Harold Lloyd collection of home movies, 1926-1971,

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Summary

Creators:
Lloyd, Harold, 1893-1971.
Abstract:
This collection of home movies primarily documents the early years of the Lloyd children and life at the family's Irving Street home located in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Hancock Park (where the family lived until 1929), and Greenacres estate in Beverly Hills, California. It features children's parties, birthday celebrations, family gatherings, Halloween parties, picnics, barbecues, beach vacations at their get-away home in Santa Monica, and footage of Lloyd's annual invitational pro golf tournament played on the nine-hole course at his Beverly Hills estate. Also included is amateur footage of Lloyd and his volunteer activities at the Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children. All of the footage was originally shot on 35 mm. black and white nitrate film, with the exception of a compilation of footage not on deposit at the UCLA Film Television Archive that was transferred to Betacam SP videocassette that features Lloyd's 1971 funeral and Betacam SP reproductions of the Shriners Hospitals footage originally shot on black and white 16 mm. safety film.
Extent:
approximately 51000 feet of nitrate film, 7000 feet of safety film, 15 videocassettes.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Harold Lloyd Collection at the UCLA Film Television Archive.

Background

Biographical / historical:
Harold Clayton Lloyd (1893-1971) was born in Burchard, Nebraska, the second son to James Darsie and Elizabeth Fraser Lloyd. During his childhood, he lived, at various times, in the towns of Pawnee City, Humboldt, Beatrice, and Omaha, Nebraska, and Fort Collins, Durango, and Denver, Colorado. Throughout his childhood, he shared with his mother a passion for the theatre, and engaged in amateur theatrics for most of his adolescence. He arrived in Los Angeles in 1912 and made his film debut as an extra in a 1913 one-reel film for the Edison Film Company. He became friendly with another extra, Hal Roach, and when Roach formed his own film company he invited Lloyd to join him. His films frequently contained "thrill sequences" of extended chase scenes and daredevil physical feats, for which he is best remembered today. Lloyd did many of these dangerous stunts himself, despite having severely injured himself in a 1919 accident with a prop bomb that resulted in the loss of the thumb and index finger of his right hand, an injury that was disguised on film with the use of a special prosthetic glove. Lloyd and Roach parted ways in 1924, and Lloyd became the independent producer of his own films. Lloyd made nearly 200 films, among his most famous are Grandma's boy (1922), Safety last! (1923), The freshman (1925), The kid brother (1927), Speedy (1928), and Movie crazy (1932). In 1923, Lloyd married his leading lady, Mildred Davis (1900-1969). Architect Sumner Spaulding built the Lloyds a 44-room Mediterrean/Italian Renaissance style residential complex, Greenacres. Greenacres was built between 1926-1929 and it was at Greenacres that the Lloyds raised their three children: Gloria (1923- ), Peggy (1930-1986), and Harold, Jr. (1931-1971). Greenacres was named to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1984. In 1927, Harold Lloyd became a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He received an honorary Academy Award in 1953, two George Eastman House Lifetime Achievement Awards in 1955 and 1957, and was elected Imperial Potentate of the Shriners in 1949. After retiring from films, Lloyd kept busy with various philanthropic activities, vigorously pursued his many hobbies, and raised his granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd, who manages the Harold Lloyd Trust, which owns and promotes the late comedian's films. Lloyd was also a prize-winning stereo (3-D) photographer. He also became known for his nude photographs of models, such as Bettie Page and stripper Dixie Evans, that appeared in a number of men's magazines. He produced two compilation films of his earlier work, Harold Lloyd's world of comedy (1962) and Harold Lloyd's funny side of life (1963), and was preparing further revivals of his best films before succumbing to cancer on March 8, 1971 at the age of 77.
Acquisition information:

Harold Lloyd Trust;

Harold Lloyd Trust;

Arrangement:
Arranged in the following series: 1. Original nitrate print and pre-print elements. 2. Safety prints. 3. Compilation videocassettes and reproductions.
Physical description:
approximately 51000 feet of nitrate film, 7000 feet of safety film, 15 videocassettes.
Note:

APPOINTMENT REQUIRED FOR VIEWING MATERIALS ONSITE.

Inventory list available. Inquire at the Archive Research and Study Center.

Access and use

Restrictions:
APPOINTMENT REQUIRED FOR VIEWING MATERIALS ONSITE.
Terms of access:
Copyright not assigned to UCLA Film Television Archive.
Preferred citation:
Harold Lloyd Collection at the UCLA Film Television Archive.
Location of this collection:
302 East Melnitz
Box 951323
Los Angeles, CA 90095, US
Contact:
(310) 206-8013
archive@ucla.edu
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