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Double Whoopee

 
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Double Whoopee

  • Director: Lewis R. Foster
  • Genre: Comedy
  • Movie Type: Slapstick
  • Themes: Mistaken Identities, Nothing Goes Right
  • Main Cast: Charlie Hall
  • Release Year: 1929
  • Country: US
  • Run Time: 20 minutes

Plot

A hotel is gearing up to welcome its prestigious new guest, a European Prince (Captain John Peters). But before he appears, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy walk in. After much confusion, it is discovered that the two are not the Prince and his Prime Minister, but are the hotel's new doorman and footman. The real Prince grows ever more furious as he falls into the elevator shaft numerous times, always because of either Stan or Ollie. Finally the boys take their positions outside the hotel, where they irritate a taxi driver (Charlie Hall) and a policeman (Tiny Sanford). Stan, Ollie, and the cabbie proceed to destroy each other's uniforms, until the cabbie accidentally grabs the policeman's jacket. The cabbie takes off, and another taxi appears. A sexy blonde (Jean Harlow) emerges and is personally escorted by Ollie. What he doesn't know is that Stan shut the cab's door on her dress and it has ripped right off. Finally, he sees what has happened, and, horrified, he removes Stan's coat to cover up the young lady. The boys start bickering, and soon the whole lobby is in an uproar. The Prince comes in and gets in the way of a flying cake. Nearly rabid with anger, he swears to report this indignity to the King and Queen -- then falls into the elevator shaft once again.

This two-reel silent is best remembered for the scene in which Jean Harlow's dress is caught in the taxi cab door. Harlow doesn't appear in a later Laurel and Hardy film, Beau Hunks, but a still photo of her from Double Whoopie does, and she's identified there as "Jeannie-Weenie," Ollie's faithless girlfriend. And if the Prince in Double Whoopie looks quite a bit like Erich von Stroheim, he should -- the actor who played the part was von Stroheim's stand-in. Double Whoopee was re-released in 1969 in a "talkie" version dubbed by new actors. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Cast

William Gillespie - Hotel manager; Oliver Hardy - Oliver; Jean Harlow - Swanky blonde; Sam Lufkin - Man poked in eye; Rolfe Sedan - Desk clerk; Stan Laurel - Stanley; Charlie Hall - Cabdriver; Ham Kinsey - Cabdriver; Stanley "Tiny" Sandford - Policeman

Credit

Lewis R. Foster - Director, Richard C. Currier - Editor, George Stevens - Cinematographer, Hal Roach - Producer

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Wikipedia: Double Whoopee
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Double Whoopee

Theatrical poster for Double Whoopee (1929)
Directed by Lewis R. Foster
Produced by Hal Roach
Written by Leo McCarey (story)
H.M. Walker (titles)
Starring Stan Laurel
Oliver Hardy
Cinematography Jack Roach
George Stevens
Editing by Richard C. Currier
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s) May 18, 1929
Running time 20 min.
Country  United States
Language Silent film
English (Original intertitles)
Preceded by Big Business
Followed by Bacon Grabbers

Double Whoopee is a 1929 Hal Roach silent short comedy starring Laurel and Hardy. It was shot during February 1929 and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on May 18 of that year.

Contents

Synopsis

Laurel and Hardy play the roles of a footman (Hardy) and doorman (Laurel) at an upper class hotel. Jean Harlow also makes a brief appearance in this film, as a blonde bombshell who gets partially stripped by Laurel & Hardy. One of the funnier scenes is one with an automatic elevator. A haughty prince tries to get on the elevator from the first floor. Simultaneously Oliver summons the elevator. For some reason the outer doors don't close and when the prince (who has been busy giving a speech) tries to step in, he falls into the elevator well. Oliver rides down in the elevator and disappears. The prince is pulled out of the well, all dishevelled and dirty. He tries it again. This time Stan summons the elevator and the whole thing repeats.

Cast

1969 "talkie" version

While this is a silent film, a version with post-synchronized dialogue tracks provided by voice actors — not Stan's or Ollie's actual voices — was created in 1969. Superb L&H mimic Chuck McCann, last seen as a judge on "Boston Legal", plays both Stan and Ollie in the talking version. McCann had his own local TV show in New York in the sixties where he used puppets of Stan and Ollie to entertain kids. He was also seen in the 1970s in a television commercial for windshield wipers playing Oliver Hardy opposite a Stan Laurel lookalike.

See also

External links



 
 
Learn More
The Golden Age of Comedy (1958 Film, TV & Radio Film)
Jean Harlow (Actor, Comedy/Romance)
Tiny Sandford

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