The Chimp **** (1932, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson, Billy Gilbert, Dorothy Granger, Tiny Sandford) – Classic Movie Review 7596

‘Mr Hardy’s aesthetic nature thrilled at the beauties of circus life – Mr Laurel never got further than the monkey cage.’ After working for a circus for seven weeks of rain and with no business as two halves of a pantomime horse, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy destroy the Big Top by making Destructo’s cannonball- catching act go wrong, and are paid off by the bankrupt circus owner – with a trained gorilla called Ethel for Ollie and a flea circus for Stanley in lieu of back wages.

That is correct – a trained gorilla. For, despite the film’s title, Ethel is not a chimpanzee. She is a trained gorilla dressed in a ballet tutu and hat – and not even that, she is a man in a gorilla suit. Of course it is always charming when Stan and Ollie go to bed together. But perhaps it is not quite as charming when there is a gorilla between them. After all, two’s company and three’s a crowd in bed, especially if one of the crowd is a gorilla. Talk about gorillas in the mist, this is gorilla in the midst.

Director James Parrott’s 1932 The Chimp is a funny three-reeler from the boys, maybe a bit stretched and therefore a tiny tad slow paced at 25 minutes, but still very fine, and there is a lot of inventive fun to be found throughout.

There is hilarious stuff as Stan and Ollie wreck the circus, a circus lion gets loose in the streets (Stan calls the escaped lion ‘MGM’), the fleas escape, Ethel the gorilla dances in a ballet skirt and Ethel shares a bed with Stan and Ollie. Among the cast having a good time, James Finlayson plays the red-faced ringmaster, Billy Gilbert plays Joe, the jealous landlord, Dorothy Granger plays his wife Ethel, and Tiny Sandford plays Destructo.

Also in the cast are Charles Gemora (Ethel the gorilla, and opening announcer), Belle Hare (Laid-off Circus Performer), George Miller (Circus owner), Bobby Burns (Tenant), Jack Hill (Audience), Lois Laurel (Audience), Baldwin Cooke (minor role) and Dorothy Layton (minor role).

The Chimp is directed by James Parrott, runs 25 minutes, is made by Hal Roach Studios, is released by MGM, is written by H M Walker (dialogue), is shot in black and white by Walter Lundin, is produced by Hal Roach and is scored by Leroy Shield, John Klohr and Walt Eufel stock music (uncredited). Marvin Hatley is the composer of the theme music (uncredited).

The second half of the film is a reworking of Stan and Ollie’s last silent film Angora Love (1929), also reworked in Laughing Gravy (1930).

The chapters (called ‘Tents’) of The Sons of the Desert, the international Laurel and Hardy Appreciation Society, take their names from Stan and Ollie’s films. The Chimp ‘Tent’ is located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Charles Gemora [Carlos Cruz Gemora, 15 June 1903 – 19 August 1961] was a former Hollywood makeup artist renowned as The King of the Gorilla Men for his many appearances in Hollywood films wearing a gorilla suit. No doubt for this reason, The Chimp turned out to be a gorilla.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7596

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