Hey There

In this early short Harold Lloyd sneaks into a movie studio in order to locate an attractive young lady he's just met at a snack bar. He's retrieved a letter she dropped and wants to return it to her, but it's pretty clear that his interest extends beyond mere politeness. (She's the adorable young Bebe Daniels, so this is easy to understand.) The movie studio setting provides Harold with lots of opportunities to do what comedians do in comedies like this one: flirt with actresses, anger the studio brass, and dash through sets disrupting everything.

It's always fun to see behind-the-scenes films from early Hollywood days. Whether the lead comic is Chaplin, Mabel Normand, or the Our Gang kids, you can count on some amusing moments as well as interesting looks at the studios where these folks worked. Admittedly a sense of déjà vu sets in after you've seen a few examples, but the more lively efforts, such as Chaplin's Behind the Screen and the Our Gang short Dogs of War, are highly enjoyable.

Hey There was made when Lloyd was still refining his style, so consequently it doesn't hold up next to his great achievements of the '20s, but it's a pleasant short that has its moments. The best thing about it is the boundless energy Harold displays, even when his character is overly aggressive or callous. (The Tramp character found in Chaplin's apprentice efforts at Keystone shares the same traits.) Harold is resourceful, too. This film offers a routine taken directly from Lloyd's real-life experience as a novice movie extra at Universal, when he disguised himself as an actor in order to slip past the studio gatekeeper. Here Harold's disguise -- a bow-tie that doubles as a mustache -- doesn't fool anybody, but he devises an alternate stratagem and slips in. Once inside, Harold disguises himself more successfully as a laborer and helps another workman hoist a piano, but when his hat falls off he becomes overly concerned with retrieving it, and leaves the other fellow to handle the piano on his own. When a convenient midget happens by, Harold maneuvers the little guy into his own former position under the piano and then pushes him along. (This is the sort of gag Lloyd would soon outgrow.) Harold soon makes enemies who chase him through the sets, ruining takes in the movies people are trying to crank out in the midst of all the chaos. Eventually he finds Bebe and resolves the matter of the lost letter, but things do not end happily for our hero. Incidentally, it's striking how often Lloyd's early short comedies end on a downbeat note, as if he was rehearsing ideas for his more nuanced and dramatic later works.

All in all, Hey There is a cute and pleasant one-reeler that gives us a good look backstage at the Rolin Studio, as the Hal Roach lot was known at the time. It's a also a good look at young Harold Lloyd, on his way up the Hollywood ladder.

Casting note: According to the IMDb this film features the debut of June Havoc, best remembered as the sister of Gypsy Rose Lee and immortalized (to her displeasure) as "Baby June" in the stage musical Gypsy. Havoc was around 4 or 5 years-old when Hey There was made. I've seen the film several times and can't spot her anywhere, in fact there are no children in it at all. It's possible that surviving prints are incomplete, but it's also possible that Baby June's actual movie debut was in some other film.

This is another of Harold Lloyd's early films I just watched on the "American Slapstick 2" DVD set. It has him retrieving a letter for an attractive lady. A letter she dropped at her movie studio. So he attempts to get in without a pass. I'll stop there and just say much of what happens was quite funny to me. Only real quibble was that the last 5 minutes had splotches in it but otherwise, I enjoyed Hey There.

Harold Lloyd spots Bebe Daniels drop a letter, so he follows her to the "Near Famous Film Company" where she is an actress. He gate-crashes and masquerades as a property man, spreading havoc as he goes along in this early "Glasses" one-reel comedy.

It's still early days for Lloyd's new comedy character, with plenty of slapstick gags. There are signs of new bits; he plays a lot of trick with a bowler hat that keeps eluding his grasp There is also the large and varied Hal Roach assortment of supporting comics. Snub Pollard, who had been a regular, almost a co-star with Lloyd and Miss Daniels from the beginning, plays a movie director.

Harold Lloyd spent the early part of his career playing the rather annoying and slapstick "Lonesome Luke". Lloyd reportedly hated the character, though the films were popular--though far from refined. Today only a handful of these very early Lloyd films exist due to the degradation of the nitrate prints. At around the time of HEY THERE!, Lloyd began experimenting with a new character--the bespectacled man which was to bring his huge success in the 1920s. However, despite Lloyd looking more familiar in this film, his personality as the "everyman" wasn't yet fully formed. As a result, he just doesn't always act like the Lloyd of his later glory years. He's funny--just not as funny or refined as in later films.

In this film, Lloyd runs into a lady on the sidewalk and she drops a letter. Lloyd is obviously interested in her and follows her to return the letter. However, when she goes to work at a movie studio, Harold tries and tries to sneak inside. In doing so, he behaves very "un-Harold Lloyd"--slapping around a midget and behaving rather boorishly. This is very typical of 1910s slapstick but so unlike the later sweet Lloyd character. As a result, it was really hard to care for him, as his character was a bit of a jerk.

Amusing yes, but that's all. And to make matters worse, the print is in horrible condition starting towards the middle. This is supposedly a restored version but it's in need of much more archival work.