Soapsuds and Sapheads

• 1919

• Watchlist

For most of 1919 and 1920, Oliver Hardy worked at Vitagraph on the comedies of Jimmy Aubrey (Aubrey, a minor comedian, was a veteran of Fred Karno's troupe, alongside the far more talented Charles Chaplin and Stan Laurel). This knockabout entry was the first to be released with Aubrey and Hardy together. A young woman picks up a hitchhiker (Aubrey), and she offers him a job as the manager of a laundry that she owns. This does not please the laundry's foreman (Hardy) who wanted both the job and the owner's affection. The owner, meanwhile, is none too thrilled when she discovers that the hitchhiker has taken a liking to a cute blonde who works in the shop. The owner offers to wed the foreman if he manages to catch Jimmy with the blonde. This results in a big chase, much of it on board a train. A preacher becomes enmeshed in the mayhem, and after the railroad car goes sailing over the cliff, he marries Jimmy to the blonde.