Off Again, on Again

Back in the mid-1930s, Hal Roach Studios decided to stop making short films. They moved Laurel & Hardy into full-length pictures and got rid of some of their shorts-only actors, such as Charley Chase. Chase got another least on life by moving to Columbia Pictures, though the quality of the shorts were no where near as good as the Roach shorts had been. Now, only a few years later, many of Chase's Columbia films were remade and starred Shemp Howard. "Off Again, On Again" is Howard's remake of Chase's "Time Out For Trouble" (1938).

Though a misunderstanding, Shemp's fiancee calls off their wedding. Despondent, Shemp is driven to suicide...though he's too stupid to actually succeed. So, he hires a gangster to kill him...though naturally when he learns he doesn't need to kill himself and his fiancee DOES want to marry him after all, he has a devil of a time getting the killer to relent.

This sort of plot's been used many times...though if you think about it, it's a really stupid idea. Chase's version of the story wasn't very good...Shemp's isn't any better (or worse).