Why Girls Love Sailors
About Why Girls Love Sailors
On the ship Merry Maiden the captain and the first mate bully the crew. Ashore, fisherman Willie Brisling is engaged to Nellie. The captain sees her, dumps water on the ship tattooed on Willie's chest, and drags her aboard. Willie follows in a dress and gets the mate to throw sailors over the side one by one. Through a porthole he watches the captain bother Nellie, then flirts his way into the cabin. The captain's wife walks in. Willie pulls off the wig and claims he was testing her. When the captain turns on him, Willie produces Nellie. The wife fires at her husband, then at Willie and Nellie. Their clothes pop and they run off unhurt.
Cast & crew
More about Why Girls Love Sailors
Fred Guiol directed. Hal Roach produced and wrote the story. H. M. Walker wrote the titles. Pathé Exchange released it on July 17, 1927. It was shot in February 1927. Stan Laurel is Willie, Oliver Hardy the first mate, Viola Richard is Nellie, Anita Garvin the captain's wife, and Malcolm Waite the captain. Laurel and Hardy were not yet billed as a team.
Themes
Making
Roach shot it in February 1927, while Laurel and Hardy were still being cast on opposite sides of a gag rather than as a pair. Hardy's role is the mate who does the throwing. Laurel is the man in the dress.
Reviews
Roland Lacourbe, after a 1971 screening of the Cinémathèque française 16mm print, judged the short mediocre.
Preservation
Treated as lost in the United States for about fifty years. A 16mm print at the Cinémathèque française was seen in 1971. The version published in the 1980s came from a private collector in Copenhagen.
Notes
- After the silent market collapsed, no American print was known for decades.
- The Cinémathèque française had a 16mm copy. Roland Lacourbe saw it in 1971 and called it mediocre.
- The print that circulated later came from a private collection in Copenhagen.
- Garvin's appearance in the film was not identified until the 1986 rediscovery.
- Deleted footage included Anna May Wong.
- Charles R. Althoff plays Grandpa Brisling. Edgar Dearing and Bobby Dunn are sailors.
Scenes
- The captain pours water on Willie's chest tattoo and hauls Nellie to the ship.
- Willie, in a dress, smiles at the captain through the porthole.
- The captain's wife shoots, and Willie and Nellie bolt with their clothes blown open.
