Gage County Historical Society's Gage County Classic Film Institute will present a tribute to mega-silent film star Harold Lloyd on March 1-3 as its 2019 annual film event.Focus will be on Lloyd's childhood in Beatrice and Burchard. Featured guests will be author Scott Eyman and silent film composer and accompanist Ben Model. Lloyd's granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd Hayes, is providing films, shorts, home movies and photos from Harold Lloyd's 1949 visit to Beatrice.
Harold Lloyd was born April 20, 1893 in Burchard Neb., the second son of James Lloyd and Elizabeth Fraser Lloyd. Harold and his older brother, Gaylord, spent many years of their youth in Beatrice. They would work for the circus when it came to Beatrice, to get a pass to get in. Harold Lloyd got his first acting appearance in "Macbeth" with the Shakespeare Repertory Company in Beatrice. He sold popcorn at the three train depots and taverns to make money to buy school clothes. The Lloyd family moved many times, living in many Nebraska towns including Pawnee City, Humboldt and Omaha. After Nebraska, they stayed a couple places in Colorado before his father and Harold moved to California in 1913. From then on, Lloyd worked his way up in the entertainment business with a total 213 acting credits, in addition to directing, writing and producing his films. During the 1920's, Lloyd ended up making more films than Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton combined and his films made more money than theirs.
Local film historian and GCCFI committee member Jeanelle Kleveland says, "When we watch silent films, we are seeing the magic that happened when a new industry started with people who had to invent the movies. Our Harold Lloyd was one of the talented people who became one of the three top silent comedians in the movies."
Guest Scott Eyman's books include "The Speed of Sound" (about the transition from silent films to talkies), "Hank & Jim" (about the 50-year friendship of Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart), and "John Wayne: The Life and Legend," and many more. Scott is a regular speaker at TCM events and has also lectured at the National Film Theater in London, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Moscow Film Theater. Scott has authored 15 books and is currently working on number 16 now.
Ben Model is one of the nation's leading silent film accompanists and composer. Every year he performs around the U.S. and internationally. Currently he is a Visiting Professor of Film Studies at Weslelyan University in New York. Ben is also a resident film accompanist at the Museum of Modern Art (NY) and at the Library of Congress' Packard Campus Theatre. His DVD label Undercrank Productions has released several discs of rare/lost silent films on DVD and Blu-Ray that Ben has recorded the scores for, including films preserved by the Library of Congress.
The Gage County Classic Film Institute is partnering with the Beatrice Public Library and the Beatrice Community Players Theatre. The library will feature a special exhibit about Harold Lloyd during February and March. Funding This year's event is also presented in conjunction with The Harold Lloyd Museum in Burchard, part of the Pawnee County Promotional Network, and the Welsh Heritage Centre in Wymore. Funding provided by grants from Hevelone Foundation and Gage County Foundation.