''Hustling for Health'' is a 1919 American

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

featuring

Stan Laurel Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer, and film director who was one half of the comedy double act, duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Ha ...

Plot

Stan is trying to get away on a holiday for his health but misses the train at Santa Fe Station. A man at the station says he can stay at his house and they shake hands on this. He gives Stan a pile of packages to carry and they board a train using Stan's ticket. Meanwhile, a group of women in a parlour debate if husbands are "human beings or microbes". Stan and the man arrive at the next station and hire a light buggy to take them home. Stan has to sit on the back with the bags, but after the horse bolts he is persuaded to pull the cart, being whipped by the boy driving. As they arrive at the man's home, his neighbour Mr Spotless, tends his garden. Stan interrupts the women's meeting and they surround him, forcing him to jump out of a window to escape and warn the husband. The group of women leave and the two men enter the house. There is a chubby child in the kitchen sink, who Stan looks after while the man prepares dinner. Next door, the local health inspector is alerted to the state of the man's garden by Mr Spotless. Stan is tasked with tidying all the junk up, but he leans over the wall causing bricks to smash Mr Spotless'

cold frame In agriculture and gardening, a cold frame is a transparent-roofed enclosure, built low to the ground, used to protect plants from adverse weather, primarily excessive cold or wet. The transparent top admits sunlight and prevents heat escape via co ...

. He tidies the yard by throwing things into the next door garden, before starting to hose it down. Next door Mr Spotless finds his garden full of the rubbish. He shouts over the garden wall at Stan and gets sprayed with water. He goes next door and starts to throttle Stan, but a young woman vaults the wall and intervenes. Stan helps her back over the wall and she blows him a kiss. Inside the man's house, his wife returns and starts to chastise him and refuses to cook dinner. Stan sees Mrs Spotless put a pie in the window to cool and steals it, along with several other dishes and takes them back to the man and his wife next door. Mrs Spotless tells Mr Spotless of the food going missing and they call next door to enquire. The wife invites them in and they all sit at the dining table where Mrs Spotless recognises the food she had stolen. She accuses them of stealing, but Stan is given the blame and he is forced to leave. Back out in the garden, he sees the young woman again and they flirt over the wall whilst an increasingly heavy rain shower soaks them both.

Cast

as The Man * Pearl Elmore (uncredited) * Sadie Gordon (uncredited) * Rosa Gore as Woman Guest (uncredited) *

Bud Jamison William Edward "Bud" Jamison (February 15, 1894 – September 30, 1944)Okuda, Ted, and Edward Watz. 1999. The Columbia Comedy Shorts: Two-reel Hollywood Film Comedies 1933–1958'. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. . was an American film actor. ...

as Mr. Spotless (uncredited) *

Margaret Joslin Margaret Joslin (August 6, 1883 – October 14, 1956), born Margaret Lucy Gosling, was an American film actress. She appeared in more than 160 films between 1910 and 1923. She was born Cleveland, Ohio and died in Glendale, California. She ...

as Mrs. Spotless (uncredited) * Jerome Laplauch (uncredited) *

Belle Mitchell Belle Mitchell (September 24, 1889 – February 12, 1979) was an American stage and film actress. She appeared in more than 100 films between 1915 and 1978. She was born in Croswell, Michigan and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. Partia ...

(uncredited) *

Marie Mosquini Marie Mosquini (born Marie de Esy; December 3, 1899 – February 21, 1983) was an American film actress. Biography Born in 1899, Mosquini appeared in more than 200 silent films between 1917 and 1929. After leaving high school she became the res ...

as Homeowner's wife (uncredited) *

James Parrott James Parrott (August 2, 1897 – May 10, 1939) was an American actor and film director; and the younger brother of film comedian Charley Chase. Biography Early years James Gibbons Parrott was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Charles and Blanch ...

as Man misses the train (uncredited) *

Clarine Seymour Clarine E. Seymour (December 9, 1898 – April 25, 1920) was an American silent film actress. Early life Seymour was the eldest of two children born to Albert V. Seymour and Florence Seymour in Brooklyn, a wealthy couple who were devout Method ...

as Mr. Spotless's Daughter (uncredited) * Hazel Powell (uncredited) * Catherine Proudfit (uncredited) * Frank Terry as Home Owner (uncredited) *

Dorothea Wolbert Dorothea Wolbert (April 12, 1874 – September 15, 1958) was an American film actress. She appeared in more than 140 films between 1916 and 1957. She appeared on the television series ''I Love Lucy'' (with her character named Dorothea Wolbe ...

as Woman Guest (uncredited) *

Noah Young Noah Young, Jr. (February 2, 1887 – April 18, 1958) was a champion weightlifter and actor. Biography Young was born in Cañon City, Colorado. His father, Noah Young, was a foreman of the Glenrock coal mine who later became a coal mine in ...

as The Health Inspector (uncredited)

References

External links

*
''Hustling for Health'' at SilentEra
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hustling For Health 1919 films 1919 short films American silent short films American black-and-white films 1919 comedy films Silent American comedy films American comedy short films 1910s American films