A close-up of the decorations on the tree. This was a fraction of the complete installation. I thought I had gone overboard with my Christmas decos this year, until I read about Harold Lloyd’s efforts. Back in the 1920s, Lloyd was a silent movie superstar. Scenes of his slapstick derring-do in such films as Safety Last! (1923) and High and Dizzy (1920) have, along with Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp and Theda Bara’s smokey-eyed femme fatale, came to symbolise the entire era. The highest-paid star of 1920, he indulged himself – as famous rich people will do – in a huge mansion (4...