Should Sailors Marry?

Series: Clyde Cook

Director: James Parrott

Producer: Hal Roach

Titles: H.M. Walker

Photography: R.H. Weller

Editor: Richard C. Currier

Stars: Clyde Cook

Company: Pathé Exchange

Released: 08 November 1925

Length: 2 reels

Production No.: C-2

Filming dates: April 27 - May 8, 1925; retakes June 2-8, 1925

Rating: 4/10

Should Sailors Marry?

Available on DVD:

Martha Sleeper and Clyde Cook in Should Sailors Marry? (1925)

Wrestler Noah Young is the ex-husband who not only still lives with his ex-wife (Fay Holderness) but also collects almony from her too! After a fight, in which he was the victor he confronts her and demands six months back pay. The wife informs him that she is currently dating a man (Clyde Cook) she found through an agency, a man who desires a life of peace and quiet and who hates excitement. Clyde's train arrives at the station where he meets Fay.
They eventually get married and she moves her new husband into her home where the ex-husband stands watch. When Clyde offers Noah a handshake Noah rejects the offer by eating and swallowing his cigar. Okay, so now Clyde knows what he's dealing with here! Fay introduces her new hubby to her son, a confident kid whose ambitions are to be tough. The boy tells his new step-father that, being a sailor, he wants to see him 'dance the bagpipe' and begins shooting a real gun at him to make him dance around the room. Next up is the daughter Smyrna (Martha Sleeper) who gives him a sly wink when she is introduced. Anyway, let's move forward to the wedding night... Clyde gets into bed but doesn't realise it's Noah's, who soon joins him, pulling the covers away from him. After a while of Clyde thinking his new bride is just being playful he soon wises up to the realisation that he is in the wrong bed, sharing it with the ex-husband. Fay enters the room and rifles through Clyde's trousers pockets looking for money but he confesses to her that he has lost all of it. Noah tells Clyde that he will need to go out and work in order to pay the alimony he is owed.

Clyde tries to sneak out of the bed, pulling the sheet with him but he is stopped in his tracks by Noah who hoists him up in the air with one arm. Clyde claims he can't sleep because of the noise of cats and when he pokes his head out of the window a neighbour throws a pot at him which lands on his head. Noah gladly removes it with the use of a sledgehammer. The next morning Clyde tries to sneak out but Noah wakes up and catches him and the two of them end up in a wrestling contest there on the bedroom floor. (It has to be observed that Noah Young demonstrates some real strength in some of the moves he comes up with).
Clyde finds work as a labourer in a high-rise construction site and is paid a visit by a doctor (Oliver Hardy) and an insurance agent (Jack Ackroyd). After the doctor runs a series of tests on Clyde, the insurance guy tells his wife that if anything should happen to Clyde then the policy will pay $25,000. It doesn't take long before Clyde's life is endangered after he falls through a trap door and onto some steel girders high up above the streets. Noah drops a lump of hot coal through the trap door which lands on Clyde, causing him to fall into a barrel. He then drops some grease (conveniently labelled in a pot) onto the girders but his plans to kill Clyde are thwarted when Clyde grabs onto a hot air balloon and hoists himself up to safety. Clyde gets the last laugh when he drops the weights from the balloon onto Noah's head, sending him down to the ground and into a vat of whitewash as Clyde heads off into the skies.

Favourite bit
No Clyde, that's not your new wife in bed with you!

Trivia
• Copyrighted December 30, 1925.
• The second film in the series.
• One of the sequences was shot at Santa Fe train depot.
• The short man who helps William Gillespie put on his coat as the train enters the station is definitely a white actor in blackface. He is only seen very briefly and most of the time he is obscured. It is my educated guess that this is Sammy Brooks as he is listed by Rob Stone in his book.
• When Noah Young gets into his bed he soon realises he is not alone because he pulls the blanket off Clyde Cook. If Noah usually slept alone in the bed on account of being divorced, how is it he didn't question the presence of somebody being next to him?
• During the scene where Noah and Clyde wrestle in the bedroom there are some shots where it looks as though Noah Young has a boner.
• This was Oliver Hardy's fourth film for Hal Roach; has a small role as a doctor. He first shows up after 13 minutes 42 seconds. Hardy would team up with Clyde Cook again the following year for Wandering Papas.
• Rob Stone's magnificent book Laurel Or Hardy dedicates five pages on this film alone! Also, Rob's book lists Fay Wray, Marjorie Whiteis and Kathleen Collins as being in the film but it is possible these actors had their scenes cut before the film was released as they definitely do not appear in the film.
• It is widely believed that Jess Robbins directed the film and James Parrott shot the re-takes. Robbins's credit was removed and he was apparently upset with the actions of the studio.

My opinion
• Nothing special, though the story idea is intriguing. Noah Young is his usual menacing self and shows off his muscles in that scene where he wrestles Clyde Cook in the bedroom. A fleeting appearance from Oliver Hardy may be of interest to some fans but ultimately the film falls short in many ways.

	Clyde Cook Cyril D'Armond
	Noah Young Milford, the ex-husband
	Fay Holderness Verbena Singlefoot
	Martha Sleeper Smyrna
	Johnny Downs The son
	Oliver Hardy Doctor
	Jack Ackroyd Insurance man
	William Gillespie Train passenger
	Helen Gilmore Train passenger
	Chet Brandenburg Fight spectator
	Jules Mendel Train passenger
	Sammy Brooks Train passenger in blackface