Review of They Go Boom! (1929) by Mike M — 16 Feb 2011

Again premised on a form of suffering that is literal, physical: one of its eye openers is the archaic method of cold prevention known as "painting your throat". Mitigating against this is the evident precision and pleasure to be found in the pair's routines: Ollie pinballing from the bed to the bedroom door via a footbath of sclading water, Stan's encounters with sticky paper, the push-me-pull-you with the over-inflated mattress.

Hat damage: none, as they're in bed, although the entire venture often feels like an investigation into how many times, in how many ways, Ollie can hit his head. Over which, so long as it doesn't come crashing down, there hangs the hand-stitched motto "Smile all the While".