Zenobia

source: Zenobia

ZENOBIA (United Artists, 1939), directed by Gordon Douglas for the Hal Roach Studios, stars Oliver Hardy from the Laurel and Hardy comedy team fame, in his first solo performance since his union with Stan Laurel dating back to 1926. The story is not set in some far away place called Zenobia, nor are there any characters in this photoplay going by the name of Zenobia. In fact, Zenobia happens to be an elephant. No not the chubby Oliver Hardy, but a 6,132 pound elephant belonging to his Stan Laurel-type co-star, played by former silent screen comedian, Harry Langdon. Although labeled a comedy, it's more of a wholesome post Civil War story set in 1870 Carterville, Mississippi, where slapstick and chases normally found in Laurel and Hardy comedies are non-existent here. In fact, for the first time since his union with Laurel, Oliver Hardy assumes a character name rather than his very own, indicating how Ollie shows his flare of being a capable actor without losing any of his dignity. Plot: Doctor Emory Tibbitt (Oliver Hardy) is a kind-hearted Southern doctor with a dizzy wife, Bessie (Billie Burke) and beautiful daughter Mary (Jean Parker), engaged to marry Jeff Carter (James Ellison). Carter invites his mother, Emily (Alice Brady) to their engagement party. Being a social climber and self-centered woman, Mrs. Carter brings Virginia Randall (June Lang) to the affair, hoping that the presence of Jeff's childhood sweetheart would break up the engagement. In the meantime at the Spangler Carnival, Professor McCrackle (Harry Langdon), a medicine man selling bottles, has an elephant named Zenobia, who happens to be ill. Doctor Tibbett is called to examine. Although not an animal doctor, he assists the elephant in her time of need. Now that the elephant is cured, Zenobia shows her very much appreciation for the good doctor by following him wherever he goes, even to a point of disrupting the engagement party and his personal life. This situation soon leads McCrackle to take Tibbett to court for abduction of his prize possession. Also in the cast are: Stepin Fetchit (Zero); Hattie McDaniel (Dahlia, the Maid); J. Farrell MacDonald (Judge John); Hobart Cavanaugh (Mr,. Dover); and Clem Bevans (The Sheriff). Philip Hurlic stands out in the cast as Zeke, the Negro boy, who earns his quarter from the doctor by reciting the Declaration of Independence from July 4, 1776, verbatim. This scene is reminiscent to Charles Laughton's excellently reciting Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" from RUGGLES OF RED GAP (1935). The Hall Johnson Choir perform some traditional early American songs, along with Oliver Hardy vocalizing "I Dreamnt I Dwelt in Marble Halls" (from Michael Balfe's "The Bohemian Girl") and Jean Parker and The Hall Johnson Choir doing "In the Evening By the Moonlight." While it's been said that ZENOBIA had been considered a project for Laurel and Hardy, but became a Hardy and Langdon project instead. It's a wonder how this would have turned out with the story as it is, having Laurel and Hardy split teaming playing characters who meet as opposed to them already friends from the moment the film begins. Maybe not so good, but even just this once, would have been a welcome change of pace for this comedy team. Even if Laurel wasn't able to appear in ZENOBIA due to contract disputes, Harry Langdon fits in quite satisfactory as do the period settings, costumes and plantation background. The scene involving the examination of Zenobia, Langdon and Hardy is done in similar style to a Laurel and Hardy routine. Following its theatrical release, Laurel and Hardy reunited and resumed their on-screen chemistry well into the 1940s. Available on video cassette (followed by Laurel and Hardy's comedy short LAUGHING GRAVY from 1931) and later on DVD, ZENOBIA, the elephant who never forgets, has turned up from time to time for observation on Turner Classic Movies. (TCM premiere: January 5, 2006) A real curio at best. (**)

Those of you who watched the fantastic biopic Stan & Ollie may have heard about "the elephant movie" that Oliver Hardy made without his comic partner. Now that I've seen this obscure movie, I can't believe anyone's preserved it, but for the only reason of watching "the elephant movie." It's so unbelievably secure in its racism, it's sickening. Stepin Fetchit, an actor who famously turned "the system" on its ear by playing horrifyingly characters in movies but becoming a millionaire in real life, puts his act on incredibly thick in this movie. It's quite painful to watch. Hattie McDaniel also plays a "pseudo slave" in this 1870s period piece, but as she bustles around in the kitchen, at least she doesn't have to humiliate herself like he does. And while their son, Philip Hurlic, has a long conversation with Oliver Hardy about racism-during which Ollie basically praises the separate but equal philosophy-it's heartbreaking when he asks, "Will I ever grow up to be white?" because he can't go to a fancy party that the rest of the house is attending. Philip has the last laugh, though: he recites the entire Declaration of Independence in front of the entire town. But what's the plot of Zenobia? Ollie plays a country doctor, married to the ridiculous Billie Burke, and their daughter Jean Parker wants to marry the wealthy Alice Brady's son, James Ellison. For no other reason than to bring an elephant into the story, a traveling circus has an ailing elephant and calls on the doctor for help. Harry Langdon, the elephant's handler, was obviously the Stan Laurel substitute, but even with the comic team together, this movie would be far too silly to be enjoyable. Unless you really want to see "the elephant movie", you can skip this one.

The racism of the movie outweighs the humor. No wonder this was never on TV when I was a kid. At one point, Hardy lectures a 10 year old black kid because he doesn't understand why he was not invited to white parties. The gist of the response is basically we are "equal" but separate. I don't go to black parties so why should you want to go to white ones. Go down to my office and look at the stuff there and learn about this, once you understand, I will give you a quarter. That scene is so painful to watch...and embarrassing. Look at it as a piece of history but those type of scenes kill the movie. There are a lot of these types of scenes in the movies from the 30s but I have never seen one that thought that they needed to answer this young boy's question. Unfortunately, it was never...well...someday, things will be different.

I have seen Zenobia several times and yes, while it is not standard L&H, it does show that comedy teams can work separately. I found Mr. Hardy to be an excellent actor in this character part and if I remember it also gave Mr. Hardy the opportunity to show off his excellent singing voice. In my book, Zenobia, stands apart for the routine L&H movies and it should be treated in that manner.People who think that comedy teams should only appear as comedy teams are all wrong. Take Abbott and Costgello. I have seen movies in which they did not work as a team and were great. Another A&C movie in which they were teamed, but not together, instead playing separate roles was equally good, where Lou played a Revolutionary War ghost and Abbott played a 20th century mortal. Take Martin and Lewis, everyone said they were finished when they broke up. Not so. They each went on to great careers. Stiller and Meara were great together as a radio and stage team and while still married, they now have separate careers. So folks, just because Stan Laurel is not scratching his head while standing next to the tie fluttering Norville Oliver Hardy, I still think Zenobia showed off Hardy's ability not to have to depend on Laurel.

For those wondering what Oliver Hardy was doing in a film without Stan Laurel, we have to remember that Hal Roach created the team back in silent days when he had these two comedians both signed to contracts with him. Their contracts were negotiated separately unlike Abbott and Costello or the Ritz Brothers, etc. So with Ollie signed with studio again and Stan balking at terms, Hal Roach decided to pair Hardy with Harry Langdon who was trying to recapture the stardom he enjoyed in the silent era. Ollie is a country doctor in post Civil War Mississippi who lives with wife Billie Burke and daughter Jean Parker in genteel poverty. James Ellison, late of the Hopalong Cassidy series, wants her hand in marriage, but his mother Alice Brady forbids it as Jean's parents are just not her sort. Nevertheless Ollie and Billie try to help Jean with her romance, but Ollie gets himself entangled with traveling medicine show man Harry Langdon and his performing elephant Zenobia. When the pachyderm becomes ill, Ollie effects a cure and the beast's gratitude makes his life miserable. Though they were advertised as a team, Langdon and Hardy are not a team really in this film, though their scenes with Zenobia are pretty funny. They're like Abbott and Costello in The Time Of Their Lives, a comedy team in two separate roles in which they only interact occasionally. Actually Burke and Brady, a couple of veteran Broadway performers, have some scenes together and they're pretty good in and of themselves. Getting Alice Brady and Billie Burke was a casting coup of sorts for Hal Roach. Look at the rest of his cast which he got from the major studios, if he was to have a new comedy team, they would be launched properly. Of course Stan Laurel came to terms and Langdon and Hardy were no more. But Zenobia is a film filled with gentle humor and some good comic situations.

While this certainly isn't a great movie and is in many ways pretty forgettable, it is a decent time-passer and worth seeing from a historic sense. This is the only film that Oliver Hardy starred in without Stan Laurel since they became a team in the late 1920s. However, when Laurel's contract expired he refuses to re-sign as he and Hardy (who was still under contract) wanted to explore other career options other than to continue with Hal Roach Studios. So, Roach decided to try pairing Hardy with a new partner--hoping he and Hardy would catch on and Hardy would soon re-sign with the studio. However, the film lacks the balance of a true Laural and Hardy film, as Hardy is definitely in the leading role. And, fortunately, Hardy does a pretty good job as the kindly doctor who is befriended by an elephant and he's able to carry this amiable film. Additionally, the movie is very interesting because in a supporting role (one that could have been played by Stan Laurel) was the silent film comedian, Harry Langdon. As there are few of his films still in existence, this is one of the rare chances you'll get to see,...as well as hear him. The story itself is pretty silly but handled so well, you probably will forgive this. Despite being a story about an Elephant that falls in love with Hardy, about the only thing you may not like about the film is Stepin Fetchit--the horribly stereotyped Black actor who made a career out of playing some who is dumb and lazy. It's quite a contrast to the role played by Philip Hurlic as 'Zeke'--a smart, precocious and cute Black child. At least there were contrasts, as most of Fetchit's earlier roles provided nothing to balance the negative image.

I am a great lover of the Laurel and Hardy movies and so it was with some excitement that I was finally able to rent one of only two movies that Oliver Hardy made without Stan Laurel since their teamwork began (the other, Fighting Kentuckian, also stars another one of my favorite actors, John Wayne, and I enjoyed that one quite a bit). This however was a huge disappointment. It seemed to be Hal Roach's attempt at a prestige piece but it belies its poor roots. The story of a country doctor in the 19th century who treats an carnival elephant named Zenobia and then can't lose the elephant and its affections is poorly written, with little real humour. The performances are lackluster, with the exception of Billie Burke as Ollie's long suffering yet dim-witted wife. Her performance injects each scene she is in with the kind of manic craziness the rest of the movie aspires to but can't deliver. Another major bone of contention was the hideously racist performance of Stepin Fetchit as the servant, Zero. Ollie's later speech on equality can not even begin to make up for this truly offensive addition to an already poor movie. An early L&H sound short, Laughing Gravy, was included on the tape and showed us what Ollie could really do when given the proper material with Stan and I laughed out loud many times. I only wish that Zenobia could have made me do that just once.

Oliver Hardy shines as a small town doctor in this amusing comedy set in the Old South. After tending to an ailing elephant Hardy can't get rid of the beast since she is so appreciative and an elephant never forgets. It's a fun path as Zenobia follows the portly doctor just about everywhere he goes. This is one of the few times that Hardy appeared in a film without his partner Stan Laurel however he handles it quite well. Co-starring are Jean Parker, James Ellison, Alice Brady, Billie Burke as the doctors befuddled wife and the ever dependable Hattie McDaniel. It's available on VSH folks.

Oliver Hardy exhibits his talent as a character actor in this well-cast Roach feature. People often make the mistake of expecting a Laurel & Hardy film, which isn't really fair. This is a pleasant diversion, filled with rich characters, including Langdon in perfect form as the owner of a sick elephant.