SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES: Laurel and Hardy in "The Chimp", 1932

Review Summary

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy have been working for a circus as two halves of an ersatz horse. When the circus closes, in lieu of pay, each employee gets a portion of the show. Stan gets the flea circus and Ollie gets Ethel the chimp. They try to check into a boarding house, but the proprietor (Billy Gilbert) -- who also has a wife named Ethel -- turns the chimp away. To get her in, the boys dress her in Ollie's clothes, while Ollie puts on her tutu. After the usual Laurel and Hardy confusion, they all wind up in the same room together -- Stan and Ollie, sharing a bed, unfortunately, with the flea circus. Someone in another room puts on some music; Ethel, overhearing it, starts to dance. The boys start yelling at Ethel, and the boarding house proprietor, thinking it is his wife, dashes in brandishing a gun. Ethel, the wife, actually does walk in, but runs off when she sees the chimp. Ethel, the chimp, gets ahold of the gun, and Stan, Ollie, and the proprietor take off, too. This is a loose variant on the same situation that drives two other Laurel and Hardy shorts, 1929's Angora Love and 1931's Laughing Gravy. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Movie Details


Title: The Chimp

Running Time: 25 Minutes

Country: USA

Genre: Comedy, Short

Producer: Hal Roach

Director: James Parrott

Writer: H.M. Walker (dialogue)

Original Music: Marvin Hatley, Leroy Shield

Cinematographer: Walter Lundin

Release Date: May 21, 1932



Cast (in credits order):

Stan Laurel ... Stanley

Oliver Hardy ... Oliver

Additional cast (listed alphabetically):

Bobby Burns ... Tenant (uncredited)
Baldwin Cooke ... Bit Part (uncredited)
James Finlayson ... Ringmaster (uncredited)
Charles Gemora ... Ethel the chimp (uncredited)
Billy Gilbert ... Joe - the Landlord (uncredited)
Belle Hare ... Laid-off Circus Performer (uncredited)
Jack Hill ... Circus audience members (uncredited)
Lois Laurel ... Girl in Audience (uncredited)
Dorothy Layton ... Bit Part (uncredited)
George Miller ... Circus owner (uncredited)
William J. O'Brien... Circus Owner (uncredited)
Tiny Sandford ... Destructo (uncredited)
Martha Sleeper ... Landlord's wife Ethel (uncredited)

Opening Title Card: Mr. Hardy's aesthetic nature thrilled at the beauties of circus life - Mr. Laurel never got any further than the monkey cage.