Twice Two is a Laurel and Hardy

Laurel and Hardy

Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...

 short film. It is one of only three films where the boys each play a dual role

Dual role

Dual role refers to one actor playing two or more roles, which may be deliberately scripted in a play or film, or merely be a by-product of a low budget. In a theatrical production where more than one actor plays multiple characters, it is sometimes referred to as an "Ironman" cast...

.

Plot

A year prior to the first scene, Stan Laurel

Stan Laurel

Arthur Stanley "Stan" Jefferson , better known as Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and film director, famous as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film...

 married Oliver Hardy

Oliver Hardy

Oliver Hardy was an American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy, the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted nearly 30 years, from 1927 to 1955.-Early life:...

's sister (played by Oliver), and Oliver married Stan's sister (played by Stan) in a double wedding

Double Wedding

Double Wedding is a 1937 romantic comedy film. A bohemian free spirit helps meek Waldo win back his fiancée and falls in love with her over-controlling sister in the process....

. They all live together and Stan and Ollie work in the same office. After some gags involving telephones, the wives are seen making preparations for a surprise party to celebrate their first anniversary during which a cake lands on Mrs Laurel's head, causing her to bear an uncanny resemblance to a portrait of Elizabeth I on the kitchen wall. Stan and Ollie then arrive but the couples can't help but squabble throughout the party. In the final scenes a delivery boy (played by Charlie Hall) arrives with another cake which is thrown in Mrs Laurel's face by an acrimonious Mrs Hardy.

Goofs

• The typewriter
  Typewriter
  A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...
  
   roller returns in the wrong direction when it knocks the glass of water into Hardy's hat.

Memorable Jokes

Ollie: Well, What did she say?

Stan: She told me to tell you that we can't go out tonight, that we have to come straight home.

Ollie: Why?

Stan: She's got a surprise for you.

Ollie: What else did she say?

Stan: She told me not to tell you that she had the surprise.

Ollie: Well, don't tell me!

Stan: I won't! I can keep a secret.

Stan: Ollie said we should go out to dinner to celebrate our university.

Mrs Laurel: Well where's the ice cream?

Stan: They didn't have any.

Mrs Laurel: Why didn't you go somewhere else?

Stan: Well I spent the fifteen cents calling you up.

Mrs Hardy: Well that's the dumbest thing I ever heard of.

Mrs Laurel: You keep out of this (To Stan) Sit down! 'Spent the fifteen cents calling me up!'

Ollie: Can we stop this quarreling to get dinner over with so I can find out what the surprise is?!?

Mrs Laurel: (To Stan) Oh! So you did tell him, didn't you?

(Stan nods. Mrs Laurel looks at the ceiling and when Stan does so too she smashes a plate on his neck)

Mrs Laurel: Now let that be a lesson to you!

Delivery boy: Will you see that she gets this cake?

Mrs. Hardy: I certainly will.

Mrs. Hardy: (To Mrs Laurel) The man said to see that you got this.

Mrs. Laurel: Thank you.

(Mrs. Hardy slams the cake in Mrs. Laurel's face)

Production

• The other films in which Laurel and Hardy play dual roles are Brats
  Brats
  Brats is a 1930 Laurel and Hardy comedy short. The film was directed by James Parrott. Laurel and Hardy play dual roles as their own children....
  
  and Our Relations
  Our Relations
  Our Relations is a 1936 feature film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, produced by Laurel for Hal Roach Studios.-Plot:Laurel and Hardy star as both their famous Stan and Ollie characters and as Stan and Ollie's twin brothers Bert and Alf...
  
  .

• The voice of Mrs. Hardy (Stan's sister) is dubbed by Carol Tevis, whose voice is dubbed on the Munchkin
  Munchkin
  The Munchkins are the natives of the fictional Munchkin Country in the Oz books by L. Frank Baum. They first appeared in the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which they are described as being somewhat short of stature, and wear only blue...
  
   singers in the 1939 version of The Wizard of Oz
  The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
  The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
  
  .

• The voice of Mrs. Laurel (Oliver's sister) is dubbed by Mae Wallace (who also appeared with Laurel and Hardy in "County Hospital" as a Nurse).

• This is the second time Stan Laurel appears in drag as Oliver Hardy's wife; the first was That's My Wife four years earlier, in which, after Ollie's real wife leaves him, he enlists Stan to dress in drag and pass him off to his rich uncle as his wife. Stan also dressed in drag three years earlier, briefly, in Another Fine Mess
  Another Fine Mess
  For the comedy short starring Laurel and Hardy, see Another Fine MessAnother Fine Mess is the first major live release by British folk metal band Skyclad...
  
  , being passed off to prospective house tenants as a maid. Subsequently, Stan would appear in drag once more, ten years later, in Jitterbugs
  Jitterbugs
  Jitterbugs is a 1943 Laurel and Hardy feature film produced by Sol M. Wurtzel.-Synopsis:The plot involves the team as a travelling two-man band selling "gas pills" in gas-short, wartime America.-Analysis:...
  
  , briefly, as a Boston matron.

• It was the last film directed for them by James Parrott
  James Parrott
  James Parrott , was an American actor and film director; and the younger brother of film comedian Charley Chase.-Early years:...
  
  .