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.

Their First Mistake is a short that really embodies the essence of what Laurel and Hardy were about as a comedic duo. Hal Roach, the famous producer of many of their shorts along with a barrage of other successful ones for the period, famously stated how Laurel and Hardy complimented each other with their slapstick and behavioral tendencies, but what always drove me to their shorts as a means for pleasant escapism besides their inherent humor was how both characters were loyal to one another. It was as if they were all each other had, and no matter how angry they got at each other, they had to stick together, for where else would they go?

When Laurel and Hardy decide to adopt a baby to prove to Hardy's wife (Mae Busch) that they are indeed responsible and trustworthy, they are all they have, and while the short is frequently funny, it also proves this point as it goes on. Notice how even through anger and hostility brew between one another, there both men are, quick to recoup and try to do the right thing, despite going about it in the wrong way. Furthermore, Laurel and Hardy are breathlessly funny, finding a plethora of ways to be entertaining as well as thoughtfully engaging.

Their First Mistake embodies precisely why their careers and shorts have a timeless longevity.

Starring: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, and Mae Busch. Directed by: George Marshall.

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 is a remarkable short, seldom talked about. The boys have been spending too much time having a good time. Ollie's wife, the wonderful though threatening Mae Busch, has had enough. She files for divorce and names Stan for alienation of affections (I wonder if there ever were any affections). She take off, but before this, Stan talks the big guy into adopting a baby, thinking it will soothe things. I guess there was a sale on babies at the local baby market. This is no help because now they have an infant child to take care of. From then on, it's nuttiness because the are so utterly incompetent and yet endearing in their efforts to do right by the child. As is usually the case, they begin to demolish the apartment through their carelessness and stupidity. There is one precious scene when Ollie tries to feed the baby without looking to see where it is. Some have criticized this film because of its open endedness, but with all that goes on, who cares. When one realizes how much these guys could do in fifteen or twenty minutes of screen time, they were even more amazing.

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.