Eddie Baker

Hired as guards of an antique shop, Joe and Hawthorne run into a gorilla that’s been trained by a gang of thieves to carry out a string of robberies.

Private eyes with the Wide Awake Detective Agency answer the call to find a diamond necklace that no one knows was stolen by an escaped zoo gorilla.

Returning from the ice cream parlor, devoted husbands rescue a suicidal woman of dubious morals from drowning (Mae Busch), then cannot escape her. With its black comedy inspired by Chaplin’s CITY LIGHTS, the story also draws upon familiar routines from the team’s other comedies. The parody of connubial bliss is a highlight, as is the climactic disappearance of Mr. Laurel, of which Mr. Hardy explains memorably, “He’s gone to the beach. ” It was remade by Roach a decade later as a “streamliner” titled BROOKLYN ORCHID. Directed by James W. Horne. With Linda Loredo and Gertrude Astor.