Just for fun, as it’s the Easter weekend, here are some egg-themed comic moments!

STAN LAUREL – THE EGG

One of Stan’s solo films for G.M. Anderson, this is one of his better comedies from this period. There’s plenty of lively lumberyard slapstick that Laurel later reworked in his own solo ‘THE NOON WHISTLE’ as well as the great L & H comedies ‘THE FINISHING TOUCH’ and ‘BUSY BODIES’. This is more thoughtfully put together than many of his early comedies, with the opening scenes reliant on cross-cutting to compare Stan’s lowly life with that of the villain, Colin Kenny. (Incidentally, Kenny’s butler is believed to be Stan’s younger brother, Ted).

Stan’s performance is more subtle here, too, than in many of his solo films. He does, however, still have the occasional tendency to break the fourth wall and mug unnecessarily to the audience, a visual equivalent of the music hall comic’s asides to the audiences that just doesn’t translate. On the whole, though, this is a pretty good effort.

 

CHARLEY BOWERS – EGGED ON

The lysergic dream visions of Charley Bowers are some of the most creative films in all of silent comedy. Mixing live action and animation, he seemed to be especially fixated on eggs and the magical transformations that occur in them. You might even call him an egg-centric… (Thank you, thank you. I’ll be here all week…)

Hmm, anyway, ‘EGGED ON’, his first ‘Whirlwind Comedy’, takes this further by featuring him as an inventor working on unbreakable eggshells. The whole film doesn’t appear to be on YouTube, but here’s a clip of its most brilliant segment, in which Charley discovers transporting eggs by flivver can result in unusual side effects…

Two sound-era clips to finish with. Groucho orders dinner, with a little help from Chico and Harpo, in ‘A NIGHT AT THE OPERA’…

And lastly, who could forget COUNTY HOSPITAL..? “Hard boiled eggs and nuts…. MMMMHH!!!” Happy Easter!