“Tit for Tat” is a 1935 short comedy film starring Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy. It is their follow-up sequel film to “Them Thar Hills” which was released the previous year & includes the same two supporting characters, Mr. & Mrs. Hall, portrayed by Charlie Hall & Mae Busch.
Release Date: January 05, 1935 27" X 41" (rare) One Sheet theatrical Poster
There is a bit of “cockney rhyming slang” at work here. A “tit-fer”refers to“hat” as in “Tit-for-tat”. (This is why Stan tips his hat.)
Stan (in a later interview), had said that he’d put special jokes “in for England”…. I had often wondered what he meant by that & over the years; I have spotted a few things–In the films “Perfect Day” & “Way Out West” Stan & Oliver both say “Oh! me apple!” Also, the film title “Towed In A Hole” (1933)suggests a play on “toad in the hole” a name for a dish consisting of sausages baked in batter. There are possibly other examples!
The regal lady the boys are tipping their hats to has been identified by Richard Bann as their co-star of the silent days; Viola Richard. She was listed as an extra in the film, but isn’t seen in the finished cut of “Tit For Tat”.
THE 8TH ACADEMY AWARDS |Thursday, March 05, 1936
Stan Laurel attends the Awards banquet at the Biltmore Hotel.
“Tit For Tat” was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Live Action Short Film (Comedy) of 1935, although it did not win. (For the record, Robert Benchley’s “How To Sleep” won.)
Great moment from“Blockheads” (1938) – with Tommy “Butch” Bond, who was usually the bully in “Our Gang” but as it turns out; he was a very nice guy. I got to meet him along with his wife & son at the Las Vegas Sons of The Desert convention back in 1992. Well, he & Alfalfa went on to do a series of “B” movies called the “Gas House kids”. Those were done in 1946-47 & I had gotten a lobby card from “The Gas House Kids in Hollywood” that showed him & Alfalfa with the others in a jalopy… I was going to ask him to sign it, but when I showed it to him he was visibly moved by it… it was obviously a happy memory for him.. He asked if he could show it to his wife & son… I said; “You know– this belongs in your home; Please have it..” He was very moved & teary-eye’d .. He saw to it I got a signed still from this very scene he did with Laurel & Hardy.. There were probably a ton of those he signed that week, but still.. that was special one to me….
Stan and Babe are in Stan’s suite on the S.S. Paris on the way home from their European Vacation/Tour. Babe’s wife Myrtle is having a spa treatment and Stan invited Babe over to have breakfast with him in his suite. Both are in underwear with silk robes on over them. They have finished breakfast and Babe is sipping on a Bloody Mary. Stan is lounging on the bed with an empty cup of coffee. Babe is sitting on the edge of a settee in the room with his robe opened and legs spread.
Stan: It’ll be nice to get home. That wasn’t exactly the vacation I had in mind.
Babe: Me neither. It was exhausting. But the people. All over. They love us. Could you ever imagine we’d ever be this loved?
Stan: No I didn’t. I don’t think Charlie Chaplin would ever get that kind of reception.
Babe: Are you still in competition with Chaplin? We’re Laurel and Hardy. Everybody loves Laurel and Hardy. I’m glad you thought to invite me over while Myrtle is having a spa day. We get so little time to be just you and me.
Stan: Isn’t it funny how so many people think we are a real couple? I mean they think we really live and sleep together.
Babe: (finishes his drink, stands up, removes his robe, and scoots over to Stan on the bed with a big grin.) And they’re so disappointed when we tell them we don’t. (and pokes Stan in the gut) That’s so funny. Scoot over. (Stan is propped up on some pillows and Babe lies down in front of him. Facing him.
Stan: I wish everybody thought that way. Maybe it’s just that way in Europe.
Babe: No, it’s in America too. The fan mail I get assumes we live together.
Stan: But if we were a couple, I’m sure some church groups would condemn us. Right all the people love us. You know Hal Roach and MGM make sure people, people who care anyway, know we are two married men.
Babe: Would two married men do this? (He grabs Stan by the head and starts kissing his face all over, finishing on the lips.)
Stan: Ha-Ha. (looking at Babe with love) What has gotten into you? You’re so giddy today.
Babe: It’s you. I think. I’m not normally like this. When I’m at the club, I feel like I’ve got to be macho. I’m the best golfer there. So I play like the part. When we’re surrounded by fans or the press, I play the part. And when I’m with Myrtle, I try to devote all my time to her, even if it’s forced. I feel guilty sometimes. So I like to surprise her with gifts.
Stan: You’ve shown me some of the greeting cards you give her. You write some very flowery prose. You’re very romantic.
Babe: I try. But I can’t please her in bed like most men could.
Stan: Why is that?
Babe: Well. My penis isn’t very big. I think you might even say it’s very small. Here look. (Babe pops off the bed and pulls down his boxers.)
Stan: Where is it?
Babe: It’s there. Just hiding in my fat. (Babe reaches down presses in the fat around the penis and it pops out.) There. Hello Stanley. (He waves it at Stan.)
Stan: Oh, you are small.
(Babe pulls his boxers back up and comes around the bed and gets in behind him and puts his arm around Stan’s waist.)
Babe: See? (pressing up against Stan’s backside). Can you imagine me fucking her with that? You wonder why I’ve never had children?
Stan: If you try real hard. You might make it happen.
Babe: What’s funny is, that’s how Madelyn [Saloshin-first wife] got me to marry her.
Stan: How do you mean?
Babe: She told me she was pregnant and the baby had to be mine.
Stan: And you believed her?
Babe: I never had sex before. I was young and horny. It was the first time I had sex and I couldn’t stay in her and I basically came outside of her vagina. I pushed in again, so I thought maybe that’s what did it. I wasn’t sure so I asked my Mama if it could be.
Stan: You asked your Mother?
Babe: I had nobody else to ask. And my Mother knew my penis was small. Mama said she was lying. So I believed she was lying, but how could I be entirely sure. She said we had to get married before she started showing to protect her reputation. I insinuated that she could be lying so she changed tactics and said that she could help me with my career. We could move to Jacksonville (from Atlanta) and I could find a job at one of the studios down there. And since she had ties in the entertainment world, she could get me in.
Stan: Is that how you got in the movies?
Babe: It turns out she wasn’t pregnant and said she miscarried the baby soon after we married. Mama was incensed. She called me a fool and a sucker for marrying her. I couldn’t even bring Madelyn home to meet her. It turned out her ties to entertainment didn’t help much in getting me a job. It was my constantly bugging the studios and Fatty Arbuckle getting popular that got me the job. I do credit her with making me choose my own nickname, Babe, so the studios wouldn’t call me Fatty. Kids used to tease and taunt me with Fatty and I didn’t want to be known as Fatty for the rest of my life.
Stan: I thought an Italian barber gave you the nickname?
Babe: VIM or King Bee or Vitagraph. I can’t remember what stories came from which studio. I never tried to save my brother from drowning. I wasn’t even there. I didn’t go straight to Jacksonville from Milledgeville. I fled Milledgeville. I went to Atlanta. So my sister could help me if I failed. And I never attended College either.
Stan: Were you angry that she tricked you?
Babe realized he is opening up about stuff he never told Stan before, maybe it was because he was holding him in his arms.
Babe: Of course. I was mad at first. But once my dream of being in pictures was coming true, I couldn’t hold a grudge and we continued on as a married couple. I worked during the day Lubin and I worked at the Hotel Cabaret she worked at during the evenings.
Stan: Was she trying to control you?
Babe: Looking back on it now. I’d say yes. She said it was because, as the man, II should try to bring as much money in as she did, and she got me the job singing and making jokes.
Stan: So when did you come out here to Hollywood?
Babe: That was a few years later. Lubin closed it’s Jacksonville Studio and I ended up in New York making pictures. That’s where I met Lewis Burstein and he started VIM and wanted me to be one of his star players along with Pokes and Jabbs. And we were going back to Jacksonville to use the old Lubin Studios lot.
Stan: Did you ever write your own material?
Babe: I tried but I was told to stick to acting. Madelyn was mad when I went to New York and insisted on joining me. I think she was afraid of losing me because she was older than me and not as pretty as the actresses I worked with. But I never bothered with the other actresses, other than be charming and make them want me. I played the role on camera and Madelyn got angry because I looked so happy with the other women on screen. Well anyway, VIM was good for me. They always gave me starring roles in all my films. I got first billed in all my pictures except the first two, me and Billy Ruge were developing our characters. But VIM only lasted a year and Lewis Burstein started King Bee six months later with Billy West. He made me lose some weight to go from a Fatty Arbuckle type to the Heavy-type.
Stan: You were fatter at one time?
Babe: I was fatter much of my life. I had to go on a strict diet and start exercising just to get down to a weight where I could look husky instead of roly-poly. Well Hollywood was the place to be and King Bee eventually moved to Hollywood. Madelyn really resisted us moving to Hollywood, but she had no choice because my career was bringing in more money than hers now.
Stan: Go on. I’m very interested. (Stan was enjoying listening to Babe talk about himself and holding him as he was)
Babe: Well King Bee closed down, and I freelanced for a while. Mostly for L-KO. I think every fat guy in pictures has worked there. Then in 1919, I signed on with Vitagraph to be the Heavy for Jimmy Aubrey.
Stan: Jimmy’s a friend of mine from Karno.
Babe: I can imagine what he told you about me. If he mentioned me at all. I think he saw me as a threat.
Stan: He said you were very good, but you would steal scenes from him. You didn’t know when you shouldn’t be funny.
Babe: As he would tell me often.
Stan: When I came to Roach I saw that you were on the team and I was afraid they would put me with you. I was still trying to build a solo career. Hal said we would be perfect together. I wasn’t seeing it that way. I had some very funny pictures with Joe Rock. But Hal called them garbage and said I needed a fresh start.
Babe: (playfully nibbles at his ear) And I ruined your life for good. Anyway, at Vitagraph, I met Larry Semon. And he changed my life.
Stan: Larry Semon did? You said Larry Semon.
Babe: Yes, It turns out he liked to fuck men.
Stan: What?
Babe. You heard me. He said he couldn’t come by masturbating or blowjobs. He could only come in an ass or a pussy. And I think he preferred the men’s asses.
Stan: What?
Babe: He liked big men’s asses. I may have been a little small for him. He was fucking Hughie Mack first. And when Hughie Mack left Vitagraph, he started fucking Frank Alexander.
Stan: They were both a lot bigger than you.
Babe: Yeah, but he came after me anyway. Larry was always horny and he was generously endowed. He was constantly fucking. Men and women.
Stan: And you let him? (It may have been his imagination but he thought he could feel Babe’s little penis get hard just talking about Larry Semon fucking him.)
Babe: It wasn’t the first time. The first time was when I was in middle school in Military School. Mama sent me there to toughen me up. She said I was too fanciful and fat, and she thought I needed the strict training of Military School. Anyway, being the fat kid, I was picked on and beaten up a lot by the older kids. Then three of them promised to stop beating on me and protect me from other kids if I would suck their cocks. So that’s what I did. It’s the one thing I learned how to do well at Military School.
Stan: (Excited now) How come I never knew this?
Babe: It’s funny, the Studios don’t see that as a plus. With you? We never spend enough time together. It’s taken five years, and I’m just telling you all this now. Anyway, one day when the school was nearly empty, one of the boys, Roger is his name, raped me while one held me down and the other played lookout.
Stan: Oh my god.
Babe: Back then all I felt was humiliation and pain. I don’t think it really changed me any. But I did tell my Mama about it. If you get the idea I told her everything? You’d be right. After begging for her to take me out of this school since the first day, I thought for sure this would do it. And it did. But only after she told the Headmaster and he basically told her that if I was to become a man. I had to face my own problems and deal with them myself and not run to my mother. Then she pulled her precious baby out of that school. But she did tell him the names of the perpetrators and I feared for my life if I ever saw one of them, not knowing what punishment they received, if any.
Stan: So you let Larry bugger you?
Babe: Bugger he did. And I enjoyed it. I think I may have craved it but I didn’t pursue it for lots of reasons including what had happened. What I did with Larry was the first time I had sex other than giving blowjobs for favors with anybody other than Madelyn. Eventually Larry signed me away from Jimmy and we continued on. Frank too. Sometimes the three of us would get in bed and Larry would fuck one of us and Frank and I would get each other off, while Larry built up another load for the other.
Stan: I’ve lead such a sheltered life. (Stan reached behind him feeling if Babe was as hard as he was and he couldn’t tell.)
Babe: It’s there. (Babe stretched out his legs so Stan could feel it.)
Stan: Oh there it is. It’s not so small now.
Babe: Thanks, but..
Stan: What position were you in when he buggered you?
Babe: Buggered? Ha! We would do it in different positions. Sometimes I would lay flat face down and he would climb on top of me. Sometimes I would get on all fours and sometimes I would lay on my back and he would lift my legs over my head. He would have to look at my face that way and I would make him laugh making goo-goo eyes at him and poor-me eyes. I guess my favorite position was on my side. He would straddle me from behind. I would put my leg up on the baseboard of his bed and he got in pretty easily. Frank taught me that one.
Stan: What about Myrtle? Does she know?
Babe: Oh heavens no. I can’t have regular sex with her. I imagine she doesn’t want to hear that I’m getting fucked. But the sex Myrtle and I have is great. I do everything romantic. When we are intimate, that is, when I am home. I lower the lights and she wears sexy lingerie and I wear my silk robe and smoke a pipe. Then I ravage her body with my mouth a tongue. All over. I have become quite the expert at making her come with my tongue. I feel guilty, because when I married her because I was already doing it with Larry. I could’ve stopped it. I think she drinks because I am not home often enough and she fills her time with alcohol. Larry took up a lot of my time, introducing me to golf and the racetrack. And when I went to Tijuana on weekends, I used Larry as an excuse.
Stan: What do you do now that Larry is no longer with us?
Babe: I was devastated when I heard the news. We were working and one of the guys let us know at lunchbreak. We were doing the picture where we were wearing each other’s pants and couldn’t switch them without getting caught.
Stan: Liberty
Babe: Is that it? Is that what it’s called. Anyway, I’m glad we weren’t doing the scenes up on that building that day. I might’ve fallen. I went home and I cried that night. Let me up, I’ve got to pee.
Stan:: (Stan holds him down) Promise me you’ll come back in this position.
Babe: Oh I will sweetheart. (Stan releases him and he runs to the bathroom and comes back shortly getting back in behind Stan, while Stan is envisioning domestic life with Babe.)
Babe: Now where were we? Oh, Larry died. I was hoping and believing that the rumors about Larry faking his death to beat his debts were true. Can a person die of pneumonia because he had a nervous breakdown and he was depressed? I don’t know, but I thought something was fishy. I couldn’t find anybody who saw the body other than his wife Dorothy and she stood to gain by his death too. He was shipped off to Philadelphia for the funeral. I really thought I’d get a message somehow asking me to go to a spot in Mexico on a certain day at a certain time. But nothing like that ever happened.
Stan: That was a few years ago. Has anybody taken his place? (Stan asked, hoping he’d say no.)
Babe: That’s where Viola comes in. I’m sure you’ve heard about her from the tabloids. Myrtle waves those in my face every time I’m the latest news.
Stan: And she buggers you?
Babe: No, haha. Actually I met her through Larry at the track and she knew what went on with us and she reached out to me and told me she knew someone who could replace Larry for me. So now Viola and I go to the track. People leave me alone with her, we have lunch, have fun then we go back to the hotel and meet up with Hernando. He’s a sexy,young Mexican. He’s got a big cock and knows how to use it. He will fuck both me and Viola. I just have to tip the both of them.
Stan: That must get expensive. (Stan knows he can’t compete with that so he brings up the drawbacks)
Babe: Yes, it does. I tell Myrtle I’m losing money through gambling on the ponies. But actually, I’m doing much less gambling now. I can’t afford it.
PHONE RINGS
Babe: That must be Myrtle back to our room looking for me. That didn’t take as long as I’d hoped.
Stan; (thinks to himself) What awful timing.
Stan: Can you delay going, I’d like to tell you something.
Babe: I’ll try. But I can’t think of a reason that she’ll accept.
Stan: Don’t answer. Catch up to her later. Say we were exploring the ship.
Babe: Okay.
Stan turns around in the bed to face Babe, tears welling up.
Stan: Babe, I love you. I’ve loved you for a long time. I just didn’t know. I didn’t know I could be with you.
Babe gives him a big hug and kisses him square on the lips.
Babe: I love you too Stan. I can act the way I do with you because you’re the only person since my mother that I can be natural around. I know you can accept me for who I am. We’ve just never been alone together long enough where I could gather my thoughts and tell you without just blurting it out.
Stan: I can’t be like Larry or Hernando though. I think I’m too small too. I think I’d be a bottom. I don’t know. I never tried it.
Babe: Alright then, let’s play around a little bit right now. (Babe stands and removes his boxers with flair and ends up kicking them across the room.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Myrtle: (from the other side of the door) I know you’re in there. I heard you talking.
Babe is standing, wearing only his undershirt and bare from the waist down. Stan is admiring his ass as Babe scans the floor looking for his boxers. Stan realizes he needs to help and grabs Babe’s robe and throws it to him. Babe catches it and slips it on and runs for the door and opens it while tying it. Meanwhile Stan looks around at the floor toward where Babe kicked his underwear.
Babe lets Myrtle in.
Babe: Oh, hello dear. Back so soon.
Myrtle: Didn’t that lady at the Spa call Stan’s room to let you know I was on my way up. We need to get ready for lunch. Come on. Hi Stanley.
She grabs his hand tugs on him and turns to leave. Then stops to look again at what she thought she saw. And she looks again to see a large pair of boxers hanging from a floor lamp. Both Stan and Babe see what she sees too. And nobody says anything as she pulls Babe out of the room.
Myrtle: You too Stan. Get ready for lunch.
Myrtle didn’t leave Babe to be alone with Stan for too long for the rest of the voyage home. Stan spent his time working on their next picture, entitled Their First Mistake.
#1 Larry Semon
# 2 Hughie Mack
#3 Larry Semon & Frank ’Fatty’ Alexander
#4 & #6 Oliver Hardy, Larry Semon & Frank Alexander
#5 Oliver Hardy & Larry Semon
#7 Oliver Hardy & Viola Morse
#8. Stan Laurel, Oliver and Myrtle Hardy
#9. Stan & Ollie on the SS Paris
#10. Scene from Their First Mistake where I’m sure Ollie says to Stan. “Is this me? Does this baby bottle represent my penis?”
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy modeling swimsuits. I’d love to have originals of all of these photos. I included a publicity photo and a portrait photo of Ollie.
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in 1928 silent comedy short “Two Tars”. Oliver Hardy was just so cute when flirting with the girls. But you can almost always find a homoerotic still in every L&H film.
Laurel & Hardy in 1932′s Their First Mistake (3 of 3). After being left with a baby and no wife to take care of it. Stan moves in with Ollie because it is his fault afterall. Adding the baby means they must now, not only share the bed as usual, but must cuddle together to make room for the baby. Ollie mistakingly feeding Stan the baby’s bottle. More symbolism? Their First Mistake says everything you need to know about the Laurel & Hardy characters. It was most likely done because so many people asked about it, so they answered all the questions while keeping their wholesome image. This was before the Hays Code was strictly enforced, but I think it still would’ve passed as it was done for the sake of comedy.
Laurel & Hardy in 1932′s Their First Mistake (2 of 4). Now it is time for Stan to perform his symbolic ballet on the bed. Stan thinks the best solution is to keep Ollie’s wife occupied is for Ollie (and his wife) to adopt a baby. Next thing you know Ollie and Stan come home with a brand new adopted baby, unknown to the wife. But the wife is gone and they are met by Billy Gilbert, the process server, telling Ollie that his wife his suing him for divorce. And she is also suing Stan for alienation of affection, usually reserved for “the other woman.” Stan’s first impulse was to take off. Ollie says, “Why did you want me to have this baby? Now you want to leave me flat. What will my friends say. Stan says he has a reputation to protect. Ollie then blocks the door holding the baby.
Laurel & Hardy in 1932′s “Their First Mistake”.(1 of 3) Ollie is married and Stan lives across the hall. Ollie’s wife is jealous of all the time Ollie spends with Stan. She even says Ollie should be ashamed when walking down the street with Stan. They are chased into Stan’s apartment by the wife declaring she would leave him is he spends any more time with Stan. Hardy says, “She says that I think more of you than I do of her.” Laurel: “Well you do, don’t you/” Hardy: We won’t go into that.” When discussing how to keep wifey occupied so they can continue seeing one another, they sit on the bed and proceed to constantly change positions in a sort of a symbollic ballet. Interestingly for me is that Their First Mistake is the first film L&H made after their first trip to England when they had a massive crowd of fans here in The US for the send off and 1000s to greet and cheer for them in England. There was never anything like it at the time. Thus realizing how much they were loved I would think that Stan would’ve felt it was time to push the sexuality vagueness issue a little bit to the gay side. The end result probably wasn’t quite as strong as he wanted. I like to think Hardy’s response to the question if he liked Stan more than his wife, his answer would have been of course he did instead of We’ll talk about that later. I think the movements on the bed represented gay sexual positions and the cozy bed scene was as symbolically suggestive as they dared. Another scene was Ollie fighting the nipple that was sucked in on the bottle, think a quick kiss on the lips would’ve been a nice touch.
Ollie’s foot was so numb he accidentally picks up Stan’s foot and rubs it trying to get some feeling back into it. As Oliver looks lovingly at Stan, as if to say how much better his foot is feeling now, Stan says “scratch my back.” Some people believe this is a euphemism for something else.
1928Laurel & Hardy Silent Comedy Short ‘Habeas Corpus”.
I don’t think there was any part of Ollie that Stan didn’t get to put his hands on. Stan Laurel was involved in writing and directing all of their films but didn’t get the credit. Oliver Hardy was happy to do what was asked of him, letting the creativity come from Stan and other comedy writers, while Ollie spent his time golfing with his celebrity friends.
