“Hats Off”, a silent 1927 Laurel and Hardy comedy, is a lost film. It was last seen in Germany in 1930, where it presumably retired itself to the countryside and hopefully didn’t wind up a victim of the coming war. Why the film vanished is a mystery–there are no other missing items in the Hal Roach series–and the films  non-existence makes it the ‘holy grail’ of L&H film buffs and collectors. Luckily a continuity script and a good many production stills seem to have survived and several fans have provided reconstructions of the film. While the end results won’t make you laugh, they will certainly make you think about what went into making these films and how ‘Hats Off’ is, in many ways, a blueprint for future L&H shorts. The basic setup–carrying a heavy piece of equipment up an endless flight of stairs–is the same premise as is their legendary short ‘The Music Box’ (1932), only in this one it’s a washing machine that is being delivered and in the latter a piano. They even use the same flight of stairs which was (and is) located in he Silverlake district of East Hollywood. The film was one of the teams earliest successes and did much to advance their careers as a hot new comedy commodity which makes it’s disappearance particularly galling, as we could study more carefully the ways in which their signature routines, attitudes, humor and style were developing. In any event, it’s very touching and of solid scholarly value that the above attempt at a reconstruction exists. Tomorrow I’ll post one that’ll make you laugh. I promise…