They Go Boom!
“3AM - Mr Hardy had the sniffles - His carburetor hadn't been right for days and days -”
About They Go Boom!
Stan and Ollie take a rented room for the night. Ollie has a cold and cannot stop sneezing; Stan snores, and every remedy makes the room worse. The landlord, Charlie Hall, threatens to throw them out. After they come back, the air mattress is filled with gas until they are pressed against the ceiling. Ollie sneezes, the mattress bursts, and the landlord and a policeman, Sam Lufkin, arrive as the ceiling falls in.
Cast & crew
More about They Go Boom!
James Parrott directed for Hal Roach. Leo McCarey wrote the story and H. M. Walker the dialogue. The unit filmed from 26 June to 11 July 1929. Copyright was 26 August 1929. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released the two-reeler on 21 September 1929. Richard C. Currier edited. Elmer Raguse recorded the sound. It was the fifth Laurel and Hardy sound short.
Themes
Background
It opened on 21 September 1929, four months after their first all-talking short, Unaccustomed As We Are.
Making
Hal Roach produced it at his studio for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Art Lloyd and George Stevens photographed it. William Axt is the music credit.
Look
Art Lloyd and George Stevens shot the room on the Roach stages, with the microphone close enough that the bed scene still carries the hum of the early recorder.
Music
William Axt is credited. Music is only at the start and the end. The opening titles use "Runnin' Wild"; the rest is sound effects.
Preservation
Prints circulate. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Apart from the titles, there is no musical score. The opening uses the song "Runnin' Wild." Sneezes, snoring, and the burst mattress carry the soundtrack.
- While the short was being shot, Oliver Hardy's wife Myrtle filed for divorce.
- On the bed scene the new sound gear is still audible: a hum under Hardy, and Stan's snore close to a drum roll.
Scenes
- Stan sits on the mattress while Ollie is blowing it up, and the air shoots back down the tube.
- Gas swells the mattress until the two of them are flattened against the ceiling.
- Ollie's sneeze explodes the mattress, and the ceiling comes down on the landlord and the policeman.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (They Go Boom! (1929).ogg)
