A Pair of Tights

In The Silent Clowns (a book it is difficult to refer to without the adjective "magisterial"), Walter Kerr suggests that there were no important comediennes in the silent era because actresses were handicapped by the requirement that they be pretty, which, he suggests, prevented them from being really funny. Maybe Kerr never saw A PAIR OF TIGHTS. Anita Garvin and Marion Byron, in their third pairing, take their share of pratfalls without sacrificing their allure. The teaming of tall, statuesque, sultry Anita with tiny, cute-as-a-bug Marion was Hal Roach's attempt to create a distaff Laurel and Hardy, with Anita as the bossy Ollie and Marion as the hapless Stan. Their first effort, FEED 'EM AND WEEP, borrowed heavily from L&H's FROM SOUP TO NUTS (in which Anita has one of her finest moments as the nouveau-riche hostess defeated by a wobbly tiara and an elusive cherry), with everyone falling face-first into trays of food and Marion waiting tables in her underwear. The girls' gameness is impressive—and they really were girls, Marion just 17 and Anita all of 21—but the material is pretty shopworn.

A PAIR OF TIGHTS takes a different and much more promising tack. Instead of trying to be Laurel and Hardy, the girls play themselves, and deal with uniquely feminine problems like lousy dates. Here they are ravenous roommates stuck with a couple of tightwads (see the title) who don't want to take them out to dinner. When the men arrive, Marion canoodles with boyfriend Stu Erwin while Anita subjects Edgar Kennedy to a withering deadpan glare. In a long, long, long take, Kennedy squirms and fidgets under Anita's stony, disgusted gaze, before finally managing to open with, "So, how are you?" This is a perfect example of how total inaction can be funnier than people falling on their butts—which is exactly what Anita does when Kennedy gets up off his end of the piano bench where they're sitting.

The four set out for a drive, and Kennedy agrees to spring for ice cream cones. The rest of the film follows Marion's efforts to carry four cones through a set of swinging doors—she is hit from behind, from the front, attacked by a dog, and finally tormented by a horrid freckle-faced boy—while the three in the car get into a dispute with a cop who forces them to drive around and around the block, with Anita still glowering at her date. The film concludes with one of those escalating street battles that were a specialty of the Roach lot, following the exponential spread of quid pro quo as pedestrians start ripping each others' pants off or pasting each other with pies.

Anita and Marion never made another film together, which is a shame because they're both delightful and deserved to be in the spotlight. Anita Garvin will always be remembered by Laurel and Hardy fans for her menacing, vampy performances, while Marion "Peanuts" Byron is best known as Buster Keaton's leading lady in STEAMBOAT BILL, JR.

One last thought: just what WAS that stuff that passed for ice-cream, pie filling and pretty much any other foodstuff in silent comedies? I sure hope it was good for the complexion.

The second half of thsi film is well known from its inclusion in Robert Youngson's WHEN COMEDY WAS KING(1960)---and may be more enjoyable to watch tere due to the wonderful musical score the film gives it---it uncannily matches the action.

The slow first half can be found on YOU TUBE---Anita Garvin and Marion Byron get stuck with a couple of dead-end blind dates---Garvin and Edgar Kennedy detest each other on sight. But as usual when all you know what breaks loose in a Roach film,there's a long warm up before the explosion.

A simple chore--buying 4 ice cream cones turns into Walpurgis Night times ten.

Edgar Kennedy's famous temper tantrums not only fit in well but are justified. And there's a cop who becomes increasingly unhinged when he fails to nail Edgar for double parking(and gets run over several times in the process).

Best bit is when trying to duck the cop;they get into a fender bender with Charlie Hall---who dumps the cones on Edgar's head and gallantly pays for the next round.

Then enter Spec O'Donnell,whose own ice cream gets repeatedly wrecked and is determined to do the same to the ladies.

Oliver Hardy-like,Anita Garvin sez she'll handle things---and promptly gets a flowerpot dumped on her head. Several good nose tweaks follow.

And at the end,the quartet(STILLminus the ice cream) crawl towards the car on t heir hands and knees,hoping to avoid the riot behind them.

It can be difficult to be a silent film fan. You have to deal with so many silly misconceptions, like the idea that every woman in silent cinema was a damsel lashed to the rail road tracks. Pure bunk! Another silly misconception is that there were no female comedians during this period either, that they were too concerned with physical beauty to be able to do anything goofy on film. Also bunk. There were a number of comediennes during the silent era, the most beloved nowadays being Mabel Normand and Marion Davies.

A Pair of Tights (1929) is a late silent short which features a female comedy pairing: Anita Garvin and Marion Byron (best remembered for working with Buster Keaton in his last independent feature, Steamboat Bill Jr). Garvin's imposing physique and tough attitude pair wonderfully with Byron's petite frame and girlish disposition. In this short, the two are hungry and hope their dates will take them out to dinner. Unfortunately, their male consorts are tightwads, only willing to get them ice cream cones. Of course, being a Hal Roach film, you know this won't end well: fate itself seems to conspire to make sure nobody gets a single lick off those cones as Marion finds them constantly knocked out of her hands in increasingly silly ways.

It's a cute short, full of personality and relate-able situations for anyone who's ever been on a crummy date. However, it does get a little repetitious in the last five minutes. I also prefer the quieter first half with more character-based gags than the hectic second, complete with cops and obnoxious preteen boys, but it's still so much fun. If only Garvin and Byron had been allowed to do more shorts than the few collaborations they managed!

Anyone who says Laurel and Hardy were intended for the parts played by Kennedy and Erwin has never seen this picture. Ed and Stu do very little other than drive around looking for a place to park; the majority of the comedy is handled by Peanuts Byron with some support from Anita Garvin, especially in the first reel. Her attempts at getting ice cream cones. continually thwarted by bratty Spec O'Donnell, provide the highlight of the movie. A good "tit for tat" sequence at the end may reinforce the L&H theory, but remember this is a Roach product, with Roach gag men. All else aside, this is a very funny picture available on YouTube and worth your twenty minutes.

"A Pair of Tights" is a Laurel & Hardy movie without Laurel or Hardy. This short comedy was put into production by Hal Roach at the beginning of Laurel and Hardy's best period, but the stars of the film are Edgar Kennedy and Stu Erwin as a couple of tightwads ("tights"), cast in parts that were clearly written for Laurel (Erwin's role) and Hardy (Kennedy's role). Fortunately, Edgar and Stu had the sense to play the roles their own way, rather than imitating Stan and Ollie. Apparently Laurel and Hardy were so busy at this point, they didn't have time to appear in every movie that was planned for them. This movie even LOOKS like a Laurel and Hardy film, with various members of the Laurel & Hardy stock company (Charlie Hall, Anita Garvin, Kennedy himself) prominently featured. The good news is that it's pretty funny in its own right. I'll rate "A Pair of Tights" 8 out of 10.