Babes in Toyland

(Gus Meins, Charley Rogers, US 1934, 77 min., 35mm)

The original cinematic version of Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough’s 1903 operetta finds Laurel and Hardy inserting themselves into the Mother Goose–inspired storyline. Ollie Dee and Stannie Dum attempt to help the Widow Peep avoid eviction from her shoe. Barnaby, the property owner, promises to halt the eviction if he is allowed to marry Little Bo Peep, who is in love with Tom-Tom Piper. When Stan and Ollie attempt to get the funds advanced from their employer, the Toymaker, they instead find themselves unemployed after building 100 6-foot soldiers instead of 600 1-foot soldiers. They must find a way to dupe Barnaby before he can marry Bo Peep. This film retains six of the numbers from the operetta, including “Toyland” and the instrumental “March of the Toys.”