Their First Mistake

Mae Busch, Oliver Hardy's wife, thinks he spends too much time with Stan Laurel. They decide that what she needs is a baby, so they go out and adopt one. When they return to the apartment, they find Mae is suing Ollie for divorce and Stan for alienation of affection. All well and good but what are the Boys going to do with a baby.

This is sometimes cited as the 'gayest' of the Laurel & Hardy shorts, and there;s something in that, but if so, it raises the implication only to make fun of it. Stan and Ollie are almost all the movie; the baby gets one close up to establish it as real, Miss Busch is gone after the first minute, Billy Gilbert plays a process server, and director George Marshall appears briefly as a neighbor.

THe gags are good, but there's no real ending. Apparently Stan and Ollie improvised so many gags, there wasn't time.

I suspect that a few years after its released "Their First Mistake" might've not been allowed to show all the things that it did. Much of it is Stan and Ollie doing their usual stuff - with Ollie constantly irritated at Stan's idiocy - but their is a scene showing them in bed together with the baby. Maybe it was more acceptable since this was a comedy and thus not to meant to get taken seriously, but I can imagine that a number of people would've found it extreme back then.

Aside from that, it's a funny short, with no shortage of the pair's typical mishaps. As always, Hardy suffers the most due to Laurel's incompetence. The best scenes involve the lamp.

Good one.

In this talking Laurel & Hardy movie Hardy is married. Laurel is also unhappy. With these two statements the short movie starts. Hardy's wife thinks he does to much with Laurel, he likes Laurel more than he likes her. When Laurel calls if they will do something nice tonight Hardy pretends that he is talking to his new boss. When the wife finds out she gets very mad. Laurel thinks he has the solution. They need a baby, because that will draw all the attention of the wife and Hardy can do fun stuff with Laurel again. Hardy thinks it is a pretty good idea and they adopt a baby. When they enter Hardy's home again his wife is gone. A man arrives telling them both that Hardy is sued for divorce and Laurel is sued for the reason of alienation of Hardy from his wife. Now they are stuck with a baby, their first mistake.

This is a very nice short. Of course a baby is an inspiration for a lot of nice little gags. The bottle with milk has a main part for those gags and Laurel makes sure every single one of them works. The usual jokes with tripping over things also work most of the time, although they are very predictable. It is quite an accomplishment that those predictable moments also bring a smile to your face. Like with most Laurel & Hardy shorts you will have a pretty good time.

A LAUREL & HARDY Comedy Short. The Boys make THEIR FIRST MISTAKE when Stan convinces Ollie to adopt a tiny baby in order to placate his ferocious wife. Arriving home with the infant, the Boys discover that Mrs. Hardy has left him for good - leaving Stan & Ollie to look after the baby. This, of course, is something they are spectacularly ill-equipped to do.

Not much plot in this little film - plenty of sight gags, though. Stan's preparation to milk the baby is hilarious. That's Billy Gilbert as the process server & Mae Busch as Mrs. Hardy.

This Laurel and Hardy short, with the guys stuck with a baby they adopted to give Ollie's wife something to do during the day (loved that) was an eye opener for me when I first viewed it in the mid eighties, over a half century after it was made.

After the wife storms out, Ollie is holding the baby and Stan is going to leave. Ollie asks where Stanley is going. Stanley asks what does he have to do with the baby.

Ollie: "What do you have to do with it? Why, you're the one who wanted me to have a baby."

Stan: "Well, I can't be tied down to a baby. I have my future, . . my career to think about."

Ollie: "Well, what about me? What will my friends say? I'll be . . . ostracized."

Why are youth panicked into what do and not to do when obviously the same problems have been going on for longer than anyone wants to admit?

Thank you, Laurel and Hardy, for at least documenting it.