Movie director Leo McCarey has a proposal for producer Hal Roach. He has seen Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel acting in the same silent short, The Lucky Dog, and now he wants to see them as a double act. The film could be called Putting Pants on Philip and the comedians would play to their distinctive characteristics: Hardy as the southern gentleman, Laurel as the wiry Brit. McCarey thinks they’ll be funny together.
Not only that, this will be an antidote to the madcap tomfoolery of Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and the Keystone Cops. His genius idea is for them to play it slow.
