To Pete Smith's voice over commentary, Stan and Ollie, seemingly picked at random in the street and professing not to have any wood in their possession at the time, produce various props — the contents of a suitcase and their wallets — all manufactured from wood or containing wood byproducts. (At one point Ollie even indicates that Stan's head is made of wood, to Stan's annoyance.) The props demonstrate the omnipresence of wood products in the American economy, including paper, cellulose-based artificial leather, rayon, witch hazel, and bioplastics in consumer items (this was in the early days of mass-produced plastic, before petrochemical plastics became widespread).
Production backgroundedit
The Tree in a Test Tube is Laurel and Hardy's only known surviving professionally shot color film, shot in Kodachrome on 16mm. The Rogue Song (1930), made in Technicolor and featuring the duo in their only other known professional color footage, is now considered a lost film, although a number of fragments have survived; some home movies of the two in the 1950s also exist in color.
Their routine lasts around five minutes and was shot silent; Laurel does not audibly speak, but Hardy makes two utterances (laughter and an utterance of "Ain't that the truth!") that were dubbed into Smith's audio track. The second half of the film is unrelated documentary film footage, which shifts focus toward wood's importance to the World War II victory effort. Included in the documentary footage are visits to a research laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin and a demonstration at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in which an elephant stands on a piece of laminated veneer lumber without breaking it.
Laurel and Hardy shot this brief film during their lunch hour on the back lot of Twentieth Century-Fox on November 29, 1941, while they were filming Jitterbugs, and the film went into release in spring of 1942.[1][2]
Referencesedit
^Potts, Mark. Shephard, Dave. What Was The Film When? The Movies of Laurel and Hardy. Lulu.com, 2007. pp. 193-194. ISBN9780955531835
^Harness, Kyp. The Art of Laurel and Hardy: Graceful Calamity in the Films. McFarland, 2006. p. 220. ISBN9781476608419
tree, test, tube, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, 2020, lea. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources The Tree in a Test Tube news newspapers books scholar JSTOR May 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Tree in a Test Tube 1942 is a short film produced by the U S Department of Agriculture and distributed by the U S Forest Service featuring Laurel and Hardy with narration read by MGM announcer and producer Pete Smith The Tree in a Test Tube source source source source source source The full filmDirected byCharles McDonaldProduced byUnited States Department of AgricultureStarringStan LaurelOliver HardyNarrated byPete SmithLee VickersCinematographyA SintzenichEdited byBoris VermontMusic byEdward CraigDistributed byU S Forest ServiceRelease date1942Running time10 30 minCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish Contents 1 Plot 2 Production background 3 References 4 External linksPlot editTo Pete Smith s voice over commentary Stan and Ollie seemingly picked at random in the street and professing not to have any wood in their possession at the time produce various props the contents of a suitcase and their wallets all manufactured from wood or containing wood byproducts At one point Ollie even indicates that Stan s head is made of wood to Stan s annoyance The props demonstrate the omnipresence of wood products in the American economy including paper cellulose based artificial leather rayon witch hazel and bioplastics in consumer items this was in the early days of mass produced plastic before petrochemical plastics became widespread Production background editThe Tree in a Test Tube is Laurel and Hardy s only known surviving professionally shot color film shot in Kodachrome on 16mm The Rogue Song 1930 made in Technicolor and featuring the duo in their only other known professional color footage is now considered a lost film although a number of fragments have survived some home movies of the two in the 1950s also exist in color Their routine lasts around five minutes and was shot silent Laurel does not audibly speak but Hardy makes two utterances laughter and an utterance of Ain t that the truth that were dubbed into Smith s audio track The second half of the film is unrelated documentary film footage which shifts focus toward wood s importance to the World War II victory effort Included in the documentary footage are visits to a research laboratory in Madison Wisconsin and a demonstration at the Ringling Bros and Barnum amp Bailey Circus in which an elephant stands on a piece of laminated veneer lumber without breaking it Laurel and Hardy shot this brief film during their lunch hour on the back lot of Twentieth Century Fox on November 29 1941 while they were filming Jitterbugs and the film went into release in spring of 1942 1 2 References edit Potts Mark Shephard Dave What Was The Film When The Movies of Laurel and Hardy Lulu com 2007 pp 193 194 ISBN 9780955531835 Harness Kyp The Art of Laurel and Hardy Graceful Calamity in the Films McFarland 2006 p 220 ISBN 9781476608419External links editThe Tree in a Test Tube on YouTube The Tree in a Test Tube at IMDb The Tree in a Test Tube at Rotten Tomatoes The Tree in a Test Tube is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive nbsp This article related to a short comedy film is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Tree in a Test Tube amp oldid 1187668035, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
