Run Time: 17 minutes. Studio: Sun-Lite Pictures. Director: Jess Robbins. Main Cast: Stan Laurel, Florence Gilbert, Jack Lloyd, Oliver "Babe" Hardy, Ted Jefferson. Cinematographer: Irving G. Reis.
There is no reason to believe that anybody working on The Lucky Dog knew that they were creating an important moment of movie history and nobody watching this film, would have thought they were watching a milestone in film history. Rather this was simply another short comedy that was simply viewed as an enjoyable addition to a night at the movies. Yet this short film marked the first time Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy had ever appeared together on screen. The idea of these two becoming a comedy team was on nobody's mind, they were just two actors who happened to be in the same film and soon afterwards the fact that these two had worked together would be completely forgotten. In fact, the two wouldn't appear in the same film again until 1926. About working together in this film Stan would later state, "There was nothing about the picture or our own personal relationship to suggest that we might ever become partners." The two here do not work as a team in fact the work against each other. Stan Laurel is the hero of the picture and Oliver Hardy plays one of the villains. The first time the two appear on screen together, Babe (the nickname Oliver Hardy was called by all his friends) is a robber who sticks Stan up. The first dialogue [via intertitle because this is a silent film] between them was when Babe tells Stan “Put ‘em both up insect, before I comb your hair with lead!” Obviously we are far from later Laurel and Hardy territory here.
Neither Stan Laurel nor Oliver Hardy were beginning their movie careers at this time. Babe had appeared in over 200 short films, often as the villain or the heavy, as his roles were called at the time. Though he had occasionally been given a lead role, most of the time his parts in these pictures were supporting roles. Stan Laurel had hardly been this prolific on screen. Unlike his future partner though, Stan had been the star in most of his short films. He was not as successful in the movies as he had hoped to be and he returned to the stage. It was during this time, when Stan was approached by G.M. Anderson, who at this time was starting a new movie company, Amalgamated Producing Company. Anderson had hoped to create a series of comedy short films starring Stan Laurel. To make such a series, Anderson would need funding. Because of this a pilot film for the comedy series was created and this pilot was The Lucky Dog. Starting in 1918 Babe, Jess Robbins (this film's director) and Irving Reiss (the film's cameraman) were working with a comedian named Jimmy Aubery (who had like Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin been a member of Fred Karno's Troupe). Aubery did not like to share credit with anyone and when (in 1921) those who worked with him were getting much of the credit for his comedies, he fired them. The result was that G.M. Anderson would hire some of the talent that had just been fired by Aubery to work on this picture. This decision was helped by the fact that Anderson had worked with director Jess Robbins before. Anderson was one of the founders and heads of the Essany studio (best known today for the short films Charlie Chaplin made there) and Robbins directed several films for that studio.
The movie begins with Stan being thrown out of his apartment for not paying the rent. After some slapstick mishaps, Stan discovers a little dog and the dog takes a real liking to Stan. When a slapstick mishap has Stan's stuff spread all over the street, he rushes to put everything back in his suitcase, but the dog sneaks into Stan's suitcase and runs away. When Stan chases his suitcase he runs into Babe. Babe has just robbed a man. Unfortunately he makes the small mistake of putting the man's wallet in Stan's pocket. Though the characters of Stan and Ollie are quite different from who they would later become, it is at this point that some classic Laurel and Hardy humor finds its way into the movie. Babe tries to rob Stan, but Stan is too detached from the real world that he has difficulty following the basic rules of being robbed. This is made more diffcult because Stan is holding the little dog under one arm. Of course most people would simply put the dog down, but Stan's mind is completely incapable of such a logical thought. One moment here is perfectly in keeping with Stan's later character. Babe takes the wallet out of Stan's pocket. Stan looks dumbfounded as Babe counts the money simply trying to figure out where the money came from. He grabs it back from Babe to count it himself and is amazed by the sudden wealth he didn't know he had. This then leads to a typical silent comedy chase sequence. After the chase, Stan tries to get rid of the little dog. That is until he meets a beautiful lady who is entering her dog in a dog show. Now he decides that the dog could be useful to get to know this woman. However Stan is not allowed to enter the dog show with his dog because the mutt is not a pedigree. Still Stan sneaks in and his dog causes trouble making all the other dogs run away. While the woman is sad about losing her dog, Stan offers his dog to her and the lady gladly accepts and takes Stan home to meet her father. The only problem is that the lady has a boyfriend, who jealously hires a hitman to take out Stan. Wouldn't you know that the hitman would be Babe. This over course leads to more slapstick comedy.
This is in many ways a typical silent comedy short of the era. While it may not hold its own with later Laurel and Hardy films (or the short films of Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton), it is a delightfully above average comedy short of this era. There are quite a few real genuine laughs here and the scene where Babe tries to rob Stan is fantastic. The chemistry between the two is already present and it is always such a joy to watch these two share the screen. The storyline doesn't make much sense, but the film moves at such a fast pace, and I had too much fun watching it for that to make much of a difference. This movie also features some of the great location shooting that us silent comedy fans love so much. These scenes in silent comedies are priceless due to how they give us such a great look at what America looked like at the time these pictures were made. The scenes involving the trolley cars are especially delightful in this regard (these scenes were shot on Lincoln Park Ave. and eagle-eyed movie fans can spot signs advertising the Los Angeles Ostrich Farm). This film also features some surprisingly good effects work. The scene where the dancing girls appear around Stan is especially well done. This short film is not just a milestone in movie history, it is also a very entertaining comedy in its own right.
However, the film does have one major fault and this is the inconsistency of Stan's character. Stan at this time was still searching for a screen character he had not found yet. At times Stan's character here can closely resemble his later character and at other times, it couldn't be further off. Stan's character can be a complete idiot at times in this film, but then he can outsmart the villains at others. His personality is simply whatever the story or gag needs him to be at the moment.
Over the years there has been debate as to when this film was made. In his landmark book, Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy, John McCabe dates this as a 1918 film. In later Laurel and Hardy books from him, he would date this movie as being from 1916 and 1917. In the earliest editions of Laurel & Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies this was listed as a 1919 film. However recent research has proved that this film had to have been shot in January or February of 1921. Part of this is due to Stan's vaudeville tour dates and Ollie's shooting schedule. However, one of the most important bits of research was when historian Bo Berglund, took a close look at a license plate on a car.
Unfortunately, this movie was not as successful as G.M. Anderson had planned. When sent to various financial backers it was turned down. However, a year later, Anderson sold a series of 8 Stan Laurel comedies to Metro Pictures. Still The Lucky Dog received a very small release in movie theaters. This is quite different from today, when this is one of the easiest Laurel and Hardy films to see. Being in public domain this has found its way onto countless public domain DVDs as well as on YouTube.
Resources Used
Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies by Randy Skretvedt
https://laurel-and-hardy-blog.com/2018/09/26/the-lucky-dog-1921/?msclkid=b288e027b0f711eca9aa9785629c7196
https://silentology.wordpress.com/2014/10/04/obscure-films-the-lucky-dog-1921/
There is no reason to believe that anybody working on The Lucky Dog knew that they were creating an important moment of movie history and nobody watching this film, would have thought they were watching a milestone in film history. Rather this was simply another short comedy that was simply viewed as an enjoyable addition to a night at the movies. Yet this short film marked the first time Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy had ever appeared together on screen. The idea of these two becoming a comedy team was on nobody's mind, they were just two actors who happened to be in the same film and soon afterwards the fact that these two had worked together would be completely forgotten. In fact, the two wouldn't appear in the same film again until 1926. About working together in this film Stan would later state, "There was nothing about the picture or our own personal relationship to suggest that we might ever become partners." The two here do not work as a team in fact the work against each other. Stan Laurel is the hero of the picture and Oliver Hardy plays one of the villains. The first time the two appear on screen together, Babe (the nickname Oliver Hardy was called by all his friends) is a robber who sticks Stan up. The first dialogue [via intertitle because this is a silent film] between them was when Babe tells Stan “Put ‘em both up insect, before I comb your hair with lead!” Obviously we are far from later Laurel and Hardy territory here.
Neither Stan Laurel nor Oliver Hardy were beginning their movie careers at this time. Babe had appeared in over 200 short films, often as the villain or the heavy, as his roles were called at the time. Though he had occasionally been given a lead role, most of the time his parts in these pictures were supporting roles. Stan Laurel had hardly been this prolific on screen. Unlike his future partner though, Stan had been the star in most of his short films. He was not as successful in the movies as he had hoped to be and he returned to the stage. It was during this time, when Stan was approached by G.M. Anderson, who at this time was starting a new movie company, Amalgamated Producing Company. Anderson had hoped to create a series of comedy short films starring Stan Laurel. To make such a series, Anderson would need funding. Because of this a pilot film for the comedy series was created and this pilot was The Lucky Dog. Starting in 1918 Babe, Jess Robbins (this film's director) and Irving Reiss (the film's cameraman) were working with a comedian named Jimmy Aubery (who had like Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin been a member of Fred Karno's Troupe). Aubery did not like to share credit with anyone and when (in 1921) those who worked with him were getting much of the credit for his comedies, he fired them. The result was that G.M. Anderson would hire some of the talent that had just been fired by Aubery to work on this picture. This decision was helped by the fact that Anderson had worked with director Jess Robbins before. Anderson was one of the founders and heads of the Essany studio (best known today for the short films Charlie Chaplin made there) and Robbins directed several films for that studio.
The movie begins with Stan being thrown out of his apartment for not paying the rent. After some slapstick mishaps, Stan discovers a little dog and the dog takes a real liking to Stan. When a slapstick mishap has Stan's stuff spread all over the street, he rushes to put everything back in his suitcase, but the dog sneaks into Stan's suitcase and runs away. When Stan chases his suitcase he runs into Babe. Babe has just robbed a man. Unfortunately he makes the small mistake of putting the man's wallet in Stan's pocket. Though the characters of Stan and Ollie are quite different from who they would later become, it is at this point that some classic Laurel and Hardy humor finds its way into the movie. Babe tries to rob Stan, but Stan is too detached from the real world that he has difficulty following the basic rules of being robbed. This is made more diffcult because Stan is holding the little dog under one arm. Of course most people would simply put the dog down, but Stan's mind is completely incapable of such a logical thought. One moment here is perfectly in keeping with Stan's later character. Babe takes the wallet out of Stan's pocket. Stan looks dumbfounded as Babe counts the money simply trying to figure out where the money came from. He grabs it back from Babe to count it himself and is amazed by the sudden wealth he didn't know he had. This then leads to a typical silent comedy chase sequence. After the chase, Stan tries to get rid of the little dog. That is until he meets a beautiful lady who is entering her dog in a dog show. Now he decides that the dog could be useful to get to know this woman. However Stan is not allowed to enter the dog show with his dog because the mutt is not a pedigree. Still Stan sneaks in and his dog causes trouble making all the other dogs run away. While the woman is sad about losing her dog, Stan offers his dog to her and the lady gladly accepts and takes Stan home to meet her father. The only problem is that the lady has a boyfriend, who jealously hires a hitman to take out Stan. Wouldn't you know that the hitman would be Babe. This over course leads to more slapstick comedy.
This is in many ways a typical silent comedy short of the era. While it may not hold its own with later Laurel and Hardy films (or the short films of Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton), it is a delightfully above average comedy short of this era. There are quite a few real genuine laughs here and the scene where Babe tries to rob Stan is fantastic. The chemistry between the two is already present and it is always such a joy to watch these two share the screen. The storyline doesn't make much sense, but the film moves at such a fast pace, and I had too much fun watching it for that to make much of a difference. This movie also features some of the great location shooting that us silent comedy fans love so much. These scenes in silent comedies are priceless due to how they give us such a great look at what America looked like at the time these pictures were made. The scenes involving the trolley cars are especially delightful in this regard (these scenes were shot on Lincoln Park Ave. and eagle-eyed movie fans can spot signs advertising the Los Angeles Ostrich Farm). This film also features some surprisingly good effects work. The scene where the dancing girls appear around Stan is especially well done. This short film is not just a milestone in movie history, it is also a very entertaining comedy in its own right.
However, the film does have one major fault and this is the inconsistency of Stan's character. Stan at this time was still searching for a screen character he had not found yet. At times Stan's character here can closely resemble his later character and at other times, it couldn't be further off. Stan's character can be a complete idiot at times in this film, but then he can outsmart the villains at others. His personality is simply whatever the story or gag needs him to be at the moment.
Over the years there has been debate as to when this film was made. In his landmark book, Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy, John McCabe dates this as a 1918 film. In later Laurel and Hardy books from him, he would date this movie as being from 1916 and 1917. In the earliest editions of Laurel & Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies this was listed as a 1919 film. However recent research has proved that this film had to have been shot in January or February of 1921. Part of this is due to Stan's vaudeville tour dates and Ollie's shooting schedule. However, one of the most important bits of research was when historian Bo Berglund, took a close look at a license plate on a car.
Unfortunately, this movie was not as successful as G.M. Anderson had planned. When sent to various financial backers it was turned down. However, a year later, Anderson sold a series of 8 Stan Laurel comedies to Metro Pictures. Still The Lucky Dog received a very small release in movie theaters. This is quite different from today, when this is one of the easiest Laurel and Hardy films to see. Being in public domain this has found its way onto countless public domain DVDs as well as on YouTube.
Resources Used
Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies by Randy Skretvedt
https://laurel-and-hardy-blog.com/2018/09/26/the-lucky-dog-1921/?msclkid=b288e027b0f711eca9aa9785629c7196
https://silentology.wordpress.com/2014/10/04/obscure-films-the-lucky-dog-1921/
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