Harold Lloyd, silent film superstar, gets Redford Theatre tribute

To the world he was Harold Lloyd, prolific silent film star and Hollywood legend. To Suzanne Lloyd, he was her world.

In many ways, he still is. As part of a celebration of her grandfather's legacy, Suzanne Lloyd will appear at the Redford Theatre this weekend as part of a two-day tribute to Harold Lloyd, which will include showings of his 1925 comedy "The Freshman" (Friday night and a Saturday matinee), his 1928 film "Speedy" (Saturday evening) and a handful of his short films: "Get Out and Get Under," "Never Weaken" and "An Eastern Westerner."

Suzanne, who was raised by her grandfather, says Harold's legacy is still being shaped and coming into its own.

"Because I think the market has been saturated a bit with (Charlie) Chaplin and (Buster) Keaton, Harold is kind of like a new discovery to younger people," says Suzanne, who has taken on the task of preserving her grandfather's legacy since his death in 1971 at age 77. "When I show his films to kids in film classes or art classes I teach in LA, I set them up and say, 'hey, you've all seen Harry Potter. Well, Harold's kind of like Harry Potter, and he wears glasses like him, but he's kind of like his older brother.' And they really take to that."

The Nebraska-born star, famous for his bespectacled "glasses character," made nearly 200 films in his lifetime and was one of his era's most popular stars, known for his comic chops and his daredevil approach to his job. In his films, Harold would always get the girl, which Suzanne says makes him something of the father — or perhaps the grandfather — of the romantic comedy.

His most enduring work is likely "Safety Last," which this year celebrates its 100th anniversary, and which memorably features Lloyd dangling from the arms of an outdoor clock above a busy city street. To this day it's one of the most lasting images in movie history and a part of many a historic Hollywood clips reel.

One of the reasons Lloyd's work isn't as well known as some of the other stars of his era is because Lloyd didn't want his films shown on television, where advertisers could stick commercials wherever they wanted with no respect toward the comedic timing or pacing of a scene, or the meticulous set-ups he worked so hard to craft. Suzanne has worked to get his films out there in front of more people, and has struck deals with Turner Classic Movies, the Criterion Collection and more. More than a dozen of his films are currently streaming on HBO Max.

Before professionally taking on her grandfather's work, Suzanne simply knew him as "Dad," and when he wasn't taking her to Beatles and Rolling Stones concerts he taught her about film at an early age. She would handle his nitrate film negatives as he went about restoring his films in the 1960s, his way of teaching her about the movie industry from the inside out.

"I got to rewrap the film and air it out and clean all the goo off," she says. "I was not so impressed with that, but as Dad said, 'if you do that, you learn what all the elements of the business really are. It's all not parties and premieres, it's hard work, and you've gotta know what you're doing and how things are made.'"

Those are lessons she took to heart and which have served her well. She's now in the process of putting together a project about Harold's life that would explore his career, his family life and his legacy.

She knows one of the keys to that legacy is a connection with the future, and she says she hopes there are some young people in the audience this weekend at the Redford. Young audiences get a kick out of his work, she says, and they treat the title cards in the films as text messages, sent by Harold to explain the action on screen.

"I love hearing these kids laugh at him and thinking they've discovered a new friend," Suzanne says. "It's really cute the affect he has on people, whether they're really young or throughout all ages. There's some type of physical warmth to his character that people engage with. It's absolutely amazing, and it just thrills me to death."

agraham@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @grahamorama

'The Freshman' (with live organ music and Harold Lloyd's granddaughter)

8 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday

Tickets $15

'Speedy' (with live organ music and Harold Lloyd's granddaughter)

8 p.m. Saturday

Tickets $15

VIP event with Suzanne Lloyd

5:30 p.m. Saturday

Tickets $40

Redford Theatre, 17360 Lahser Rd., Detroit

(313) 537-2560

Information: redfordtheatre.com