That's My Wife

**That's My Wife** is a *Laurel & Hardy* silent short film released 23 March 1929.

## Summary

Mrs. Hardy, hatted, has trudged down the steps with suitcase in hand and an angry scowl on her face. She points to the source of her irritation, an empty-faced Stan sitting with a cigar in his mouth. Mrs. Hardy is having none of her husband's attempts at conciliation — "He leaves! Or I leave!" — and after just a moment of hesitation from Ollie, she makes good on her threat. "Uncle Bernal won't leave us a dime if you go," Ollie offers. She sweeps two planters off their stands and onto the floor as she pounds out the door.

Stan and Ollie have a round of vase smashing in the living room and Stan announces that he, too, will be leaving the premises. Then the doorbell rings and of course it is Uncle Bernal. Some astonishingly fast sweeping conceals the evidence of the recent destructive contretemps, and Ollie greets his uncle cordially. The two settle in on the sofa and Uncle Bernal says he wants to meet the little lady. Before Ollie can say she's not home, Stan slams a drawer upstairs and Ollie says, "I'll bring her down."

Upstairs, Ollie drafts Stan into playing the absent Magnolia and supervises his wardrobe, then hurries back down to inquisitive Uncle Bernal, who has discovered the debris of planters and vases behind the sofa. Ollie paves the way for his "wife's" grand entrance by telling his uncle that "She's not much to look at — But what a clown." "She" turns her ankle and bounces down the steps with legs widely akimbo. Bernal looks stunned after his first glimpse at his niece, but he smiles wanly when Ollie looks for approval. Out on the sofa, Stan tries to snare the cigar Bernal is offering Ollie, then Uncle offers dinner and dancing at The Pink Pup, and "won't take no for an answer."

At the supper club, when Ollie slips and pulls Stan down with him, "her" flailing attempts to get up are far removed from femininity. When his dumbbell-falsies tumble out, he has trouble staying in his chair. As he scratches his leg, he draws the gaze of a nearby drunk who presents her with a centerpiece and asks, "Didn't I meet you in the fountain at Miami?" He makes himself at home at their table, tickling Stan under the chin and annoying Uncle Bernal until he asks Ollie, "Why don't you do something forceful?" Ollie dumps his bowl of soup over the drunk's head and leaves the bowl on top. The drunk asks for his check, and for a bowl of soup "to take out." Ollie takes Stan's soup to replace his own, annoying Bernal further.

Meanwhile, a dishonest waiter has been eyeing the chunky diamond pendant dangling from a posh lady diner, and when he gets the chance, he lifts it. But the maitre d' pledges to the woman's husband he'll have everyone in the place searched, and the culprit drops the hot rock down Stan's back. Stan wriggles, further irritating Bernal, so the boys adjourn to the dance floor. They get caught behind a screen, then in a phone booth, then up on stage with Ollie's hands all over Stan. Watching their gyrations is too much for exasperated Uncle Bernal who stands up and announces, "I'm through! I'll leave my money to a dog and cat hospital!"

The Boys pursue him out the front door, but he leaves them in front of the club. Ollie is crestfallen. "I've lost my wife, an' my fortune — What next?" A bowl of soup is then overturned onto Ollie's head, leaving the bowl on top. The little drunk from inside is still wearing his bowl like a WWI helmet while the song "Over There" plays.

## Cast

* Stan Laurel - Stan
* Oliver Hardy - Ollie
* Vivien Oakland - Mrs. Hardy (uncredited)
* William Courtright - Uncle Bernal (uncredited)
* Jimmy Aubrey - Drunk (uncredited)
* Harry Bernard - Waiter (uncredited)
* Charlie Hall - Waiter (uncredited)
* Sam Lufkin - Waiter (uncredited)