Topic: Should Married Men Go Home? (1928) - Laurel and Hardy

[metaldams]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019376/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
http://www.lordheath.com/index.php?p=1_77_Should-Married-Men-Go-Home
http://www.laurelandhardycentral.com/married.html

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t46YV0tvIM4

Watch SHOULD MARRIED MEN GO HOME? in the link above

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iXXZ63ZXY-w

Watch silent behind the scenes footage in the link above



      Another week and another good Laurel and Hardy silent short.  Not quite perfection like some of the other shorts have been, but still very enjoyable.  My favorite part of the short is definitely the beginning.  Ollie and his wife are at home on a Sunday wanting to have a nice quiet day alone together, when all of the sudden Stan comes strolling along.  Stan is one of those people who can't take a silent gesture and is oblivious to the fact his company is not wanted.  Mr. and Mrs. Hardy go through all this trouble hiding to make sure Stan doesn't know they're home, only to get caught in a way that it's obvious they're trying to hide (I won't give the gag away for those who haven't seen this).  Anyway, when Stan and the couple eventually gaze at each other through the window, all three of their reactions have me in stitches.  A very well paced and plotted gag.  Ollie's barely contained anger is great too, the way he almost hits his wife and almost slams the door, yet he remembers to be a gentleman and restrains himself at the last second.  The awkwardness and silence when all three are in the room builds great tension, and after slapstick involving household items is finally achieved, Mr. Hardy throws them out of the house!  The final gag in this scene, involving the fence, is also worth mentioning.

      The rest of the short is good, but not at the level of the intro.  The whole set up of only foursomes allowed to play golf seems like a contrived excuse to get Stan and Ollie to hook up with the young girls for a golf game, and their only purpose is to serve as an excuse for the gag where they want sodas bought for them, but the men only have enough money for three drinks instead of four.  In order to overcome this, one of the comedians had to say no to a drink but somehow fails miserably at doing so.  Actually, this goes back to Stan in the intro, unable to take a silent cue that he shouldn't order a drink even when he's told otherwise.  This gag works better story wise and with sound in Laurel and Hardy's MEN O' WAR as well as the few times Abbott and Costello would do the routine. 

      The final part is the golf course antics.  The girls they meet are pretty inconsequential at this point, unlike a similar set up on THEIR PURPLE MOMENT where the girls are an integral part of the plot and actually get caught by the wives of the men they're with to comic results.  Not here.  Instead, there's some funny golf gags involving Edgar Kennedy and his falling toupee.  Eventually they get caught in another great Hal Roach mud puddle where the entire golf course gets thrown into a mud bath fight.  No golf course I've been to contains this many young hotties, as young females tend to be the main participants!  The great thing is Stan and Ollie are the last to be dumped in the mud puddle.  Ollie goes first, and he's determined to get Stan in.  Ollie's failing attempts are funny, but it takes a giant of a man to finally get Stan in, a nice payoff.  This giant was play by John Aasen, who is most famous for working with Harold Lloyd in WHY WORRY?  I've heard his height listed as low as 7'2" and as high as 8'9"!  Judge for yourself, there's a picture below.

9/10



PS:  The picture is having trouble loading on my iPad.  If you have similar issues, below is the link.

http://www.lordheath.com/index.php?supermode=gallery_view&previewm=1&a=Should_Married_Men_Go_Home_stills_20&image=110805070211_should_married_men_go_home__97__-_john_aasen__stan_laurel___oliver_hardy.jpg&screenres=768-1024

[Shemp_is_Awesome78]

I'm going with that John Aasen is probably like 7'5 or 7'6, and definitely not 8'9 which would make him the tallest man ever to live.

[metaldams]

I'm going with that John Aasen is probably like 7'5 or 7'6, and definitely not 8'9 which would make him the tallest man ever to live.

Actually....it would not.  I'm one of the people who has him in the above seven feet but below eight foot range.  Still a tall dude, and if you ever get a chance to watch him with Harold Lloyd in Why Worry?, his height is used to a great comedic advantage.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wadlow

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

As a reformed golfer, I can report that not only was the Foursomes Only rule in effect then, it is very much the case to this day.  And, having worked the country club circuit a lot of my life I would tell you that you're very lucky to be watching these lissome Hollywood babes rather than the wealthy superannuated dumpsters who normally infest the country clubs.  Although a wealthy superannuated dumpster like Marie Dressler would have added an extra layer of hoots to this one. 

[metaldams]

As a reformed golfer, I can report that not only was the Foursomes Only rule in effect then, it is very much the case to this day.  And, having worked the country club circuit a lot of my life I would tell you that you're very lucky to be watching these lissome Hollywood babes rather than the wealthy superannuated dumpsters who normally infest the country clubs.  Although a wealthy superannuated dumpster like Marie Dressler would have added an extra layer of hoots to this one.

Thanks for the info.  As somebody whose golf experience is limited to putting a ball through a windmill, I would not think a foursome rule would exist.  I learn something new everyday.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

It's only strictly enforced on busy days, when a twosome would experience general frustration waiting all day for a foursome in front of them.  Are you actually aware of a man taller than 8'9"?
     I'm thinking of a coffee-table book that I own called Golf In The Comics, a compilation that goes back as far as The Yellow Kid.  It's laid out chronologically, and during the '20's there were lots of strips about flappers trying to play golf, among other endeavours, usually not succeeding, but sometimes succeeding all too well, at least according to their male opponents.  This is only to say that lissome Hollywood beauties would not be all that surprising to those who read their daily newspaper funnies.
     I also have very much enjoyed the home movies that were filmed during this shoot, especially the one where Ollie is preening for the camera, Stan intrudes, and Ollie throws him out by the neck.  It's a beautiful move, and to me shows a real measure of their appeal:  they just moved funny, the same as some people just talk funny, same as Sinatra sings beautifully.  A god-given gift, polished to perfection with years of experience, but inexplicable except as a gift.

[metaldams]

It's only strictly enforced on busy days, when a twosome would experience general frustration waiting all day for a foursome in front of them.  Are you actually aware of a man taller than 8'9"?

Yes.  The world's tallest man ever was Robert Wadlow, who was 8'11". 



I'm only 5'8", and the tallest person I ever met was 7'4".  It was at a Taco Bell a few years back.  My friend, who is 6'2", was by the soda machine and I did a double take at this guy standing next to him, because my friend looked like a dwarf.  We talked to the guy, he told us his height.  To think Robert Wadlow is more than a foot and a half taller than him!

John Aasen, doing the research, was 7'2".  Very tall, but the over eight foot stuff appeared to be exaggerated by the press.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Yes, O K, if there was a guy, then he was the one I was thinking of, though I didn't think even he was that tall.  Poor guy died early, as I remember his circulatory system just couldn't keep up.
     I used to work in Orlando, FL, and one day, doing day duty at a place known for it's night life, I was standing in the hall all alone, when up strolled Shaquille O'Neal, equally alone, wearing a derby.  Seven foot two.  It felt like the Attack of the Giant Stymies.
     Maybe three years ago, I was standing in line at a restaurant in Largo, FL, and who should walk in behind me but Hulk Hogan.  I was thrilled.  He was unimpressed.  ( I had known in advance that Hulk lived near there, so seeing him in a restaurant was not a big surprise, but I was thrilled, and so would you have been, you liar ).  Hogan has always been announced as being 6-foot-8.  I'm six-foot-four, and when we chatted, we were eyeball- to-eyeball exactly the same height.  The point of this story is not to say how tall Hogan actually is, it's to brag that I once met Hulk Hogan.

[metaldams]

Yes, O K, if there was a guy, then he was the one I was thinking of, though I didn't think even he was that tall.  Poor guy died early, as I remember his circulatory system just couldn't keep up.
     I used to work in Orlando, FL, and one day, doing day duty at a place known for it's night life, I was standing in the hall all alone, when up strolled Shaquille O'Neal, equally alone, wearing a derby.  Seven foot two.  It felt like the Attack of the Giant Stymies.
     Maybe three years ago, I was standing in line at a restaurant in Largo, FL, and who should walk in behind me but Hulk Hogan.  I was thrilled.  He was unimpressed.  ( I had known in advance that Hulk lived near there, so seeing him in a restaurant was not a big surprise, but I was thrilled, and so would you have been, you liar ).  Hogan has always been announced as being 6-foot-8.  I'm six-foot-four, and when we chatted, we were eyeball- to-eyeball exactly the same height.  The point of this story is not to say how tall Hogan actually is, it's to brag that I once met Hulk Hogan.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ruLQDpdQi4A

I hate to say it, but the Hulk Hogan link above is equally as funny as the Laurel and Hardy film of this thread...for different reasons.  Cool you met The Hulkster.

Oh, and yeah, that behind the scenes footage is wonderful.  I like Ollie holding up both girls on his shoulders!

[Paul Pain]

LOL  This was pretty good, on par with good Stooge shorts.

9/10

[Umbrella Sam]

I've got to agree on the rating here. It's good mainly for the first and third part. Laurel and Hardy do a very good job of acting off of each other in the first part and the fence gag is a good example of the recurring gag in the Laurel and Hardy series of Laurel pulling off some feat that Hardy fails at (another noticeable example of this is the thumb trick from WAY OUT WEST). The second part is fine. Since part of it is still reliant on slapstick, I think it still works well, though I do have to admit that it is done better in MEN O' WAR.

One thing that I've really gotten out of watching these Laurel and Hardy shorts is a newfound appreciation for Edgar Kennedy. I thought Kennedy was pretty good in the Marx Brothers' DUCK SOUP and always thought that he was at least a decent supporting player in his other appearances, but so far, between the three shorts that he has been in, I honestly think that he's been the highlight of all of them. He seems to work really well off of Laurel and Hardy. There's a funny recurring gag of him losing his toupee, but my favorite part is during the mud fight. He's surrounded by people throwing mud at each other and yet he's still trying to hit his golf ball amidst all this chaos. The mud fight itself is great as well. Hal Roach Studios really knew how to stage great fights between its cast and these actors and actresses have a lot of energy to them. Also, nice to see John Aasen. I liked him in WHY WORRY? and I think he does a good job here too for what little he has.

This was close to a 10, but the slightly weaker second part does bring it down one point for me. Still, a very funny short.

9 out of 10

[Dr. Mabuse]

A surprisingly overlooked Laurel and Hardy two-reeler, "Should Married Men Go Home?" is vintage slapstick all the way — highlighted by a lavish mud fight on the golf course. Edgar Kennedy and his toupée contribute to the hilarious mayhem. Oddly enough, Stan and Ollie's only foray into golf.

9/10

[metaldams]

A surprisingly overlooked Laurel and Hardy two-reeler, "Should Married Men Go Home?" is vintage slapstick all the way — highlighted by a lavish mud fight on the golf course. Edgar Kennedy and his toupée contribute to the hilarious mayhem. Oddly enough, Stan and Ollie's only foray into golf.

9/10

I do enjoy this one and haven’t watched silent Laurel and Hardy since I reviewed them years ago.  After having finished reviewing the later stuff recently, I’m overdue for the silents.

[metaldams]

Just watched CHARLIE CHAN AT THE CIRCUS (1936) for the first time and wouldn’t you know, giant John Aasen is in it.  His voice was a bit higher than I would have guessed.  I’m sure I’ll review WHY WORRY? from Harold Lloyd one of these days, so we’ll get to him again.

[HomokHarcos]

The beginning of the film is absolutely the highlight. Ollie wants to spend time with his wife, but Stan comes along and wants to go golfing with Ollie. Usually, Ollie is married to an abusive wife, but the woman here really seems to care about him. After trying to pretend like he's not at home, he of course ends up screwing that up and Stan makes his way into the house. After they leave the house they go golfing with two women, one of them looks a lot like Clara Bow (I know it's not actually her). Then they do the bit where they take them for drinks but can't afford it, and to me this completely fell flat without the sound. I didn't even catch on to it the first time I watched it.

The golfing location does not look very grassy, and does not seem like a suitable place to golf. Of course, that is probably the point, as when the ball gets stuck in the mud it causes an accidental mud fight. Poor Stan and Ollie, everything they do seems to lead an all out fight. The beginning of the short is excellent, but I was disappointed by the second half.