to work. He trudged on through most of the 1940s, although he eventually sold the land of his production company to a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which remains there today. In 1944 Lloyd began to dabble in the realm of radio, hosting The Old Gold Comedy Theater for its duration. Once that program died out, Lloyd slowly began to sink into retirement, but he took it in stride, becoming very involved in many different charities. He was also a family man throughout his life. He and his wife, Mildred, were married until her death in the 1960s, and they were kept very busy with their 3 children.

Harold Lloyd was a revolutionary worker of creativity and comedic talent in the film industry. He starred in 188 comedic films in his early career, and 17 feature length films. He did much experimentation with color, technicolor, photography, and 3D, and he was also one of the founding members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His film Safety Last! remains the oldest film listed on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Most Thrilling Movies. He died in 1971 at the age of 77 due to cancer.

"The man who tries to be funny is lost. To lose one's naturalness is always to lose the sympathy of your audience."

-Harold Lloyd

"The more trouble you get a man into, the more comedy you get out of him."

-Harold Lloyd

"Comedy comes from inside. It comes from your face. It comes from your body."

-Harold Lloyd

"Write anything you want about me.Make something up.Hell,I don't care."

STAR OF THE MONTH

Spencer Tracy

Born April 5, 1900

Died June 10, 1967

At the beginning of the 20th century, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was born to Irish Catholic parents Caroline and John Tracy. He was the youngest of two children, having an older brother named Carroll. Tracy did not have a difficult upbringing, yet he was typically written off as a "problem child" throughout most of his youth. He was hyper, inattentive, disrespectful, and made poor grades in school. While he was still in elementary school, Tracy's parents made the decision to hand him over to church authorities, in the hopes that they could help modify his behavior. During this time he had some slight attitude changes, but did not really turn his life around until he was in high school. As a teenager, Tracy attended a Jesuit academy and he credits the school in helping him grow up and become more respectable.

It was also during high school that Tracy's passion for acting and theater was ignited. He was friends with fellow future actor Pat O'Brien, and the two of them would spend much of their time attending and analyzing plays and acting for friends. Yet, even after his attitude adjustments, Tracy was never one for academics, so he enlisted in the Navy as soon as he turned 18. He was discharged after a year, and did not know what to do with himself. His father, John Tracy, desperately wanted one of his sons to go to college, so after much pleading, Spencer went back to school to achieve his undergrad diploma. He then was accepted at Ripon College, where he majored in medicine.

Tracy fit in well at Ripon, and he soon made many friends. He quickly affiliated himself with the drama team and began acting, even forming an informal troupe with his friends, calling themselves "The Campus Players." In 1921, the college debate team went on tour, taking Tracy to New York. While there, he decided to take his chances and auditioned for a place at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. The school officials were impressed with Tracy and offered him a scholarship, which he accepted, and he began taking classes at AADA in the spring of 1922. As soon as he graduated from the Academy, Tracy took up work with a small acting company, but he was not satisfied with his small roles, so he soon left and joined with another. Tracy moved from company to company, and even took two gigs on Broadway for the next three years, but nothing was successful. It was a low period for young Tracy, who not only had to take care of himself but also felt a new obligation to take care of his new family, having been married in 1923. He later said, "There were times when my pants were so thin, I could sit on a dime and know if it was heads or tails." Finally, in 1926, Tracy took a part in the Broadway play Yellow. He decided that if he couldn't make a go of it and launch his career this time around, then he would quit acting for good and take a regular desk job. Yet it became clear on opening night that Yellow was a success, and that the young Tracy had extraordinary talent. The play's producer, George M. Cohan specifically wrote his next play with a part for Tracy, and then another after that. The next play, however, never made it to the stage, and Tracy once again considered quitting the business. Eventually, Tracy was approached and offered the part of a desperate madman being sent to death row in The Last Mile. He warily accepted, and on opening night in January of 1930, Tracy was called forward for 14 curtain calls for his outstanding performance.

With the invention of "talkies" in the 1930s, new actors and actresses that could handle speaking parts were in demand. Scouts for Hollywood studios were sent out to recruit and bring promising talents in for screen tests, and one of those scouts found Tracy. After being discovered, Tracy was offered a contract with Fox and made his film debut alongside Humphrey Bogart in Up the River (1930). Tracy stayed with Fox for the next 5 years, and then he moved to MGM. Some of Tracy's most well recognized work was produced with MGM over the next twenty years that he was with them. It was also while working at MGM in the 1940s that he met actress Katharine Hepburn. Tracy was still married to his wife at the time, but the two were amicably separated and had no intention of divorce because of their Catholic and Episcopalian backgrounds.He was also no longer living with his wife and two children, after he discovered that his son was deaf and he felt guilty and blamed his son's loss of hearing on his past deeds. So it was that, strange as the circumstances were, Hepburn and Tracy embarked on a partnership to go down in history. Their relationship was even used by the studio to produce box office hits, and the two are still today primarily known as much for their partnership on the screen as off. They starred in 9 films together. The two were completely devoted to each other and remained together for the remaining 26 years of Tracy's life.

Tracy was a true star and a great asset to Hollywood throughout his career. During the 45 years of Tracy's career, he starred in over 85 productions, and won two Academy Awards for his performances in Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938). Spencer Tracy died after collapsing due to a major heart attack in 1967. Hepburn was with him at the time, and she later recalled that afterwards, "He looked so happy to be done with living, which for all his accomplishments had been a frightful burden for him."

MOVIE OF THE MONTH

Father of the Bride

1950

Starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor

Stanley Banks (Tracy) is a completely ordinary man. He is a successful lawyer, he lives in a comfortable home, has a beautiful wife, Ellie (Bennett), and a lovely daughter, Kay (Taylor). The only problem with his comfortable, ordinary life is that it is about to turn upside down because his daughter (who, surely, is much too young) has decided that it is essential to her happiness to get married.

Not only is Stanley against the idea of his little girl getting married at all, but he begins to question the entire thing as he realizes that his once reassuring dreams of a quiet, cheap ceremony are out the window and gone forever. Problem after problem arises, and Stanley keeps his cold feet planted in his stubborn shoes until he realizes that by causing so much trouble, and by being so unwilling to contribute to his daughter's big day, he is jeopardizing her happiness. So, despite the fact that it hurts him and his wallet in ways he'd rather not think about, he decides to clean up his act and make Kay's wedding a day she will never forget. And even though it cost him a fortune, trashed his home, and he had to give away his little girl, he decides that it was worth it after all.

Father of the Bride was a huge comedic hit at the box office when it was released in 1950. Tracy was applauded for his portrayal of Stanley Banks, and audiences everywhere fell in love with Elizabeth Taylor all over again, as this was considered one of her first "adult" or mature roles. The film was so successful that the studio brought all the actors together for a sequel the next year, entitled Father's Little Dividend. The film was remade in 1991 starring Steve Martin as Banks, and many of the details were kept the same.

"This mug of mine is as plain as a barn door. Why should people pay thirty-five cents to look at it?"

"Come to work on time, know your lines, and don't bump into the furniture."

"I'm disappointed in acting as a craft. I want everything to go back to Orson Welles and fake noses and changing your voice. It becomes so much about personality."