''Should Sailors Marry?'' is a 1925 American silent

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

featuring Clyde Cook and

Oliver Hardy Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his ...

Plot

A wife waits for her brawling sailor ex-husband. His friends sneer at him for ever being married. She has come to claim back alimony. Cyril is returning home after four years on a submarine. He is on a train going to visit Verbena Singlefoot, a sturdy widow with whom he has been corresponding. She owns her building and takes in boarders. She won a beauty prize 22 years previously in the 1893 Chicago World Fair. He puts on his overcoat to leave the train but two men are trying to put on the same coat. He opens the carriage window and sees Verbena outside, he leans out to hug her then passes his bags out of the window and exits there instead of the door. They marry and go home. The ex-husband loiters at the entrance. He is introduced to her son, a bratty young teenager dressed as a cowboy, who demands that Cyril dances the "bagpipe" (meaning

hornpipe The hornpipe is any of several dance forms and their associated tunes, played and danced in Great Britain and Ireland and elsewhere from the 16th century until the present day. The earliest references to hornpipes are from England, with Hugh As ...

). He fires his guns at Cyril's feet to make him dance. When the boy seems to lose interest and wanders off he goes to check and has his cap shot off. He is then introduced to his new daughter, Smyrna, a precocious girl of around 16. Smyrna gives him a sexy wink. Sitting on hot curling tongs sets Cyril into another hornpipe. The ex-husband appears and is kicked on the chin in Cyril's enthusiastic dance. Smyrna asks, "Did he hurt you Daddy?" and Cyril asks Verbena for an explanation. On their wedding night, he puts on his nightgown and nightcap. He hides in the bed and does not realise that it is the ex-husband getting in, not Verbena. They fight over the covers before Cyril spots his mistake. Verbena comes in and checks his pockets for money. She cries when he says he has none. The ex-husband tells him he will have to work to pay him his alimony. He dreams of wrestling him then they actually wrestle.. The ex-husband is twice his size but he nimbly escapes his grabs and blows. The doctor arrives with an assistant to check him for life insurance, interrupting his first day's work sharpening tools. They check his heart and blood pressure. The doctor does not pay attention and over-inflates the blood pressure band, bursting it. He is pronounced "perfect" but the doctor wants to operate "just for the experience". They try to strip him and he resists. The doctor agrees a $25,000 policy payable to Verbena. Calamities instantly begin on a steel construction of a skyscraper many floors up. He escapes into a passing hot air balloon advertising Reno Soap. He cuts the tether to escape. He throws out a sand bag and hits the ex-husband, dropping him off the steelwork. Cyril indicates he is going to

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

Cast

* Clyde Cook as Cyril D'Armond *

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 i ...

as The ex-husband *

Fay Holderness Fay Holderness (née MacMurray; April 16, 1881 – May 13, 1963) was an American vaudeville performer and film actress. Family Fay Holderness was born Fay MacMurray in Oconto, Wisconsin, the daughter of Thomas James MacMurray and Mary E. MacM ...

as Verbena Singlefoot (the new wife) *

Martha Sleeper Martha Sleeper (June 24, 1910 – March 25, 1983) was a film actress of the 1920s–1930s and, later, a Broadway stage actress. She studied dancing for five years with Russian ballet master, Louis H. Chalif, at his New York dancing studio. ...

as Smyrna *

as Doctor *

Sammy Brooks Sammy Brooks (July 10, 1891 – May 16, 1951) was an American film actor. He appeared in 218 films between 1916 and 1938. He was born in New York City and died in Los Angeles, California. Selected filmography * '' Luke, the Candy Cut-Up'' ...

as Doctor's short assistant * William Gillespie as Train passenger * Helen Gilmore as Train passenger

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Should Sailors Marry? 1925 films 1925 comedy films 1925 short films 1920s American films 1920s English-language films American black-and-white films English-language comedy short films Films directed by Jess Robbins Films with screenplays by H. M. Walker Pathé Exchange films Silent American comedy short films Surviving American silent films

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links