Ring Up The Curtain

Series: Harold Lloyd

Director: Alf Goulding

Producer: Hal Roach

Titles: H.M. Walker

Photography: Walter Lundin

Editor:

Stars: Harold Lloyd, Bebe Daniels, Snub Pollard

Company: Pathé Exchange

Released: 27 April 1919

Length: 1 reel

Production No.: L-55

Filming dates: September 9-14, 1918

Rating: 3/10

Ring Up The Curtain

Available on DVD:

Harold Lloyd and Bud Jamison in Ring Up The Curtain (1919)

A group of traveling Thespians make their way on foot along a railroad track. Meanwhile the owner of an opera house (Bud Jamison) is angered by four rowdy workers and throws them out into the street. Harold, who is a stage hand at the theatre, manages to piss off the boss, who, after assaulting Harold, orders him to get back to work. So Harold neatly folds up the set which resembles a bar and starts sweeping the ground whilst the owner paces up and down angrily. They collide and the owner continues his berating of Harold. The traveling group, led by Noah Young find their way to the theatre and enter the stage door. The leading lady (Bebe Daniels) catches Harold's eye as he plays bashful towards her. She entrusts Harold into unlocking her trunk and giving her "kimonas" a sun bath. He unwittingly pulls out a live snake from the trunk before running into Noah Young and giving it to him. Noah quickly gives it back! Harold then drops the snake down a hatch and onto the rehearsing actors below.
Then begins the 'game' of passing the snake! Harold gets little Sammy Brooks to play a tune on his flute to charm the snake back into a hole in the bottom of a door. A call goes out to "ring up the curtain" as the ladies take to the stage in front of the audience. Harold has trouble with the rope that operates the curtain and enlists the help of Noah Young and then Dee Lampton to keep the curtain from falling down. Harold then spies the lovely ladies on the stage through a telescope before breaking it. Snub takes to the stage and calls for the queen (Daniels) who is being held up backstage by Harold. Snub takes charge and Bebe becomes the centre of a tug-of-war on stage between the two men who begin fighting. The owner then gets involved and chases Harold off. Finally, Bebe confesses to Harold that she has no money. He gladly gives her some money, before she then walks off with Snub. Oh, what a lovely lady she is.

Favourite bit
Seeing all the girls on stage.

Trivia
• Copyrighted November 21, 1918.
• Reissued August 22, 1926.
• There are nineteen people in the opening scene, walking along the rail tracks, despite the fact the opening intertitle card introduces them as "twelve actors.... and a sword swallower" That makes 13.
• Outside the stage door the sign for the curtain call misspells the word "curtin".
• The trunk which is used as part of the set has the word "theatre" stamped on it. This is the English spelling of the word (as opposed to the American spelling of "theater". Was this an oversight, or deliberate?
• That was a real snake that Harold Lloyd wore on his neck!

My opinion
• It's your typical Harold Lloyd 'comedy' with very little plot, too many actors and the same old worn-out routines which are repetitive, predictable and boring. And not for the first time, Bebe Daniels' character turns out to be a real bitch.

	Harold Lloyd Harold
	Bebe Daniels Leading lady
	Snub Pollard Snub
	Sammy Brooks Short actor with dog
	Bud Jamison Opera house manager
	Dee Lampton Fat actor
	Marie Mosquini Stage actress
	Margaret Joslin Heavy actress/ Woman in audience
	Noah Young Stage actor
	James Parrott Stage actor/ Rowdy employee/ Man in audience
	Wallace Howe Stage actor/ Rowdy employee
	Dorothea Wolbert Thin actress
	Estelle Harrison Stage actress
	Billy Fay Conductor
	Belle Mitchell Woman in audience
	Lew Harvey Rowdy employee
	Emmylou Wallace Woman in audience
	William Peterson Rowdy employee
	Oscar Larson [?]
	D. Coburn [?]
	Paddy McGuire [?]
	Florence Depew [?]
	Edith Depew [?]

UNIDENTIFIED CAST
Unknowns in Ring Up The Curtain (1919)

CREDITS (click image to enlarge)	INTERTITLES (click image to enlarge)

SHOT ON LOCATION
(click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements:
The Harold Lloyd Encyclopedia by Annette D'Agostino Lloyd (book)
Jesse Brisson (identification of Billy Fay, Belle Mitchell, William Peterson, Emmylou Wallace and Lew Harvey)

This page was last updated on: 12 June 2021