Perfect Day
About Perfect Day
Stan and Ollie load their wives and Ollie's gouty Uncle Edgar into a Ford for a Sunday picnic. The car will not start, so the party climbs out, climbs back in, and says goodbye again. A row with the neighbors nearly turns into thrown objects until a minister steps in. They finally roll off and drop into a pothole deep enough to end the trip.
Cast & crew
More about Perfect Day
James Parrott directed. The story is by Leo McCarey and Hal Roach, with titles by H. M. Walker. Hal Roach produced it for release by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The 1929 prints carried music only over the opening credits.
Themes
Making
The gag is built on one repeating action: everybody out of the car, everybody back in, and another 'goodbye.'
Look
Art Lloyd and George Stevens shot the driveway, the neighbors, and the pothole as a single street comedy.
Music
The 1929 release used no score beyond the credits. The 1937 reissue added Hatley, Shield, and Shilkret cues.
Preservation
Sound prints of the short survive, including the later reissue score.
Notes
- Edgar Kennedy plays Uncle Edgar. Kay Deslys is Mrs. Hardy and Isabelle Keith is Mrs. Laurel.
- Charley Rogers is the minister. Baldwin Cooke and Lyle Tayo are the angry neighbors.
- Art Lloyd and George Stevens photographed it.
- A 1937 reissue added tunes by Marvin Hatley, Leroy Shield, and Nathaniel Shilkret, including 'The Laurel and Hardy Waltz.'
Scenes
- The family gets in and out of the car for another round of goodbyes.
- The Ford drops into a pothole and the picnic stops there.
