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The Music Box
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Music Box | |
|---|---|
 Lobby card to Music Box (1932) |
|
| Directed by | James Parrott |
| Produced by | Hal Roach |
| Written by | H.M. Walker |
| Starring | Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy |
| Music by | Harry Graham Marvin Hatley Leroy Shield |
| Cinematography | Len Powers Walter Lundin |
| Editing by | Richard C. Currier |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | April 16, 1932 |
| Running time | 30 minutes. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Music Box is a Laurel and Hardy short film comedy released in 1932. It was directed by James Parrott, produced by Hal Roach and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film won the very first Academy Award for Live Action Short Film (Comedy) in 1932. It has been considered culturally significant by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Contents |
Mrs. von Schwarzenhoffen has bought a player piano as a surprise birthday present for her husband Professor Theodore von Schwarzenhoffen. Stan and Ollie have started a "transfer co." and must deliver it. As they near the address in their horse and cart they ask a postman for directions. He tells them that it is at the top of the 'stoop', up a preposterously tall flight of stairs.
Stan and Ollie start to carry the piano up the stairs and split their trowsers. Half way up a nursemaid asks to pass by. They let go of the piano and it careens to the bottom of the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs the nursemaid begins to laugh at the duo and says "of all the dumb things". Stan kicks the backside so she punches him. Ollie laughs so she breaks a bottle on his head. The woman goes off to complain to a police officer. The police officer arrives as they are half way up the stairs with the piano once again. He wants to speak to Ollie and the piano ends up at the bottom of the stairs once again. The police officer kicks Ollie up the backside and hits Stan on the head with his truncheon to teach them a lesson.
Half way up the stairs they meet Professor von Schwarzenhoffen who asks to pass. When told to go around he becomes outraged: "What, walk AROUND?! ME, Professor Theodore Von Schwarzenhoffen, M.D., A.D., D.D.S., F.L.D., F-F-F-AND F, SHOULD WALK AROUND?!!" He tries to shove the piano out of his path by force, and Stan retaliates by knocking his hat, which bounds all the way down the stairs into the street, and a streetcar rolls right over it. Then Professor von Schwarzenhoffen angrily vows to have them thrown off. They arrive at the delivery address with the piano, only to let it go once again. Ollie hangs on and is dragged to the bottom of the stairs. They carry the piano back up the stairs. The postman tells them that they could have driven the piano around to the house and needn't have carried it up the stairs at all. Realizing this, the two protagonists take the piano back downstairs one last time, so that they can take the route the postman suggested.
They ring the doorbell but nobody is home. They decide to lift the piano into the house through an upstairs window. They unpack the piano and the professor arrives home. He says he hates pianos and takes an axe to it. The piano starts to play the Star Spangled Banner and they all stand to attention. The professor turns the piano off and takes the axe to it once more. The professor's wife arrives home and he tells her that "these idiots delivered this piano by mistake". She tells him it's his birthday present, so he decides he likes pianos and in fact he's "nuts" about them. He asks Stan and Ollie what he can do for them. They ask him to sign the delivery note and hand him the note and a fountain pen. The pen squirts ink into his face. He chases Stan and Ollie out of the house.
- Stan Laurel as Stan Laurel
- Oliver Hardy as Oliver Hardy
- Billy Gilbert as Professor von Schwarzenhoffen
- Charlie Hall as Postman
- Lilyan Irene as Nursemaid
- Sam Lufkin as Police Officer
- William Gillespie as Piano Salesman
- Hazel Howell as Mrs. von Schwarzenhoffen
- The Professor: I should like to pass.
Ollie: Why don't you walk around?
The Professor: What, walk around? Me, Professor Theodore von Schwarzenhoffen, M.D., A.D., D.D.S., F.L.D., F.F.F. and F., should walk around?!
- Stan: Don't you think you are bounding over your steps?
Police Officer: Whadd'ya mean, "bounding over my steps?"
Ollie: (trying to cover up for Stan) Oh, I think he means "overstepping your bounds"!
- Ollie: (cheerfully) Why, we just delivered your piano.
The Professor:Piano? Piano?! I hate and detest pianos! They are mechanical blunderbusses! Take it out of here before I commit murder!
- Ollie: Just a moment! THIS requires a little thought.
- The opening title card says: "Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy decided to reorganize and resupervise their entire financial structure -- so they took the $3.80 and went into business."
The steps which served as the location are still in existence in Los Angeles, California. The "Music Box" steps are a public staircase, and do not lead to a single residence (as in the film), but instead connect Vendome Street (at the base of the hill) with Descanso Drive (at the top of the hill). They are located near the neighborhood where Sunset Boulevard and Silver Lake Boulevard intersect. The address is 923-935 Vendome Street near the intersection of Del Monte Street. A plaque was set into one of the lower steps between 1993 and 1995. (Google Maps link to the location.)
The "Music Box" steps can be seen in the background of an earlier Charley Chase silent comedy produced at the Hal Roach Studios, "Isn't Life Terrible?" (1925), during a scene in which Chase is trying to sell fountain pens to Fay Wray.
San Francisco is known for its hills, but Los Angeles has a few formidable hills of its own which have figured in comedy films. In addition to the two described above, the apparent "skyscraper" in the famous Harold Lloyd picture Safety Last! was filmed on a structure that was located on a steeply sloping street near downtown, which made Lloyd's stunts look much more dangerous than they were.
The film is a partial remake of their 1927 silent short Hats Off, which was filmed at the same location and is today considered a lost film. Hats Off was itself remade in the same location in a film called It's Your Move starring Edgar Kennedy in 1945.
Director Blake Edwards planned his 1986 film A Fine Mess as a semi-improvised remake of the film, but eventually turned out as a chase comedy with the piano-moving sequence removed.
Hal Roach Studios colorized the film in 1986 with a remastered stereo soundtrack and features additional background music of Hal Roach Studios stock music composed by Ronnie Hazelhurst.It was later released on videocassette as part of a double bill release with the poorly colorized 1932 Laurel & Hardy classic short Helpmates.
A series of TV ads for a windshield wiper company featured actors who looked much like Laurel and Hardy. One of the ads referred to this film by portraying them trying to safely deliver a piano.[citation needed]