Big Business (1929 film)


Big Business is a 1929 silent Laurel and Hardy comedy short subject directed by James W. Horne and supervised by Leo McCarey from a McCarey and H. M. Walker script. The film, largely about tit-for-tat vandalism between Laurel and Hardy as Christmas tree salesmen and the man who rejects them, was deemed culturally significant and entered into the National Film Registry in 1992.

Plot

Stan and Ollie play door-to-door Christmas tree salesmen in California – in the summer. They end up getting into an escalating feud with grumpy would-be customer James Finlayson. He, goaded by their repeated attempts to sell him a Christmas tree, destroys it with hedge-clippers. Laurel & Hardy retaliate by damaging the man's doorframe with a knife. Finlayson then goes to work on their clothes, and this escalates, with his home and their car being destroyed in the melee. A police officer steps in to stop the fight and negotiates a peaceful resolution. Stan and Ollie give the homeowner a cigar as a peace offering. However, as the pair make their escape, the trick cigar promptly explodes in his face.

Production

Producer Hal Roach bought a vacant house at 10281 Dunleer Drive, Cheviot Hills, Los Angeles from a studio worker so he could destroy it in the film. According to Roach, a mistake was made regarding the address—and the cast and crew demolished the house next door instead. The owners of that home happened to be away on vacation and returned just as filming was wrapping up. Stan Laurel later said that Roach's story was a fabrication. However, Roach, at age 100, repeated the story as factual during a 1992 guest appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Cast