Series: Laurel and Hardy Director: James Parrott Producer: Hal Roach Titles: H.M. Walker Photography: George Stevens Editor: Richard C. Currier Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Edgar Kennedy, Edna Marion, Viola Richard Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Released: 08 September 1928 Length: 2 reels Production No.: L-11 Filming dates: March 12-21, 1928; added scenes March 23 and May 11; inserts on May 2 and retakes May 12, 1928 Rating: 8/10

Should Married Men Go Home?

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The Hardy's peaceful morning is suddenly interrupted when Stan turns up at the house with his golf clubs. Desperate not to entertain him, the couple quickly decide to hide behind their front door to avoid detection. When nobody answers the door Stan gets the message that nobody is in and proceeds to leave his own message and slips it under the door. He is about to leave (we presume) when the note is pulled through the gap from underneath the door by Ollie on the other side which gives Stan the clue they are actually home. His persistance pays off and is reluctantly invited indoors where an awkward silence ensues. Stan lights himself a cigar, breaks the window blind, puts his foot through their chair and watches on as Ollie breaks the gramophone player all in the space of a couple of minutes. Eventually Mrs. Hardy has seen enough and orders her husband out of the house. Ollie disrobes his dressing gown and is already conveniently dressed in his golfing attire. Stan and Ollie arrive at the golf course and meet up with two young ladies (Edna Marion, Viola Richard) for a foursome [not the kind YOU'RE thinking of!] Due to a number of golfers waiting in front of them, they decide to kill some time by getting some refreshment before commencing their game. Stan only has fifteen cents on him, making it difficult to buy drinks for all so Ollie comes up with the (selfish) idea of Stan refusing to have a drink so that Ollie and the two ladies can each have a drink. The ladies order cherry, as does Ollie, but Stan who hasn't quite grasped the situation orders a malted milk. After a stern talking-to from Ollie, Stan slowly begins to understand the dilemma. The three drinks are ordered and Stan goes without. Ollie offers to pay but when he receives the bill it is double what he expected so sneakily passes the honour to Stan, who has to leave his watch as security when he cannot pay the full amount.

The four make their way to the first tee where Stan is first up to play.  Each swing of the club results in his oversized cap falling down in his eyes, much to the annoyance of an impatient fellow golfer (Edgar Kennedy) who is waiting for his turn.  After a few missed swings by Stan, Kennedy pushes him aside to play his own shot only to have his toupee fall from his head onto the grass.  This becomes a running joke when it happens a second time and he replaces it with a similar-looking grass divot he has chewed up from his next shot.  Not wishing to arouse Kennedy's anger further by bringing the obvious to his attention, Stan instead elects to bury the fallen toupee in the grass. Kennedy realises his embarassment when a group of ladies begin laughing at him.  He moves on, and attempts to play his next shot, but realises his ball has dropped into a large muddy puddle.  Stan catches up with him and anticipates the possibility of cheating so pulls out a rules and regulations card from his pocket and reminds Kennedy that his ball must be played from where it landed.  That's where the fun starts! His swing completely misses the ball and instead fires a ton of mud in the direction of an innocent woman golfer (Dorothy Coburn, who for the first time gets totally humiliated in a L&H film!)  Muddied up from face to foot, she reprimands Kennedy, but he ignores her and repeats his actions, again spraying mud into her face. This begins a frantic (and very enjoyable) mud-slinging contest where everybody on the golf course gets involved (see favourite scene).  The last combatant to receive a mud pie to the face is a giant golfer played by John Aasen.  Despite Ollie being the culprit, Aasen picks up Stan and throws him into the mix of puddle people, where Edgar Kennedy unexpecedly surfaces from underneath the murky waters having found his golf ball.

Favourite bit Hard to pin down a specific favourite moment in this film but I guess it has to be the mud fight (how did you know I was going to nominate that scene?!) It all gets just a little too much out of hand in the end with everybody throwing mud at everybody. It looks messy but also looks like a helluva lot of fun they all had filming it. Well, it makes a nice change from pies being thrown I suppose! I hope they had some baths nearby for when the days filming wrapped, that's all I can say.

Trivia • Copyrighted September 8, 1928. • This was officially the first film to be released in the Laurel & Hardy series. Previous films in which both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy appeared/starred in together were released under Hal Roach's "All-Star" banner. • Filmed at the Fox Hills Golf Course on March 15, 16 and 19 of 1928, and at the Westwood Public Golf Course on March 20, 21 and 23. There is a card seen during the film which Stan hands to Edgar Kennedy showing him the rules of the course which is named "Vista". • There is a continuity error in the scene near the beginning with Stan walking towards the Hardy house. He is walking along the sidewalk when Mrs. Hardy looks out of her window and sees him approaching. In the next shot of Stan he is seen further back in the street than in the initial clip. It's very slight but when you compare the two shots next to each other you can clearly see it. For reference, look at the telegraph pole behind him. • The gag where Stan pushes the note under Hardy's door and then sees the note suddenly disappear was later re-used in Come Clean. • The scene with Ollie trying to buy the two girls a drink and asking Stan to refuse was re-worked later in Men O' War with James Finlayson replacing Charlie Hall as the soda jerk. • The two women at the golf course are Viola Richard and Edna Marion. They had just had their contracts terminated by Hal Roach at the time of shooting. • Dorothy Coburn's first appearance in the film comes as we see the first shot of the golf course. She is the lady standing on the left of this frame with her left leg raised. • The very tall golfer is played by John Aasen. Apparently, he was 8'9", which is just silly. • Footage featuring the making of this film can be viewed on YouTube. • The notice on the shop hut at the golf course specifies only groups of 4 can play. Why then, was Edgar Kennedy playing by himself? • In this shot where Stan, Edna, Viola and Babe walk towards the camera (with Stan picking up the balls) you can see the tracks of the camera car on the ground. • The Hardy's door number is 984. • When Stan rings the doorbell and nobody answers he bashes the door with a golf club. If you look at the exact spot where he hits the door you can see his previous marks where he did the same thing (probably in rehearsal or a previous take?) • When Stan writes his note and slips it under the Hardys' door he signs it, but in the shot where we first get to see the note we cannot see his signature.  It's only when the camera picks it up from outside as Ollie pulls it through under the door can we see his signature. • There is a really nice model ship on the Hardy's mantle piece. • The bar tally for the drinks worked out at each drink costing 10 cents. • The first hole on the golf course is a par 5, at 475 yards to the pin. • When Edgar Kennedy takes over from Stan at the first tee he uses his club to hit Stan's ball out of the way. This was rather careless as the ball almost hits Viola Richard. • There are sources that list both Jack Hill and Lyle Tayo as being in the film but after careful study I have concluded that this is probably wrong. • Dorothy Coburn is wearing stockings. You can see the fold in them as she bends down to scoop up some mud. Also, if you watch that scene in slow motion you can also see that she laughs as well as mis-places her foot in the mud. Later, I have long wondered whether she actually meant to show so much of her underwear when she first goes into the mud?  The viewer cannot fail to observe a very revealing shot of her with her legs wide open and facing the camera when she is sitting in the puddle. • The order in which the combatants get muddied up: Edgar Kennedy hits mud into Dorothy Coburn. Dorothy Coburn retaliates by throwing mud at Kennedy, who ducks as the mud hits Viola Richard. Richard gets up close and personal with Coburn and returns the favour. Coburn scores hit number two with Richard by pushing her into the mud on the ground. Richard gets up and launches a bunch of mud at Coburn but she ducks and it hits a male golfer. A woman who was playing with the male golfer marches over and pushes Coburn into the mud. Coburn pulls the woman into the mud before getting back to her feet and launching another hit - this time hitting Edna Marion. -It's at this point when all hell breaks loose and impossible to keep track! An off-camera mud-launch hits Hardy in the face. Stan laughs and Ollie threatens to throw him in but his mud throwing hits John Aasen, who then picks up Stan and throws him in with Hardy. My opinion • Definitely one of my personal favourite Laurel and Hardy silent films. What a great film to watch. Very little plot but another visually entertaining twenty minutes. The golf course scenes looked like a lot of fun to shoot.

	Stan Laurel Stan
	Oliver Hardy Ollie
	Edgar Kennedy Golfer
	Kay Deslys Mrs. Hardy
	Viola Richard Brunette golfer
	Edna Marion Blonde golfer
	Dorothy Coburn Muddy combatant
	John Aasen Tall golfer
	Charlie Hall Soda jerk
	Sam Lufkin Shop manager
	Clara Guiol Golfer

UNIDENTIFIED CAST

CREDITS (click image to enlarge)	INTERTITLES (click image to enlarge)

POSTER (click any image to enlarge)

LOBBY CARDS (click any image to enlarge)

STILLS (click any image to enlarge)

SHOT ON THE BACK LOT (click any image to enlarge)

SHOT ON LOCATION (click any image to enlarge)

POOR DOROTHY (click any image to enlarge)

SELECTED DVD COMPARISONS (click any image to enlarge)

SHOOTING SCRIPT (click any image to enlarge)

MISCELLANEOUS (click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: Laurel And Hardy - The Magic Behind The Movies by Randy Skretvedt (book) Peter Mikkelsen (stills) Rick Greene (lobby cards) John Benson (shooting script and additional material) This page was last updated on: 08 September 2024