Top Number: My Top 10 Laurel and Hardy shorts/films

For generations, Laurel and Hardy has been entertaining the masses for decades. With their unforgettable catchphrases, unparalleled slapstick humour, and characters that will leave you laughing for the rest of the day, Laurel and Hardy never stop bringing in the fun.

The ten shorts/films that I will be talking about today all were when the two were working with Hal Roach. They made a number of shorts/films when working hat the Hal Roach Studios. Starting off with the silent films in 1927 with “Duck Soup”, then making the transition to what was known at the time as talkies, in 1929 with “Unaccustomed As We Are”. Since then, some of their best works were produced.

Their last film before leaving the Hal Roach Studios after a disagreement over contracts, “Saps at Sea” in 1940. The double act would later sign a deal with 20^th Century Fox and produce a series of feature length films. Their final film “Atoll K”, in 1951, was met with numerous difficulties due to Stan’s health and communications with French Director, Leo Joannon.

In August 1957, after being hospitalised from suffering a major stoke that left him unable to speak for several months, he suffered two more strokes and slipped into a coma from which he never recovered, and on August 7^th 1957 he died peacefully in his sleep.

Stan vowed never to act again after his friend’s death, and stuck to his word by turning down a small cameo role in the film “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” Four days after suffering from a heart attack, Laurel passed away quietly in his armchair on 23^rd February 1967. His last words to his nurse minutes away from death by saying that he wouldn’t mind going skiing. Surprised to hear that, the nurse said that she didn’t know that he was a skier, to which he replied by saying, “I’m not, I’d rather be doing that than this.”

Their legacy is huge, and continue to grow. Today, I would like to talk about my ten favourite productions of theirs, and spread their genius that much further.

Number 10:

Our Wife

(1931)

Oliver is making plans to be married to Dulcy with Stan as his best man. However, the moment that Dulcy’s father sees Hardy’s picture, he freaks out and forbids her to marry him. So they plan to elope. Laurel and Hardy, after causing a bit of chaos manages to sneak Dulcy away from her house.

And this is the part that puts this episode on the list. Oliver asks Stan to order him a limousine for their wedding, to which Stan orders a tiny car instead. They spend several minutes trying to cram themselves into the car, along with the suitcases, to which they successfully do, but as it is about to set off, the car’s front end lifts off and Stan is propelled through the roof, where his head pokes out of the top of the car for the entire journey to the vicar who has agreed to marry then.

Unfortunately, the vicar is suffering from cross-eyes and accidentally marries Stan to Oliver.

Number 9:

Helpmates

(1932)

Oliver’s house is a complete mess from a wild party the previous night. He receives a telegram from his wife saying that she is at the station, ready to be picked up. Freaking out, Oliver calls up Stan to come over and help him tidy the house and to get ready to pick up his wife. Typical Laurel and Hardy shenanigans commence.

Oliver then rushes out to pick up his wife, leaving Stan to do the finishing touches. Oliver comes home with a black eye and no wife, only to find the house is in a worse state than when he left it. Stan explains that he wanted to leave them a nice fire, but it blew up the house.

The short concludes with Oliver sitting in his armchair, contemplating what on Earth had happened, only for a storm to break out above and starts raining on him.

Number 8:

Busy Bodies

(1933)

Stan and Oliver are arriving to their new job with confidence, but things quickly get out of hand. They immediately fall out with one of their workmates, and then with themselves, resulting in “tit for tat”.

The problems only but increase, and soon they are being chased out of the workplace, jump in their car, which they then promptly drives into a vertical saw and cuts their car in half. 

Number 7:

Me and My Pal

(1933)

Oliver Hardy is preparing for his wedding day to the daughter of a wealthy oil magnet, Peter Cucumber. San Laurel is his best man. Before Oliver sets off for the wedding, Stan comes to visit and brings a present, which is revealed to be a jigsaw puzzle. Oliver is puzzled as to why Stan brought that because he soon won’t have time to play with it, however, they quickly become preoccupied with it, as well as the Taxi driver who has come to take Oliver to the wedding, quickly followed by the butler.

A telegram arrives for Oliver, and soon the telegram delivery boy is also distracted by the puzzle, and even a cop, who only arrived after crashing into the back of the parked taxi, which is parked illegally. At the wedding, Peter Cucumber is furious because Stan had ordered a wreath to be sent to the wedding, and that Oliver is very late. He goes to investigate the problem, and at the house, orders Oliver to come and marry his daughter. The jigsaw is almost completed, all they need to do is find one more piece. The Police Officer says that no one is to leave this place until that puzzle is completed, including Cucumber, who is confused and even angrier.

A fight breaks out, resulting in the puzzle getting knocked over, and, the taxi driver, the telegram delivery boy, the butler, and Peter Cucumber to be arrested, except Stan and Ollie who managed to hide themselves. Before Stan is about to leave Oliver on his own to think things through, he actually finds the missing piece, but before he is able to do anything else, Oliver angrily throws him out. The short film ends with Oliver throwing the puzzle all around the house out of frustration.

Number 6:

Way out West

(1937)

This is one of their last feature films before leaving Hal Roach Studios. It also includes their famous dance routine to the equally as famous song, “At the Ball, That’s all”, by The Avalon Boys.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy has been entrusted by Seymore “Sey” Roberts, an old prospector, to deliver the deed to a gold mine, to the man’s daughter, Mary Roberts. Mary is living in Brushwood Gulch, and doesn’t have much money and is constantly being tormented by her cruel guardians, Mickey Finn (James Finlayson) and his wife Lola Marcel (Sharon Lynn), who are both saloon owners and Lola is saloon’s singer.

During their journey, they try and flirt with the woman who is riding with them, only to discover that she is married and she complains to her husband, who is also the town’s sheriff of their actions, which prompts the sheriff to order the pair to leave town on the next coach out. Stan and Oliver promises to do so, but they first must complete their mission. Before they enter the saloon, they perform their famous dance routine.

They introduce themselves to the saloon’s owner, who quickly formulates a plan of having his wife, Lola, play Mary so she can get the deed for them. The plan works because neither Stan nor Oliver has ever seen Mary before, so unknowingly hands the deed to the wrong person. Happy with their success, they stick to their promise to the sheriff and head to the next coach out of town, only to then bump into the real Mary. Upon learning who the real Mary is, they quickly turn back to collect the deed from the wrong people, but the husband and wife duo will not surrender the deed. A massive struggle ensures. Stan successfully grabs it, but is then locked in the bedroom with Lola, who doesn’t back down from doing anything she can to make him give the deed, which includes tickling Stan into hysterics. Stan gives Lola the deed, and she locks it in the safe. Stan and Oliver calls the Police, but, their plan backfires with the angry sheriff they encountered earlier turns up and chases them out of town.

They are not about to give up yet. Outside town, Stan comes up with a plan to sneak back into the saloon and take the deed, of which Oliver agrees and they go ahead with it. Whilst attempting to do so, classic Laurel and Hardy shenanigans erupt, but they do make it inside without alerting anyone, except they do encounter the real Mary, who doesn’t hesitate with helping them break into the safe and take the deed. Some more classic mishaps happen, but they are successful.

The three walk off into the sunset singing the song, “We’re Going to See My Home in Dixie”. A running gag throughout the film shows Oliver falling into a sinkhole in the middle of a lake, of which Stan walks around seemingly aware that it is there. The first time, is near the beginning of the film, the second is when he is being chased out of town, and the third is at the very end. Despite that, unlike most of their shorts and films, they have a happy ending as Oliver falling into the sinkhole is meant for comic effect.

Number 5:

Twice Two

(1933)

Oliver is married to Stan’s sister – who is played by Stan – and Stan is married to Oliver’s sister – who is played by Oliver. They all live together. The short opens with Stan and Oliver in their office, just before they leave for home. A few funny moments with two telephones later, and the scene changes to their sisters preparing for a nice meal as it is their anniversary. Nothing changes: Stan’s sister tries to help Oliver’s sister, but it ends with a cake being dropped on Oliver’s sister’s head, making her look like Elizabeth I. Stan and Oliver then arrive home, to which Stan’s wife instructs him to go and get some ice-cream as their newly ordered cake may not arrive in time.

Stan goes to the shop to order some ice-cream, but they haven’t any. It turns out he went to the wrong shop. He comes home without any ice-cream because he had spent the money phoning up the house to say they don’t have a particular flavour. Eventually, they sit down to have dinner, but they do nothing but argue.

The short ends with the delivery boy (Charlie Hall) arrives with a new cake, which is promptly dropped on Mr’s Laurel’s face by an angry Oliver Hardy.

Number 4:

Towed in a Hole

(1932)

This short starts off with Stand and Oliver working in the fish business. They drive around town, advertising their fish, but they aren’t successful with selling any. Stan then gets the idea of catching their own fish with their own boat, so they can keep all the profits for themselves. This scene includes one of their most famous running jokes, which consists of Stan telling the plan to Oliver perfectly, only for Oliver needing to be told it twice because he didn’t quite understand it the first time. Stan tries to tell him the plan, but gets all his words messed up, but Oliver says that he now understands what Stan means, and agrees to the plan.

They head straight to a junk yard to by themselves a boat. They go ahead of refurbishing the boat. Classic Oliver and Hardy mishaps ensures, but they do manage to get the boat ready for the water.

Their entire plan goes downhill fast when they decide to hoist the sail. The wind catches hold and pushes the boat towards the car. The camera famously cuts to Stand and Oliver watching the crash with blank expressions. All that can be heard is the sound of the crash. When they go to investigate the wreckage, it isn’t a pretty sight. 

Number 3:

Tit for Tat

(1935)

This is the first and only official sequel to one of their shorts. This story is a continuation to the short, “Them Thar Hills” which came out the previous year, and saw Oliver and Hardy travel to the mountains to get some fresh air as Oliver recovers from gout. The meet a motorist couple who had become stranded after running out of petrol. Stan and Oliver are more than happy to help and gives them their spare can of petrol. The husband, who is never best pleased the best of times, (Charlie Hall) walks back to the car leaving his wife (Mae Busch) with Stan and Oliver, who provide a warm and kind atmosphere that she finds refreshing after spending so much time with her irritable husband. She joins the two with having dinner, and they drink an incredible amount of mountain water. The problem is, it isn’t water, it is rum. Before Stan and Oliver arrived at the mountains, a group of criminals dumped their rum into the well to get rid of any evidence of them having it. The husband returns to find them drunk and singing. The husband isn’t best pleased with Stan and Oliver getting his wife drunk, and a “tit for tat” sequence is triggered, which ends with the wrecking of the camper.

A year later, Stan and Oliver have set up an electrical goods store. They go next door to introduce themselves to the owner of the grocery store next door, which is none other than the husband seen in the previous short. He is still unhappy with what they did back at the mountains, and says that it is best if they stay away from one another. However, after a comical mishap between Stan and Oliver, the husband mistakes Oliver’s actions for trying to win over his wife once more, and another, longer “tit for tat” sequence happens, which quickly escalates from simple annoyances, to outright destroying each other’s shop.

As this is going on, every time Stan and Oliver leaves their shop unattended, despite putting up a sign to say that they will be back in a few minutes, a person enters the shop anyway, and starts stealing stuff. At first, it is small items, but it too quickly escalates to larger items, such as a grandfather clock, until taking all the items and loading them into the back of a lorry.

Number 2:

Brats

(1930)

This is the only short where Stan and Oliver play natural fathers. Their sons, Stan Jr, and Oliver Jr, are played by Stan and Oliver respectfully. They achieved the illusion of the two being kids by making the furniture and other props larger in size. This is also only the second time when only the two appeared in a short, the first being the short “Early to Bed” in 1928. This is also the first of three films where they play a duel role. The second is Twice Two (mentioned above) and the third and last is the feature film “Our Relations”, where they play twin brothers.

Brats start off with Laurel and Hardy playing checkers whilst their children are playing with their blocks. The children start to fight and create havoc, so their fathers send them off to bed. Whilst getting ready to bed, they continue to fight, but during their fight, Laurel sees a mouse and uses a pellet gun to try and shoot it, which he accidentally hits Oliver Jr’s bottom. Trying to help Oliver Jr after being shot with the pellet, Stan Jr runs him a bath, but certain mishaps ensures leaving them to abandon the bath altogether, but they forget to turn the taps off and the bath continues to fill up. After struggling to settle the kids down, the kids ask if they could have a glass of water. Oliver says that if he gets it, then they go straight to sleep, which they agree. Oliver then opens the wrong door and the water from the bathroom pours out into the bedroom.

This short has one of my favourite moments in. Laurel and Hardy are talking at the top of the stairs. After they have agreed on something, Hardy starts to make his way downstairs, only to trip on something and fall down the stairs in such a manner, it’s hard not to laugh at it.

Number 1:

The Music Box

(1932)

Anyone reading this article who is a fan of Laurel and Hardy will know of their most famous short, the Music Box, which sees them attempting to deliver a piano up a huge staircase. The postman tells them that they house they are looking for is at the top of the staircase, so they take the majority of the time trying to carry it up. They are constantly being interrupted by people, a Policeman, but eventually they manage to make it up. The postman meets them at the top of the stairs and tells them that they needn’t have carried it up the stairs, they could have simply pulled it by horse and cart up the hill. For reasons only they can understand, they carry the piano back down, load it back onto to the horse and cart, and pull it up the hill.

They then try and deliver it to the house, which doesn’t go as smoothly as they were hoping, and they end up wrecking the house. The owner comes back and isn’t at all happy with the damage they have done, claims that he hates pianos and starts destroying the piano with an axe. His wife comes home, shocked to see him destroying the birthday present that she had brought him. Upon learning this information, he quickly calms down and apologises to his wife and to Laurel and Hardy for his actions, and makes up for it by simply signing for the piano so they can carry on with their day. The pen’s ink squirts in his face, which makes him angry once more.

The short is actually a partial remake of their silent film “Hats Off”, which sees them trying to deliver a washing machine. It was filmed at the same location. Today, unfortunately, it is classed as a lost film.

This short has gained some incredible popularity, inspiring people to pay homage to it in their own unique way. In the film “Phineas and Ferb: The Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension”, a musical number briefly pays tribute to the short, and in the comedy film “Mousehunt”, which stared Nathan Lane, and Lee Evans, the scene where they are carrying a Jacuzzi up a flight of stairs was inspired by this short.

The stairs that the short was filmed at has been named “Music Box Stairs”. 

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

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