''Double Whoopee'' is a 1929

Hal Roach Studios Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and television production studio. Known as ''The Laugh Factory to the World'', it was founded by producer Hal Roach and business partners Dan Linthicum and I.H. Nance as the Rolin Film Company on Ju ...

silent short comedy starring

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...

. It was shot during February 1929 and released by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

on May 18.

Synopsis

A hotel reception awaits an important guest - a Germanic prince referred to as His Highness and his prime minister. These disembark from their car just as Laurel and Hardy arrive. However, the Von Stroheim style prince starts a prolonged preening process on his white Prussian military uniform. Hotel staff presume Hardy is the prince and a crowd gathers as they sign the register. Laurel and Hardy eventually show their letter of introduction - they have come to work as staff, and play the roles of a footman (

Hardy Hardy may refer to: People * Hardy (surname) * Hardy (given name) * Hardy (singer), American singer-songwriter Places Antarctica * Mount Hardy, Enderby Land * Hardy Cove, Greenwich Island * Hardy Rocks, Biscoe Islands Australia * Hardy, Sout ...

) and doorman (

Laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

) at a swanky Broadway 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 disheveled 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 was created in 1969. Laurel and Hardy imitator

Chuck McCann Charles John Thomas McCann (September 2, 1934 – April 8, 2018) was an American actor, comedian, puppeteer, commercial presenter and television host. He was best known for his work in presenting children's television programming and animation, a ...

plays both Stan and Ollie in the talking version.

Dick van Dyke Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. His award-winning career has spanned seven decades in film, television, and stage. Van Dyke began his career as an entertainer on radio and telev ...

and McCann played Laurel and Hardy respectively in a skit on a 1958 broadcast of The Garry Moore Show. McCann also had his own local TV show in New York in the 1960s where he used puppets of Stan and Ollie to entertain kids. He was also seen in the 1970s and 1980s television commercial for ANCO windshield wipers, playing Oliver Hardy opposite Jim McGeorge, who played Stan.

References

External links

* * * * 1929 films 1929 comedy films American silent short films American black-and-white films Short films directed by Lewis R. Foster Films set in hotels Laurel and Hardy (film series) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films with screenplays by H. M. Walker 1929 short films American comedy short films 1920s American films 1960s American films Silent American comedy films {{short-silent-comedy-film-stub