Putting Pants on Philip - Alchetron, the free social encyclopedia

Putting Pants On Philip is a silent short film starring American comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. Made in 1927, it is their first "official" film together as a team. The plot involves Laurel as Philip, a young Scot newly arrived in the United States, in full kilted splendor, suffering mishaps involving the kilt. His uncle, played by Hardy, is shown trying to put trousers on him.

The duo appeared in a total of 107 films between 1921 and 1950. The idea for the film was Stan Laurel's and was based on a story recounted by a friend while Laurel worked in music hall. The archivist William K. Everson described the film as "one of the real gems of comedy from the late 1920s, and perhaps the most individual of all the Laurel and Hardy comedies, though not necessarily the funniest."

Plot

Piedmont Mumblethunder (Hardy), seeing Philip for the first time, tells a friend that he pities whoever has to collect this character, only to be upset when he turns out to be that person. Hardy is embarrassed at the effeminacy of his kilt-wearing Scottish nephew Philip (Laurel). At one point Philip loses his underwear and, pursuing a pretty girl, steps on a ventilator grate. This blows his kilt up which results in several women fainting.

Piedmont then takes Philip to a tailor to be fitted for trousers. Philip leaves the tailor to continue pursuing the woman he saw earlier. Catching up to the woman he takes off his kilt to cover a puddle, the woman leaves and Piedmont steps on the kilt and falls into a covered mud hole. The film ends on a close up of Oliver Hardy's face showing "a soon to be classic look of chargin"

Production

Although this was their first "official" film as a team, the iconic Stan and Ollie characters and costumes had yet to become a permanent fixture. Their first appearance as the now familiar "Stan and Ollie" characters was in The Second Hundred Years, directed by Fred Guiol and supervised by Leo McCarey, who suggested that the performers be teamed permanently.

The film was partially shot at the historic Culver Hotel.