Harold Lloyd drives a Pacific Electric trolley in Girl Shy (1924)

In this hilarious movie, Harold Lloyd, who always did his stunts himself, runs from one vehicle to another to make his way to the girl he loves. In this clip from Girl Shy, he attempts to operate a Pacific Electric trolley in the streets of Los Angeles in 1924. This clip is dedicated to Harold as well as the extensive streetcar system of Los Angeles back then.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Harold
• Lloyd
• Pacific
• Electric
• trolley
• Girl
• Shy
• 1924
• streetcar
• light
• rail
• light-rail
• Los
• Angeles
• Hollywood
• Santa
• Monica
• Metro
• Expo
• Line

[denny906]

According to the movie database website IMDB.com Girl Shy was filmed in these locations:

Culver City, California, USA

Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

General Service Studios - 1040 N. Las Palmas, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Hollywood Center Studios - 1040 N. Las Palmas Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

[gesirgen]

@denny906 The trolley scene is likely to be shot on a Pacific Electric line near Downtown. Also, note the hilly streets. It could be the Bunker Hill area or north Downtown.

[Jeffbear1]

It looks more like an L A Ry car to me. And Lloyd was "operating" it, not "driving" it.

[gesirgen]

@Jeffbear1 As I explained above in the uploader comments, it's more likely to be Pacific Electric car.

[gesirgen]

I can barely read the number on the streetcar as 234 on the version of the video I have.

Single-color scheme, size, style, and what appears to be standard-gauge tracks point out to Pacific Electric.

Can anyone figure out what street it is? Note the street on a hill.

A funny scene that was somehow cut during the editing was the streetcar operators mocking Harold for asking them to give him a ride.

I will try to upload a higher-quality version in the future.

[kirkconway]

@jooshiscrazy

noooo

thats wrong,,,

i have the comedy collection. and the music for gilrl shy was by Robert Israel

It say;s it is on the oening credit's on the film.

It's no big thing but I just wanted to get the fact's straight.

[uranian99]

@uranian99 Yeah, or the nice way people used to dress. Now it looks like they're practically in their underwear.

[uranian99]

@The5150Clown No, I meant that was the maximum speed. They wouldn't take those thurns at that speed, of course. Turns on street trackage were a much sharper radius than on the private right of way. I envy your great grandfather by the way :-)

[jooshiscrazy]

@kirkconway This music is by Carl Davis. 

[The5150Clown]

@uranian99 If those streetcars did 40 around those turns, they would jump the track. My great grandfather operated cars for Pacific Electric right up to the time they tore the tracks up. They could manage 45 or 50 on the straight track through the watts area

[uranian99]

@Fnarge Yeah, it's enough to make you cry when you think how lovely Los Angeles used to look.

[uranian99]

@jooshiscrazy I think these cars DID go 40 mph. Any faster wouldn't be practical in suburban areas. Any faster than that would have caused it to jump the track.

[uranian99]

@Jeffbear1 Both LARY and PE (with some exceptions like the 950's) had five window ends (called "California type.") This car is running in places where LARY didn't go. It's a Huntington Standard single unit car. And was owned by the PE

[uranian99]

@stlgtrace Nope, it's a single unit Pacific Electric passenger car. This car, (there were 4 of them) was for city and suburban use. Don't let the speed in the film fool you; they couldn't go that fast nor were they allowed to. It was the only car on the PE that had wicker sections on both ends. No example of this car survives today, as it was retired (scrapped) early. HO models of this car do exist.

[Fnarge]

Doesn't Los Angeles look wonderful in these street scenes; so new, clean and tidy

with no crude advertising hoardings and of course no jet plane noise over head.