Starring Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly.
Featuring Arthur Housman and Jack Barty.
Directed by Gus Meins.
Synopsis
"Girls, you don't seem very anxious to make a sale!"
"Babes in the Goods" begins with two shop-workers in a department store demonstrating how to use a nice, shiny dishwasher to hundreds, literally hundreds, of spectators gathered outside on the sidewalk.
*jokes*
The department store boss (Jack Barty) is pleased with how the demonstration is going, and wants to continue the sales push during the rush hour. What with the other two girls clocking off, the "new" girls will be put in the window to replace them.
I think we can all guess who the "new" girls will be!
Kelly and Todd are trying to sell a new gown to a rather obstinate Fay Holderness, with Kelly doing the modelling. As well as attempting the impossible, the girls also get left holding the baby.
Mr Barty asks Kelly and Todd to go in the front window and demonstrate the dishwasher, strictly informing them that as long as they have an audience, they keep demonstrating.
The girls set about demonstrating the modern way of washing dishes as Charlie Hall looks on engrossed. Someone pushes to the front of the queue, yes, it's the inimitable drunk, Arthur Housman!
As is typical of the duo, Kelly bungles the demonstration, having trouble with the hose and breaking the tap.
Most of the crowd begin to disperse, but ol' Arthur maintains his prime viewing position, even after twenty-five demonstrations.
Reluctant to cease demonstrating as they still have an audience, the girls decide the best way to clock off is to get Housman to leave. They attempt to do so by scaring him, but this fails miserably.
They carry on demonstrating, but Kelly makes the mistake of loading the dishes into the washing machine!
Eventually, the automatic blinds of the store kick in, meaning that Housman can no longer see in, and the girls can go home.
However, they've been locked in!
With no way out until morning, Kelly is quite happy to sleep on the bed a couple of windows down.
Todd eventually joins her, after stripping down to her underwear.
Patsy moves around a lot in her sleep and eventually the pair end up falling out of bed.
Frightened that they will still be asleep when the blinds are opened in the morning, Kelly volunteers to remain awake.
However, this does not go to plan!
With the blinds now open and the girls fast asleep in bed, Housman - who has been outside all night - is free to continue watching them. He gives them a wake up call by burning Kelly's posterior! (Just think ants and a magnifying glass...)
What with their nightmares now true, Todd hides behind the bed to protect her modesty whereas Kelly tries to run away. However, she inadvertently catches her dress in the door and is left in the same state of undress as Thelma.
Mr Barty arrives for work and finds the two girls covering their modesty with blankets. He fires them, ordering them to leave the bedclothes on their way out, leaving Kelly and Todd with no choice but to walk out of the job in just their underwear.
*jokes*
The department store boss (Jack Barty) is pleased with how the demonstration is going, and wants to continue the sales push during the rush hour. What with the other two girls clocking off, the "new" girls will be put in the window to replace them.
I think we can all guess who the "new" girls will be!
Kelly and Todd are trying to sell a new gown to a rather obstinate Fay Holderness, with Kelly doing the modelling. As well as attempting the impossible, the girls also get left holding the baby.
Mr Barty asks Kelly and Todd to go in the front window and demonstrate the dishwasher, strictly informing them that as long as they have an audience, they keep demonstrating.
The girls set about demonstrating the modern way of washing dishes as Charlie Hall looks on engrossed. Someone pushes to the front of the queue, yes, it's the inimitable drunk, Arthur Housman!
As is typical of the duo, Kelly bungles the demonstration, having trouble with the hose and breaking the tap.
Most of the crowd begin to disperse, but ol' Arthur maintains his prime viewing position, even after twenty-five demonstrations.
Reluctant to cease demonstrating as they still have an audience, the girls decide the best way to clock off is to get Housman to leave. They attempt to do so by scaring him, but this fails miserably.
They carry on demonstrating, but Kelly makes the mistake of loading the dishes into the washing machine!
Eventually, the automatic blinds of the store kick in, meaning that Housman can no longer see in, and the girls can go home.
However, they've been locked in!
With no way out until morning, Kelly is quite happy to sleep on the bed a couple of windows down.
Todd eventually joins her, after stripping down to her underwear.
Patsy moves around a lot in her sleep and eventually the pair end up falling out of bed.
Frightened that they will still be asleep when the blinds are opened in the morning, Kelly volunteers to remain awake.
However, this does not go to plan!
With the blinds now open and the girls fast asleep in bed, Housman - who has been outside all night - is free to continue watching them. He gives them a wake up call by burning Kelly's posterior! (Just think ants and a magnifying glass...)
What with their nightmares now true, Todd hides behind the bed to protect her modesty whereas Kelly tries to run away. However, she inadvertently catches her dress in the door and is left in the same state of undress as Thelma.
Mr Barty arrives for work and finds the two girls covering their modesty with blankets. He fires them, ordering them to leave the bedclothes on their way out, leaving Kelly and Todd with no choice but to walk out of the job in just their underwear.
Review
"That guy's screwy!"
Watching it again now for the purpose of this review - in fact, watching it several times in order to write this review - I'd still happily place it in my top 3 Kelly & Todds.
In my opinion, it contains many of the elements that make for a good K & T short: Kelly's bungling getting the girls into trouble; Todd's pained facial expressions in having to deal with Kelly's bungling; a fair amount of pretty heavy handed slapstick; and it's also pretty risque, possibly it's the most risque short in their canon.
More of that later on...
AND, of course, who doesn't love Arthur Housman?
Is there even a bad Roach short that features Housman??! Probably not!
Once again, that ol' lovable rogue provides much merriment, in fact, I would be so bold as to state that he gets the best laughs in the short. Put your hand in the air if you agree with me...
In particular, it's hilarious when he puts his umbrella up against the shop window in the mistaken belief that he will get drenched by the dishwasher jet. Likewise, it's great when the girls' best attempts to get him to go home for the night involve Kelly threatening that she'll dig a home for him and Housman just imitating what they are doing.
For me, this is vintage Housman, and it's nice to see him as quite integral to the success of this short, rather than as in say, "Scram" where he disappears mid film. The sheer look of horror on his face as Thelma dismembers the manikin is hilarious, as is the fact that he ends up in a bin after a giant, de-clothed Todd walks towards him! That's brilliant.
Housman is also blessed with a really novel way of waking up the sleeping duo once the blinds have gone up. Burning Kelly's butt was something I didn't see coming, and his lecherous wink right at the end as he encourages the girls to drop the bed clothes and parade out in a state of undress is just the right side of tasteful.
I feel as if Arthur Housman always improves the quality of a short, just by gracing it with his presence.
Moving on, I've also got a couple of questions I wonder whether people can help me out with: Does anybody know the names of the two women who are demonstrating the dishwasher at the start of the short??
Having watched very little of the Roach output in the last 3 years and being a bit rusty, I feel like their faces are familiar but I can't immediately place them in any other films. As part of the Roach stock company, I guess they only ever had walk on parts like in "Babes in the Goods", but I'd be curious to learn if anybody has any information on them.
Secondly, another pretty obscure question: Does anybody know who was the stunt body double for Patsy Kelly??? It's quite well done in this short, but it is obvious that when Kelly falls out of the bed one time, and later on, takes a flying leap onto the bed, deshabille, that it's not Patsy Kelly! Again, just curious.
Right, I haven't written much about Kelly and Todd yet, so let's correct that with some text about "Babes in the Goods" and risque nature. It's arguable that this is one of the most racy Kelly & Todds, potentially one of the most risque Roach studio releases (although personally, I'd vouch for Mixed Nuts being the most risque - more of that in another review...).
What makes it so ribald? Well, Thelma Todd once again gets to take her dress off - are you all keeping a tally of how many times that occurs in the Pitts/Kelly & Todd series? - and there are plenty of loving close-ups of Thelma Todd in her underwear...
...BUT, I believe this is the only time in the series that Patsy Kelly also takes her dress off too (unless you're counting the end of "Backs to Nature"...).
The question I ask is: why? Let me explain.
The fact that Thelma Todd takes her dress off copious amounts of times in the series probably indicates that the Roach studio thought that there was good marketability in getting people in to see a Pitts/Todd or Kelly/Todd if the lovely Thelma Todd was presented in a state of undress.
Arguably, this must have worked, as Todd kept getting scripted to take her dress off in subsequent shorts. I'm curious as to why Patsy Kelly also sheds her dress (albeit, accidentally) in this short, and then doesn't for the rest of the series.
Is it something to do with a simple gag? That the situation for the girls is like a very real bad dream - waking up to find your bed has been put in a shop window for the common multitude to gawp and titter at - so it's even funnier if BOTH girls have just their negligees on to enhance the comedy?
Or could it have been to do with the developing comedy dynamic that the writers were toying with? "Babes in the Goods" is an early Kelly and Todd short. Could they have been planning to utilise the 'woops-my-dress-has-come-off' gag for both women in the future?
The fact they didn't, in Kelly's instance, to me suggests that the writers probably thought that it would turn into overkill and I also feel that it's not long after this short that Kelly becomes less glamorised and more frumpy and bumbling, thereby incorporating some of the traits typical in her predecessor, Pitts.
Whatever the reasons, I'm glad they didn't make it a regular feature. Does anyone else agree with me that it can only be funny so many times when Thelma Todd takes her dress off? I wonder whether some of the less successful comedy in the Kelly & Todd series stems from moments where Todd is undressed. What I mean is, at least for me in "Babes in the Goods", Arthur Housman has the best moments, and I'd kind of expect a Kelly & Todd short to, well, have Kelly & Todd deliver the best slapstick and gags!
I've rambled on a lot about ribaldry, but there's also one other saucy moment that raises a wry smile in its risque-ness. It's the moment when one of the above-mentioned unidentified demonstrators is in the shop window!
The fact that the whole crowd leans across as our demonstrator changes placards...come on now! Just look at the guy's face in the front row who is nearest to, ahem, her posterior! Hahahaha. Seriously, you don't usually get this kind of stuff very often in a Roach release, as Jack Barty (below) would attest.
I haven't said anything about the title of the short, which is an obvious pun on the phrase "Babes in the Woods", which might commonly refer to two young innocents led into a trap. Interestingly, IMDB reveals that Disney released an animated short entitled "Babes in the Woods" in 1932, and perhaps more relevant to us, a 1917 silent fantasy with the same name featured a child actor by the name of Gertrude Messinger, who had of course appeared in Roach's "Boyfriends" series.
Just a couple more quick points on some of my favourite moments in the short. As would be expected, Kelly and Todd work well together, Kelly is quick with her quips such as "Night owl Kelly never sleeps" and her catchphrase question - "What do I get?" - is answered by an irate Todd - "MAGNOLIA!" - . I also really enjoy the bits where the two girls are trying to get to sleep in the bed and they keep falling out. For me, that's up there with some of the finest moments of comedy that Laurel and Hardy performed involving a bed.
And Kelly's retort about an earthquake: hilarious!
Todd also has some great one-liners, such as suggesting that Fay Holderness's colour is "battleship grey"! Hahaha.
The slapstick involving the dishwasher demonstration is also well done, and often very funny. Personally, I'd vouch for Kelly loading the -washing machine- with the dishes a highlight of the comedy.
Whew! I think I'll wrap things up there...I've got to go and wash the dishes...
What do you think of "Babes in the Goods"? Where does it rank in your list of favourite Kelly and Todds?
Watch it
"What do I get???? MAG - NOLIA!"
"Babes in the Goods" is available on DVD, beautifully restored by the German Filmmuseum as part of their "Female Comedy Teams" set.
Here's the link: Female Comedy Teams DVD
My screenshots for this review are taken from "The Complete Hal Roach Thelma Todd & Patsy Kelly Comedy Collection" set released by Classic Flix. An excellent set and well worth purchasing!
Here's the link: Complete Hal Roach Todd & Kelly
