A harried propman backstage at a theater must put up with malfunctioning wind machines, roosters that spit nitroglycerine, and a gang planning to rob the theater's payroll.
Practical Effects
Every gag built with real wind machines and actual chaos.
Stunts
Hardy and Semon throwing bodies around like ragdolls.
Director
Larry Semon
Oliver Hardy
Stage manager / Audience Member (as Babe Hardy)
Larry Semon
The Prop Man / Gentle Onlooker
Frank Alexander
Ballet dancer / Wife of Man with Family
Lucille Carlisle
Leading lady
Alice Davenport
Audience member
Al Thompson
Man who Smuggles Family In
Frank J. Coleman
Audience member / Woman with Hat / Cop
Coy Watson Jr.
Ernie Adams
Magician / Audience Member (uncredited)
Madame Sul-Te-Wan
Maid (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was one of Oliver Hardy's final appearances before his iconic pairing with Stan Laurel; he's already doing the exasperated heavy he would perfect.
Semon was briefly second only to Chaplin in salary and popularity, then virtually vanished from history—this surviving short captures his wildly expensive, destruction-heavy style that bankrupted him.
US
