There are some people who will go to very absurd lengths to save their castle, especially when the king sells it out from under them. This was certainly the case for Edgar Kennedy, who did whatever he could to secure the house he and his family were renting, even when all the odds were against him. It all started when Edgar witnessed his neighbors being evicted, but it turns out they'll be fine, as according to Florence, they bought a house and evicted those tenants, who in turn bought a house and evicted those tenants and so on. Edgar fears the same fate for them and decrees they should take their savings and buy a place, but before they can properly warn him why that would be a bad idea, their landlord shows up to-guess what? Say he's sold the place and wants them to move. Must be some sort of ongoing trend. Glad to see property values were so affordable in 1945. Edgar strikes a deal with Mr. Henderson, who settles on $7,500 with $2,500 down. Adjusted for inflation, that would be $103,000 and $30,000 respectively today. However, it seems Mr. Kennedy hasn't a dime to his name, as his wife foolishly lent the money to Brother so he could buy a secondhand furniture store. The solution? Have a big sale. At the store, a lady inquires if they have any washing machines, and although Brothers says they haven't any, Edgar takes her aside and offers to sell her one for $200. A bit steep, but she agrees to the purchase. She gives him the address and departs, so later that day, Edgar and Brother take Florence's washing machine to the address, but as expected, it was the wrong house. About to give up, the men suddenly hear a woman beckoning to them from up a huge flight of stairs. So they pick up the washing machine and begin the arduous task of carrying it up all those steps. When they finally get to the top, it seems that woman only wanted them to mail her gas bill. Really? You call two men from down on the street to come up and mail a letter for you? What a lazy woman. To try and save face, Brother asks if she wants to buy a washing machine, but she informs them that she has a laundry lady. Welp, back down they go.
No sooner do Edgar and Brother descend to the bottom of Mount Everest do they hear the same woman beckoning to them again. After repeated "yoohoos!", they think she might be serious about the washer and that her lady quit. Brother is sent up to make sure, only for the woman to inform him that she forgot to put the check in the blasted letter, only she had given it to Edgar who was still down at the foot at the steps. Brother goes for a drink of water, while the woman beckons down to Edgar, who assumes she bought the machine. So now he has to haul it up alone. The woman watches him, saying aloud, "some people are awfully dumb." Yeah, like you, lady! Instead of shouting "yoohoo, yoohoo" like an idiot, you should've used actual words, like "excuse me, leave the machine, I just need the letter back" or something. Dumb woman. So, when Edgar and the machine finally reach the top again, she puts the check in the envelope and tells him to mail it. If I were Edgar, I would've just thrown it in the trash. It was her fault she forgot to put the check in the envelope and was also too lazy to mail it herself. So, back down the steps they go. Once at the bottom, they finally meet the lady from the store who bought the washing machine. She lives... get this, at the top of the steps. Man, these guys have climbed more steps than Rocky Balboa. With the machine finally sold, Edgar and Brother wonder where the rest of the money will come from, when they encounter a man carrying an old chair. He tells them the story of an old miser who hid $100,000 in an old chair, and when he kicked off, his family dumped all his furniture off at Jack's Secondhand Furniture Store (Brother's place) and the money was never found. Falling for that load of hogwash hook, line and sinker, the men dash to the store to find all the furniture gone. Sold. Turns out the hidden money was a sales scheme cooked up by Mother and Florence. I'll be, they ACTUALLY did something helpful! Maybe Edgar will finally win in this story. No such luck, a suit from the OPA shows up to inform him $200 was over the ceiling on washing machines (ask your grandparents about OPA and ceilings during the '40s) and as such, Edgar is arrested. Sadly, the family had to use the store money to bail him out, but Edgar DOES get the last laugh on Brother: locking him up and throwing away the key. Ha ha ha!
This is definitely one of my favorite Edgar Kennedy shorts, and indeed the first Average Man short I watched. I was lead there by a Laurel and Hardy Facebook page that pointed out how the film was a semi-remake of the boys' 1927 silent film Hats Off. Let's talks about Hats Off, shall we? It vanished off the face of the earth in 1930, though it may still exist in a private collection somewhere. If so, at least let us know you have it and that it still exists somewhere. In the film, Stan and Ollie are washing machine salesmen who have to keep lugging a machine up and down a LONG flight of stairs, and have pretty much the same experiences as Edgar and Brother. It's important to note that the steps seen in It's Your Move are NOT the same steps Laurel and Hardy climbed in Hats Off and The Music Box, but they're in the same neighborhood. The film was directed by Hal Yates, who also directed Hats Off. I think the gimmick of the beckoning woman worked better in a silent film, as it was less clear what she wanted, and she didn't just bark "yoohoo" over and over. Needless to say, Hats Off sounds like a blast, and The Music Box is a hands down masterpiece. As for It's Your Move, it's also a very good film, though it has nowhere near as much slapstick. In fact, there is no slapstick involving the washing machine or the steps. Edgar doesn't even drop the damn thing, but that doesn't really work against the film. I think most of its appeal comes from being a remake of Hats Off, fans of Laurel and Hardy will recognize all the familiar beats. So, yes, in closing, I definitely recommend It's Your Move, for L&H fans, for Edgar Kennedy fans, and everybody else.
