In 1931, Roach decided to give Thelma Todd her crack at comedy stardom, pairing her with Zasu Pitts in a series of slapstick shorts. Edmonds quotes Roach as telling her, "Laurel and Hardy are the most successful team in history. It worked once, it will work again. I'm teaming you two up. It worked with Marie Dressler and Polly Moran years ago, but hasn't been tried since. I think you two will be able to pull it off." Todd's pay rate went up to $2,000 per week.

In 1933, Pitts left Roach after unsuccessful contract negotiation, and Todd's wide-eyed, naive co-star was replaced with a salty-tongued brunette named Patsy Kelly (probably best remembered today as one of the conspiring senior citizens in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby [1968]). One film was cranked out per month, with the actors shooting for two solid weeks, then taking two weeks off to allow for the completion of one film and the preproduction of another.

The earliest of the group is Opened by Mistake (1934), directed by Parrott. Todd is a surgical nurse who allows her brash pal Patsy to crash in one of the hospital's vacant beds. Unfortunately, she ends up in room 13 and is whisked off to surgery for an emergency appendectomy. While the Todd/Kelly comedies are usually driven by snappy, slangy dialogue (imagine a Busby Berkeley musical without the dance numbers), Opened by Mistake is a throwback to the physical comedy for which the Roach Studios was better known. The best gag is a surreal slow-motion sequence in which Patsy and a stern nurse attempt to gas each other, while themselves falling prey to the fumes.

Producer: Hal Roach
Director: James Parrott
Cast: Thelma Todd (Thelma), Patsy Kelly (Patsy), Nora Cecil (Head Nurse), William Burress (Banker, Patsy's Boss), James P. Burtis (Traffic Cop (uncredited), Allan Cavan (Doctor (uncredited), Fanny Cossar (Assistant Head Nurse (uncredited), Virginia Crawford (Nurse (uncredited), James Eagles (Banker's Secretary (uncredited), Mary Egan (Nurse (uncredited).
BW-19m.

by Bret Wood