"The Clock"

 

The clock Harold Lloyd is hanging onto says 2:42 and that's the time that this clip from "Safety Last!" (Hal Roach Studios, 1923) will be on the screen whenever a venue plays Christian Marclay's "The Clock" (2010). The film is 24 hours long, a delicious montage of film clips exploring time in the movies. 

 

This 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. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post about "Safety Last."

 

 

 

The clock in the boxoffice at the Mayan Theatre says 4:33 and that's the time that this "Save the Tiger" clip will be on the screen in "The Clock."

 

LACMA booked the film for a July 22 to August 23 run in 2026, including two 24 hour screenings beginning at 7pm July 25 and also August 22. Otherwise you can only see the sections timed to regular museum hours. They commented: 

"Returning to Los Angeles for the first time since 2015, Christian Marclay’s 'The Clock' is a 24-hour single-channel montage constructed from thousands of moments of cinema and television history depicting the passage of time, excerpted and edited together to create a functioning timepiece synchronized to local time wherever it is shown. The result marks the exact time for the viewer for 24 consecutive hours, weaving together Marclay’s interests in collage and found visual and aural artifacts with his roots in live performance."

The venue at LACMA is on the main floor of the Broad Pavilion and uses twenty sofas for seating. See the LACMA page about the booking. It's free for LACMA members.

See the pages about the Mayan Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site. Also see our Theatres in Movies post about "Save the Tiger."

 

There's a page about the film on Wikipedia. The Tate Modern has a page about their 2018 booking of "The Clock" and a trailer on YouTube.  

 

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"My Best Girl"

We're on Broadway with Mary Pickford on the back of a truck in "My Best Girl" (United Artists, 1927).  She's going north and has pretended to drop her purse in the hope that Buddy Rogers will spot it and come running. He does.

On the right it's the construction fence for the United Artists Theatre, 933 S. Broadway. When it opened  on December 31, 1927 this film was the initial attraction. This Broadway footage begins 13 minutes into the film. Sam Taylor directed. The cinematography was by David Kesson and Charles Rosher.  

 

A shot in the 800 block that, in the film, comes before the previous one. The "Columbia" sign on the right, at 8th and Broadway, is for Columbia Outfitters. The Eastern Columbia Building would rise on that corner in 1930. On the far right it's the Majestic Theatre at 845 S. Broadway. It would be demolished in 1933. 

 

 

Still on the 800 block with the Majestic receding into the distance. On the right, above Mary's head, it's Tally's Broadway at 833 S. Broadway. The awnings on the far right are at the May Co. department store. On the left it's the construction fence at the Platt Music Co. building, just north of the Orpheum. 

 

Up to the 700 block with some of the Loew's State building on the right. Buddy is finally on board. 

 

 

The scene ends with the couple just north of 7th St. Reader, she married him. 

See the pages about the United Artists, the Majestic Theatre, Tally's Broadway, the Orpheum and Loew's State on the Los Angeles Theatres site. 

On IMDb: "My Best Girl"    The full film is on YouTube from Classic Hollywood Movies -- and there's also another post of it from The Cinema Cellar. 

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"The Eternal Question" / "Her Body In Bond"

Some filming for "The Eternal Question" took place at the Majestic Theatre, 845 S. Broadway. In the December 29, 1917 issue of the Dramatic Mirror of Motion Pictures and the Stage (on Google Books) this item appears:

"Mae Murray and company have been photographing interior scenes in the Majestic Theater, Los Angeles, for "The Eternal Question." Miss Murray dropped sixty feet from a broken swing down into the empty house, which wasn't really empty, for a double exposure film will show the audience as it had been but half an hour before Miss Murray made the fall."

An item on page 66 of the January 5, 1918 issue of Moving Picture World reported: 

"Mae Murray dropped more than 60 feet from a broken swing at the Majestic theater, Los Angeles, one night this week. And right over the heads of the audience, too, at least the audience was supposed to be there, but it wasn't. The player was making the drop for one of the scenes of 'The Eternal Question.'"

Thanks to Steve Gerdes for locating the item on Internet Archive.

See the page about the Majestic Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the legit house. It opened in 1908 and was demolished in 1933. 

Whatever film it was, there was apparently a title change before the release. Or it's been lost and forgotten. It's not listed on IMDb as being among the five films she did in 1918. The assumption is that the film was released as "Her Body In Bond," a backstage drama from Universal released in June 1918. Earlier the film was using "The Eternal Columbine" as a working title.

It played at the Superba Theatre in July 1918 and evidently had an earlier run elsewhere in town. The Superba was operated at the time by Universal's subsidiary Broadway Theatre Company. Mae wasn't happy about her billing in the ads. "Would Protect Her Good Name - Star of 'Her Body in Bond' to File Damage Suit" was an August 5, 1918 L.A. Times article about her complaints. She was supposed to be billed above the title and in the second week's ads her name was down in a corner.

On IMDb: Mae Murray | "Her Body In Bond"

"Hold Your Breath"

It's Dorothy Devore clinging outside a set that's on top of a building in the 900 block on the east side of Broadway in the comedy "Hold Your Breath" (Christie Film Co., 1924). Scott Sidney was the director.

 

We're looking north toward 8th St. with the Majestic Theatre, 845 S. Broadway, on the left and Tally's Broadway, 833 S. Broadway, a couple buildings to the north. The large building just beyond Tally's is Hamburger's Department Store, soon after this shooting to become the May Co.  Film scholar Virginia Wexman gets kudos for spotting the theatres in the film. 

See the page about the Majestic Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more about that legit house. It opened in 1908 and was demolished in 1933. The page on Tally's Broadway has a history of that film house. It opened in 1910 and came down in 1929 for a southern expansion of the May Co. store. 

The film is available via the subscription-based online library of Retroformat. They comment:

"'Hold Your Breath' (1924) features Dorothy Devore, one of Al Christie’s major comedy stars, as a newspaper reporter out to prove herself, in a pulse-pounding, feminist take on the 'thrill comedy' genre pioneered by Harold Lloyd. The film co-stars Walter Heirs, Tully Marshall and Max Davidson, and features great historic footage of Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles. Unfortunately, only about half of this feature film is known to have survived, but this 45-minute Kodascope* version is a true delight."

Website: www.retroformat.org | on Facebook: www.facebook.com/RetroformatSilents | 

 

* "Kodascope" was the brand name given to the 16mm home format introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1923.

 

She's climbing the building to retrieve a bracelet a rich gentleman accused her of stealing. The cops are after her but she didn't do it. It's all the fault of a monkey belonging to an organ grinder -- and the monkey keeps climbing higher. The darker building in the center of the image down at 7th & Broadway is the south side of Loew's State Theatre, opened in late 1921. This image appears on IMDb. 

 

Problems develop with the plank when the painters sitting on the other end of it get up after finishing their lunch. In the lower right note the nice shot of the Mission Theatre, 838 S. Broadway. It was demolished several years later for construction of the Orpheum. Here they're running "The White Sister," a September 1923 release with Lillian Gish. 

 

Adventures on a ledge. And a slightly different angle for a look at the Majestic and Tally's. 

 

 

Saved by an awning. For some shots they also use a building a block or two farther south on Broadway.

On IMDb: "Hold Your Breath"

"Ignatz’s Icy Injury"

We're looking south on Broadway in a scene filmed atop the Chapman Building on the northeast corner of 8th and Broadway in "Ignatz’s Icy Injury" (L-KO Motion Picture Company, 1916). Thanks to John Bengtson for figuring out the location and finding the image in a July 8, 1916 ad in Universal's trade magazine "The Moving Picture Weekly."

On the far right it's Hamburger's Department Store with the single-story Tally's Broadway Theatre (833 S. Broadway) to the left and the eight-story Majestic Theatre Building (845 S. Broadway) beyond. The film starred Billy Armstrong, Lucile Hudson and Reggie Morris. 

The full ad for the film. The upper photo is also a shot done using the two-story elevator penthouse on the Chapman Building roof. In this one we're looking west on 8th St. with Hamburger's Department Store on the left.

John has this film, and several others with stars hanging from the outside of tall buildings, analyzed in his Silent Locations post "Early Thrill Comedies -- Who Was First?"

See the page about the Majestic Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more about this legit house. It opened in 1908 and was demolished in 1933. The page on Tally's Broadway has a history of that film house. It opened in 1910 and came down in 1929 for an expansion of the department store to its north.

On IMDb: "Ignatz's Icy Injury"

"A Bold, Bad Breeze"

We get a view north on Broadway in the short "A Bold, Bad Breeze" (L-KO Motion Picture Company, 1916). We're looking north toward 9th St. with the eight story Majestic Theatre building, at 845 S. Broadway, on the left and Hamburger's Department Store beyond.  The film stars Billie Ritchie, Billy Bevan and Lucille Hutton.

Thanks to John Bengtson for finding the image. A cropped version of it had appeared in the July 1, 1916 issue of Universal's magazine "The Moving Picture Weekly." He notes: "Billie was filmed atop the extant Southern California Gas Company building at 950 S. Broadway, the same rooftop where Harold Lloyd staged the middle sequence of his climb in 'Feet First' (1930)."

John has this film, and several others with stars hanging from the outside of tall buildings, analyzed in his Silent Locations post "Early Thrill Comedies -- Who Was First?"

See the page about the Majestic Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more about this legit house. It opened in 1908 and was demolished in 1933.

On IMDb: "A Bold, Bad Breeze"

"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!"

"Feet First"

In the Harold Lloyd feature "Feet First" (Paramount, 1930) we get a look up Broadway toward the United Artists, between Olympic and 9th St. The trouble began at the Post Office in the now vanished Triangle Building just south of Olympic -- Harold arrived in town in a mailbag, you see.

More chaos with the United Artists in the distance:

See the Los Angeles Theatres pages on the United Artists Theatre for a history of the 1927 vintage theatre along with hundreds of photos.

Although all our high-rise stuff in "Feet First" is supposedly on the same building we also end up looking a bit farther north on Broadway with views of the Majestic Theatre at 845 S. Broadway:

Beyond the set that Harold is climbing on we see the Blackstone Building on the SW corner of 9th & Broadway, the Eastern Columbia Building (with construction just being completed), and the the Majestic Theatre with its vertical sign at 845 S. Broadway. At the extreme right is the 1929 addition to the Hamburger/May Co. Building with the original building beyond.

More shots showing the Majestic -- or a slice of it anyway:

See the page on the Majestic Theatre for more about that legit house, demolished in 1933. 

Somehow, in this same elaborate sequence that started on Broadway we end up in a building at 8th & Spring looking west at the Tower Theatre at 8th and Broadway:

Note the frames on the upper part of the Tower Theatre for signage (here seen empty) along the top of the 8th St. facade.

Another shot looking down on the Tower Theatre. 

 

A shot looking west on 8th taken from down a bit lower. The Tower is out the window with the Hamburger / May Co. Building beyond.

See the pages on the Tower Theatre on the los Angeles theatres site for more information and many photos. It opened in 1927, the first theatre design by the young architect S. Charles Lee.

Annette Lloyd has a short film on YouTube: "Harold Lloyd's LA Locations."

On IMDb: "Feet First"

"Girl Shy"

We go all over the place in Harold Lloyd's "Girl Shy" (Harold Lloyd Corp. / Pathé, 1924) including Hollywood, Culver City, Bunker Hill and Downtown. The 80 minute film, directed by Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, also features Jobyna Ralston and Richard Daniels.

Here in this shot we're looking northwest on Van Buren Place toward Washington Blvd. in Culver City. We've got two City Halls featured. Straight ahead is the house left side of the theatre that was in the building at Main St. and Culver Blvd. It had a theatre on the main floor and the City Hall in the 2nd floor offices in the front of the building. Soon after the filming, the building was demolished and the Culver Hotel was built on the site. It opened the same month the film was released -- September 1924.

On the right of the shot we have the 2nd Culver City City Hall including the Police and Fire Departments in the lower structure nearest us.  This location was in use until a new building was constructed in 1928.

Another view a moment later. 

This 1920 aerial view shows the relationship between the buildings. The red rectangle is the building we see straight ahead in the "Girl Shy" shot. It's the house left side of the theatre. If we were to take a right and go around to the front we'd see the theatre downstairs and the City Hall offices on the 2nd floor. The yellow rectangle is the 2nd City Hall location, not yet built at the time of this aerial view. There was no theatre involved at this 2nd location.

Thanks to Japanese film investigator Yasuyasu for his "Girl Shy" research and sending these two images our way. He's involved with a website, Our Gang 1922-28,  working to identify Culver City locations for some of the early silent Our Gang comedies.

The 1920 aerial view above with Yasuyasu's annotations uses a detail from a photo from the Bruce Torrence Hollywood Photographs collection.

 
A c. 1923 aerial view -- again thanks to Yasuyasu for the find. The irregularly shaped building on the triangular lot in the center is our 1st City Hall/Culver City Theatre building --  now the site of the Culver Hotel. Off to the right is the commercial building seen in the 1920 view above. Here we also get the lower building behind that was the 2nd City Hall.

The main street running through the photo is Washington Blvd. as we look east. It no longer is routed this way through Culver city -- it takes a jog over to Culver Blvd. for several blocks.  The angled street heading off to the left is Culver Blvd. The large buildings in the upper right are at the Thomas Ince film studio.

See the page on the Los Angeles Theatres website covering this first Culver City Theatre for larger views of those City Hall / Theatre photos we see as insets in the aerial view above.

Toward the end of the film Harold takes a wild ride using all available means of transportation to get into the city from his small town to prevent a marriage between the woman he loves and a cad who happens to be already secretly married. On the way we're heading west on Sunset Blvd. and we get this side view of the Granada Theatre, 7425 Sunset Blvd. The theatre had opened in 1921. Later it was renamed the Oriental.

See the page about the Oriental Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more photos. The building still exists but has become part of the Guitar Center.

After many great views of Bunker Hill and other neighborhoods we find ourselves downtown, looking north on the 800 block of Broadway. At the left it's Hamburger's Department Store, later becoming the May Co. The marquee on the right is the Garrick Theatre, 802 S. Broadway. The Tower Theatre is now on the site.  Across 8th St. it's the Hulett C. Merritt Building on the left and the Chapman Building on the right. Both survive.

A moment later the marquee and facade of the Rialto Theatre come into view on the far right. The building at 812 S. Broadway is now an Urban Outfitters store.

On the left the two small vertical signs of Tally's Theatre, 833 S. Broadway, come into view.  

On the right we now get a view of the Mission Theatre, 838 S. Broadway. The Orpheum Theatre is now on the site, opening in 1926. 

A bit farther south we see the curving marquee of the Majestic Theatre, 845 S. Broadway. It was demolished in 1933 so the May Co. could have more parking. On the right is a bit more of the Mission Theatre than we saw in the previous shot.

Looking north toward Olympic Blvd., at the time of the film still called 10th St. The building on the left is Western Costume Co.'s prop department. The tall building in the middle is their headquarters. It's now condos. The United Artists Theatre would rise just beyond it in 1927.

The second tall building we see on the left is the Majestic Theatre, with "Majestic" lettering vertically on the edge. The Eastern Columbia Building would rise this side of it in 1930. The streetcar tracks heading to the right go to Broadway Place, a short street cutting over to Main that's no longer in use.

See the pages for the Garrick, Rialto, Tally's Broadway, Majestic and Mission theatres on the Los Angeles Theatres site for histories of the buildings and many photos.

"Girl Shy" is included in the "Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection Volume 1" from New Line Entertainment. For more information on filming locations see John Bengtsoin's see posts "How Harold Lloyd Filmed Girl Shy on Bunker Hill" and "How Harold Lloyd Filmed the Girl Shy Trolley Stunts."  Visit John's blog Silent Locations for reports of his ongoing discoveries. His "Silent Locations" book is available on Amazon.

On IMDb: "Girl Shy"