Just Rambling Along
About Just Rambling Along
A broke young man, played by Stan Laurel, is thrown out of a diner. He finds a wallet and a small boy snatches it; the boy's father, a policeman, stops the fight. A young woman draws Laurel and a bench full of men back inside. The hostess throws him out again until he recovers the wallet and shows he can pay. He flirts, gets a drink in the face, tells the cook he only wants coffee, and stuffs his pockets and his hat with food when the cook turns away.
Cast & crew
More about Just Rambling Along
Hal Roach directed and produced. Robert Doran photographed and Thomas J. Crizer edited. Released 3 November 1918. It is Laurel's earliest surviving film and his first job for Roach. Pathé is listed as distributor.
Themes
Background
Released on 3 November 1918, eight days before the Armistice.
In film history
It is the earliest Laurel film known to survive, and the start of his work for Hal Roach.
Making
Roach's first film with Laurel, a one-reel diner comedy released through Pathé in the last week of the war.
Look
Robert Doran photographed the short.
Music
Silent, with English intertitles.
Preservation
Laurel's earliest surviving film. A print is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- The plot account names Mildred Reardon as the young woman. Clarine Seymour, Noah Young, James Parrott, Bud Jamison, and Charley Chase are also in the cast listings.
- Laurel had not yet teamed with Oliver Hardy. Roach would later produce most of the Laurel and Hardy shorts.
- A print is on the Internet Archive.
- The diner gag turns on a wallet that changes hands twice before he is allowed to order.
Scenes
- A boy takes the wallet Laurel has just found, and the boy's father is a policeman.
- Laurel orders only coffee, then loads his pockets and boater while the cook's back is turned.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-just-rambling-along)
