Harold Lloyd Why Worry Extremely Rare Very Early Magic Lantern Slide '23 Giant

Description

Here is an extremely rare original antique magic lantern glass slide from 1923 for the classic Harold Lloyd short Why Worry? Costarring (and featured in the slide) giant John Aasen (1890-1938). Like Charles Chaplin's sidekick, Eric Campbell, Harold Lloyd needed his own giant when casting Why Worry? (1923) in 1922. Lloyd first had his eyes on George Auger (Cardiff Giant) who worked at Ringling Brothers sideshow as a giant. But Auger died before the film started and a search went out for a replacement. The producer Hal Roach heard of a shoemaker that was constructing a pair of shoes for a "Norwegian living in Minnesota", and his name was John Aasen. His mother was Kristi Danielsen (b. 1868) from Numedal in Norway. She emigrated to the US via Liverpool during spring of 1887. It is not 100% certain who Aasen's father was, but while working in Eggedal, Norway, Kristi Danielsen met the Swedish Nils Jansson Bokke who reached a prominent 244 cm in height. It had to have been "The clash of the Titans" when the couple met as Aasen's mother had her own merit with the height of 220cm. But the passenger list on board D/S "Rollo" listed Kristi Danielsen as single. Later that year Aasen was born and we can only speculate if his father was the Swede. Some sources lists him as 273 cm tall and with a weight of 251 kilos. Nearly 8 meters of material was needed to make him a suit. In other words; impressive! The annual Nummedalslagets yearbook of 1925 wrote: "Apparently the world's tallest human (in the civilized world) with a loving and sympathetic personality who always appears courteous and modest. In Harold Lloyd's film classic, Why Worry? (1923) , Aasen plays "Colosso". He is suffering from a toothache and stuck in jail with other prisoners of a revolution in Chile. Lloyd is Harold von Palham as the rich hypochondriac who ends up in the same prison as "Colosso" and cures him of his toothache. Forever grateful "Colosso" aids van Palham in his adventures as escapees from the prison. With a cannon on his back and bullets hanging from his neck, the pair becomes an unusual couple who create comic mayhem. The film became one of the largest box-office attractions of 1923. Aasen was a great success in his first film and appeared in several others, but not with the same impact. It is said he mastered Norwegian fluently and for many years performed as a "Sideshow" attraction for C.A. Wortham Shows. He died on the 1st August 1938 in Mendocino, California. Harold Clayton Lloyd was born in Burchard, Nebraska on the 20th of April 1893. When Harold was 12 he joined the theatre usually just performing with his high school. Harold's father (nick-named 'Foxy') was not successful at business and Harold's mother regretted marrying him. Later, actor John Lane Connor asked Lloyd to go to Los Angeles with him. Lloyd, now divorced, won 00 after an accident. They flipped a coin - it was either heads to California or tails to New York and it came up California according to Lloyd's daughter, Gloria, in "Harold Lloyd, The Third Genius" (1989) undoubtedly the most informative documentary on his life, which was produced by film historians David Gill & Kevin Brownlow. While Harold and John Lane Connor were in San Diego, the Edison film company asked Connor to supply extras. This led to the first movie appearance of Lloyd in a 1913 film called The Old Monk's Tale (1913). That year Lloyd was cast as an extra in a movie called Rory 'o The Bogs where he came upon another extra, Hal Roach. They also appeared later on in Samson (1914) and in The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914). In 1915 Roach had developed a new film company and he invited Harold Lloyd for his own series. The studio now had a new name, Rolin. Harold was a slow developer at comedy. His first character was called Willie Work, later Lonesome Luke, which was an imitation of Charlie Chaplin's tramp character. Just Nuts (1915), the first Lonesome Luke, was a success and Roach wanted no change. Finally in 1917 Lloyd thought up a new character called simply "Glasses" character. Lloyd directed the first of these movies but later knew it's impossible to act and direct at the same time. Roach had later claimed he had invented the character but it was indeed Lloyd's idea. He was joined by a huge company including 'Snub' Pollard & Bebe Daniels. In 1921 it was time for Lloyd to begin making feature-length comedies. The first of these was A Sailor-Made Man (1921) which was a huge a success. It was followed by Grandma's Boy (1922). Lloyd wanted Grandma's Boy to be just a dramatic picture but when he previewed it in a theatre the audience was not laughing. So Roach got all the writers to work out gags for the picture. After the film was released Lloyd recognized it as one of the greatest accomplishments. Next came an interesting picture called Dr. Jack (1922)followed by Lloyd's most spectacular film,
Safety Last! (1923)in 1923. The film showed Lloyd dangling from a clock on the side of a building. At the end of that year Lloyd left Roach and formed his own company called 'The Harold Lloyd corporation' where for the first 2 years he distributed his movies through Pathe and later for Paramount. His most popular film was The Freshman (1925) in 1925. In 1928 Lloyd had already written
his own autobiography "An American Comedy" the same year where he made his last silent film entitled Speedy (1928). In 1929 Lloyd began making a film called Welcome Danger (1929)where he originally shot it as a silent film but later on he re-shot it as a talking film. His career was going down with the dawn of sound. He made one more thrill picture called Feet First (1930)in the style of Safety Last. But with the depression hitting, he no longer achieved the same fame as he did in the roaring twenties. He returned two years later with an amazing film which was regarded as his best talkie. The movie was Movie Crazy (1932) where Lloyd considered he was at his funniest. Convinced it was a hit he went on a trip to Europe. He later returned to Hollywood and had learned that the film had been a flop, he reduced himself to one film every two years. He made another great talking film entitled The Milky Way (1936) in 1936, directed by Leo McCarey. After one of his last movies, Professor Beware (1938), although he didn't exactly retire he just drifted away from the film industry. He produced two more films for RKO in the early 40s before retiring. After that he found many more interests including the study of color and such. Later on he took numerous photographs of Marilyn Monroe. In 1947, director Preston Sturges, who had never forgotten 'The Freshman' wanted to make a tribute to Lloyds career. So Lloyd agreed to make a movie with Sturges, which in the end was titled The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947), but it didn't reach the top. Three years later producer Howard Hughes re-issued and edited it down to 79 minutes and changed the title to Mad Wednesday. Lloyd was now nearly forgotten. Although the film was unsuccessful, in 1951 Lloyd was nominated for a golden globe for best Motion Picture Actor in a musical or comedy. But he did receive an honorary Oscar in 1953 for being a master comedian and good citizen. In 1962 he compiled some of his silent comedies into two documentaries, which were called Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy & another one in 1963 entitled Harold Lloyd's Funny Side of Life. Lloyd re-released some of his films and his fame was coming back but not as it once was. He died in 1971 at the age of 78. He was also known for his generous charity work. His stars on the walk of fame are at 6840 Hollywood Blvd & at 1501 Vine Street, California. Extremely rare. If buyer wants suggestion on how to display, I have found a very inexpensive display option that works well.
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