SAFETY LAST Begins 5/24 at the Music Box Theatre

Hailed as one of the great film comedies of all time, the 1923 romantic comedy Safety Last includes one of the most famous images from the silent film era: Harold Lloyd clutching the hands of a large clock as he dangles from the outside of a skyscraper above moving traffic. For four days only, the Music Box Theatre gives audiences the rare opportunity to experience this comedy classic in celebration of its 90th anniversary. Lloyd was crowned the king of daredevil comedy thanks to Safety Last and - after decades of chases, explosions and CGI - the film's death-defying stunts still have the power to send audiences reeling. Safety Last will be screened in a new digital restoration made from the original nitrate camera negative, Friday-Monday, May 24-27 at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Avenue.

In order to marry his sweetheart (Mildred Davis), Lloyd's perennial bespectacled go-getter comes to the city, taking on a job as a store clerk. To impress his boss, Lloyd hires an acrobat to climb the multi-story building, but when the climber doesn't show, Lloyd must do it himself, leading to one of the most iconic images in movie history.
Safety Last (Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, 1923, 70m)
Friday, May 24 (recorded score)
Saturday, May 25 (live organ accompaniment)
Sunday, May 26 (recorded score)
Monday, May 27 (recorded score)
For showtimes and ticket prices, visit www.musicboxtheatre.com/features/safety-last

Janus Films is proud to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Lloyd's crowning achievement with a new DCP restored from the original nitrate camera negative, as well as new 35mm prints and theatrical Blu-rays.

Dennis Scott, Music Box Theatre's house organist, is an internationally known silent film organist dubbed the "Master of Magic Notes" by Suzanne Lloyd, granddaughter of the comic genius Harold Lloyd. Scott began accompanying silent films in the 1970s, when he started playing theater pipe organs installed in pizza parlors in the Midwest and the West Coast. He is a co-founder of the Silent Film Society of Chicago. Ongoing at the Music Box, he plays weekend intermissions, the annual Sing-Along Sound of Music, Sing-Along Grease, Valentine's Day Sing-Along and the acclaimed Music Box Christmas Sing-Along, a Chicago holiday tradition for nearly 30 years. For Music Box's Second Saturday Silent Cinema Series, Scott accompanies a classic silent film, live, at noon on the second Saturday of each month on the Music Box Theatre organ. The series was named the "Best New Film Series of 2011" by Chicago magazine and "Best Matinee Film Series of 2012" by the Chicago Reader.

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