SHAKESPEARE

Synopsis

Slapstick comedy short. When the Chase family are trying to come up with ideas for a charity variety show for missionaries they decide to stage scenes from Romeo and Juliet with Madge as Juliet and Charley as Romeo. Believing his thin legs look unattractive in tights he pads them out with sponges; meanwhile Madge’s father is getting drunk. Through a series of events Charley also gets drunk and ruins the balcony scene and the ghost scene from Hamlet.

Country

United States

Medium

Film

Technical information

Black-and-white / Silent

Year of release

1926

Recording date

19 Sep 1926

Duration

24 mins

Credits

Director

Leo McCarey

Producer

Hal Roach

Cinematographer

Len Powers

Writer

Charles Alphin

Cast

Charley Chase	Charley Chase (Romeo)
Corliss Palmer	Madge (Juliet)
Oliver Hardy	Cab driver

Additional Details

Production type

Fiction Films

Plays

Hamlet; Romeo and Juliet

Keywords

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Amateur theatre

Notes

Notes

Available on DVD in the compilation THE LOST FILMS OF LAUREL & HARDY: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION. VOL. 3 and also THE CHARLEY CHASE COLLECTION. Vol. 2

Reviews

Lanier, Douglas ‘Film Spin-offs and Citations’ in Burt, Richard (ed). Shakespeares After Shakespeares: an Encyclopedia of the Bard in Mass Media and Popular Culture. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006 (p. 261, entry 1092).

Production Company

Name

Hal Roach Studio

Address

USA

Distributor (Sale)

Name

Retail outlets