Should Married Men Go Home? (1928)

"Question: What is the surest way to keep a husband at home? Answer: Break both his legs"

Produced by Hal Roach
Directed by James Parrott

Featuring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Edgar Kennedy, Kay Deslys, Charlie Hall

 
   

During a peaceful weekend at home Mr. and Mrs. Hardy relax together reading the newspaper. It's a day of rest. Outside, walking down the street comes their friend Mr. Laurel, carrying his golf bag, dressed for divot digging. Spotting this threat to their rare harmony the happy couple pretends not to be at home. Intent on playing golf later, Stan leaves a note halfway under the front door. Upon watching the missive disappear at his feet, Stan becomes curious and catches the Hardys peeking out their window to see if he's gone. He's not. Game over.

 


Resigned to inviting this unwelcome caller inside, the trio sits quietly and uncomfortably as Stan causes one accident after another, igniting a pack of matches, wrecking a window shade, and destroying a Victrola, with Ollie's aid. Their brief domestic bliss shattered, Mrs. Hardy is herself again and angrily throws both boys out of the house. They land on the golf course, where Stan and Ollie are advised they need a foursome in order to play. Luckily they happen to meet a pair of charming young ladies. Before teeing off all decide to enjoy a round of drinks at the soda fountain to get better acquainted. Ollie leaves Stan to pay the 30¢ tab - with 15¢. It's a good trick on someone when Stan settles up by turning over his watch. On the first tee, an impatient troublemaker, Edgar "Slow Burn" Kennedy, tries to play through. Contretemps escalate on the fairway. Edgar's hairpiece falls off, and Stan hastily helps him replace it - with a well-cut same-sized divot. Then Edgar faces a bad lie at a water hazard. Although no one asked him, Stan reads Edgar the regulation: he must play the ball exactly where it lies. Edgar whacks at it - causing a muddy divot to splatter across a young lady's rear end. Then another splashes across her face. She takes offense, grabs a handful of mud, and responds in kind. More turf is tossed in retaliation. Soon everyone including a giant is flinging mud at one another. Social chaos ensues. Golf is forgotten in a battle royal until a dozen duffers are soaked in soaring, oozing, brown muck and mire!

-- by Richard W. Bann --