"Safety Last!"

This is the most famous shot from "Safety Last!" with Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis (Hal Roach Studios / Pathé, 1923). It was done with a set built on the roof of the building at 908 S. Broadway, now Sparkle Factory. The view north on Broadway includes the Majestic Theatre, 845 S. Broadway, and Tally's Broadway Theatre, 833 S. Broadway. Beyond the theatres is the Hamburger Department Store building, later the May Co.

This image appears in many places including the Harold Lloyd page of the site Film Reference. It's also on the "Safety Last!" page on the site Dr. Macro where they also have other images from the film.

We have a running gag in the film with Bill Strother, playing Lloyd's brother, trying to elude a cop, played by Noah Young. Here, at the top of the frame they're running along the roof of Mott's Hall, 133 S. Main St. The intertitle reads "I'll be right back -- Soon as I ditch this cop." Thanks to John Bengtson for the screenshot. He notes that the camera was on the Higgins Building at the southwest corner of 2nd and Main. The detective work in figuring out the location is chronicled in John's Silent Locations post "The nearly last - Safety Last - joke."

We get a glimpse of the top of the Broadway facade of the Million Dollar Theatre, 3rd & Broadway, in the finale sequence. This part of the sequence was filmed atop the Washington Bldg. at 3rd & Spring.

Thanks to famed silent film detective John Bengtson who has the finale, where we get a look at the Million Dollar Theatre, all analyzed in "How Harold Lloyd Filmed the 'Safety Last!' Finale," a Silent Locations blog post. Also see his other "Safety Last!" posts. John's book "Silent Visions" is available on Amazon.

Annette Lloyd has a piece on YouTube: "Harold Lloyd's LA Locations." Also see "Harold Lloyd 'Safety Last' Documentary" on YouTube. Brent Walker also has a "Safety Last" page analyzing some of the film's locations.

See the pages about the Million Dollar Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of that 1918 vintage movie palace along with many photos. And don't miss the page about the Majestic Theatre as well. This legit house didn't survive. It was demolished in 1933. And poor Tally's Broadway bit the dust in 1929 as its site became a south expansion of the May Co. building. The site also has a page on Mott's Hall.

On IMDb:"Safety Last!"