The Music Box Overview:

The Music Box (1932) was a Short Films Film directed by James Parrott and produced by Hal Roach.

SYNOPSIS:

Stan and Ollie of the Laurel & Hardy Moving Company attempt to deliver a player piano to "1127 Walnut Avenue" -- the house "right on top of the stoop." But, as luck would have it, the "top of the stoop" is atop a seemingly endless flight of stairs, and the duo must contend with some crazy mishaps and comic characters along the way.

The film stars legendary duo, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, with support from Lilyan Irene (a sassy nursemaid), Sam Lufkin (an angry police officer), and Billy Gilbert as the ever-impatient Professor von Schwarzenhoffen!

The Music Box won the first Academy Award for Live Action Short Film (Comedy) in 1932, and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1997 by the Library of Congress for being ?culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.?

Source: article by Annmarie Gatti

For pictures of my visit to The Music Box Steps, click here.

(Source: article by ).

The Music Box was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1997.

Academy Awards 1931/32 --- Ceremony Number 5 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Live Action ShortHal Roach, ProducerWon
.

BlogHub Articles:

Doris Day gets her due at The Music Box Theatre

By Stephen Reginald on Nov 1, 2019 From Classic Movie Man

Doris Day gets her due at The Music Box Theatre For several weekends now, The Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., Chicago, has been screening classic Doris Day movies. The series is titled “The Inimitable Doris Day” and the films have been screened, for the most part on Satur... Read full article


2018 Noir City Chicago August 17 – 23 at the Music Box

By Stephen Reginald on Jul 23, 2018 From Classic Movie Man

2018 Noir City Chicago August 17 – 23 at the Music Box FRI, AUG 17TH, 2018 TO THU, AUG 23RD, 2018 Festival Passes - $85 GA/$75 MBT Members | Opening Night Tickets - $12 GA/$9 MBT Members | Single Feature Tickets - $11 GA/$7 MBT Members Doube Feature Tickets - $15 GA/$12 MBT Members (Incl... Read full article


Classic Movie Travels: The Music Box Steps

By Annmarie Gatti on Jun 16, 2016 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Walking?in the Steps of Laurel and Hardy! The Music Box Steps have long been high on my list of must-see classic movie sites. But, even I was surprised by the overwhelming giddiness I felt when my doppelganger film-fan-friends* and I?piled into a car?and?commenced on our quest to find the infamous s... Read full article


Hitchcock/Truffaut at the Music Box

By Stephen Reginald on Dec 26, 2015 From Classic Movie Man

Hitchcock/Truffaut at the Music Box Hitchcock/Truffaut is a new documentary, directed by Kent Jones, playing at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., Chicago, IL, through December 31, 2015. In 1962, Francois Truffaut persuaded Alfred Hitchcock to sit with him for a week long interview... Read full article


"Sparrows" Lands at the Music Box

By Janelle Vreeland on Apr 18, 2013 From Curtains

"Lillian Gish is the kind of woman who needs to be saved from the ice floe. Mary Pickford is the kind of woman who will save you from the ice floe." - Christel Schmidt Mary Pickford will forever be the spunky, tough young woman with the angelic face and head full of golden curls. Although she did... Read full article


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Quotes from

Stan: Say listen, don't you think you're bounding over your step?
Policeman: What do you mean bounding over my step?
Ollie: Why, he means overstepping your bounds.
Policeman: Oh.
[hits Stan on head with his baton]
Policeman: Now let that be a lesson to you!
[pokes him in the stomach]
Stan: Ooh!


Prof. von Schwarzenhoffen: Gentlemen, is there anything I can do to show you how sorry I am?
Ollie: [smiling] Just sign here.
[as he takes the top off the pen, ink explodes into the Professor's face. He chases Stan and Ollie out of the house. Fade]


Stan: What do you want?
Policeman: I don't want you. I want that other monkey.
[Stan whistles to Ollie]
Ollie: What?
Stan: He doesn't want me! He wants the other monkey!
[Ollie looks around]
Stan: You!
Ollie: Oh.


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Facts about

Laurel and Hardy's famous piano moving scene from 1932's The Music Box was filmed in the Silverlake district of Los Angeles. The scene shows Laurel & Hardy struggling futilely to haul a heavy piano up a long flight of steps. The 131 steps are still in existence today, and are a public staircase (they do not lead to a single residence as in the film). They connect Vendome Street (at the base of the hill) with Descanso Drive (at the top of the hill). They are located near the neighborhood where Sunset Boulevard and Silver Lake Boulevard intersect. The address is 923-935 Vendome Street near the intersection of Del Monte Street. A commemorative plaque was set into one of the lower steps between 1993 and 1995. The "Music Box" steps can be seen in the background of an earlier Charley Chase silent comedy produced at the Hal Roach Studios, "Isn't Life Terrible?" (1925), during a scene in which Chase is trying to sell fountain pens to Fay Wray.
This won the Oscar as "Best Short Subject" of 1932, the only such honor bestowed on a Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy film, and was also the first short to be so honored.
The monumental staircase in the film still exists, in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles, between 923 and 937 Vendome Street. There are 131 steps.
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Best Live Action Short Oscar 1931/32







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National Film Registry

The Music Box

Released 1932
Inducted 1997
(Short, Sound)




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Also directed by James Parrott




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Also produced by Hal Roach




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Also released in 1932




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