Monkey business. The poster that is partly seen here is from The Rogue Song, a musical directed by Lionel Barrymore and Hal Roach (uncredited), in which Laurel and Hardy were added after audience’s poor response in the preview screenings. They had small roles (they appeared in 10 short comic episodes in film, from which only one has survived) but, as this poster suggests, they named as leading stars of the film – a marketing trick for commercial success.
Today, the film is the only sound feature film in Laurel and Hardy’s career which is still considered lost.
Lionel Barrymore’s The Rogue Song (1930) in Yasujirô Ozu’s The Lady and the Beard (1931).
