Babe was a star!

One of my pet peeves is when people throw around terms like "never" and "always." For instance, it is often said that Babe Hardy was NEVER a star comedian before he teamed up with Stan Laurel. The above poster illustrates that Mr. Hardy certainly was a name above the title star comedian. Briefly, okay. Smaller company, yes I guess so. But none the less a star! ... so never say never and always use always sparingly.

THE BOYCOTTED BABY was released January 4, 1917 by Vim Comedies. One of the last Vim comedies produced before what had become known as the Babe Hardy Company filming unit would evolve into the King Bee Company. With the exception of Kate Price (who would go to work with Billy Ruge in the other half of the fractured Vim, Jaxon Comedies) most of those that regularly worked with Babe in the last days of Vim (Ethel Burton, Joe Cohen, Florence McLoughlin and Budd Ross) would also appear in the first of the Billy West comedies that King Bee would start producing in early 1917.

A WARM RECEPTION, the only one of these post-Plump & Runt Babe Hardy Vims that is known to exist is a delight to see. Babe, who apparently also directed the film, does a good bit of the full in drag. On my list of the Top 10 Best Laurel or Hardy Solo Films. So, if you have THE BOYCOTTED BABY hiding in your closet under your laundry let me know....