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Perfect Day (1929 film)
Encyclopedia
Synopsis
The story involves the difficulties Laurel and Hardy, their wives, and their Uncle Edgar (Edgar KennedyEdgar Kennedy
Edgar Livingston Kennedy was an American comedic film actor, known as "the king of the slow burn". A slow burn is an exasperated facial expression, performed very deliberately; Kennedy embellished this by rubbing his hand over his bald head and across his face, in an attempt to hold his temper...
) have in trying to go out for a picnic on a Sunday.
Background and production
Script written around late May, 1929. Filmed circa June 1–8, 1929. Released August 10, 1929. Copyrighted by Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, August 13, 1929.
Present prints of Perfect Day derive from the 1937 reissue of the film. For this reissue, background musical scoring was added to the soundtrack by film editor William Ziegler; originally the film had no music other than over the main titles. The music cues were composed once again by Leroy Shield
Leroy Shield
Leroy Shield was an American film score and radio composer.-Career:A native of Waseca, Minnesota, Shield was an employee of RCA Victor's National Broadcasting Company, for which he composed and conducted on-air musical pieces...
, back at Roach after six years' absence. They were initially penned for the L&H feature Our Relations
Our Relations
Our Relations is a 1936 feature film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, produced by Laurel for Hal Roach Studios.-Plot:Laurel and Hardy star as both their famous Stan and Ollie characters and as Stan and Ollie's twin brothers Bert and Alf...
, and found their way into the other L&H reissues of 1936 and '37. The soundtrack was also re-adapted from the Victor sound-on-disc system used in 1929 to the superior sound-on-film technique in use by 1937. Adding the soundtrack to the existing film resulted in a slight reduction of the correct frame ratio: in some scenes in Perfect Day, the picture is slightly cropped at the top and left hand sides of the frame to allow for inclusion of the soundtrack.
Perfect Day was Laurel and Hardy's fourth sound film and their fifth appearance in a talking movie (the team had filmed a brief sketch for M-G-M's feature The Hollywood Revue of 1929
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
The Hollywood Revue of 1929 is a 1929 part Technicolor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer American musical-comedy film. It was the studio's second feature-length musical, and one of the earliest ventures into the talkie format. Produced by Harry Rapf and directed by Chuck Riesner, the film brought together some...
just prior to Perfect Day). Despite the fact that many film directors and actors were still learning how to deal with the new technology, Laurel and Hardy mastered the new form quite early; the overall excellence and high reputation of Perfect Day among comedy fans and contemporary audiences alike bear testimony to the team's fruitful use of the new medium. Using sound effects to punctuate and underscore a visual gag—what the Three Stooges
Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe,...
would later take to another level—was still in its infancy in 1929; Laurel and Hardy employ what must have been among the very first in this short, when Stan gets beaned with the clutch and a loud clang, as of a tolling bell, rings out. One 1929 reviewer termed this effect "the funniest effect so far heard in a comedy." Laurel and Hardy were judicious with this use of sound; more commonly found in their films is the use of offscreen sounds to suggest comic possibilities, seen in this film when we hear, not see, Stan wresting the clutch from the car, and in the auto klaxon which surprises Ollie after he's been blown into the road by an explosion.
Although John McCabe has suggested this film originally had as its scripted conclusion an actual picnic, discarded when the extended gags centering on the balky auto provided enough comic material to sustain the entire film, Randy Skretvedt
Randy Skretvedt
Randy Skretvedt is an American film and music scholar, author, lecturer and broadcaster. His 1987 book Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies is the reference standard for Laurel and Hardy fans Randy Skretvedt (b. November 1958) is an American film and music scholar, author, lecturer and...
refutes this (Magic Behind the Movies, p. 171); no extant script makes any mention of the picnic itself. Perfect Day as it exists does adhere to the cinematic structure common to many Laurel and Hardy shorts. A brief opening scene provides the comedic impetus—the impending picnic—followed by a longer middle section involving both "milked" gags (the tire changing and engine cranking sequences), running gags (the "goodbye" repetitions and the reactions of neighbors), and what Professor McCabe terms "reciprocal destruction" (the window-breaking sequence). The film is then concluded with a very brief wrap-up gag with a strong visual payoff, derived in this case from Laurel and Hardy's earlier short Leave 'Em Laughing
Leave 'Em Laughing
Leave 'Em Laughing is a 1928 two-reel silent film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Produced by the Hal Roach Studios, it was shot in October, 1927 and released January 28, 1928 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer....
(1928). Thus a concluding section depicting the picnic is not only unnecessary from a punchline standpoint, but unneeded from a structural perspective.
Perfect Day also benefits from having been largely shot outdoors, freeing it from the stagebound claustrophobia common to many early talkies. The opening scene is the only one set indoors (one can hear the whirring of cameras in some shots, such as the one in which Mrs. Hardy commends the duo to "forgive and forget") and the exterior sound recording must have been technically impressive for this era of filmmaking, when most actors were confined to remaining close to a microphone. This accomplishment helps the short transcend its time period and remain fresh for viewing today. The live outdoor recording also reveals the improvisatory nature of most early Laurel and Hardy films in one scene in particular, in which Edgar Kennedy, seated in the back of the car, ad libs, "Oh, shit!"
Two Tars
Two Tars, directed by James Parrott and released in 1928, is recognized as one of Laurel and Hardy's greatest films. A silent film, it largely consists of a 'reciprocal destruction' involving motorists in a traffic jam, which has much inventive mayhem with the destruction of various...
, where gag sequences do not necessarily build in scale so much as increase the comedic tension.
The two homes seen in the film, as Laurel and Hardy's own and the neighbor's, were in fact owned by Baldwin Cooke, the actor portraying the neighbor in the film. Cooke had been one-third of the vaudeville team of "The Stan Jefferson Trio", in which he had worked in the 1915-1916 era with Stan Laurel. The Laurel and Hardy home seen in the film still stands, virtually unchanged, today in Culver City, California.
Cast
- Stan LaurelStan LaurelArthur Stanley "Stan" Jefferson , better known as Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and film director, famous as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film...
as Stanley - Oliver HardyOliver HardyOliver Hardy was an American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy, the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted nearly 30 years, from 1927 to 1955.-Early life:...
as Ollie - Edgar KennedyEdgar KennedyEdgar Livingston Kennedy was an American comedic film actor, known as "the king of the slow burn". A slow burn is an exasperated facial expression, performed very deliberately; Kennedy embellished this by rubbing his hand over his bald head and across his face, in an attempt to hold his temper...
as Uncle Edgar - Kay DeslysKay DeslysKay Deslys was a British comedy actress in American films from the 1920s.Born as Kathleen Herbert in London, one of her earliest roles was in Charlie Chaplin's celebrated feature The Gold Rush; she later appeared in several comedies at the Hal Roach Studios, including several early Laurel and...
as Mrs. Hardy - Isabelle KeithIsabelle KeithIsabelle Keith was an American actress. She was born on May 27, 1898 in New York, New York, and died July 20, 1979 in Mill Valley, California. She appeared in 42 films between 1919 and 1936, most of them from the M-G-M studio....
as Mrs. Laurel - Baldwin CookeBaldwin CookeBaldwin Cooke, also known as Baldy Cooke , was a comedic American actor. Born in New York, Cooke and his wife, Alice, toured in vaudeville with Stan Laurel, remaining close friends over the years. He appeared in some thirty Laurel and Hardy comedies...
as Irate neighbor - Lyle TayoLyle TayoLyle Tayo was an American film actress who appeared in 59 films between 1921 and 1948. Tayo was born in Elmdale, Kansas and died in Hollywood, California. She is buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery....
as Irate neighbor's wife - Harry BernardHarry BernardHarry Bernard was a movie comedian who worked for Mack Sennett and with Laurel & Hardy, usually typecast as a policeman.Bernard was born in San Francisco, California, and died in Hollywood.-Selected filmography:...
as Neighbor across the street - Clara Guiol as Wife of neighbor across the street
- Charley RogersCharley RogersCharley Rogers was an English film actor, director and screenwriter, best known for his association with Laurel and Hardy. He appeared in 37 films between 1912 and 1954...
as Minister
Incidental Music Scoring
"Ku-Ku" (Marvin HatleyMarvin Hatley
Thomas Marvin Hatley , professionally known simply as Marvin Hatley, was an American film composer and musical director, best known for his work for the Hal Roach studio from 1929 until 1940....
)
"We're Just a Happy Family" (Leroy Shield
Leroy Shield
Leroy Shield was an American film score and radio composer.-Career:A native of Waseca, Minnesota, Shield was an employee of RCA Victor's National Broadcasting Company, for which he composed and conducted on-air musical pieces...
)
"Let's Face It" (Shield)
"We're Out for Fun" (Shield)
"Carefree" (Shield)
"Up in Room 14" (Shield)
"The Laurel and Hardy Waltz" (Nathaniel Shilkret
Nathaniel Shilkret
Nathaniel Shilkret was an American composer, conductor, clarinetist, pianist, business executive, and music director born in New York City, New York to an Austrian immigrant family.-Early career:...
)
"Up in Room 14" (reprise
Reprise
Reprise is a fundamental device in the history of art. In literature, a reprise consists of the rewriting of another work; in music, a reprise is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the...
) (Shield)
"Colonial Gayeties" (Shield)
"On a Sunny Afternoon" (Shield)
"We're Out for Fun" (Shield)
"Here Comes the Stagecoach" (Hatley)
"Our Relations/Finale" (Shield)