Immortal Befuddled
"Dying is Easy, Comedy is Hard"
Edmund Keane, 1834
Part One: Double Trouble
by Dennis E. Power
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The many faces of Ollu and Buzsla
Timeline
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1902-1906 Ollu and Buzsla were
out of the navy and settled down to a life of wedded bliss. Because
they had a small nest egg cached in The Music Box Laurel and Hardy film (1932) The Laurel
and Hardy Transfer Company foundered 1931 has to deliver a player
piano. The address is at the top of a huge flight of steps. They
prepare to unload the piano from their wagon but Susie the horse
deliberately moves and the piano crashes on Ollie. They struggle half
way up the stair case meeting a nurse with a buggy. They try to make
room for her but piano slides to the pavement. When the nurse laughs at
their predicament Stan kicks her in the rear. Ollie's own mirth is
quelled when the nurse breaks the baby bottle over his head. The
nurse complains to a cop who calls Stan down. He tells Stan he doesn't
want him, he wants the other monkey. Stan calls Ollie who makes his way
down the stairs followed by the piano which runs over him. After
receiving a reprimand and a smack from the cop, they go back up the
steps with the piano. They are met halfway up the steps by Professor
Swartzenhoffer whose dignity forbids him from walking around the piano.
Stan knocks the professor's hat off where it is flattened by a
car. He storms off screaming threats. The boys reach the top of the
stairs and ring the doorbell but loose their grip on the piano which
slides all the way back down the steps. The film has a
contemporary feel of 1933 about it and even has a specific date with
the founding of the Saps at Sea Laurel and Hardy film (1940) Stan and Ollie work as testers for the Sharp and Pierce Horn Company, an occupation noted for creating nervous wrecks. Ollie is the latest victim and after he goes berserk at the factory, he is sent home to the attention of Stan and Dr. Finlayson. The diagnosis is hornaphobia, an ailment treatable by goat's milk and sea air. The pair acquire a goat, which turns out to be a male and rent a small vessel that is considered safe only if kept to the moorings. It remains tethered until the goat chews through the rope. Drifting out to sea overnight they are at the mercy of an escaped murderer Nick Grainger who has taken refuge on board. The stowaway demands food and having none to give, they create a "sympathetic' meal creating bacon out of lampwick and biscuits out of talcum powder. Catching them the killer makes them choke down the meal. Stan has an idea; he has been learning to play the trombone and brought the instrument with him, despite Ollie's condition. A few notes from the trombone send Ollie into a fury and he attacks the murderer. Fortunately the police who have been looking for the missing boat arrive, as Ollie is finishing off the killer. Unfortunately Stan demonstrates how his playing sent Ollie into a frenzy and the battered policemen lock them in a cell with the murderer. Having their fill of moving things, Ollu and Buzsla took jobs at a horn factory. However Ollu did not take well to the repetitive motion and confined spaces and the constant blaring of the horns. He began to suffer from a nervous breakdown. Given that the boys later made up another disease to go on a trip, this hornophobia may well have been partially a ploy for the boys to go on a fishing trip. They rented a small boat and ended up adrift in the bay with a killer on board. The Coast guard arrived as Ollu was driven into a frenzy by the sound of a horn and attacked the killer, the Coast Guard attempted to interfere and got caught up in the thrashing. Ollu and Buzsla spent a couple of days in jail. 1905 Noose Hangs High (1948) Abbott and Costello feature film Ted and Tommy, employees of the Speedy Service Window Washing Company, are mistaken for the employees of the Speedy Messenger Service by Nick Craig, a bookie. He sends them to Mr. Stewart's office to collect 50,000. Stewart however plans to have two of his hoods hold up the boys and take the money back. Chased by the gangsters, Tommy ducks into an office where a corps of girls is mailing face powder samples. He shoves the money in an envelope which he intends to mail to Nick. His envelop is switched with another envelope containing a sample. Meanwhile Nick discovers his mistake and telephones J.C. McBride to whom he owes the windfall to ask for an extension. Nick orders his gorillas, Chuck and Joe to find Ted and Tommy but the boys show up at the office and explain what happened. The money they assure Nick will be in the next day's mail. But the next day a powder sample arrives instead of money. Nick gives the boys twenty-four hours to contact every prospect on the company's mailing list. They finally locate the recipient, Carol, who has spent most of the money on luxuries. The three of them hope to parlay the remaining 2,000 into 50,000 by betting on a horse race. At the Television Club, Ted, Tommy and Carol meet an eccentric little man named Julius Caesar, who had never lost a bet. Caesar's horse wins but Ted, Tommy and Carol lose the rest of their bankroll. With no possible way of paying back Nick, Ted decides that the safest place for them is in jail. The boys run up a 500 dollar tab at the swank nightclub and are about to be arrested when Nick and his boys arrive and demand the money. When Ted and Tommy confess that they haven't got it, Nick plans to fit them with cement shoes at a nearby construction warehouse. Carol meanwhile wins 50,000 from Caesar by betting on fish in the club's aquarium. They arrive at the construction site with the money just in the nick of time. Caesar explains that he is J.C. McBride and the debt is settled.
Film based on For Love of Money Ollu and Buzsla worked as messengers and also spent quite a bit of time hanging out at the track. Their mixup with the money and subsequent involvement with J. C. McBride is well known. It as through his influence that they were able to get jobs at the track when they were fired from their jobs as messengers. Wrong Again (1929) Laurel and Hardy
Once again this falls into the odd but true category. The millionaire should not have been upset at the destruction of the painting however since it turned out to be a clever forgery. Sons of the Desert Laurel and Hardy film (1933) Stan and Ollie are pledged to attend the Chicago Convention of their lodge of the "Sons of the Desert". Mrs. Laurel is willing to let Stanley go but Mrs. Hardy has plans for a trip to the mountains, forcing Ollie to feign illness. The boys engage a doctor, actually a veterinary surgeon who is willing to prescribe an ocean voyage to Honolulu, a trip designed to exclude the sea sick prone Mrs. Hardy. Stan and Ollie have a wild time in Chicago unaware that the ship they are supposedly on succumbed to a storm. While awaiting news of survivors their wives seek temporary escape in cinema, where they see news of a different sort, film taken at the Chicago convention complete with footage of their husbands cavorting in a parade. Returning home the boys hear of the shipwreck just as their wives arrive by cab. Taking refuge in Ollie's attic they make the best of the night in exile until disturbed by a thunderstorm. Mrs. Laurel investigates the noise shotgun in hand, forcing Stan and Ollie up to the roof. Climbing down they are discovered by a policeman who insists on checking their identity with the occupants. They are welcomed indoors and allowed to tell their wild version of what took place. Mrs. Hardy and Mrs. Laurel have a wager to see who has the most honest husband. A tale of ship hiking home is followed by the collapse of Stan who confesses all. He is pampered by wife while Mrs. Hardy buries her husband amid pots and pans. We Faw Down (1928) Laurel and
Hardy short subject silent These domestic shenanigans also appear to be based on actual events that happened during this period in San Francisco. One must ignore the contemporary references and some of the exaggerated comedy to get a glimpse of the real Ollu and Buzsla. The veterinary surgeon was most probably one of the horse doctors from the tracks. Their wives were becoming suspicious for their husbands were never sick and unlike them showed no signs of aging, not even a little bit. Although they had only known their husbands for five years, they would have expected men in their late twenties or early thirties to have aged somewhat in that time. They were suspicious mainly because they thought their husbands were philandering. The wives were tired of the extravagant lies, of their inability to hold down steady serious jobs and their generosity with money that should have been going to maintain the household. These served to solidify their suspicions that their husbands were unfaithful. The incident in We Faw Down confirmed their wives suspicions and they filed for divorce. No amount of pleading would stop the wives from seeking this separation. Buzsla looked upon the end of their marriages philosophically. They were bound to end sooner or later, at least this way they did not have to go through the agony of seeing their loved ones age and die. 1906 It Aint Hay (1943) Abbott and Costello feature film Wilber Hoolihan feeds candy to a hack horse belonging to King O'Hara and his daughter Princess and the horse dies. Anxious to replace it Wilbur and his friend Grover visit a gambling parlor and win enough money to buy a new horse but Wilbur is duped out of the bankroll by a con man. Three touts, Umbrella Sam, Harry the Horse, and Chauncy the Eye inform the boys that an old nag is available at the Empire Track. But that night at the stables, Grover and Wilbur unwittingly steal the champion, Tea Biscuit and give him to King O'Hara. Tea Biscuit's owner, Colonel Brainard, post a reward for the return of the horse. King meanwhile drives a fair up to Saratoga and the boys realizing their error follow him. Sam, Harry and Chauncy also realized what happened and seeking to get the reward pursued them. Wilbur and Grover recover Tea Biscuit and conceal him in their hotel room. The Hotel's new manager, Warner, discovers the ruse. Fleeing Warner, Wilber rides Tea Biscuit to the track in time for the big race. Colonel Brainard has entered the missing thoroughbred as a sentimental gesture. Wilbur Inadvertently switches horse with another jockey and Tea Biscuit actually wins the race. Sam, Harry and Chauncey hastily buy Wilbur's horse for 500 dollars believing it to be Tea Biscuit. When they attempt to collect the reward however, Colonel Brainerd withdraws it, since it appears that Tea Biscuit was never actually missing. Grover holds the only winning ticket and with their windfall the boys buy King a new horse and carriage and finance a camp show for their friend Joe. While Ollu and Buzsla were being divorced they continued to work at the track. When their friend King O'Hara's hack horse died. They at first tried to gain enough cash through gambling to buy the hack a new horse but were duped out of the money by con men at the stable. The conmen convinced them that they were buying an old nag which was retiring, its racing days over. Ollu and Buzsla purchased the horse with their winnings. The con had been going to steal Teabiscuit and so remove it from the big race but used these dupes to do their dirty work. After it was announted taht the champion horse Teasbiscuit had ben stolen, Ollu and Buzsla realize they had bought the champion horse. They informed King O'Hara of their error. They returned the horse just as the race began, the owner of the horse had kept him listed as a sentimental gesture. They quickly placed a bet on the missing horse and won a landfall when the horse won. The result of this, besides creating a big scandal and investigation, was that Ollu used the money to buy their friend a legitimate draft horse. Ollu and Buzsla were fired and banned from the race track. During this incident or shortly thereafter they renewed their acquaintance with Al Runyon who now called himself Alfred Damon Runyon. Al had been fired from the Denver Post and was working for the San Francisco Post but only did so for a brief time for before returning to Denver. Ollu and Buzsla were socially adrift for a while living as vagrants when the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire occurred. Duck Soup (1927) Laurel and Hardy short silent. The Sheriff is rounding up vagrants to help fight forest fires. Two unwilling volunteers are Laurel and Hardy, whose flight from the scene takes them on a wild down hill bicycle ride. They take refuge in a deserted mansion but the arrival of prospective tenants forces Ollie to pose as the owner and Stan as the maid. Their impersonation is barely convincing but succeeds until the unexpected arrival of the real owner. The pair are arrested by apprehended by the Sheriff and the final scene shows them at the mercy of an uncontrollable fire hose. Later remade as Another Fine Mess. Ollu and Buzsla were forced into fighting fires in the wooded areas of San Francisco and north of the city. They feared fire for they believe that it was one thing that could truly kill them and if it didn't it would really, really hurt for a long time. They escaped from the fire fighting duties and took refuge in an abandoned mansion, still fairly intact. They soon discovered that the mansion's owner had not fled because of the quake and fire but rather had gone on a African hunting trip and was leasing his home. Ollu and Buzsla had to pretend to be the owner and maid to dissuade the prospective tenants from taking the place. However the real owner returned having heard about the quake and fire returned in a few days. Ollu and Buzsla were given over to the sheriff, who once again made them fight fires. Ollu
and Buzsla left San Francisco behind and made their way to Seattle.
They took lumber jacking jobs from the McCord and Pratt Lumber company,
stating they were friends with George and Sam. A telegram confirmed
this. The McCord and Pratt Lumber company received a large contract to
lumber trees in Canada. Ollu and Buzsla were among the men sent on this
logging trip. |
1907 Lumbering Lummoxes Abbott and Costello Animated Series
Abbott and Costello are up in the North woods working as lumberjacks. Their nemesis is Big Pierre, the giant lumberjack boss who's out to get them to Costello's costly and constant bumbling. He threatens to fire the boys unless they can clear an entire hill of trees before sundown, which Costello manages to do, thus saving their jobs.
Ollu and Buzsla and the rest of the men were placed under the leadership of Pierre L'Ourang. He had been hired to supervise the cut because he was a well known lumberjack and he knew the area very well. He however resented Yanks having been sent up to do work that should have been done by Canadians and so used every means possible to get Ollu, Buzsla and rest of the crew from the States fired. Ollu and Buzsla managed to do every task he set them to although barely. It was soon discovered that Big Pierre was skimming from McCord and Pratt and selling a lot of the cut wood to Canadian lumber companies. Ollu and Buzsla captured Big Pierre and turned him into the Royal North-West Mounted Police. Their actions in capturing the villain lead to them being hired as members of the Royal North-West Mounted Police. They were assigned to the Northern Territories.
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Northwest Mounties Abbott and Costello are out to get the giant King Kong Kanuck of the North. Mounty Bounty Abbott and Costello Animated Series episode Mounted policemen Abbott and Costello have to bring in the Mighty Maurice, the outlaw. He proves to be big, rough and tough but Bud and Lou remain true to the Northwest Mounted tradition. They finally get their man, after he gets them a few times. Ollu and Buzsla spent 18 months in the frozen north before becoming tired of the freezing weather. They spent several months tracking one outlaw through the arctic lands. Their superiors were so impressed they were given a similar assignment a couple months later. The cartoon adventures of course exaggerate the physical characteristics of the two criminals but they were both large violent men with wily and cunning natures. Ollu and Buzsla both agreed to go some place very warm and to find employment that did not involve violence. |
1909 Jitterbugs Laurel and Hardy film
Traveling two man band are stuck in the desert due to an empty fuel tank. Eventually a car stops from which emerges Chester Wright, a con man claiming to invented gas pills, guaranteed to turn water into gasoline. He fill the boys with real gasoline before noticing their profession. He suggests that they join him in nearby Midvale to make some money. Stan and Ollie's ingenious remote controlled instruments start the crowd dancing and more importantly attract attention for a sales pitch. Chester makes the acquaintance of a local girl Susan Cowan. As unwitting con men Stan and Ollie do a good job until one purchaser staggers back from an exploded car. Chester posing as a detective hustles the boys out of town. en route he discovers a bag left in the car by Susan but is saved the job of returning it, Susan having hitched a lift on the back of Stan and Ollie's trailer. Susan tells Chester of a property deal involving her family. Chester recognizes the financier as a crooked gambler and determines to recover the cash invested by Susan's mother.
Back in Midvale the family lawyer discovers the money placed in his safe to be newspaper clippings, switched using twin marked envelopes. Chester devises an intricate sting in which Stan and Ollie assume the guise of several people as they use different ploys to sucker the three sets of swindlers that had taken the money from Susan's mother. At the conclusion, Susan's mother has gotten her money back and Ollie and Stan are being chased by a New Orlean's gangster who had eluded justice.
Ollu and Buzsla left the frozen north to live in the United States Southwestern states. In Albuquerque, New Mexico they used their Mountie salary to purchase musical instruments and an automobile. They acquired some bookings as a two man band in Albuquerque and were offered a three week stint at a Spa in Salt Lake City. They set out in their car across the desert but they miscalculated in the fuel they needed to get to Santa Fe and ran out of gas just before reaching Salt Lake City. They were stranded for some time when a man happened by and demonstrated his new gas pill which miraculously changed a gallon of water into gasoline. Having missed their engagement, they agreed to work with Chester Wright in helping him sell the gas pills, although it is not known for certain they were entirely fooled by his presentation.
Chester was a con man with a heart of gold whose criminal skills could be directed towards a good cause, at least when the good cause is a beautiful young woman like Susan Cowan. With Buzsla and Ollu's help he managed to sting the crook gamblers that had cheated Susan's mother. At Chester's direction Ollu and Buzsla used a variety to guises to sting the crooks. Chester's sudden attack of virtue however did not extend to sticking his neck out when one of the crooks that had escaped being arrested decided to hunt down Ollu and Buzsla.
1911 Swiss Miss (1938) Laurel and Hardy feature film
Compose Victor Albert arrives at a Swiss hotel hoping to gain inspiration for his new opera. The hotel's staff have been persuaded to wear traditional costume. Another reason for his retreat is to escape from his wife Anna an opera star he believes would distract him from composing music about an ordinary, unsophisticated girl. Stan and Ollie are in Switzerland to sell mousetraps, acting on Stan's theory that Switzerland has the most cheese and consequently the most mice. They accept an offer to buy out their business but when living it up at the Alpine Hotel discover they have been paid with currency from a non-existent country.
The pair are forced to work as kitchen hands to pay off the bill, with the extra complication of working an extra day for every plate they break. The tyrannical chef makes certain that plenty plates are broken. Anna has traced her husband to the hotel and is determined to prove that she has the qualities to interest an ordinary man and is happy to encourage the romantic interest of both Ollie and the chef. To reinforce her point and to further pester Victor she takes a job as a chambermaid. Unaware that she is married Ollie falls for Anna. He and Stan nearly take a different fall when transporting the composer's piano across a rickety rope bridge, a maneuver complicated by the appearance of a gorilla. At Stan's suggestion Ollie invites Anna to the Alpenfest, a local carnival. Serenading her they are soaked by a jug of water by Ollie's rival, the Chef. At the Alpenfest, Anna makes a convincing gypsy singer and is reunited with Victor. Stan and Ollie escape the chef and learning of Anna's marriage leave the hotel pursued by the gorilla they had met earlier.
Relentlessly pursued by a crook out for revenge, Ollu and Buzsla fled to Europe. They end up Switzerland selling Mouse traps. They were doing quite well when the crook caught up to them. Ever the wheeler dealer Buzsla agreed to sell him their profitable business at a reduced rate. He complied readily. The money he had given them was counterfeit. Ollu and Buzsla worked at an Alpine lounge and became involved in the marital problems of a famous composer and his wife. Ollu had fallen for the wife believing that she was a chambermaid. He was crushed to discover that she was married. Ollu and Buzsla left Switzerland to go to Paris.
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1911-1915 Flying Deuces (1939) Laurel and Hardy film Stan and Ollie are staying in Paris when Ollie falls for an innkeeper's daughter, Georgette. Ollie proposes marriage but is refused gracefully. He is unaware that Georgette is married to Francois, a Foreign Legion officer. Ollie decides to jump in the Seine, persuading Stan to come along. They pause to discuss the possibility of reincarnation, Ollie decided to come back as a horse. Further delays ensue until they meet Francois, who suggests the Legion as an alternative. The suicide is abandoned but Ollie still lands in the river, narrowly missing an escaped shark. In the Legion they disrupt a parade, while their familiarity with Francois is taken as insubordination. They rebel when the Commandant tells them how little they will be paid but are soon washing a mountain of laundry. Ollie conveniently forgets Georgette, which they think, entitles them to leave. On their way out they meet Georgette who has arrived to be with her husband Francois. Francois is enraged to see Ollie kissing his wife. Worse still they are charged with desertion and sentenced to be shot at sunrise. A note arrives telling them of an escape route via a trap door but they are pursued. The tunnel leads into a wine cellar from which they enter the main building. Unwittingly they stumble into Georgette's bedroom, she faints and Francois arrives just as they are attempting to revive her. The chase continues into an aircraft hangar and they are soon airborne in a runaway aircraft. They crash. Stan emerges unscathed as he watches Ollie's angelic figure float skyward. The scene dissolves to Stan as a carefree wanderer, his attention caught by a whistle and Ollie's voice. Stan his overjoyed to see his old friend who has been reincarnated as a horse. Beau Hunks Laurel and Hardy short subject Devastated
at being brushed aside by his dear "Jeanie-Weenie," Ollie decides to
join the Foreign Legion to help forget. Of course, Stan must go along
too. The boys run up against a tough commandant who sends them to Fort
Arid to protect the fort from the "Riffs." Abbott and Costello in the French Foreign Legion (1950) Abbott and Costello feature film
Wresting promoters Bud Jones and Lou Hotchkiss are dismayed when their
star, Abdullah refuses to follow their script, which indicates he is to
lose and he returns to his native Algeria. Because they borrowed 5,0000
dollars from the syndicate to import him, Bud and Lou follow to bring
him back. Abdullah's cousin, Sheik Hamud El Khalid and a traitorous
French Foreign Legionnaire Sergeant Axeman have been organizing raids
on railroad construction crews with the intention of extorting money
from the railroad. The villains assume the Bud and Lou are spies for
the railroad and order them killed. Lou further infuriates Hamud by
inadvertently outbidding him for the purchase of six slave girls,
including Nicole, a beautiful agent from French Intelligence who
intends to gain entry into Hamud's camp. The boys seek refuge at the
headquarters of the French Foreign Legion, where the devious Axeman
dupes them into enlisting. Sahara You Abbott and Costello Animated Series episode Lost on vacation, Abbott and Costello wind up as foreign legionaries. They get out only after capturing a desert villain. As a hero, Costello signs an autograph that turns out to be enlistment papers for the Mongolian air force. As with many of their adventures the events of several years in the lives of Buzsla and Ollu are compressed and rearranged for the plot lines of one or more films by one or more artists. Such was the case here. Our task is to attempt to rearrange the events from clues in the films into a narrative that bears some historical truth. Their Foreign Legion period appears to have begun in Paris. Ollu and Buzsla were fight promoters whose latest fighter Abdullah the Unmerciful was creating a sensation in the French boxing world. Too much of a sensation, for he was winning too much to suit some of the more established boxers and their managers and the boxing promoters and the French gangsters behind the gambling. The gamblers wished for Abdullah to take a dive, he refused and instead left Paris to return home. Ollu had once again lost his heart to a married woman, Georgette the daughter of the inn keeper where they were residing. With the rejection of his troth and the loss of their boxing champion, Ollu decided to join the French Foreign Legion. Buzsla of course joined him. The section of the film Beau Hunks where Ollie decideed to commit suicide and Stanley agreed was of course fictional comic hijinks of the actors Laurel and Hardy. Ollu and Buzsla were after all Immortal and knew they could not die by drowning. They discovered after joining the French Foreign Legion that Georgette was married to an officer of the Legion, yet that had not stopped her from toying with the affections of many men in the Legion. She was well acquainted with everyone in their barracks including the Commandant. Although this was a relatively peaceful time for the Legion, there were still problems with the native populations, especially since the railroads were expanding through Algeria and Morocco. The desert tribes had been raiding the railroad construction crews under the leadership of Sheik Hamud El Khalid. The Commandant wa scertain there was an inside leak. The Commandant trusted Ollu and Buzsla because they were fresh on the scene and Americans without political bias. He gave them the mission of helping to uncover the spy. As Ollu and Buzsla struggled through basic training they heard that Georgette and her husband, the officer had returned to Algeria where he commanded a nearby fort. They later heard that Georgette had been taken captive by a desert tribe in a raid while accompanying her husband who had been touring a railroad construction site. On their first leave Ollu and Buzsla visited the town nearest to where Georgette had been abducted with the idea of perhaps finding her. As chance would have it they did find her being sold in an auction for harem girls. Ollu and Buzsla outbid the Sheik who vowed revenge. They did not have the money and so grabbed Georgette and fled. When Georgette struggled in her panic, Ollu and Buzsla had to bind her. They returned her to her husband's fort. She was quite angry with Ollu and Buzsla. She was not a promiscuous woman, as everyone thought, well, not without cause. She worked for French Intelligence and she had been assigned to discover who had been working with the Algerian and Moroccan natives raiding railroad construction sites. To this end she had become friendly with many members of the Legion and had even married an officer to gain access to the areas of the Legion that would otherwise be closed to her. She had allowed herself to be captured so she could infiltrate Sheik El Khalid's household. Having vented her anger, she softened and told Ollu she thought his affection and misplaced heroism were sweet. Georgette's husband walked in as she was kissing him. Since they had chosen to bring Georgette home rather than report to their own fort on time they were charged with desertion and sentenced to be shot at sunrise. Their Sergeant and a platoon had been ordered to reinforce Fort Arid and to pick up the two idiots on the way. Georgette's husband however had other ideas and wished to continue with the execution. Ollu and Buzsla were broken out of jail by a masked figure who led them into trapdoor inside the wine cellar. The door opened into a tunnel which exited in a building near the Fort's walls. Inept as always Ollu and Buzsla failed to make their escape with any stealth were pursued inside the Fort. Desperate they jumped inside an observation balloon and took off. The Sergeant and his troops were dispatched to capture Ollu and Buzsla. However the balloon was shot at by an excited Legionnaire and the gas bag explodeed in mid air, the remnant plummeted to the ground. Ollu and Ballu were believed killed in either the explosion or the fall. They were not killed but rather wandered lost in the desert. Sgt. Axmann and his men were sent to reinforce Fort Apar with Georgette's husband's troops to follow soon afterwards. Ollu and Buzsla watched in stunned disbelief as a group of natives attacked and butchered the sleeping Legionnaires, sparing only Sergeant Axmann. The Arabs stripped the Legionnaires of their uniforms and march towards Ford Arid under the command of Sgt. Axmann. Although Ollu and Buzsla attempted to beat the disguised Arabs to Fort Apar, they were slowed by a sand storm. When they arrived at the fort and were allowed to enter, they quickly let everyone inside know that the Arabs were going to trick their way inside. They then noticed all the dead bodies and the fact that they were talking to Arabs in Legionnaire uniforms. Sheik Haman al Khalid told them he was aware of the plot. Prior to the reinforcements arrived walking into a death trap, Sheik Haman wished for some entertainment. He wanted to have Ollu slowly killed for stealing a woman from him, his wrestlers would pull him to pieces. He smiled this would happen even though he eventually got the woman. Georgette sat beside Haman looking contemptuously at Ollu and Buzsla. As luck would have it one of the wrestler's was Abudullah the Unmerciful. He and Ollu had a long prolonged fight. During which Georgette slipped away and freed Buzsla. Buzsla and her quickly put into motion her plan to dynamite the gunpowder stores. In the store room they also found kegs of nails. Buzsla quickly poured gunpowder in many of these kegs and set fuses in them. They set the fuse for the gunpowder stores and lit the fuses in the kegs of nails that they rolled into the crowd of onlookers watching. As the smoking kegs rolled into the crowd it turned into a melee. Abdullah and Ollu joined Buzsla and Georgette who waited with camels. They rode out of the fort and pushed the gates shut. The nails kegs began exploding sending deadly shrapnel every where. The powder stores also blew. They opened the gates again and began shooting at the survivors. Sheik Haman shoots down Sergeant Axemann and he is in turn wounded by Ollu. When the Legionnaire reinforcements arrive. Buzsla and Ollu hand over Sheik Haman to their Commandant and show him the body of the traitor. Georgette is reunited with her husband. Although all three
films end with Ollu and Buzsla leaving the foreign legion after this
incident they did not do so for a few more years. After the Moroccan
War they were sent to pacify Madagascar. They returned to North Africa
and then were released |
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1915 Lost in a Harem (1944) Abbott and Costello feature film
When the International Review a small vaudeville show becomes stranded in Port Inferno, a bizarre city in the mystic East, singer Hazel Moon lands a job at the Cafe of All Nations. She persuades the owner to hire the revue's prop men Harvey Garvey and Pete Johnson as a comedy team. Their magic act starts a brawl in the club and Hazel and the boys are thrown in jail. Ramo, a desert sheik offers to help Hazel and boys escape if they help him regain the throne of Barabeeha, which his wicked Uncle Nimativ, has usurped with the aid of two hypnotic rings. Pete, Harvey, and Hazel escape and join Ramo's band of desert riders. Ramo explains that his uncle is susceptible to blondes. With Hazel to distract him, Pete and Harvey can steal the rings.
Posing as Hollywood talent scouts the boys enter the capital city with Hazel. Nimativ is captivated by Hazel but despite this distraction, he quickly hypnotizes Pete and Harvey and learns of Ramo's plans. The boys are tossed in jail and Hazel is hypnotized to become wife number thirty-eight. Ramo rescues the boys and smuggles them into the palace where Harvey wins the cooperation of Teema, chief wife of the Harem by promising to get her into the movies. Harvey disguises himself as Teema and Pete impersonates Nimativ. During a great celebration, they boys steal the rings and hypnotize Nimativ into abdicating. Ramo is restored to the throne Hazel becomes his wife and the heroes are off to America.
Upon leaving the Foreign Legion the Ollu and Buzsla were still in need of money to return to the states. They latched onto jobs as prop men in the International Review, a small vaudeville show. As in the film the show became stranded in Port Inferno, which lay between Tunisia and Libya. Buzsla and Ollu's magic act started a riot, which landed them in jail, and they met a crazy man and a desert sheik. They became involved in the political machinations of the tiny state of Barabeeha, also on the Tunisian coast. Ramo, who had an unusual Arabic name, has had his throne usurped by his uncle Nimativ, also a rather unusual Arabic name.
Ramo's uncle possessed a pair of rings that had hypnotic powers. These rings seem similar it seems to those possessed by the vigilante the Shadow. So could these rings be the ones owned by the Shadow? Even though his career as the Shadow does not seem to have started until 1929, (31)he already possessed one of the rings by 1913, given to him by the Tsar of Russia. The other ring he would create from a girasol stone he would find in a Xincan idol. So this appears to rule out that line of inquiry. However there may be a connection although a very tenuous one. Russia is the only one of the Great Powers that did not have a presence in Africa. Yet it may have attempted to establish a presence at one time. Ramo could very well be a corruption of Romanov and Nimativ could be a corruption of another Russian name. The Russians may have attempted to establish a port in the Tunisian area for further incursions into Africa but something went wrong, the Romanov princeling sent to conquer the area went native. He converted to Islam and married into a local ruling family. His troops followed suit and they broke off ties with Mother Russia.
The rings were part of the crown jewels originally owned by Ivan the Terrible; they were akin to the girasol but that stone was added to the Russian crown jewels at a later date. Once Ollu and Buzsla saw the stones set in the hypnotic rings they recognized them immediately as being similar to those they had found on Skull island. They were also similar but not exactly similar to those they had found in the Giant's castle back in Medieval England. The stones were power crystals left over from the Ancient civilization of Lemuria. The girasols were probably also remnants of this far flung empire, although they were eventually set into an Xincan idol as the eyes of a god. In addition to being power sources for an advanced technology the gems were also slightly psionically reactive and could enhance the psionic commands of certain people. This may have been originally geared towards technicians being able to use the powerstones to operate various devices triggered by a sort of thought recognition.
Over the millennia distorted explanations of the use and usage's of these power crystals from Atlantis and Lemuria gave them all sorts of mystical origins, powers and connection. While it is true they could in some cases amplify psionic abilities, generally they were nothing more than sophisticated power sources, a crystalline fuel cell.
Ollu and Buzsla managed to steal the rings and Ollu was able to mesmerize Nimativ into abdicating. Ramon was grateful to the Ollu and Buzsla but considered their help in restoring him to his throne simply fulfilling the promise they made in jail so no further reward was forthcoming.
Ollu and Buzsla worked their way back to America on an Ocean Liner as a steward and purser.
1915 Sailors, Beware! Laurel and Hardy film (1927)
Cab driver Chester Chaste (Stan) is taking Madame Ritz and her baby to a quayside rendezvous with the SS Miramar. Madame Ritz is an international jewel thief and the baby is really her midget husband, Roger in disguise. Chester's cab is accidentally loaded aboard ship, an error that leads Chester becoming a reluctant Steward under the Captain and Purser Cryder (Ollie) Cryder's favorite passengers are blondes and brunettes but his attempts to make conversation with such lovelies such as Baroness Behr are interrupted by the new steward. Chester becomes involved in gambling with the disguised midget whose obviously loaded dice make it a one sided contest. Later Chester, having foiled Madame Ritz crooked card game has the job of bathing the bogus child. He discovers the truth from the midget's hairy chest, he alerts Purser Cryder and the midget takes revenge by beating up Cryder.
Although the tale of how Buzsla was taken aboard the ship is fictitious, the tale of Ollu and Buzsla catching an international jewel thief and her midget husband is quite true, although naturally the Captain got all the credit.
1916 In Society (1944) Abbott and Costello feature film
Plumbers Eddie and Albert are called to repair a lead in the bathroom of wealthy Mr. Van Cleve, whose wife is giving a costume ball. The plumbers arrive at the Van Cleve mansion in a Taxi driven by Elsie Hammerdingle. Playboy Peter Evans mistakes Elsie for a costumed guest and a romance begins. He invites her to spend the weekend at Mrs. Winthrop's estate, Briarwood. Meanwhile, Eddie and Albert devastate the upstairs bathroom and flood the master bedroom. Mrs. Van Cleve writes an indignant letter to the plumbers but accidentally mails her own invitation to the Winthrop's society weekend.
Eddie and Albert are delighted at the prospect of meeting so many new and wealthy customers. Drexel, a loan shark demands that the boys help him steal the Winthrop's famous painting, "The Plunger" but the boys refuse. Eddie, Albert and Elsie arrive at Briarwood. The boys spend a riotous weekend putting on airs, confounding the butler and participating in a fox hunt. Drexel shows up and enlists Marlow a shady chauffeur to steal the painting. Gloria Winthrop, jealous of Elsie denounces her, Eddie and Albert as the thieves. As Drexel and Marlow flee, Eddie and Albert pursue them in a fire truck, capture them and return with the painting.
With the exception anachronistic references and the omission of Ollu's and Buzsla's competing Plumbers who turned out to be the Three From The Other Tribe this hews pretty close to the truth.
Ollu and Buzsla had decided to become plumbers after returning to the United States. How hard could it be to twist pipes together? When called to the Van Cleve Mansion, they discovered just how hard it could be. They devastated the Master bedroom. Mrs. Van Cleve sent them a scathing letter only she put it in the wrong envelope and enclosed an invitation to a society weekend in theirs. Yet the bathroom still was not fixed as the weekend approached so Mrs. Van Cleve engaged the services of Mough, Lorenzo and Caerlugh of the Day and Nite plumbers.(32) They were more experienced plumbers than Ollu and Buzsla but as always they could not leave well enough alone and decided to improve on the existing plumbing with ultimately disastrous results. They worked on the plumbing during entire weekend and joined in the ferreting out the thieves of the painting. Their primary suspects were Ollu and Buzsla. They even managed to capture Ollu and Buzsla as Ollu and Buzsla were returning the painting having retrieved it from the real thieves.
The romance between the female cabdriver and the society boy appears to have been placed in the picture for matinee romance purposes.
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1917-1919 Buck Privates (1941) Abbott and Costello feature film Sidewalk tie
salesman Slicker Smith and his shill Herbie Brown, elude their nemesis
Patrolman Collins by ducking into the movies. But the Theatre has been
converted into an Army enlistment center and before they now it the
boys have become involuntary volunteers. Bound for boot camp with them
are Randolph Parker III, a spoiled playboy and Bob Martin, his long
suffering valet, the Andrews Sisters and Judy Gray who will serve as
camp hostesses. Great Guns (1941) Laurel and Hardy Feature Stan and Ollie enlist in the army to protect their sickly, recently drafted friend. During war games, the boys are taken as prisoners by the enemy camp. Thanks to their friend and Stan's pet crow, the enemy's secrets are discovered and the battle is won by the Laurel and Hardy camp. Although these two films by two different sets of artists appear to be two different films they actually appear to be two differing versions of the same incidents. In Great Guns Laurel and Hardy combine the roles of Abbott and Costello and of the valet/rival of Buck Privates. Upon having been sued out of their plumbing business Ollu and Buzsla were forced to eke out a living selling ties on the street without a peddlers license. They were constantly pestered by a beat cop who finally decided to run them in. They ran into a recruiting center and decided to join up. Reporting for duty was a rich young man named Parker in Buck Privatesand Forrester in Great Guns we will call him Parker Forrester who had been drafted. Joining him was his valet/chauffeur, Bob Martin, who appears have been a former childhood friend of Parker Forrester. Parker Forrester was arrogant and was a hypochondriac to boot. Although Buck Privates shows him wishing to use his relatives influence to get out of the Army and Great Guns showing him as wishing to remain to prove he was not an invalid, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Parker Forrester believed that he was sickly and would fail at being a soldier. He had been convinced of his weak condition by his aunt who had, for the most part raised him. His father was a widower and was not at home much and so left it to his wife's spinster sister to raise the boy. The father refused to use his influence to allow Parker out of the army and he asked Bob Martin to help make a man out of him. Bob Martin continually challenged Parker and challenged his so-called diseases as being symptoms of a spoiled, lazy good-for-nothing rich boy. They even became rivals for the same girl Judy Gray/Ginger. On the other end of the spectrum, Ollu and Buzsla were hired by Parker's aunt who came across them doing a punishment duty of cleaning everyone's gear with a toothbrush and believed that they were diligent, kind and concerned for the welfare of others. She explained Parker's condition and asked that they keep him away from strenuous duties. The attempts by the platoon's worst soldiers to help out the poor Parker were so humiliating that Parker swallowed his arrogance, forgot about his allergies and proved how good a soldier he could be. He was shown to be an exemplary shot in Buck Privates and a great horseman in Great Guns. Parker Forrester and Bob Martin eventually attended Officers Candidates School together. Parker Forrester would marry Judy and they would have a daughter. 1917 The Purple Baron Abbott and Costello Animated Series A World War One ace is outfought by blundering Costello in an old fashioned dogfight. The incident although minor did occur although by this time the infamous Manfred Von Richtofen had already been killed in combat. Separated from their platoon during a firefight, Ollu and Buzsla wandered into British lines. They came across a downed plane. The plane was intact but the pilot head been shot in the chest and throat. The fastest way to get him a hospital was to fly. Buzsla insisted that flying is just like driving a car but with wings. Ollu was convinced and they actually managed to get the plane off the ground. However Ollu's first unplanned loop throws Buzsla from the plane and he landed in a water filled trench. Flying erratically, Ollu attracts the attention of the German Flyers. He is attacked by the infamous white plane of the current head of the Flying Circus. Ollu's erratic flying style made it extremely difficult to get a bead on and the German ace was only able to do minor damage to Ollu's plane. Through some very lucky shots Ollu managed to hit vital rudders of the German Ace's plane. The German ace turned purple with rage at being defeated by so inept a foe. Unfortunately Ollu did not manage to kill this ace. He would live to become one of Adolf Hitler's main henchmen. His name was Herman Goering. 1919 Buck Privates Come Home (1947) Abbott and Costello feature film Slicker
Smith and Herbie Brown after serving in World War II return to the
States on board a troop ship. When Sergeant Collins discovers that they
have smuggled aboard Evey, a six year old French orphan, she is held
for the immigration official by Lieutenant Sylvia Hunter, a nurse. Evey
escapes from immigration and heads for Times Square where Slicker
and Herbie are once again selling ties. They are about to be
pinched by Collins who is now a cop. When Evey helps them escape.
Herbie learns that he must be married and have a steady income before
he can adopt the girl. Evey suggests Aunt Sylvia as a likely candidate
and they seek her help. Pack up your Troubles Laurel and Hardy Film 1932 When
America enters the First World War Stan and Ollie try unsuccessfully to
dodge the recruiting officer and are soon disrupting military drill.
Their efforts are rewarded with a job emptying bins. On asking the cook
where the bins should go, they are told sarcastically to take them to
the General. This they do landing themselves in a cell with the cook
who vows revenge with a carving knife. Ollu and Buzsla became minor heroes when they captured a German platoon using a runaway tank caught in barbed wire. This acclaim but this was tempered by the death of their friend Parker Forrester a few days later. They began watching out for a French orphan they found in a bombed-out building. With the aid of their army buddies they managed to hide her. The buddies even aided Ollu and Buzsla smuggle her onto their troop ship returning to the United States. Their Sargeant, the former cop, however discovered the little girl aboard ship. She was placed into the custody of a navy nurse pending being placed with the immigration authorities. Mustered out of the service, Ollu and Buzsla returned to street peddling. Their old nemesis, their former sergeant was about to pinch them when they were helped to escape by Evey, who had escaped from the custody of the Immigration service. Ollu and Buzsla inquired about legally adopting the girl. They were told that only married couples were allowed to adopt and the husband must have a steady income. Buzsla and Ollu realized that it was best for the girl to be adopted by a couple. Evey suggested Sylvia Hunter as the mother and Buzsla and Ollu believed that their friend Bob Martin would be a good father. Bob and Sylvia had gotten to know each other on the ship. One of the main sticking points of their relationship was Bob's chosen profession, the former chauffeur had decided to become a professional automobile racer. Neither Sylvia or the immigration officials saw this as a steady income. Ollu and Buzsla helped Bob borrow money so that he could fix up his racer and win the Gold Cup Stakes. Collins led the immigration officials to the race track. Ollu grabbed Evey and attempted to get away in Bob's souped up racer. Although because of Ollu's attempt to escape the immigration authorities disqualified Bob from the race, the design for the automobile interested an Auto manufacturer who ordered twenty cars and two hundred engines from Bob. Bob's steady manufacturing position gave him the wherewithal to marry Sylvia and to adopt Evey. After Evey was squared away, Ollu and Buzsla went about keeping a promise they had made to a comrade in arms. This had been made to Parker Forrester. He wished for them to make certain that his wife and child were doing okay. Ollu and Buzsla soon discovered the Forrester's wife had been killed in the Swine Flu epidemic. Their child had been placed with a court appointed guardian, an uncle of Ginger's. He was a layabout whose only concern for the child was in the money he received for support. Ollu and Buzsla took the little girl into their own custody and set about finding the little girl's grandparents. Since Parker's family had never approved of his marriage they looked for Ginger's parents whose name was Smith. The
Orphanage officials were soon after the boys who had taken the girl
into their custody without formal approval. Needing money to flee the
state Ollu and Buzsla tried to obtain a bank loan using their
lunchwagon as security. The Bank manager told him that he would have to
be unconscious to agree to such an agreement. When a falling ornament
rendered the bank president into such a state, Ollu and Buzsla took him
at his literal word. Soon the police and their old nemesis Collins were
after them. The police captured them and the Bank manager recognized a
picture of his son among the returned money. The Banker was Parker
Forrester's father. After Ollu and Buzsla explain themselves they were
freed. Collin's Captain sarcastically tells them with their ability to
define the law so clearly they should be lawyers or policemen. Not
wishing to go to school for several years they decide to become the
latter. |
1920 Midnight Patrol (1933) Laurel and Hardy film
Police men Laurel and Hardy interrupt night duty for a snack, which they have concealed in a police telephone. Back in their car they receive a radio message to the effect that their tires are being stolen. The robbers are disposed. They are next summoned to investigate a burglary. They botch the address and arrive at a jeweler's where a safe cracker is at work. They arrest him. Ollie calls in for the address of the Burglary. They arrive at the correct address and see a man enter the house via a storm cellar door. They follow. The door is locked so they break it in and enter the dark cellar. They fall into a barrel of sauerkraut. The owner investigating the noise is knocked out cold by the two officers. They proudly haul their prisoner to the station only to discover he was the Chief of Police. The chief borrows a revolver. Stan and Ollie's off screen demise is evident when fellow officers remove their caps, send t for the Coroner says the chief.
Although Ollu and Buzsla gave it their best shot they were really not suited for the life of policemen, especially in the urban climate of the early twentieth century when you had to be a politician and had to ride a fine line between corruption and virtue. The incident described above in which they arrested the Chief of Police was an apt example of their ignorance of the politics connected with the job or their unwillingness to compromise the oaths they had taken to become Police officers.
Despite their many years of life Ollu and Buzsla did not become cynical. Even as police officers they believed that although criminals should be caught and crimes should be prevented people should be allowed to comport themselves with dignity and should be given the benefit of the doubt. An example is when they accidentally went to the wrong address and found a burglar in the process of robbing a jewelry store. Since they were pressed for time and needed to go to the correct address they told the Burglar to turn himself in. What is not shown in the film is that the burglar actually did turn himself having had a change of heart at being treated like a human being for once.
When they finally did make it to the house that they had been called, they caught a man sneaking into a house via the storm cellar door. Being the diligent public servants that they were, they did not let barriers such as a locked door keep them from carrying out their duty. The man of the house came to investigate, he was indeed knocked cold by Ollu and Buzsla for resisting arrest. When they hauled their prisoner in they discovered to their error that he was the Chief of Police. Ollu and Buzsla were not shot as depicted in the film but they were bounced from the force. The Chief might have been in a more forgiving mood had it been his own house he had been sneaking in through the backdoor. His arrest threatened to expose his off duty activities.
1920 Do Detectives Think? Laurel and Hardy short subject 1927 Silent
A judge who has just sentenced a man to death calls on two detectives (Stan and Ollie) for protection.
Judge Foozle sentences the Tipton Slasher to hang. The Slasher vows revenge and escapes, gaining entrance into Foozle's home by posing as the new butler. One of his first duties is to greet the detectives Ferdinand Finkleberry (Stan) Sherlock Pinkham (Ollie) that the Judge has engage to protect him. Their William Tell style demonstration of target practice is enough to convince anyone of their incompetence. While taking a bath, Foozle sees the butler approach with a large scimitar. The detectives are of little use until Foozle falling from the stairs, appears with a horrible mask jammed over the back of his head. The terrified Slasher thinking Foozle to be a ghost and is lead away.
Ollu and Buzsla obtained employment with a well known private detective agency, using their background as police officers to demonstrate that they hadthe necessary background. Ollu and Buzsla were competent if not brilliant detectives. They were successful in discovering the identities of a fraud ring which operated out of a major department store, they nabbed the culprits in a pension check stealing ring, they thwarted a big store con and got the ring leader sent to jail. In this case however they made an error for the person they pegged as the ringleader, Dick Muldoon, was an innocent dupe. He spent six months in jail before the real culprit was uncovered if not caught, although Muldoon was released the mistake had cost him his wife and his reputation.
Ollu and Buzsla guarded Judge Foozle from the vicious killer, the Tipton Slasher and inadvertently captured the escaped killer. Because of this success, Ollu and Buzsla were given their most delicate and complex case to date; to capture a pair of slippery swindlers that no one had ever been able to pin anything on.
The two swindlers were Gus Adamson and Nellie Brown who had been dubbed Larceny Nell. According to the information which Ollu and Buzsla's superiors received, Nell and Gus were going to hook up in Mexico and run an extensive scam on Mexican and American businessmen. The fear is that their efforts would not only affect the perilous peace in Mexico which had been achieved with the presidency of Álvaro Obregón but also that their meddling in stock fraud could destabilize the Mexican markets and set up a cascade effect which would affect the United States economy. Ollu's and Buzsla's mission was to go undercover as a pair of swindlers on the run, hook up with Adamson and Nell, gather concrete evidence on their activities and their involvement in the illegal doings, thwart their schemes before they came to fruition and bring the two swindlers to justice.
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1921 Mexican Hayride (1948) Abbott and Costello feature film Joe Bascom
catches up with con man Harry Lambert at a Mexico city bullring.
Lambert swindled Bascom and his friends with a phony oil stock deal
back in Iowa. Lambert is now promoting Joe's ex-girlfriend Mary, as
Montana, a great toreador. Montana will launch the Amigo Americana Week
festivities by tossing her hat into the crowd and the lucky recipient
will be named good will ambassador. Lambert has arranged for Montana to
select Gus Adamson, another confidence man from the states. Through the
resulting publicity Lambert, Adamson and Dagmar hope to sell shares in
a fictitious silver mine to unwary tourists. Montana, however spots
Bascom in the crowd and in anger throws her hat at him, accidentally
making him the honoree. Lambert and Dagmar conspire to continue with
their plan and use Bascom in the silver mine scam. Bascom also a
fugitive takes on the alias of Humphrey Fish. The Bullfighters (1945) Laurel and Hardy Feature film Now living
in Mexico, Richard K. Muldoon remembers the two men who sent him to
prison and promises revenge on them. The two men are the boys, who are
detectives in Mexico. Muldoon and his partner have booked famed
matador, Don Sebastian (an exact double of Stan), for a bullfight. When
Sebastian doesn't show up on time, Stan and Ollie try to fool
Muldoon-unsuccessfully. Buzsla went down to Veracruz first to establish his identity as an American "entrepreneur". A female operative of the agency accompanied him. Using the name Harry Lambert, Buzsla attempted to make waves by getting Mary to fight as a toreador. His efforts gained notoriety and got him the attention of Nellie and Adamson. As part of their scheme, Ollu burst in on Buzsla as he was meeting with Adamson and Nellie, discussing his plans for an Amigo American festival that would culminate with a good will ambassador. Ollu, using the name Bascom, pulled a gun on Buzsla and said he was taking Buzsla to the authorities. Ollu claimed that Buzsla had swindled he and his friends with a phony oil stock back in Iowa. Buzsla had also convinced Ollu's girlfriend that Ollu was the crook and had convinced her to accompany him to Mexico. Buzsla began fast talking telling Ollu that if he calmed down, he could get in on sweetheart of deal which would allow him to pay back his friends, make up his own losses and have a lot to spare. Ollu told him to start laying it out. Buzsla told Ollu, Adamson and Nellie how he had planned to use this phony Amigo Americana scam to segue into a build up and sales pitch for a phony silver mine in Monterrey and possibly some other businesses as well. Half angry at being taken and admiring of Lambert's audacity, Nellie and Adamson demanded to be in on the plan. It was soon arranged that Adamson would be picked as the good will ambassador and he would be the point man for the phony stock sales. However when the day arrived to pick the goodwill ambassador the notorious female toreador was supposed to throw her hat at random but she angrily threw it at Ollu and he "accidentally" became goodwill ambassador. Nellie and Adamson stayed with the plan despite this new wrinkle. After Ollu gave a speech extolling the silver mine and a couple of factories in Monterrey, several Mexican and American investors lined up to invest in these ventures. Adamson and Nell were secretly photographed exchanging money for fraudulent stocks. Despite Ollu and Buzsla's careful plans things went awry when Nellie doublecrossed everyone. She visited the American Consul and blew the whistle on Adamson, Ollu and Buzsla providing evidence that they were well known con men on the lam from the United States. As the three men were arrested Nell fled to Mexico City with all of the stolen money. Unwilling to blow their cover Ollu and Buzsla had Mary help them escape from the Veracruz prison. She enlisted the help of a local woman she had met Patrice Amati del Grande.(33) With Patrice's help they avoided a police roadblock dressed as Mexican women. As they had expected Nell was working the bullring as means of meeting potential suckers. There were many wealthy Americans and Mexicans in the city at the moment, all having come to see the premier matador of Spain give five performances at the Mexico City Bullring. The premier bullfighter was named Don Sebastian and he bore a remarkable, if not exact, resemblance to Buzsla. In fact Buzsla was mistaken for Don Sebastian by several persons including the American promoter of the event, Richard Muldoon. Upon a double take Muldoon realized that Buzsla was one of the two detectives that had ruined his life. He demanded to know what they were doing hounding him. Ollu quickly explained that they were not following him that they were in fact traveling incognito after the partner of the crook who had cheated and framed Muldoon. The main crook Adamson was already in custody. Muldoon burned for revenge against Buzsla and Ollu. When Don Sebastian failed to show up, Muldoon begged for Buzsla and Ollu to help him out. Since Buzsla looked like Don Sebastian he wanted Buzsla to pretend as if he were Sebastian. Muldoon promsed to send tame bulls against him; if Buzsla did not do this Muldoon would be ruined. They had already ruined his life once. He also alluded that if they chose not to help him he would expose their identities and make it appears as though they were trying to work both sides of the fence. Buzsla reluctantly agreed to help and fortified himself with alcohol prior to the bullfight. Muldoon did not choose a tame bull to pit against Buzsla but rather the worst tempered and violence prone bull he could find. At first Buzsla was too drunk to realize the danger he was in and he eluded the Bull's rushes with drunken lurching that the spectators took as skillful buffoonery. When Buzsla came to his senses the bull chased him all over the ring, he was joined by Ollu who had jumped into the ring to provide a distraction and was unable to get out. Although Nell was a swindler she was not a killer and hated to see her former partners get killed. When the Bull was tossing Ollu on his horns, Nell tried to pull him into the stands but missed. Her actions alerted Muldoon who crept up behind her and grabbed her. She threw her sombrero into the Bullring which distracted the Bull long enough for Buzsla to drive the sword into the bull's heart. Nell had not intended to provide a distraction but rather to get rid of the evidence, she had thought Muldoon was a copper come to pinch her. She tossed the sombrero with the stolen money in it to get rid of the evidence. Since Nell had saved their lives, the boys were inclined to be lenient. In return for all of the stolen money and a promise never to engage in crooked activities again, Nell was let loose. After returning the money, the boys returned to New York, quite a bit richer from side bets that Ollu had made prior to the bullfight. Muldoon had a last bit of revenge. As a sportswriter as well as sports promoter he was in a position to smear Ollu and Buzsla and did so in a column that alluded that they had skimmed money when they were supposed to capturing con men. The detective agency could not afford the bad publicity and so had to let them go. This was fine by them for they were tired of being detectives and wished to enter the movie business. Despite their experience at confidence games, they fell for one in 1922. |
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1922 Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Cops (1955) Abbott and Costello feature film Pierce and Piper, two men of a little means, decide to invest in the motion picture industry which they envision to be the coming thing. Reading an ad in the paper they bought a studio from a man named Joe Gorman, who owned two studios and found that commuting back and forth was too much too handle. The studio was located in West Orange. The boys at first thought they had bought a dump because the place resembled a tar paper shack. As it turned out the boys had not bought anything, the studio belong to Thomas Alva Edison. The police informed Harry Pierce and Willie Piper that Gorman had lit out for California. They lit out after him, hopping trains and hitchhiking. Gorman on the other hand was traveling under the assumed name of Sergei Toumanoff, a famed Russian director. He was hired as he disembarked the train by Amalgamated pictures to do epic dramas. Pierce and Piper accidentally walk onto a location shooting hopping aboard a conestoga wagon. The wagon was attacked by Indians and the driver was killed. Willie grabbed the reins and galloped the wagon team away from the Indian raiders. The road ended abruptly and the wagon team had to jump across a ravine. Toumanoff recognized Pierce and Piper but they did not recognize him because of the wig and monocle he wore. The head of the studio insisted on hiring the boys as a pair of stuntmen. Mr. Snavely even promised to help find the crook Gorman. Toumanoff decided to use this opportunity to kill them off. Scheduled to film an aerial dogfight he used a henchman. It was arraigned for Willie to go in a plane without a pilot, the other planes were fixed with live ammunition and the struts and wings of the plane were weakened. Pierce was helping Willie into the plane when it took off so he was caught in the death trap as well. Despite their falling out of the plane seats, flailing around on the wings and tail and fighting over the only parachute, they managed to steer the plane over the ocean before it crashed. Everyone who saw the footage of Piper and Pierce thought that they were the funniest thing going. Snavely told Toumanoff that they were going to become the studio's next big stars and that he was going to direct them. Toumanoff balked, claiming he only directed dramatic pieces. Snavely told Toumanoff that he knew he was Gorman, that he had made a deal with the police that if the money was paid back, Gorman would not serve jail time. Snavely was taking the money out of Gorman's salary. Piper and Pierce begin to suspect that Toumanoff is Gorman and break into his house. Pierce is dressed as burglar and Piper as a cop who would arrest Pierce if he got caught. The boys got mixed up with a real burglar and cop but failed to find any evidence. Toumanoff's henchman Hinds is demanding to be paid. Gorman no longer likes the straight life since he is no longer receiving the top drawer salary of a premier director. The henchman tells Gorman that Snavely keeps the payroll in cash in his office safe. Gorman and his wife steal the studio payroll but are spotted in the act by Piper and Pierce. Gorman and his wife make good their escape. Willie calls for a nearby patrol car filled with police to follow after him. These turn out to be the Keystone Kops. After a comical chase, Gorman ends up at the clearing where Hinds had parked their escape plane. Pierce and Piper captured Gorman but the plane propeller blows the payroll away. Having hung onto a few of their winnings from their Mexican adventure, Ollu and Buzsla went to New York looking for investment opportunities. They bought the movie studio from Gorman as portrayed only to discover that they had been swindled. They followed Gorman to California. Gorman had been planning on leaving New York for some time and had already made arrangements for Sergei Toumanoff to arrive in California before Piper and Pierce had even walked into his office. He could not resist fleecing two more suckers before he left the city. It took several months for Ollu and Buzsla to make their way to Hollywood. They had left in such haste that they had not even stopped to borrow money from any of their acquaintances. 1922 A Haunting We Will go Laurel and Hardy short subject Wanted Criminal Darby Mason plans to travel incognito to collect an inheritance, this to achieved by posing as a corpse. The coffin will be delivered to a sanitarium run by fellow crook, Doc Lake. An escort is needed for the train journey, Ollie and Stan ordered out of town for vagrancy see their advertisement in the newspaper and take the grisly job to avoid arrest. The board the train but fall victim to a pair of confidence men selling a fake money making machine. Ordering a meal with nothing but counterfeit money. Stan and Ollie are conned into escorting a coffin that actually contains a gang leader who is eager to collect an inheritance once they reach Dayton, Ohio. En route the coffin is inadvertently switched with a prop coffin used by Dante the Magician, whereupon Stan and Ollie end up as assistants to the illusionist. While traveling to California chasing after Joe Gorman, Ollu and Buzsla were down on their luck and were ordered out of town for being vagrants. Faced with arrest and needing money to travel further, they found advertisement that would kill two birds with one stone; they would get paid and get further along on their way to California. The job entailed traveling to Dayton, Ohio the only snag was that the job was to guard a coffin. In the film Ollie and Stan were cheated out of their money by a confidence man who had a money making machine. While it would not be out of character for Ollu and Buzsla to fall for such a trick given their generally trusting natures they were on the look out for con men having been so recently stung by one. It is true however they paid for or attempted to pay for their meal with counterfeit money. This was in fact the money that they were given by their employer for business expenses. They were rescued from their embarrassing situation by kind hearted magician Dante. He lent them money for their aid in moving a prop coffin that he used in his act. While working in the dark Ollu and Buzsla mixed up the coffins. The prop coffin arrived at the sanitarium and the crooks quickly ascertain where the coffin containing Mason must have gone. They went to the theatre and cornered Ollu and Buzsla at gun point demanding to be taken to the coffin. The coffin has been suspended from the ceiling prepatory to Dante's trick. As Dante's show started, the gangsters chased Ollu and Buzsla through the theatre. Ollu and Buzsla ducked on stage. Dante asked them to help with the Indian rope trick. After the trick the boys went backstage again. The gangsters who still have not found the coffin once again chase the boys. Ollu hid in a sword cabinet and was nearly skewered when the propane began thrusting sabers into it. The gangsters finally found the coffin and asked Buzsla for an exit other than the stage door. Ollu directed them into a lion's cage. Dante fired a bullet into the coffin. When the coffin was lowered and opened it was discovered to contain the body of Doc Lake, who had been shot once through the heart. The police suspected the stage manager, who had been acquainted with Doc Lake. The real culprit was Darby Mason who wished to cut Doc Lake out of his piece of the inheritance. The inheritance was actually a scam set up by the FBI to discover the whereabouts of Darby Mason. He was taken into custody. Collecting a reward, Ollu and Buzsla have enough money to complete their journey to California. Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Cops (1955) continued By the time Ollu and Buzsla were able to get to Hollywood, Toumanoff was a highly respected and powerful director. Ollu and Buzsla suspected that Toumanoff was Gorman almost immediately but could not expose him without proof. They accidentally landed jobs as stuntmen.Their suspicions aobut Gorman being Toumanoff were confirmed when Toumanoff kept trying to kill them. They survived Gorman's attempts at assassination and the dangerous stunts they were required to perform because of the powerful regenerative ability. Ollu and Buzsla were indeed about to launch a career as a silent film comedy team for Amalgamated Pictures when Gorman stole the studio's operating funds. Amalgamated was a small studio which managed to make single or double picture deals with prominent artists and directors. This is why Mack Sennett and his Keystone Kops were on the Amalgamated Studio lot when Piper and Pierce were working for Gorman. Unfortunately most of the footage from Amalgamated pictures was poorly stored and combusted in a fire. Piper and Pierce's inability to save the operating money for the studio spelled its early demise and with it the promising film career of Ollu and Buzsla. |
1924 Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) Abbott and Costello feature film
Famed criminal attorney Amos Strickland checks into the Lost Caverns Resort Hotel, where Freddie Philips, an inept busboy later discovers the lawyer murdered in his room. The house detective, Casey Edwards, begins an investigation to clear Freddie but Inspector Wellman and his assistant, Sergeant Stone, order Freddie held. Stickland was about to publish his memoirs that would compromise seven of his former clients, Swami Talpur, Angela Gordon, T. Hanley Brooks, Mrs. Hargreave, Mike Relia, Mrs. Grimsby and Lawrence Crandall. All of them have come to the resort and all are under suspicion. At a meeting, they decided that their pasts must remain secret and that Freddie must be made the fall guy. Angela attempts to charm Freddie into signing a confession and Swami Talpur tries to hypnotize him into committing suicide but both fail.
Casey, Wellman and Freddie plot to let the other suspects know that Freddie found a bloodstained handkerchief at the scene of the murder. The real killer, they reason, will go to any lengths to get it. After Freddie is nearly killed in a steam cabinet, he rigs several traps in his room. A mysterious voice instructs Freddie to bring the handkerchief to the resort's Lost Cavern, where Freddie nearly falls into a bottomless pit. A masked figure offers to save him in exchange for the handkerchief but when Freddie inadvertently reveals that it is in his room, the cloaked figure leaves him in danger of being drowned. Wellman and Stone rescue Freddie and race back to the hotel. As the remaining suspects gather Stone returns with a pair of mud stained boots belonging to Melton, the hotel manager, proving that he was the masked figure in the caverns. He and Gregory Milford, Strickland's secretary had entered into a scheme to blackmail all of Strickland's former clients. Trapped Melton, pulls a gun and attempts to make his escape out of a window when one of Freddie's boobytraps knocks him out.
Their fleeting taste of fame soon turned to fear, as they began to realize that many, many people would see the pictures of Piper and Pierce, the great comedic team. Some of these people might realize the Ollu and Buzsla were immortal. This could mean that creditors from ages past might wish to be repaid or worse yet those nutty decapitating immortals might start looking for them again.
Ollu and Buzsla took various menial jobs and ended up working at an obscure Arkansas resort near Lost Caverns (Mystic Caverns) Ollu was the head bellboy and Buzsla the house detective. One morning Ollu started the cleaning the room of guest, Amos Strickland only to find him dead. The famed lawyer had been murdered and Ollu became the main suspect according to the police because he had his prints all over the room and on the murder weapon, which he had picked up in the course of his tidying, up the room.
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