Laurel & Hardy "Wrong Again"--How did they do that?

[luciano]

Hi there folks. I was watching one of my favorite Laurel and Hardy films, Wrong Again, and found myself wondering how they pulled off the scene where Stan hops onto the piano--while Oliver Hardy and the horse rest on it--and snaps its main support leg. The horse puts quite a bit of weight on there, as Ollie seems to get under the piano and struggle for his life. I guess there is a possibility that it was done for real but the scene where Stan tries to put the piano leg back on and accidentally wedges Ollie's neck between it really has be puzzled. Were there any camera tricks involved?

[Gloria Rampage]

Always figured they used some sort of hydrolic mechanism at the front of the piano since that part is obstructed from view during those scenes. Piano wire may also been used.

[Saimo]

By the way, according to McCarey's interviews, most of this scene was actually shot in a real house, not on a studio set...

[Richard M Roberts]

By the way, according to McCarey's interviews, most of this scene was actually shot in a real house, not on a studio set...

McCarey's interviews are extremely unreliable.

In WRONG AGAIN, the piano is actually built onto one end of a large weighed lever, probably also operated hydraulically in one manner or another, obviously strong enough to hold the weight of a horse and more, probably looked like a giant teeter-totter with the reinforced piano on one end and the weight and control mechanism on the other. It was unquestionably a set built at the Roach Studios.


RICHARD M ROBERTS