''The Freshman'' is a 1925 American silent comedy film that tells the story of a college freshman trying to become popular by joining the school football team. It stars Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Brooks Benedict, and James Anderson. It remains one of Lloyd's most successful and enduring films. The film was written by John Grey,

Sam Taylor Samuel, Sam or Sammy Taylor (male first name) may refer to: Arts * Sam Taylor (director) (1895–1958), American film director and screenwriter * Samuel W. Taylor (1907–1997), American author * Samuel A. Taylor (1912–2000), playwright and scre ...

Tim Whelan Tim Whelan (November 2, 1893 – August 12, 1957) was an American film director, writer, producer and actor best remembered for his writing credits on ''Harold Lloyd'' and ''Harry Langdon'' comedies, and his directing of mostly British films (e.g ...

, and

Ted Wilde Ted Wilde (December 16, 1889 – December 17, 1929) was a comedy writer and director during the era of silent movies, though he also directed two talkies released in 1930. He was born in New York City. His initial career was as a member of Harold ...

. It was directed by Taylor and

Fred C. Newmeyer Fred C. Newmeyer (August 9, 1888 – April 24, 1967) was an American actor, film director and film producer. Biography A native of Central City, Colorado, Newmeyer is best known for directing a handful of films in the ''Our Gang'' series and fo ...

. In 1990, ''The Freshman'' was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", added in the second year of voting and one of the first 50 films to receive the honor.

Plot

Harold Lamb (Harold Lloyd), a bright-eyed but naive young man, enrolls at Tate University. On the train there, he meets Peggy (Jobyna Ralston). They are attracted to each other. Harold decides that the best way to ensure his popularity at school is to emulate his movie idol, The College Hero, down to mimicking a little jig he does before greeting anyone, and taking his nickname, "Speedy". However, the College Cad (Brooks Benedict) quickly makes him the butt of an ongoing joke, of which the freshman remains blissfully unaware. Harold thinks he is popular, when in fact he is the laughingstock of the whole school. His only real friend is Peggy, who turns out to be his landlady's daughter. She is described in one of the film's

title cards In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dial ...

as "the kind of girl your mother must have been". He tries out for the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team. The coach (

Pat Harmon Plummer Hull Harman (February 3, 1886 – November 26, 1958), known professionally as Pat Harmon, was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1920 and 1947. In 1935, Harmon was the victim of a violent assault whic ...

) is unimpressed, but as Harold has damaged their only practice tackle dummy, the coach uses him in its place. At the end of practice, though, he approves of Harold's enthusiasm (undiminished after repeated tackling). The coach is about to dismiss the freshman when Chet Trask (James Anderson), the captain and star of the team, suggests making him their water boy, while letting him think he has made the squad. The Freshman lobby card

Harold is persuaded to host the annual "Fall Frolic" dance. His tailor is late making his suit; with the dance well underway, it is barely being held together by basting stitches, but Harold puts it on and hopes for the best. During the party, his clothes start to fall apart, despite the efforts of the tailor (hiding in a side room) to effect repairs. When Harold sees the College Cad being too forward with Peggy, working as a hatcheck girl, Harold knocks him down. The incensed Cad then tells him just what everyone really thinks of him. Peggy advises him to stop putting on an act and be himself. Harold is determined to prove himself by getting into the big football game. His chance comes when the other team proves too tough, injuring so many of Tate College's players that the coach runs out of substitutes. Hounded by Harold and warned by the

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

that he will forfeit if he cannot come up with another player, the coach reluctantly lets Harold go in. The first few plays are disastrous. Finally, he breaks free and is on his way to winning the game, but, mindful of a referee's prior instruction that he is to stop playing when he hears the whistle, he drops the football just outside the

end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field. ...

when a non-football whistle sounds. The other team recovers the ball with only a minute left to play. His teammates are disheartened, but Harold rouses them to make a final effort. He chases down the opposing ball carrier, knocks the football loose, scoops it up and runs it all the way back for the winning

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

as time runs out, which at last earns him the respect and popularity he was after. To top it off, Peggy passes him a note proclaiming her love for him.

Cast

* Harold Lloyd as The Freshman * Jobyna Ralston as Peggy *

Brooks Benedict Brooks Benedict (born Harold J. Mann, February 6, 1896 – January 1, 1968) was an American actor of the silent and sound film eras, when he played supporting and utility roles in over 300 films, mostly uncredited. Life He was born to Alice Jul ...

as The College Cad * James Anderson as The College Hero *

Hazel Keener Hazel Keener (October 22, 1904 – August 7, 1979) was a motion picture actress from Fairbury, Illinois. She was raised in Davenport, Iowa. Keener won a national beauty contest sponsored by the Chicago Tribune and used her success to begi ...

as The College Belle *Joseph Harrington as The College Tailor *

as The Football Coach

Pete the Pup Pete the Pup (original, 1924 – June 1930; second Pete, September 9, 1929 – January 28, 1946) was a character in Hal Roach's '' Our Gang'' comedies (later known as ''The Little Rascals'') during the 1930s, otherwise known as "Pete, the dog w ...

has a cameo in the movie.

Production

Train station scenes were filmed on November 12–13, 1924 at the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

depot at

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, California, with a four-car train set and locomotive provided by the railroad and standing on a siding adjacent to the station. Some shots were also made in the park across the street from the depot. Some 80 cast and crew were involved at this location. Reverse angle reaction shots of the college dean were later done at the

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...

Pacific Electric The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...

depot near the film studio. Exteriors were filmed near the

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

campus in Los Angeles. The game sequence was shot on the field at the Rose Bowl, and the crowd scenes were shot at halftime at

California Memorial Stadium California Memorial Stadium also known simply and commonly as Memorial Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium on the west coast of the United States, located on the campus of the University of California in Berkeley, California. It is ...

during the November 1924 Big Game between

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

and

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Reception

''The Freshman'' is widely considered one of Lloyd's most hilarious, well-constructed films and was his most successful silent film of the 1920s. Hugely popular at the time of its release, it sparked a craze for college films that lasted well beyond the 1920s. It was one of Lloyd's few films to remain widely available after the sound era, and he reissued the film (with cuts) and used extended scenes in compilation films of the 1960s. The football game sequence was reused by Lloyd and director Preston Sturges in Lloyd's last film, '' The Sin of Harold Diddlebock'' (1947). The film is recognized by

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

in these lists: * 2000: AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – #79

Copyright lawsuits

American humorist and author

H. C. Witwer Harry Charles Witwer (March 11, 1890 – August 9, 1929), more commonly known as H. C. Witwer, was an American short-story author. Some 60 comedy film shorts were based on his works, most from the mid-1920s to 1930, the year after Witwer's deat ...

sued Lloyd in April 1929 for $2,300,000 over ''The Freshman'', claiming that it was "pirated" from Witwer's short story "The Emancipation of Rodney", first published in 1915. When Witwer died from liver failure in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, on August 9, 1929, the lawsuit had not been settled. Witwer's widow pursued the lawsuit and won a judgment against Lloyd in November 1930. On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals overturned the ruling and Witwer's widow received nothing. A further lawsuit was brought in 2000 by Lloyd's granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd Hayes, against the Walt Disney Company, alleging that elements of ''The Freshman'' were copied to the 1998 comedy '' The Waterboy''; the US District Court in Los Angeles eventually ruled against Hayes.

Home media

Criterion released ''The Freshman'' on Blu-ray and DVD on March 25, 2014.

References

External links

*''The Freshman'' essay by

Annette D'Agostino Lloyd Annette Marie Lloyd ( D'Agostino; born August 8, 1962, Staten Island, New York) is a silent film historian and author of numerous books on silent film and television, particularly on the life and works of actor Harold Lloyd. Between 2000-05 she w ...

br>
*''The Freshman'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pages 101-10

* * * *
''The Freshman: Speedy Saves the Day! A Harold Lamb Adventure!''
an essay by

Stephen Winer Stephen Winer began his writing career at the '' National Lampoon'' and his TV career on '' Late Night with David Letterman'' which the Writers Guild of America voted one of th101 Best-Written TV Series He went on to write for NBC ''TV's Bloopers & ...

at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freshman, The 1925 films American silent feature films American football films American black-and-white films Films directed by Fred C. Newmeyer Films directed by Sam Taylor Films set in universities and colleges American sports comedy films United States National Film Registry films Films with screenplays by Sam Taylor (director) Films with screenplays by John Grey 1920s sports comedy films Surviving American silent films 1925 comedy films 1920s American films Silent American comedy films