''Nuts in May'' (1917) is a
silent comedy
Silent comedy is a style of film, related to but distinct from mime, invented to bring comedy into the medium of film in the silent film era (1900s–1920s) before a synchronized soundtrack which could include talking was technologically ava ...
short, directed by
Robin Williamson
Robin Duncan Harry Williamson (born 24 November 1943) is a Scottish multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and storyteller who was a founding member of The Incredible String Band.
Career
Williamson lived in the Fairmilehead area of Edinbu ...
, produced by
Isadore Bernstein
Isadore Bernstein (November 26, 1876 – October 19, 1944) was an American screenwriter. He wrote screenplays for more than 60 films between 1914 and 1938. He was born in New York, New York and died in Hollywood, California from a heart a ...
, and featuring
Stan Laurel, billed as Stan Jefferson, in his onscreen debut.
The short was filmed at Bernstein Studios, in
Hollywood, California
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...
. "A fragment" of the film survives
(a little over 60 seconds).
Plot
Stan plays a resident of "Home for the Weak-Minded", apparently a lunatic asylum. Stan's particular delusion is that he thinks he's Napoleon. Stan walks the grounds of the cuckoo-hatch sticking his right hand into his shirt and wearing a Napoleon hat. He thinks he's Napoleon, but he gives the salute of the British army.
Stan has his own personal keeper in the asylum: a taller moustached man who wears a kepi so that Stan will think he's a French officer.
Stan gets out and finds some local boys, who eagerly join him in playing soldier. Stan's kepi-wearing keeper pursues him through the film. Stan hijacks a steamroller, and Stan nearly runs down some workers in a road crew.
The surviving footage consists of Stan in various scrapes with a steamroller, ending with him in a straw boater being dragged off to the asylum.
Cast
*
Stan Laurel (as Stan Jefferson)
*
Mae Dahlberg
Mae Charlotte Dahlberg (24 May 1888 – 1969), also known as Mae Laurel, was an Australian-born vaudeville performer and actress. She was Stan Laurel's professional partner and common-law wife from 1917 to 1925.
Childhood and career in Austral ...
* Lucille Arnold
* Owen Evans
*
Charles Arling
Charles Arling (22 August 1875 – 21 April 1922) was a Canadian actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1909 and 1922. He was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and died on 21 April 1922 from pneumonia at the age ...
See also
*
List of incomplete or partially lost films
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
* ''
Mixed Nuts
Mixed nuts are a snack food consisting of any mixture of mechanically or manually combined nuts. Common constituents are peanuts (actually a legume), almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts ( filberts), and pecans.NARA (April 2005). ' ...
'' (1922), a film using footage from ''Nuts in May''
References
External links
*
''Nuts in May'' at SilentEra
1917 films
American silent short films
American black-and-white films
1917 comedy films
1910s English-language films
1917 short films
Silent American comedy films
Lost American films
American comedy short films
1917 lost films
Lost comedy films
1910s American films
{{1910s-short-comedy-film-stub