Harold Lloyd has a crazy time in Coney Island in SPEEDY
SPEEDY (Ted Wilde, 1928)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Sunday, October 16, free with museum admission, 3:00
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us
Much like the end of the silent film era itself, the last horse-drawn trolley is doomed in Harold Lloyd’s final silent film. Big business is playing dirty trying to get rid of the trolley and classic old-timer Pop Dillon. Meanwhile, Harold “Speedy” Swift, a dreamer who wanders from menial job to menial job (he makes a great soda-jerk with a unique way of announcing the Yankees score), cares only about the joy and wonder life brings. But he’s in love with Pop’s granddaughter, Jane, so he vows to save the day. Along the way, he gets to meet Babe Ruth. Ted Wilde was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director, Comedy, for this thrilling nonstop ride through beautiful Coney Island and the pre-depression streets of New York City. A restored 35mm print of Speedy is being shown October 16 at 3:00 at the Museum of the Moving Image with live accompaniment by pianist Donald Sosin, preceded by an illustrated lecture about the making of the movie by film historian John Bengtson, author of Silent Visions: Discovering Early Hollywood and New York Through the Films of Harold Lloyd (Santa Monica Press, May 2011, $27.95), and will be followed by a book signing.