A comedy great climbs back on top

HAROLD LLOYD, who is considered with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton a genius and titan of celluloid comedy, died in 1971. But his movie career is hotter than ever.

Sony Repertory has been touring the country with several of his classic silent feature films and shorts. Last fall, New Line Home Video released a well-received DVD set of his work. And his granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd and producer Mark Gordon are in preproduction at Sony on a remake of Lloyd’s best-known silent comedy, 1923’s “Safety Last.”

“Safety Last” and the 1919 Lloyd short “Ask Father,” which hasn’t been seen theatrically in 87 years, will screen Saturday at the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s 17th annual Silent Film Gala at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Dustin Hoffman will serve as honorary chairman of the event. Timothy Brock will conduct Carl Davis’ score for “Safety Last” and present the world premiere of his score for “Ask Father.”

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra commissioned Brock to write the new score. “It took me three months to do it,” says Brock. “I always try to look backward when I compose for [silent] films instead of forward, trying to neglect the last 80 years of movie development. I don’t want it to be something that Lloyd wouldn’t have wanted. We are also using old instruments as well -- six string players, four saxophones, two trumpets, two trombones, a banjo and an old drum kit.”

His “Ask Father” score reflects the bouncy nature of the 13-minute romantic comedy. “He was a go-get-’em character,” he says of Lloyd, “and the music kind of sounds that way. He makes 13 attempts to ask a man for his girlfriend’s hand in marriage. It really reads like a dance-band cut sheet for me because each attempt is different in character and cleverness. I tried to get the music to reflect that.”

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‘The ultimate romantic’

“SAFETY LAST” finds the bespectacled Lloyd leaving his small town hoping to make his fortune in the big city; Mildred Davis, whom Lloyd married, plays his girlfriend, whom he hopes to send for when he has enough money.

The film is best known for one of the paramount comedy moments in film history -- when Lloyd hangs from the hands of a clock tower high above downtown Los Angeles.

“He was the father of romantic comedy,” says Suzanne Lloyd. “Cary Grant in ‘Bringing Up Baby’ -- that was Harold Lloyd. [Director] Howard Hawks said, ‘Put on Harold Lloyd glasses and you are going to play him.’ He is the original Tom Hanks. He was the average guy who everybody adored and rooted for who was always getting himself in a muddle. In every film he did, he ended up with the girl. If that isn’t romantic comedy, I don’t know what is. He was the ultimate romantic.”

And that romanticism carried over in his real life. “My grandmother loved violets, and he was always getting violets for her,” recalls Lloyd. “He was always writing her the most beautiful cards for their anniversary. And even to me, wonderful Christmas cards, birthday cards. He was always sending flowers and gifts for special occasions. You always knew he would go out and surprise you with something.”

One Christmas, Lloyd and his wife were on a cruise. “She loved Christmas,” says Lloyd. “There was a Christmas tree pin, a French enamel pin, she looked at in a jewelry store on the ship and said, ‘I really like that.’ He bought it immediately but made them keep it in the window [of the store]. Toward the end of the voyage, it came out of the window. She said to him, ‘I am really upset. You know that pin I wanted? Somebody bought it.’ Cut to the chase, they are getting off the ship and he said, ‘I think you left something on the ship.’ And he handed her the jewelry box, and it was the pin.”

Lloyd also remained close to his “Ask Father” costar Bebe Daniels, to whom he was engaged. “She broke the engagement,” says Suzanne Lloyd. “And she turned around and gave him back the engagement ring in a tie tack, and she took the side stones and put them into cufflinks for him. He never wore any other cufflinks after that. The stone he gave Bebe -- he had it set and gave it to me as a ring when I was 18. He still used to see her. I knew her. They died a week apart.”

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Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s 17th annual Silent Film Gala

Where: Royce Hall, UCLA

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Price: $30, $75 and $275 (includes post-film supper)

Contact: (213) 622-7001, Ext. 215