''On the Wrong Trek'' is a 1936 short film starring

Charley Chase Charles Joseph Parrott (October 20, 1893 – June 20, 1940), known professionally as Charley Chase, was an American comedian, actor, screenwriter and film director. He worked for many pioneering comedy studios but is chiefly associated with pro ...

, directed by Harold Law, produced by

Hal Roach Harry Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr. Skretvedt, Randy (2016), ''Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies'', Bonaventure Press. p.608. (January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer, director, and screenwriter, ...

and distributed by

MGM 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 through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

. It features a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

by Laurel and Hardy.

Plot

The plot involves Charley recounting the story of his vacation to his co-workers. For his vacation, Charley and his family drive to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

....and it ends up everything ''but'' a "vacation".

Laurel and Hardy cameo

At the start of the journey they consider taking on hitchhikers and see Stan and Oliver on the side of the road thumbing a lift (both, however, are thumbing in ''opposite'' directions until Hardy notices, slapping Laurel). Oliver is sitting on some

luggage Baggage or luggage consists of bags, cases, and containers which hold a traveler's personal articles while the traveler is in transit. A modern traveler can be expected to have packages containing clothing, toiletries, small possessions, trip ...

and Stan is standing, holding an

umbrella An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally use ...

. Charley remarks that they look like horse thieves, drives by and scratches the top of his head in the same way that Stan does in all of his films. They appear on screen for 13 seconds.

Cast

Rosina Lawrence Rosina May Lawrence (December 30, 1912 – June 23, 1997) was a British-Canadian actress and singer. She had a short but memorable career in the 1920s and 1930s in Hollywood before she married in 1939 and retired from entertainment. She is best kn ...

*Bonita Weber * Clarence Wilson * Stan Laurel * Oliver Hardy

Production

The film was released on April 18, 1936. It was the last two-reel short made in the Charley Chase series for Hal Roach. ''Dave Lord Heath'' thinks the film is unfairly and inaccurately regarded as an official part of the Laurel and Hardy film series by some. The film has its great moments, including a surprise couple of cameos, but also has a slow segment (Chase singing with a bunch of hobos) which completely brings the film to a crashing halt.

References

External links

On The Wrong Trek
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

1936 films 1936 comedy films 1936 short films American black-and-white films American comedy short films Films about vacationing Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer short films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{short-comedy-film-stub