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Safety Last
Beaumont Events will present a special night of movies Friday, March 24, with the showing of the 1923 silent comedy film, “Safety Last,” which will also feature a live score by organist Brett Valliant on the Robert Morton Organ at the Jefferson Theatre at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com or at the venue, day of show (345 Fannin St.) in downtown.
A boy leaves his small country town and heads to the big city to get a job. As soon as he makes it big his sweetheart will join him and marry him. His enthusiasm to get ahead leads to some interesting adventure.
Starring the great Harold Lloyd, the movie includes one of the most famous images from the silent-film era, which is Lloyd clutching the hands of a large clock as he dangles from the outside of a skyscraper above moving traffic. The film was highly successful and critically hailed, and it cemented Lloyd’s status as a major figure in early motion pictures. It is still popular at revivals, and it is viewed today as one of the great film comedies.
In 1994, “Safety Last” was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” It is one of many works from 1923 that notably entered the public domain in the U.S. in 2019, which is the first time any works had done so in 20 years.
The film is 1 hour and 13 minutes long.
The Robert Morton Wonder Organ, voiced particularly for the acoustics of the Jefferson Theatre, was installed on a platform that allows the organ to rise majestically from the orchestra pit to the stage level. The organ’s 778 pipes and many percussive effects produces a variety of sounds rivaling those of an actual orchestra.
Valliant, a native of Wichita, Kansas, began his professional career at 11, and by 15, he was playing concerts around the United States. Since then, Valliant has appeared in Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Additionally, in the U.S. Brett has performed for the American Film Institute, as well as conventions of the American Theatre Organ Society (ATOS) and the American Guild of Organists (AGO).