Berth
Marks with more of Laurel & Hardy, Union Suit Fans
In
Hal Roach's April, 1929 Berth Marks, starring Laurel & Hardy,
the boys were inept vaudevillian musicians traveling from Santa Fe Station
to their next gig in Pottsville. The film was directed by Lewis
R. Foster and distributed by MGM. In the age of this “talkie,” Pottsville was a real location, very popular among performers of all sorts. Stan and Ollie have a
time finding each other prior to boarding the train, dropping music,
tripping over instruments and the like. But they finally proceed to
board the train and make their way to a sleeping car. It is in one of
the berths where they intend to spend the trip sleeping. Ahhhh, But!
They
first bumbled into the wrong sleeping cars, one of which startled an undressing
woman. Her upset and irate husband then mistaked another
passenger for the intruder and proceeded to rip that man's jacket in revenge.
This lead to the men ripping up each
other's clothes down to their underwear. Other passengers soon joined the melee!
The train conductor unsuccessfully tried to calm the passengers. But he too was stripped to rags and long underwear by the time he passed through the mob.
Stan and Ollie were unaware that their antics had set off such commotion. In the
meantime, the boys found a cramped berth, climbed in, and began undressing.
They spent the remainder of their trip getting in each other's way, resulting in their fighting and getting no sleep. They slapped each
other and threw their clothes around the close quarters. At one point, Stan began to cry. As you
probably know this became his trademark and was used to great and funny affect thereafter. Both men finally ended up down to their union suits ready for a snooze.
At the end of this short movie, the boys realized they were about to miss their destination and quickly disembarked the train in only their long underwear. It is then they realized that in their haste their musical instruments were left on board the departed train.
Berth Marks was only the second sound film made and released featuring this exceptional comic duo. It was one, perhaps the only movie, in which Hardy appeared in a union suit. Hope you enjoyed the above out takes!
If you'd like to see the film, click below:
If you'd like to see the film, click below:
