Series: Laurel and Hardy Director: James W. Horne Producer: Hal Roach Dialogue: H.M. Walker Photography: Art Lloyd Editor: Richard C. Currier Sound: Elmer Raguse Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Isabelle Keith, Anita Garvin Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Released: 07 February 1931 Length: 3 reels Production No.: L-37 Filming dates: December 8-13, 1930 Rating: 6/10

Be Big!

Available on DVD:

• See also Los Calaveras and Les Carottiers

Mr. & Mrs. Hardy are planning to vacation in Atlantic City with Mr. & Mrs. Laurel, who live across the hall. Ollie receives a telephone call from his buddies at the masonic lodge, inviting him to attend a stag evening in his honour. Ollie initially rejects the offer on account of his planned trip, but he is eventually pursuaded to attend and therefore has to feign a sudden illness in order to excuse him from the trip with his wife. When her back is turned, Ollie seizes the opportunity to powder his face to give the appearance that he is pale. The Laurel's arrive at the apartment and Stan is quickly suspicious of the whole thing. After some negotiations it is decided that the wives should head off on the trip and the husbands will join up with them later. Ollie explains the situation to Stan and the two of them set about getting dressed into their uniforms so that they can attend the lodge invitation. This seemingly simply scenario extends for several minutes as they struggle to get on their clothes and boots. Meanwhile, the wives arrive at the station and are told they have just missed their train and are forced to return home... expecting to see their delighted husbands when they get there. Back at Hardy's apartment, Ollie has somehow managed to put Stan's boot on by mistake and so begins the process of trying to remove it which proves to be both difficult for him and as equally uncomfortable for the rest of us having to watch it all unfold!

A boot jack gets destroyed and a rocking chair gets ruined as Stan attempts to drag Ollie around the room - and ultimately onto a tack, trying to get the boot off. Ollie sits Stan down on the bed so that they can get organized. Stan tries once more to remove the awkward boot, but to no avail. Ollie burns his hands on the radiator, the curtains are pulled down and the bedroom window is smashed with the curtain pole. Now Ollie's frustration is really beginning to show. Stan gets all tangled-up in Ollie's clothes as he struggles continuously to remove the boot, almost twisting himself into knots in the process. Things get worse when Stan steps up onto the bed for elevation but his pulling of the boot sends him into the wall as the bed folds up. Ollie is quick to bring Stan back with a tug on the chord which operates the bed and gets flattened as the weight of the bed with Stan on it comes crashing down onto his back. Ollie struggles to climb out from underneath and takes some deep breaths. This sends his stomach into an exaggerated balloon shape, as Stan looks on is amazement and confusion. Ollie is fed up and orders Stan to put on a boot so that he can demonstrate just how easy it is to get one off. He pulls so hard that he ends up taking a second bath! Soaking wet, Ollie asks what could be worse. Just then the doorbell sounds and Stan answers it. Their wives have returned unexpectedly. Stan runs back in to share the bad news to Ollie and the two of them jump into the bed and secure themselves into the wall. The ladies grab their shotguns and with precise accuracy, shoot their husbands through the wall with such ferocity that they end up in the street! That'll learn them!

Favourite bit Ollie is faking an illness in order to get his wife to go ahead without him on a planned vacation. His plan is to attend a party which has been arranged in his honour by his friends at the masonic lodge. The ploy almost works too. All he has to do now is pursuade Stan to remain behind to look after him (in reality it is so he can accompany him to the party). Ollie does not expect Stan's response; Ollie: "You wouldn't mind staying and taking care of me would you Stanley?" Stan: "Well if it's all the same to you, I'd rather go."

Trivia • Copyrighted February 9, 1931. • Hardy plays a member of a masonic lodge. This was something he was proud of in his 'real' life. • The colorized version of the film completely cuts out the scene with Stan undressing and putting his clothes on the hook in Ollie's apartment. • Ollie's nicknames for his wife are "ducky lover", "angel darling" and "snookums". • At 1:09 on the RHI print, you can see a bit more of the side of Isabelle Keith's right breast than would be expected. • How is it that we can hear the beginning of the telephone exchange between Cookie and Hardy yet we cannot hear the middle part? Doesn't make for good continuity. • The man on the left of the screen who keeps turning around during the telephone call between Hardy and Cookie is Jean De Briac. He had some minor roles in other L&H films. • Stan gets to kiss Anita Garvin, Isabelle Keith and shake hands with Ollie all in the space of three seconds. • The train to Atlantic City departed at 8:45pm. • When Ollie is sitting in the chair trying to get his boot on, there are two rifles in the background on another chair. A rather odd place to leave them lying around don't you think? • Watch for the subtle movement in Ollie's left foot when he tells Stan "when I push, you pull". He deliberately puts his foot on Stan's left boot so that when Stan can lift his leg up and out of the boot to make the gag look genuine. • There is a stunt where 'Ollie' falls backwards on a rocking chair. The beauty of DVD freeze-frames allows us to see it is not Hardy but rather, a stuntman who looks nothing like him! • I find it quite odd that just as Ollie is about to sit back down on the chair after falling off it, Stan calls him over and whispers something in his ear. Given that nobody else was in the apartment, why whisper? My opinion • Enough material for 2 reels but stretched ridiculously for 3 reels. The middle segment with the boot sequence is painfully slow to watch. As a Laurel & Hardy comedy it is average at best with some funny gags but ultimately the film dies with that bloody boot sequence, which goes from funny to boring very quickly.

	Stan Laurel Stan
	Oliver Hardy Ollie
	Isabelle Keith Mrs. Hardy
	Anita Garvin Mrs. Laurel
	Baldwin Cooke Cookie
	Chet Brandenburg Cab driver
	Charlie Hall Bellboy
	Jean De Briac Lodge member
	Jack Hill Passerby at train station
	Ham Kinsey Passerby at train station
	Spencer Bell Porter
	Hayes Robertson Lodge waiter
	Frank Holliday Lodge member
	Bob Minford Seated lodge member
	Gill Edwards Seated lodge member
	Luis Llaneza Lodge member

CREDITS (click image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: Laurel And Hardy: The Magic Behind The Movies by Randy Skretvedt (book) Jesse Brisson (identification of Hayes Robertson, Bob Minford, Gill Edwards, Luis Llaneza) *The identification of Frank Holliday is my own observation. This page was last updated on: 07 February 2025