Harold tries to get in to ask father.

This is an early example of the famous Harold Lloyd persona of the earnest young man in glasses and straw hat. The plot of this one reeler is classic Lloyd. He is in love with the daughter of a very busy man who runs his office with an iron fist. Bebe Daniels, who was a frequent costar of Lloyd’s from his earlier movie incarnation as Lonesome Luke, plays a switchboard operator at the office where Harold goes to “Ask Father” for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Another Lloyd regular, Snub Pollard, plays the father’s secretary.

Naturally Harold is denied entrance to speak to the busy man and keeps getting thrown out. There is one running gag where Daniels lays a pillow on the floor in anticipation of where Lloyd will land each time he gets tossed out on his rear end. The resourceful Harold now tries a disguise. He dresses up as a woman (there just happens to be a costume company right next door). Although he doesn’t look very convincing in drag he minces across the room and gets the attention of the father and his male secretary. They quickly discover the truth however and this time they get rid of Harold by flipping a switch on the wall that starts the floor moving. This sets up another chance for Harold to get thrown out onto the pillow.

Finally Harold goes in with two revolvers, guns blazing, only to fall through a trap door. He winds up out on the street and then inadvertently holds up two men by the way he is holding the pistols behind his back. Next Harold scales the outside of the building, four years before he would build an entire movie around this stunt in Safety Last. Back to the costume rental, he emerges fully clad as a knight in shining armor. When Harold finally gets the father’s attention he learns that the daughter has just gotten married and is off to Brooklyn for a honeymoon. Of course Harold ends up with the switchboard operator with the pillow. Her father, fortunately, died when she was a child.

Harold Lloyd’s comedies were incredibly fast-paced. Even his subtitles were amusing. He was much more frenetic than either Chaplin or Keaton. He may never have achieved their level of artistic genius but he certainly packed in the most sight gags per minute. Ask Father runs a mere thirteen minutes but it never lets up for a second.
 

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