January 10, 2017

Classic film ‘Safety Last!’ to feature live organ accompaniment at Long Center

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Accompanied by Clark Wilson on the Mighty Wurlitzer, the classic silent film “Safety Last!” will show at the Long Center at 8 p.m. Jan. 27. The performance is presented by Purdue Convocations with support from the Long Center Theatre Organ Society.

Ticket holders are invited to join Suzanne Lloyd, granddaughter of Harold Lloyd, at 6:30 p.m. in the Long Center for a pre-show discussion of the filmmaker and film.

Silent film icon Harold Lloyd used physical humor to create awe-inspiring spectacles - treacherous feats of derring-do for him and his stuntmen that left audiences gasping in nervous delight. But Lloyd also understood the perils of unrealized potential and the deadliness in disappointing loved ones who so deeply believe in you. So goes the winningly romantic conceit of his 1923 classic “Safety Last!” which will be screened with live accompaniment from theater-organist extraordinaire Wilson on the center’s ornate Mighty Wurlitzer.

In the film, Lloyd plays a lowly department store clerk trying to make a splash in the big city and impress his girlfriend back home. His solution? A death-defying stunt to draw huge crowds to the store, for which his boss promises to pay a $1,000 bonus. The catch? He’ll have to perform the dangerous stunt himself.

The scheme culminates in one of cinema’s most indelible images — Lloyd hanging from the hands of a clock high above the streets of Los Angeles. Featured on the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, “Safety Last!” is an treasure of the silent-film era and motion picture history. The Long Center screening is a chance to see the film as it should be seen —on a big screen, accompanied by one of the finest performers on one of the finest theater organs in the Midwest.

Tickets are $18 for adults and $12 for those 18 years and younger, Purdue students and Ivy Tech Lafayette students. Tickets are available at the Stewart Center box office at 765-494-3933 or 800-914-SHOW. Information on group tickets, available to groups of 10 or more, is available by calling 765-496-1977 or visiting https://purdue.edu/convocations/group-sales/.

Initiated in 1902, Purdue Convocations was one of the first professional performing arts presenters in the United States. Each year, Convocations offers the region 30-40 performances of widely varying genres: Broadway-style shows, theater, dance, children's theater, world music, jazz, and chamber music, along with rock, pop, country and comedy attractions. With a vision for connecting artists and audiences in artistic dialogue and for drawing in academic discourse, Purdue Convocations aims to promote frequent exposure to and familiarity with human cultural expression in a multitude of forms and media. 

Source: Abby Eddy, Purdue Convocations director of marketing, 765-494-9712, aeeddy@purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: Publication-quality photos are available at http://www.convocations.org/press

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