646f9e108c Harold "Speedy" Swift, a fan of Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees, saves from extinction the city's last horse-drawn trolley, operated by his girlfriend's grandfather. Harold Swift, nicknamed Speedy, loves the New York Yankees more than anything. His preoccupation with baseball and the Yankees has prevented him from being able to focus on and thus keep the various jobs that he's had, such as as a soda jerk and cab driver. The one other thing he may love just as much is his girlfriend, Jane Dillon. After an adventurous trip to Coney Island together, Speedy realizes that he wants to marry Jane, which means needing to get and keep a job. But before she can get married, she wants to ensure that the affairs of her grandfather, Pop Dillon, are finalized. He owns and operates the last horse drawn streetcar in New York City, in what is perhaps the most idyllic section of town. Most of the big streetcar companies want to buy Pop out for a song, but when Speedy learns that there is a planned merger of all streetcar services in New York City which cannot go ahead until all the smaller franchisees, such as Pop, are bought out, Speedy encourages Pop to hold out for a lucrative deal. As such, the large streetcar owners work nefariously behind the scenes to ruin Pop's business. Speedy, with the help of Pop's equally aged friends and a stray dog that followed Speedy home from Coney Island, do whatever they can to make sure Pop has what is truly coming to him, which may not happen if they can't stop the wrong-doings of those big streetcar companies. Monday April 11, 7pm, The Paramount, Seattle <br/><br/>"New York, where everybody is in such a hurry that they take Saturday's bath on Friday so they can do Monday's washing on Sunday." <br/><br/>A soda jerk takes his girl on a date, then saves her granddad's horse-trolley from crooked businessmen. Harold "Speedy" Swift (Harold Lloyd) could hold down a job if it didn't interfere with baseball. During a stint as a cabby he drives Babe Ruth to work, nearly killing them both and gets fired when he sits behind his boss at the game. Pop Dillon can't work and laments, "The folks at City Hall said that as long as my car runs once every twenty-four hours, the car n' track is mine." Speedy and the neighbors step in to save the day in the hair-raising finale.<br/><br/>In his eleventh and final silent feature, Harold Lloyd made the most of bustling New York locations, including Coney Island's magnificent Luna Park and Yankee Stadium. Cutie-pie Ann Christy plays Jane, with Bert Woodruff as the gruff-but-lovable old man, but the dog nearly steals the show! <br/><br/>"The House of Hits!" <br/><br/>Starring Harold Lloyd, "The fastest, Funniest Feller in the Films," Speedy opened at Seattle's United Artists Theatre (formerly the Liberty) on 1st Avenue, Thursday, April 5, 1928 for the "First Showing Anywhere in the Wide, Wide World!" Jan Sofer and The United Artists Orchestra provided live musical accompaniment and performed an overture of popular tunes, "In the Song Shop." "Grab a seat in Harold's snicker special. He guarantees a laugh in every bump and a thrill in every rattle!" Not only is this film totally hilarious, but its many shots of the streets of New York and Coney Island at its peak make it a visual delight as well. A scene in which Harold Lloyd's hapless cab driver speeds Babe Ruth (playing himself) to Yankee Stadium is priceless.<br/><br/>If you can, try to see this film with live musical accompaniment. I've seen it both with and without, and its much, much better with
sigbottvirec Admin replied
292 weeks ago