Classic Film Comedy Short Stories #7

 One of the first images that may come to ones mind when they hear Laurel and Hardy is the two carrying a piano up a flight of stairs. Before this film the duo appeared in another film in which they carried a washing machine up the same flight of stairs and had much of the same trouble. This 1927 film has unfortunately been lost, but some screen shots still exist such as the one I included here. The film was named Hats Off.


Universal did not want Lou Costello to do his own stunt work, so much of the stunt work was done by Lou's older brother Pat Costello. You can see Pat along side his brother in the film Mexican Hayride. He would also be a producer on the film Jack and the Beanstalk staring Abbott and Costello. He would also be a producer for The Abbott and Costello Show for TV.

Lou Costello was a great athlete and in the film Here Come the Co-eds, he had done nearly all of the complicated basketball shorts in the movie.

Charlie Chaplin did not get along with his City Lights costar Virginia Cherrill. After she showed up late one day Chaplin wanted to fire her from the movie. He was going to replace her with Georgia Hale who had costarred with Chaplin in The Gold Rush. However she still costars in the film because too much time and money was spent on scenes with her in them, he decided not to re-shoot.

Though Buster Keaton did nearly all of his stunts in his independently produced films. The only exception to this is his character's s amazing pole vault into his sweetheart's room in College.


-Michael J. Ruhland