The Silent Genius of Harold Lloyd

Woodcut of Harold Lloyd from the film “Safety Last.” (Artwork by author)

On a hot summer day in July 1922, actor Harold Lloyd was walking around downtown Los Angeles when he noticed a crowd gathered around a tall building. He looked up to see a man climbing the building without a rope as a publicity stunt for a local insurance agency. Lloyd was mesmerized. “It stirred my emotions to such a degree that I thought if I can do that to an audience — if I capture that on screen — I think I’ve got something…