45 Minutes from Hollywood (1927)

Nov 5, 2023

by Ted Davis

Directed by: Fred Guiol

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Inexperienced hayseed Orville (Glenn Tryon) travels to the anything-goes town of Hollywood and gets promptly fleeced of his family’s mortgage payment by a female-impersonator bandit, a situation which brings him into unavoidable conflict with a bumbling house detective (Oliver Hardy) and an irate starving actor (Stan Laurel). The distinct Laurel and Hardy personas are not yet realized in this comedy short.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): As Orville and the cross-dressing thief pass through the lobby of the Hollywood Hotel and climb the stairs, a tuxedo cat relaxes several feet in front of an open ladder.

45 Minutes from Hollywood - tuxedo cat in Hollywood Hotel lobby

Wrapped in a bath sheet, the damp detective tears through the lobby, but the cat maintains his nonchalance until the inept handyman (Jerry Mandy) drops a glass globe which shatters on the floor.

45 Minutes from Hollywood - Detective Oliver Hardy running into hotel lobby with tuxedo cat at foot of ladder
45 Minutes from Hollywood - Detective Oliver Hardy running into hotel lobby with tuxedo cat at foot of ladder
45 Minutes from Hollywood - tuxedo cat on lobby floor with bulb breaking behind
45 Minutes from Hollywood - tuxedo cat on lobby floor with bulb breaking behind

Cartoon Cat: The cat shifts his position and transforms into an animated cat, but solid black as opposed to tuxedo. The cartoon cat scurries up the detective’s leg under the sheet, climbing to the rotund stomach area.

45 Minutes from Hollywood - cartoon black cat walking toward Oliver Hardy's legs
45 Minutes from Hollywood - cartoon black cat walking under towel around Oliver Hardy's legs
45 Minutes from Hollywood - tuxedo cat startled by falling bulb dropped by Jerry Landy then cartoon black cat walking under towel around Oliver Hardy's legs animated gif

As the detective runs about in discomfort and embarrassment, the cat’s tail pops up from under the sheet, at one point slipping into the detective’s mouth, then tickling his eye and nose.

45 Minutes from Hollywood - cartoon black cat tail tickling Oliver Hardy's nose
45 Minutes from Hollywood - cartoon black cat tail poking Oliver Hardy's eye
45 Minutes from Hollywood - cartoon black cat tail tickling Oliver Hardy's nose and eye animated gif

The handyman brings a mouse inside a trap and calls for the kitty, but the animated mouse exits the trap instead, which adds to the commotion by scampering up the leg of the detective’s wife (Edna Murphy). The animated cat jumps immediately from the detective to the wife and chases the mouse up her skirt. She panics, gesticulating wildly, then runs out of the scene, and that is the last we see of the cat, though the wife returns.

45 Minutes from Hollywood - cartoon mouse and black cat jumping from Oliver Hardy's leg to Edna Murphy's as Jerry Landy moves away animated gif

This short is available on the BluRay Laurel and Hardy: Year One release from Flicker Alley.

Final Mewsings: How sad is it that hotels no longer offer lobby cats as a standard amenity?

Relevant Links:

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