Harold Lloyd Goes Way Out West

When Comedy Was Highlight Of The Show: An Eastern Westerner (1920)

Harold Lloyd was up to $750 per week by this time. Did that make him a highest paid comedian next to, maybe Chaplin or Arbuckle? Possibly Mabel Normand earned more as well. There were young contract players in the early 60's getting less from major companies, so I'd say $750 in 1920 was serious money. An Eastern Westerner was released as a two-reel "special," label at the time for a short sold like a feature, or at least the program's lead attraction. There are many ads from the late teens putting two-reel comedies top and center over dramatic stuff offered in five and six parts. Comedies with Harold Lloyd had become many people's reason for attending a show. Extensive trade support would reflect booming popularity for Hal Roach's Number One fun-maker. An Eastern Westerner is structured not unlike longer shows Lloyd would soon make, being similar in concept to Doug Fairbanks' Wild and Wooly from 1917. Every comedian in town had by now done a western spoof, but none so adroitly as Harold here. An Eastern Westerner is fast and funny with a romance (Mildred Davis), that last eluding rival comics with less femme appeal than Harold Lloyd fast developed (and judging by distaff fan following to this day, he's still got).