“Putting Pants on Philip” (1927)
Written by admin on February 11th, 2012“Putting Pants on Philip” (1927)
Image by John McNab
"Putting Pants On Philip" is a Hal Roach two-reel silent film from 1927. It was the first to bill Laurel & Hardy as a comedy duo, although the first film the two comedians were in together (albeit as separate performers) had been The Lucky Dog from 1921, and the first Hal Roach production they were both in was 45 Minutes from Hollywood from 1926.
Plot and characters:
Piedmont Mumblethunder (Oliver Hardy) is embarrassed at the effeminacy of his kilt-wearing Scottish nephew Philip (Stan Laurel).
Although this was their first official film as a team, the iconic Stan and Ollie characters and costumes had yet to become a permanent fixture. Their first appearance as the now familiar Stan and Ollie characters was in "The Second Hundred Years"(1927), directed by Fred Guiol and supervised by Leo McCarey, who suggested that the performers be teamed permanently
February 11th, 2012 at 5:33 am
Excellent historical notation on your part, John. It was apparently Leo McCarey, not Hal Roach, who suggested teaming Stan and Ollie. Roach was then they say in Europe with his wife and the Irving Thalbergs. Leo was in charge, but of course I’m sure that the subsequent pictures were all very much with the bosses consent and blessing — especially after the receipts started pouring-in. Laurel and Hardy were evidently a success with the public right from the get-go, almost as though they’d always been there. My father used to say that in the early 30′s their shorts were actually the come-on by exhibitors and billed above the features they were playing with! Leo obviously never forgot how much he learned on the Laurel and Hardys. Practically all his later films have some tribute to them. Harpo and Chico do the "switching hats" routine (with variations) and "breaking into the house" bits in "Duck Soup", McCarey gets Charles Laughton to do a Stan Laurel-laughing jag in "Ruggles of Red Gap", and there is a memorable "switching derbies" scene, an obvious homage, with Cary Grant and Alexander D’Arcy in "The Awful Truth".
And finally, I rate "Putting Pants" as one of their all-time best!