This short was nominated for the Academy Award for Live Action Short (Comedy), losing to Robert Benchley's How To Sleep. There will be spoilers ahead:
This short is a sequel to Them Thar Hills but can be watched without having seen that one. The short begins with Stan and Ollie opening an electronics store. This turns out to be an unwise move, because they are clearly not businessmen. There's a nice bit involving the beat cop and Stan creating a bit of friction there.
There's a grocer next door and the two go over to introduce themselves, not knowing that they'd already met them on vacation and that meeting did not go well. Neither does this one. It will get much worse.
Our heroes go back to their store and the running gag starts with a very persistent shoplifter who says "How d'ya do" as he robs them blind. Ollie decides to put more light-bulbs in their signage and winds up getting stuck outside the upstairs apartment over the grocer's and he comes down the steps with the grocer's wife, which burns up the grocer even more.
Thus begins a "war" of sorts, with the grocer and the boys basically destroying each other's stores, escalating each round until the beat cop finally forces a settlement. The boys return to their store-an empty storefront, because their shoplifter has backed up a truck and loaded everything up quite thoroughly. Out of business on the day you opened.
This short can be found on the Laurel and Hardy: The Essential Collection and is well worth getting. The collection is wonderful and so is the short. Recommended.
This short is a sequel to Them Thar Hills but can be watched without having seen that one. The short begins with Stan and Ollie opening an electronics store. This turns out to be an unwise move, because they are clearly not businessmen. There's a nice bit involving the beat cop and Stan creating a bit of friction there.
There's a grocer next door and the two go over to introduce themselves, not knowing that they'd already met them on vacation and that meeting did not go well. Neither does this one. It will get much worse.
Our heroes go back to their store and the running gag starts with a very persistent shoplifter who says "How d'ya do" as he robs them blind. Ollie decides to put more light-bulbs in their signage and winds up getting stuck outside the upstairs apartment over the grocer's and he comes down the steps with the grocer's wife, which burns up the grocer even more.
Thus begins a "war" of sorts, with the grocer and the boys basically destroying each other's stores, escalating each round until the beat cop finally forces a settlement. The boys return to their store-an empty storefront, because their shoplifter has backed up a truck and loaded everything up quite thoroughly. Out of business on the day you opened.
This short can be found on the Laurel and Hardy: The Essential Collection and is well worth getting. The collection is wonderful and so is the short. Recommended.