''Speedy'' is a 1928 American silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

starring comedian

Harold Lloyd Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many silent comedy films.Obituary '' Variety'', March 10, 1971, page 55. One of the most influential film c ...

in the eponymous leading role. It was Lloyd's last

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

to be released theatrically. The film was written by

Albert DeMond Albert DeMond (May 7, 1901 – February 20, 1973) was an American screenwriter.Martin p. 470 Selected filmography * '' His Foreign Wife'' (1927) * ''On Your Toes'' (1927) * '' The Fourflusher'' (1928) * '' Phyllis of the Follies'' (1928) * '' How ...

(titles), John Grey (story), J.A. Howe (story), Lex Neal (story) and

Howard Emmett Rogers Howard Emmett Rogers (1890–1971) was an American screenwriter. He was an active anti-communist member of the Screen Writers Guild.Critchlow p.50 He worked for several studios during his career. Two of his last films '' Calling Bulldog Drummond' ...

(story) with uncredited assistance from

Al Boasberg Al Boasberg (December 5, 1891 – June 18, 1937) was an American comedy writer in vaudeville, radio, and film, as well as being a film director. Biography Boasberg was born in Buffalo, New York in a Jewish family. He is credited with helpin ...

and

Paul Gerard Smith Paul Gerard Smith (September 14, 1894 – April 4, 1968) was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 90 films between 1926 and 1955. Biography Born in 1894, Smith started writing musical revues at the age of ten. He joined the Marines fo ...

(dialogue sequences). The film was directed by

Ted Wilde Ted Wilde (December 16, 1889 – December 17, 1929) was a comedy writer and director during the era of silent movies, though he also directed two talkies released in 1930. He was born in New York City. His initial career was as a member of Harold ...

, the last silent film to be directed by him, and was shot in both Hollywood, and on location in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The film's copyright was renewed, so it will not be in the public domain until January 1, 2024.

Plot

Everybody in New York City "is in such a hurry that they take Saturday's bath on Friday so they can do Monday's washing on Sunday". But in one slower-paced, "old-fashioned corner of the city", Pop Dillon (

Burt Woodruff William Herbert "Bert" Woodruff (April 29, 1856 – June 14, 1934) was an American actor of the silent era. Woodruff was born in Peoria, Illinois, and was the son of Mrs. Hannah Woodruff. He performed on stage before he began acting on fi ...

) owns and operates the city's last horse-drawn streetcar. His granddaughter Jane Dillon ( Ann Christy) is in love with Harold "Speedy" Swift (

). Speedy, an avid

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

fan, is working at a

soda shop A soda shop, also often known as a malt shop (after malted milk) and as a “malted shop” in Canada, is a business akin to an ice cream parlor and a drugstore soda fountain. Interiors were often furnished with a large mirror behind a marble count ...

. As well as doing his work, he takes frequent telephone calls during Yankees games and passes the line scores on to the kitchen staff by arranging food items in a display case (such as doughnuts for zeroes). But he loses the job after he is ordered to deliver some flowers and lets someone close a car door on them when he gets distracted by a display of baseball scores in a shop window. Streetcar magnate W.S. Wilton (Byron Douglas) comes to Pop's home to ask for his price to sell the car line, but Speedy spots a newspaper article and realizes that this is part of a plan to form a streetcar monopoly in the city. He surreptitiously raises Pop's written price from $10,000 to $70,000. Wilton angrily refuses and threatens to force Pop out instead. Speedy is unworried about being unemployed; he is very much used to losing jobs and finding new ones. He and Jane go to

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

, where they greatly enjoy themselves despite various mishaps, such as Speedy ruining his suit jacket by leaning against wet paint. On the way home along with a stray dog that decided to follow them, Speedy proposes to Jane, but she will not marry him until her grandfather's affairs are settled. Speedy is hired as a taxi driver, but for some time a series of mishaps prevents him from actually taking a passenger, and he antagonizes a policeman. Then, to his delight,

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

(playing himself) hails the cab to get to

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

. Although terrified by Speedy's driving, he offers Speedy a ticket to the game; but the taxi owner is there, sees Speedy in the seats when he should be working, and fires him. At the stadium, Speedy happens to overhear Wilton on the telephone. Wilton has learned that if Pop fails to operate the horsecar every 24 hours he will lose his right to the line, and orders goons to be sent to disrupt the operation. Speedy rushes home and arranges with small-business owners on the street to organize a defense. The goons are beaten off with the help of Speedy's dog, but return and steal the horse and car. Again helped by his dog, Speedy finds out where the car has been taken and manages to steal it back. In a madcap chase scene, he brings it back across the city to Pop's tracks, stealing fresh horses, tricking police to avoid being stopped, and replacing a broken wheel with a manhole cover. When Wilton sees the horsecar in place, he agrees to meet Pop's price. Speedy says that Pop is a bit deaf and won't hear him until he offers $100,000. Wilton agrees, and Speedy suggests to Jane that they plan a visit to Niagara Falls by horsecar.

Cast

as Harold 'Speedy' Swift * Ann Christy as Jane Dillon *

Bert Woodruff William Herbert "Bert" Woodruff (April 29, 1856 – June 14, 1934) was an American actor of the silent era. Woodruff was born in Peoria, Illinois, and was the son of Mrs. Hannah Woodruff. He performed on stage before he began acting on fi ...

as Pop Dillon - Her Grand-daddy * Byron Douglas as W.S. Wilton *

Brooks Benedict Brooks Benedict (born Harold J. Mann, February 6, 1896 – January 1, 1968) was an American actor of the silent and sound film eras, when he played supporting and utility roles in over 300 films, mostly uncredited. Life He was born to Alice Jul ...

as Steve Carter *

as himself

The finger

During the Coney Island sequence, at one point Speedy gives

the finger In Western culture, "the finger", or the middle finger (as in giving someone the (middle) finger, the bird or flipping someone off) is an obscene hand gesture. The gesture communicates moderate to extreme contempt, and is roughly equivalent i ...

to himself while looking in a distorted mirror. This may be the earliest motion picture depiction of that gesture.

Lou Gehrig's brief cameo appearance

At the end of the scene where Speedy gives Babe Ruth a ride in his taxi, sharp-eyed viewers can look for an easily missed cameo appearance by

Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...

, Ruth's famous New York Yankee teammate. Gehrig walks by the far side of Speedy's cab, looks directly at the camera through the taxi's window, and sticks out his tongue. Gehrig is on screen for about three seconds. Ruth and Gehrig's teammate,

Bob Meusel Robert William Meusel (July 19, 1896 – November 28, 1977) was an American baseball left and right fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eleven seasons from 1920 through 1930, all but the last for the New York Yankees. He was best ...

, is also seen in the film batting after Ruth hits a home run at the game Harold attends. Meusel's at bat was not filmed for the movie but was taken from

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, inform ...

footage.

Awards and nominations

, the director of the film, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director of a Comedy, which was used for only the

1st Academy Awards The 1st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and hosted by AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks, honored the best films from 1 August 1927 to 31 July 1928 and took place on May 1 ...

. He lost to

Lewis Milestone Lewis Milestone (born Leib Milstein (Russian: Лейб Мильштейн); September 30, 1895 – September 25, 1980) was a Moldovan-American film director. He is known for directing '' Two Arabian Knights'' (1927) and ''All Quiet on the Weste ...

, the director of '' Two Arabian Knights''.

Production

Location shooting for the

scenes cost a reported $150,000."The Shadow Stage". ''

Photoplay ''Photoplay'' was one of the first American film (another name for ''photoplay'') fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded '' Motion Picture Story,'' a magazine also directed at fans. For mo ...

''. May 1928. Vol. XXXIII. No. 6. p 52. Web. May 14, 2017 Then they reissued in December 1928 and refilmed with three dialogue sequences are taken on July 12, 1928

Preservation status

The complete silent and sound copies exist and the 16" recorded soundtrack discs for the film survive complete and are housed at the

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the a ...

. The film's trailer also survives.

References

External links

* * * *
Progressive Silent Film List : ''Speedy''
at silentera.com
''Speedy''
at Virtual History
Trailer
at Archive.org
www.film-festival.org Still
as Rhode Island International Film Festival notice
Speedy
essay by Jeffrey Vance for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival
''Speedy: The Comic Figure of the Average Man''
an essay by

Phillip Lopate Phillip Lopate (born 1943) is an American film critic, essayist, fiction writer, poet, and teacher. He is the younger brother of radio host Leonard Lopate. Early life Phillip Lopate was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated with a BA deg ...

at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cine ...

{{Authority control 1928 films 1928 comedy films Silent American comedy films American silent feature films American black-and-white films Films directed by Ted Wilde Films set in Brooklyn Films set in Coney Island Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Rail transport films Films set in amusement parks Films with screenplays by John Grey Paramount Pictures films 1920s English-language films 1920s American films