Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
Production Notes[]
Length: Two Reels
Producer: Pat Casey
Director: William McGann
Photography: Unrevealed
Editor: Unrevealed
Titles: None
Writer: Unrevealed
Released: April 1931
Studio: Paramount and National Screen Service
Pete and Wheezer in front, Farina, Stymie, Chubby, Mary Ann, Shirley Jean, Dorothy in middle.
The Rascals[]
- Allen Hoskins
- Dorothy DeBorba
- Mary Ann Jackson
- Matthew Beard
- Norman Chaney
- Robert Hutchins
- Shirley Jean Rickert
Additional Cast[]
- Buster Keaton - police officer
- Eddie Kane - detective
- Edward G. Robinson - thief
- Faye Wray - actress
- Gary Cooper - newspaper editor
- Joan Crawford
- Maurice Chevalier - French detective
- Norma Shearer - jewel thief victim
- Oliver Hardy - detective
- Stan Laurel - detective
- Wallace Beery - police sergeant
The Short[]
Plot: Norma's fine jewels have been stolen, and detective Eddie Kane heads to investigate the burglary driven by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. They arrive in a Ford Model to Norma's house where Farina, Stymie, Chubby, Mary Ann, Shirley Jean, Echo and Wheezer sit on the front stop blocking the entrance and eating ice cream cones. On their approach, the gang scurries off; the car lurches to a stop and falls apart. Eddie rushes inside as Ollie looks over to Stan to complain about the car. Detective Kane continues searching for the jewels throughout Hollywood, asking various celebrities.
Quotes: "I told you not to make that last payment!" - Oliver Hardy
Notes/Trivia:
- "The Stolen Jools" is not an official Our Gang short; it was a special promotional stunt presented by National Variety Artists in cooperation with Chesterfield Cigarettes to raise money for the relief work at the NVA Tuberculosis Sanitarium in Saranac, New York, now re-named The Will Rogers Memorial Hospital for Respiratory Disease. For this star-packed short, more than fifty stars of the time from varied studios became involved, none of them staying on screen for for than a minute.
- This short appeared in England as "The Slippery Pearls." (1932)
- Promotional material for the film reveals that Jackie Cooper was slated to make an appearance. His sudden departure from Our Gang likely had to do with his absence. Oddly, Matthew Beard is nowhere to be found in the promotional material.
- This short implies that "Our Gang," the Glenn Tyrone shorts, the Harold Lloyd shorts, and Laurel and Hardy shorts all take place in the same universe. All of the series were filmed at Hal Roach studios, and the talents often appeared in each others shorts. James Finlayson, who was a recurring foil of Laurel and Hardy, even appeared as various characters in several of the the Little Rascals shorts.
Sequence[]
- Previous Short: Fly My Kite
- Next Short: Big Ears