Harold Lloyd in “Get Out and Get Under”

Today marks the anniversary of the date of the NYC premiere of the Harold Lloyd comedy Get Out and Get Under (1920).

I think of this short as an archetypal Lloyd comedy, one that gets right to the essence of his screen character. He plays a young man who lives for his car, worships it, keeps it spotless. Unfortunately an endless series of mishaps keep him from getting to the theatre to take part in his girlfriend’s (Mildred Davis) play. One of the funniest gags has him using a junkie’s dope to make the automobile go faster. Look for Sunshine Sammy of Our Gang as a kid who gets in his way as he tries to fix the car. Look, too, for some telltale clues of Lloyd’s recent explosive mishap: gloves and facial scars.

To learn more about silent and slapstick comedy, please check out my new book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc

To learn about vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.